Are you constantly holding the phone and checking your social media apps, maybe some apps with funny cat photos and others that use too much of your time? Big tech companies and app developers have created transparent tracking services that will show you how much time you spend in certain apps.
For example, Google’s Digital Wellbeing offers this service, also giving you some tips on how to minimize screen time. However, the r/GooglePixel subreddit has been flooded with users complaining that their Pixel smartphones were sluggish, and it’s all caused by this app.
Both users that own the Pixel 3 / Pixel 3 XL flagships or the affordable new Pixel 3a / Pixel 3a XL have reported that the handsets were sluggish in performance.
Fixing the Stuttering Pixels – Tweaking Digital Wellbeing
The only fix right now for Pixel users is to disable the access of Digital Wellbeing to certain features that Android provides. It seems that the app slows some of the OS capabilities.
Some users recommend disabling the feature to stop the framerate issues and improve the speed of the OS, making everyday use more fluid.
TechRadar has reviewed this issue and stated that the new Pixel 3a didn’t show immediate changes after a Digital Wellbeing feature was disabled. However, they reported that many other Pixel users did see a boost in speed after doing so.
To fix your sluggish Pixel, you can disable the Digital Wellbeing feature by following these steps:
Open ‘Settings’ -> select Digital Wellbeing -> go to the three vertical dots menu -> slide the “Permit usage access” to turn it off.
Turning off this feature will not turn off the entire Digital Wellbeing service, so you can still use the Wind Down functionality and other features. Did this fix your sluggish Pixel? Hopefully Google will work on this issue so that the app won’t eat too much of the phones’ performance.
Agnes is a technical writer, being in touch with reports to come up with the latest tech leaks.
