This year"s trend in mobile software features seems to be focusing on helping users manage how much time they spend on their devices. After Google first talked about "digital wellbeing" at its I/O conference back in May, Apple was quick to follow suit with the announcement of iOS 12 earlier this month.
But, while those two companies are building the feature directly into their respective operating systems, Facebook seems to believe it can do a better job. It had already started working on a similar feature for the Instagram app shortly after Google I/O, and now it"s time for Facebook itself to receive a similar treatment.
Proof of the feature"s development was discovered by app investigator Jane Manchum Wong, who tipped TechCrunch about the "Your Time on Facebook" feature hidden in the company"s app for Android. Facebook then confirmed its development, saying that it"s "always working on new ways to help make sure people’s time on Facebook is time well spent".
Spending too much time looking at a phone is a problem that a lot of people have, and the fact that companies are working on features like this just serves to prove that. With that being said, it"s hard to see how Facebook"s implementation could be better for users than the system-wide feature Google and Apple are working on.
Source: TechCrunch via The Verge