Wherever we go, smartphones aren’t far behind. More than half of U.S. adults say they spend too much time on their phone, according to a Pew Research survey. Smartphones and apps are usually designed to grab your attention, not help you put them down. However, there are a handful of features that aim to help you be more mindful of the time you spend on your phone, such as Google’s Digital Wellbeing suite for Android. I’ve tried to set app limits and restrictions that govern my phone use, but they never stuck.
Traditionally, app usage limits were either too easy to get around or too hard to bypass. Android 17’s Pause Point takes a different approach. Rather than set arbitrary app limits or restrictions, Pause Point is designed to help you be more intentional about how you use your Android phone. As the name implies, Pause Point aims to get you to pause before diving into a doomscrolling session. I’ve used it for about a month, and it’s the first Digital Wellbeing tool that has actually worked for me.
It’s a tool that directs you to other places on your phone
Pause Point doesn’t stop you from accessing your apps. It’s not a strict app blocker; instead, the feature adds a slight delay before letting you into distracting apps. I’m all too familiar with opening my phone impulsively, checking for a text message or Slack notification, and falling down a Threads or Reddit rabbit hole for a half hour. By the end of it, I usually forget what made me unlock my phone in the first place. Pause Point is intended to nip these mindless habits in the bud.
You can turn it on in Settings → Digital Wellbeing → Pause Point. It launched alongside the Pixel 11 series, but it’s slowly making its way to other Android phones. Pause Point is rolling out as part of Android 17 QPR1, which is available now for eligible Pixels and will come to Android phones from other brands in the future. After enabling it, you can choose which apps will show a Pause Point after you launch it.
Apps are ranked in order of daily usage, making it easy to set up Pause Point for the ones with the highest screen time. Apps without any screen time for the day will be listed in alphabetical order. There’s no limit to how many apps you can set up with a Pause Point. It works best for apps you find distracting, like TikTok, YouTube, or X. When you open an app with a Pause Point, you’ll have 10 seconds to decide if you really want to open it.
From there, you can wait out the 10-second timer and press Open — or hit the Don’t open button to stop that doomscrolling session before it starts.
It lets you set app timers for individual sessions
Better than a daily app limit you’ll manually override
There are five different types of Pause Points: Breathe, Remind, Divert, Plan, and Reflect. You can choose which Pause Points you’d like to be shown before opening an app. If you’ve selected multiple, one will be randomly shown when you open an app with Pause Point enabled. Breathe shows an animated breathing guide for 10 seconds, while Remind lets you swipe between personal photos. You can choose the photos you’d like to see before opening a stressful app.
Plan and Divert are the two more useful Pause Point options, in my experience. The former lets you set a time limit for an individual app session. This works way better than a strict daily time limit that you’ll blow through in one sitting. It also lets you set limits based on the situation instead of arbitrary numbers. For example, I can set a 30-minute timer for social media when I’m waiting for my flight to board and have nothing better to do. I could set a five-minute timer for short breaks when it’s important I limit distractions.
Divert is helpful in a completely different way. This Pause Point helps shift your focus to a different app on your phone. For example, you could set up the Kindle app as a Pause Point diversion, helping you spend free time reading a book instead of scrolling. If you’re trying to sneak workouts in, you could divert to an app like Nike Training Club. The possibilities are endless. Instead of curbing phone use entirely, Pause Point is all about nudging you to use your smartphone for productivity.
Turning off Pause Point is hard on purpose
Stick to your goals without the strict rules
Pause Point strikes a balance between rigid app blockers and feeble time limits. That’s partly because it’s easy to get around when you really need to get into an app — all you have to do is wait 10 seconds. It’s also because it’s hard to remove that 10-second time limit. Closing and re-opening apps won’t help you get around it. You’ll need to remove the app or turn off Pause Point entirely, which Google says might require a restart.
I’ve found many Digital Wellbeing tools on Android to be gimmicks, but Pause Point is a feature I’ll happily keep enabled. Unlike the others, it doesn’t feel like a parental control. On the contrary, it finally feels like I’m in control of my scrolling.
- SoC
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Google Tensor G6
- Display
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6.3-inch Actua display
- RAM
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12GB
- Storage
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256 or 512GB
- Battery
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4985 mAh
- Brand
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Google
The starter Google Pixel 11 isn’t the flashiest Android phone of the bunch, but it’s the one that resonated with me the most. The slimmer camera bar makes the Pixel 11 feel modern and sleek, and it’s powered by the same Tensor G6 processor as the rest of the series. For $900, this is a solid Android flagship.