{"id":343402,"date":"2026-03-17T07:21:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T07:21:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/343402\/"},"modified":"2026-03-17T07:21:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T07:21:15","slug":"i-checked-my-phones-hidden-metrics-and-im-a-little-obsessed-with-the-data","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/343402\/","title":{"rendered":"I checked my phone’s hidden metrics, and I’m a little obsessed with the data"},"content":{"rendered":"

I spend most of my time on my desktop every day, though not because I love desktop computers. I spend the most time on it because of the work I do.<\/p>\n

My Samsung Galaxy S21, which I still use as my daily driver, is a close second. That wouldn\u2019t be the case without my love for smartphones.<\/p>\n

If it weren\u2019t for work, I would probably spend most of my time exploring the hidden corners of Android<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The usage comparison wouldn\u2019t have happened if I hadn\u2019t discovered what\u2019s perhaps one of the most widely ignored settings on my Android phone.<\/p>\n

It revealed pretty much everything about my usage.<\/p>\n

I accidentally found it when setting up App timers to tackle my Instagram addiction<\/a>. Since then, I check my phone usage every day, almost as if I can\u2019t do without it.<\/p>\n

It now feels more like an obsession than something that I need to know.<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n

\t\t
\n\t\t\tI turned off all the distractions on my Pixel 9, and I don’t want to go back
\n\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

I should have done this sooner<\/p>\n

I finally know my app activity details<\/p>\n

\"The\"The<\/p>\n

Digital Wellbeing isn\u2019t a new feature on Android, and I\u2019ve known about it since it first launched.<\/p>\n

However, I never used it beyond checking my screen time sometimes until a few days ago.<\/p>\n

Digital Wellbeing is a powerful Android feature that not only tracks your screen time but also provides other important stats, giving you deeper insights into your phone usage.<\/p>\n

Digital Wellbeing is easily accessible through settings, but it could be a bit tricky to find all its tools and get insights about your daily usage, depending on what Android skin you use.<\/p>\n

Different Android skins present the data differently, but they all show how much time you spend on every app you open each day.<\/p>\n

I was happy seeing that my Instagram screen time went down significantly. It stays well within the 10-minute mark that I previously set.<\/p>\n

This was on the expected lines. I found other small Digital Wellbeing tools that showed more fascinating minute details.<\/p>\n

It shows a list of apps, with details like the number of notifications I received and the number of times I open an app.<\/p>\n

It also shows how many times I unlocked my phone on a given day.<\/p>\n

You can get the data on a daily or hourly basis.<\/p>\n

For example, I can select WhatsApp from the list and check the number of notifications I received from the app, the number of times I opened it, and the time I spent both on a daily and hourly basis.<\/p>\n

You can also check this data from a past date.<\/p>\n

The numbers turned out to be a blessing<\/p>\n

\"Screenshot\"Digital-Wellbeing-unlocks-2\"<\/p>\n

Numbers don\u2019t mean much if you don\u2019t know how to interpret them.<\/p>\n

After the excitement had settled down a bit, I was more interested in finding out what to do with them.<\/p>\n

The notification data was pretty handy, as I used it to identify which apps send the highest number of notifications.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s how I disabled all the app notifications that I could afford to miss.<\/p>\n

Not only that, but it also helped me spot a few apps where I was spending way more time than I should.<\/p>\n

In addition to Instagram, I added those to App timers and set a time limit. This helped me bring the screen time further down.<\/p>\n

I fixed my Android usage habits, but I still can\u2019t stop checking the data<\/p>\n

Digital Wellbeing tools have fixed my Android usage habits, so I no longer need to check those stats. However, I still do it every day.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t consider it a bad habit because it keeps preventing my phone usage from spiraling out of control without me noticing.<\/p>\n

I wholeheartedly believe that checking daily activity on my phone is a healthy obsession to have.<\/p>\n

I wish I had checked these stats sooner<\/p>\n

\"A
\n Credit:\u00a0Lucas Gouveia \/ Android Police | Pheelings media \/\u00a0Shutterstock<\/p>\n

Digital Wellbeing isn\u2019t buried in Android settings. All you have to do is open the Settings app, scroll down, and find the Digital Wellbeing and parental controls option.<\/p>\n

On some Android handsets like the Samsung Galaxy, this is also available as an app, which is even easier to find.<\/p>\n

However, having something is one thing; using it to the fullest is another.<\/p>\n

I regret not taking the feature seriously enough earlier \u2014 it could have saved me a lot of time and kept the notification shade cleaner.<\/p>\n

Digital Wellbeing data is too powerful to ignore<\/p>\n

Smartphones have evolved from luxury items to a necessity. But it also poses a huge risk to your digital health.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy for Android users to develop bad habits because of the kind of flexibility and freedom the OS offers.<\/p>\n

You can run apps from both the Google Play Store and install APKs from anywhere else<\/a>, preferably from trusted sources.<\/p>\n

For someone like me who loves Android and apps, checking the usage data is a must to maintain a healthy digital life.<\/p>\n

Digital Wellbeing tools are too powerful and too important to ignore.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I spend most of my time on my desktop every day, though not because I love desktop computers.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":343403,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[85,46,321,125],"class_list":{"0":"post-343402","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mobile","8":"tag-il","9":"tag-israel","10":"tag-mobile","11":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=343402"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343402\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/343403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=343402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=343402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=343402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}