Digital Wellbeing exits beta, available now for Pixel and Android One phones

Google announced its Digital Wellbeing initiative in May at its annual Google I/O conference. However, since that announcement, Digital Wellbeing has only been available in beta form for a small number of devices.

While Digital Wellbeing is still only on a limited set of smartphones, one hurdle has finally been crossed: the software toolset is no longer in beta, via 9to5Google.

If you own a Google Pixel device with Android 9 Pie, you can install the stable build of Digital Wellbeing by visiting the app’s page on the Google Play Store. If you have been using the beta build of Digital Wellbeing, you don’t have to do anything: Google will automatically upgrade you to the stable build at some point soon.

If you don’t own a Pixel device, you can still install Digital Wellbeing on Android One smartphones that have received an update to Android 9 Pie. The list of those devices is fairly small at the moment, though.

Unfortunately, if you own a non-Pixel or non-Android One device with Android 9 Pie, Digital Wellbeing still won’t work for you. This includes devices like the OnePlus 6, OnePlus 6T, the Essential Phone, and others on this list. Google hasn’t given any indication on when Digital Wellbeing will be available for all Pie-enabled devices, but since the software is now stable we expect that to happen fairly soon.

Digital Wellbeing gives you a set of tools to help curb your smartphone use. Not only does the software tell you how much you are using your phone, but it also helps wean you off using your device at certain times of the day or when certain criteria are met. You can read more about what’s possible with Digital Wellbeing in our hands-on here, and read about how it can positively affect your life in our experience roundup here.