Your Android phone may no longer stop you from walking into a pole

Google has recently been spotted working on a Weekly wrap feature for Digital Wellbeing that could use Gemini Nano to turn your weekly screen time data into personalized, contextual insights. But it’s not all feature additions coming our way, as we’ve now spotted Google preparing to say goodbye to one of Android’s rather quirky and underused pedestrian safety tools in Digital Wellbeing.

In the latest Digital Wellbeing v1.48.975819457.beta, we’ve spotted strings indicating that Google is preparing to deprecate the “Heads Up” feature. The strings point to an impending in-app alert warning users about its imminent demise:

For those unfamiliar, Google introduced Heads Up in 2021 as a safety nudge within its Digital Wellbeing suite. Heads Up detects when you’re actively walking with an unlocked display and sends a gentle reminder to look up and pay attention to your surroundings, helping you avoid walking into a lamppost or stepping into oncoming traffic.

The feature relies primarily on your phone’s motion sensors to register movement. However, users can optionally grant location access so the system knows whether they’re casually pacing indoors or they’re out on the streets. While it originally launched for the Pixel 2 and later phones, it eventually trickled out to other Android phones as well.

The app strings don’t contain any explanation on why Google is set to pull the plug on Heads Up, nor has the company made any such formal announcements. However, the writing has been on the wall for some time. Sensor-heavy background tracking tends to be a battery hog, and users may have also found the periodic nudges more annoying than helpful. The feature is also buried deep within Digital Wellbeing, and since it was a manual opt-in, we wouldn’t be surprised if most people simply didn’t know it existed.

We’ve not spotted any mention of a timeline yet for when Heads Up will officially vanish from Digital Wellbeing. We’ll keep you updated when we learn more, but if you are an active Heads Up user, you might want to start exploring alternatives — or just not using your phone while walking around.