Nokia 7 Plus becomes the first non-Pixel model able to run Digital Wellbeing

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Google's Digital Wellbeing app, which up until now was available only on the Pixel handsets, monitors a person's daily phone usage (Android only), app use and reveals how often he or she checks his/her handset. Another feature allows the user to set a schedule that turns the screen to grayscale when it is time to put the phone away for the night. And daily caps can be placed on individual app usage so that the Android user doesn't become "addicted" to a particular social media app or game.

The Digital Wellbeing app, technically in beta, is now available for Nokia 7 Plus units running the latest Android 9 Pie beta. This is the first non-Pixel phone able to use the app and suggests that all Android models with Android 9 Pie installed will be able to run Digital Wellbeing. Nokia 7 Plus users do need to keep in mind that the version of Pie they are running is a beta as is the Digital Wellbeing app. That means that some features might run slow or might not run at all.

Both Apple and Google felt compelled to include Screen Time and Digital Wellbeing on the latest builds of iOS and Android respectively, following fears of "smartphone addiction." A test of Screen Time run by the New York Times resulted in a teenage girl cutting her daily iPhone usage by 50% after just three weeks.

If you have a Nokia 7 Plus running the latest Android 9 Pie beta, you can install Digital Wellbeing from the Google Play Store. Simply click on this link.