Junk Offender: Google’s nannying apps
Junk offender: Google’s nannying apps
Depending on the device you’re using, storage space can be a precious commodity. My Android phone, for example, has only 32GB of internal storage, with no ability to expand this via
SD cards. I’m always having too delete apps and files to make room.oom. So, it really annoys me when I buy a new device, only to discover it has considerably less storage than advertised because it’s been preloaded with a ton of junk.
You expect phone manufacturers to stamp their mark on their Android devices by adding lots of semi-useless apps. But I was dismayed to learn that Google itself is set to impose more stuff we don’t need.
The company’s new licensing terms force all manufacturers of devices running Android 9 Pie or Android 10 to include Google’s Digital Wellbeing and Family Link apps, or the manufacturer’s own version.v This applies not only to nnew phones and tablets, but aalso to older devices that are upgraded to Android 9 or 10. Digital Wellbeing shows how much time you spend uusing your device (see screescreenshot) and lets you set limits for specificspe apps, while Family Link is a set of parental controls that lets you view and restrict your child’s phone usage.
Phone addiction is clearly something that needs to be tackled in an appropriate manner. But forcing apps on to people who don’t need them is not the right way to go about it. Not everyone needs to be nannied, and not everyone has children they need to monitor. Even if they do, surely they should be allowed to choose their own apps?
It’s a patronising and unnecessary move by Google that only adds to the digital clutter filling up our devices.