With Android 9, Google introduced the Digital Wellbeing concept that tries to find a better phone-life balance by introducing Do not Disturb features for different times of the day, or clamping down on app notifications.
From tools to unplug through productivity stats and options, to parental controls, Digital Wellbeing is aimed at breaking the vicious cycle of infinite scroll and tap that makes us addicted to out pocket computers for many waking hours without a real need to do it.
Google, however, may be aiming to move the “digital” part of its Wellbeing app to the physical realm as well by introducing features like snore and cough detection, according to 9to5Google which dug into the app code to find the following string: “See how much you cough or snore during your scheduled bedtime.”
In addition, there will be Wellbeing counters like and “Average cough count” and “Average time snoring” which could give you vital statistic about these new physical health-related features.
There are plenty of similar apps in the Play Store, as well as among those accompanying health and fitness smart bands or watches, but Google has been running the test of these cough and snore detection features since the spring and is apparently ready to incorporate them in the Digital Wellbeing features on a system level.
Back in May, it was looking for beta testers of this option as part of its Health Studies app that continuously recruits such volunteers around the various physical fitness and health projects at Google, and the cough and snore detection option may soon be maturing to an actual release after successful testing.
