Google Pixel adds bedtime features, safety tools to phones

Google Pixel owners can rest easy—literally. Google’s Android team this week unveiled new features that extend battery life, enhance personal safety, and help you disconnect at night. Every three months (since December), Google rolls out fresh tools like photo functions, automatic call screening, AR effects, and more display options.

As part of this third drop, the company upgraded its Adaptive Battery to predict when your Pixel’s power will run out and automatically reduce background activity to keep the phone running that little bit longer. The software already learns your favorite apps and pulls power away from those rarely used. And a better battery means more screen time, but Google wants to help curb those late-night scroll sessions with a Clock bedtime feature that “helps you maintain a consistent sleep schedule and strike a better balance with your screen time each night,” technical program manager Tok Tokuda wrote in a blog announcement.

Visit the Pixel Clock app to get a preview of the next day’s schedule, limit nighttime interruptions, and fall asleep to soothing sounds. Can’t put your phone down? “If you stay up … past bedtime, you’ll get a snapshot of how much time you’re spending awake and on which apps,” according to Tokuda. Google also added the ability to wake up to your favorite tune or with a gradually brightening screen.

Once you’re up, caffeinated, and ready for the day, tap into the Recorder app to start, stop, and search voice recordings via Google Assistant; a simple “Hey Google, start recording my meeting” or “Hey Google, show me recordings about dogs” will do the trick. You can even save transcripts directly to Google Docs for easy sharing.

“We’re introducing new safety features, too,” Tokuda said, highlighting a scheduled check-in after, say, a solo run or hike. If you don’t respond to the planned consultation, the app automatically alerts your emergency contacts.

“In the event that you need immediate help or are in a dangerous situation,” Google explained, “emergency sharing notifies all of your emergency contacts and shares your real-time location through Google Maps so they can send help or find you.” The ultra-cautious can also enable crisis alerts in the Personal Safety app to receive notifications about natural disasters and other public emergencies.

This article originally published at PCMag
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