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Ahead of the big Google I/O 2026 event on May 19, Google hosted a more focused preview with The Android Show this week, announcing some of the features it will roll out to users soon with the Android 17 update.
There was a lot to take in, including a more proactive and more personalized Gemini experience, but it was the Pause Point feature that caught my eye: the ability to set 10-second timers that appear before you open certain apps.
I've been looking for ways to cut down on how much time I spend on my phone — and I think I'll find Pause Point very helpful.
The problem: too many distractions
I already have a Do Not Disturb mode set up for my phone during working hours, which means that it's not going to ping or buzz with every single WhatsApp and Instagram notification that comes in (every alert hijacks your brain for seven seconds, by the way). A few specific contacts can trigger a proper notification, but only a few.
However, whenever I do pick my phone up for whatever reason — maybe to start a podcast, log how much water I'm drinking, or look something up — I find myself drawn to a quick check of X or Instagram, or whichever WhatsApp group chats have had another dozen messages added to them while I've been looking away.
Another 20 minutes go by and I haven't really achieved anything of note by the time I put my phone down again, though I may have come across a couple of interesting memes or online controversies (which I'll soon forget about).
There's a lot going on in all of these apps all of the time, but if I'm being honest, a large proportion of it isn't really particularly important. Still though, I'm sucked in — the last time I actually looked at my screen time on Android (it's under Digital Wellbeing in Settings if you want to check), I was rather alarmed — and this seems like it could help.
This isn't to say there's anything inherently wrong with staying in touch with friends or spending some time relaxing with a mobile puzzle game, but the issue is that opening these apps is done almost on autopilot a lot of the time. That mindless app usage is what Pause Point aims to address.
In recent months (though I can't remember exactly when they first appeared), Android on my Pixel has started showing me little reminders about how long I've used certain apps in a day, and based on Google's demo at The Android Show, it seems Pause Point will build on top of that.
The fix? Pause Point
Obviously Android 17 won't be out for a while, so I haven't had chance to try out Pause Point yet, but I like what I'm seeing so far. We got a demo of the feature in The Android Show, from Android Product Manager Alanna Veiga, and it looks as though it's simple and effective enough to work.
"Sometimes our phones can be a lot," Veiga said while going through the details of how Pause Point works. "You open your phone just to check the weather, and 45 minutes later you're scrolling with no clue how you got there."
Pause Point is intended to sit somewhere between the existing app timers in Android — which are just a little too easy to dismiss — and more extreme measures such as uninstalling apps entirely or putting your phone in a different room for part of the day (which honestly, I might also try soon).
You can mark certain apps as distracting, and whenever you open one of these apps, you'll get a prompt to take a breath and reflect — and to not open the app after all. You can even swipe through photos from this screen, so maybe pictures of your pets or kids will be enough to get you to realize that you don't want to waste any more time on your phone.
Pause Point also lets you set up alternative app suggestions on the pause screen, so you could maybe open up an e-book, do some meditation, or track a walk rather than simply distracting yourself. What's more, you can set up Pause Point up so that a reset is needed before you can disable it.
Google, you can count me in for this — I will at least be giving it a try once Android 17 starts rolling out to Pixel phones. We should hear more about when the operating system update is coming at Google I/O 2026.
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