Google appears to be pulling the plug on a Digital Wellbeing feature called “Heads up” which is designed to help you stay off of your phone for extended periods of time while walking.

Introduced in 2021, “Heads up” was designed to help you curb your smartphone use while walking since, when looking at your phone, you’re probably not fully aware of your surroundings. Alerts such as “Look ahead” and “Watch your step” would appear if you were using your phone while walking for a certain length of time.

Now, Google seems to be removing it.

In the Digital Wellbeing v1.48.975819457.beta release, the folks over at Android Authority noticed strings regarding “Heads up deprecation.” Google explicitly says:

Walking detection is going away soon

There’s no word on why it’s being removed, though it’s certainly odd given that the feature at least appears to run on device. It’s easy to guess that the feature was probably underused, being an opt-in feature, but it’s strange seeing as there’s no obvious burden to just leaving it in place.

As it stands, the feature is still active and, with the altered strings only in the beta track, it’s probably not going away imminently, but we’ll have to wait and see what other details come to light as the removal nears.

• ‘Pause Point’ is the Digital Wellbeing upgrade Google’s needed to deliver for years
• Google goes in-depth, and a bit NSFW, on Noto 3D emoji as Android rollout expands
• Google has ignored Android’s Digital Wellbeing tools for years, so what’s next?

Follow Ben: Twitter/X, Threads, Bluesky, and Instagram

FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.