Google may be axing Heads Up on Pixel phones, and I think it never got a fair shot

Heads Up, the Digital Wellbeing feature that reminds you to look up from your screen while you're walking, appears to be on its way out. Code found in the latest beta of the app points to Google retiring it, which would affect phones like the Pixel 11 Pro and the other best Android phones that picked it up over the years.

Digital Wellbeing's beta is quietly warning Heads Up users

The clue comes from a new report, which dug through version 1.48.975819457 of the Digital Wellbeing beta and found strings for an in-app alert that isn't live yet. Under a "Be careful while walking" title, the message tells users that walking detection is going away soon, and walking detection is exactly what Heads Up runs on.

It should be noted that this comes from an APK teardown, the kind of code digging that tends to be accurate about what Google is working on, although plans can and do change before anything reaches a public release.

Heads Up never got the spotlight Pause Point did

Heads Up first showed up for Pixel owners on the Digital Wellbeing beta back in April 2021, and we covered its rollout when it started nudging people with alerts like "Look up" and "Watch your step."

The problem is that it was always off by default and tucked into the Reduce interruptions section of the Digital Wellbeing settings, so you had to go looking for it. Even Google's own help page for Digital Wellbeing walks through app timers, Bedtime mode and Focus mode without mentioning Heads Up at all.



Compare that to Pause Point, the Android 17 feature that got its own moment at The Android Show in May and that we made the case for as a real fix for doomscrolling.

That's a shame, because distracted walking is a real problem, even if it's hard to measure. A National Highway Traffic Safety Administration review estimated that more than 1,500 pedestrians ended up in US emergency rooms in 2012 after being distracted by phone calls while walking, which was more than double the 2005 figure, and it noted that the real number is likely much higher.

A study of federal NEISS injury data later estimated 29,140 distracted walking injuries between 2011 and 2019, with 11 to 20 year olds getting hurt the most. Those figures are a few years old and no federal body formally tracks these injuries, but they make it pretty clear that walking while staring at a phone sends real people to the ER.

Who loses out if Pixel walking alerts disappear

If you never turned Heads Up on, and odds are you didn't, this change won't touch your phone at all. It isn't the most exciting feature to lose, but it's one of the few in Digital Wellbeing that was about staying physically safe rather than spending less time on your phone.

Heads Up deserved better than a buried toggle

I tried Heads Up when it first launched, found the reminders annoying and turned it off, which was probably a bad idea considering how clumsy I am.

Still, this was a safety feature, and it should have been taken more seriously than an opt-in switch most people never found. I'd personally love to see Google give walking detection a second chance with the same spotlight Pause Point got, because judging by my own track record, I'm exactly the kind of person who needs that nudge.

More on Digital Wellbeing, Android 17 and the Pixel 11 Pro:

• How Pause Point in Android 17 tackles doomscrolling
• Everything we know about Android 17
• Google Pixel 11 Pro: release date, price and features

• Follow me on X and Threads

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