Vick – Quality Time: An App Review

Olivia Vick, Messenger Reporter

Everyone knows that teens spend too much time on their cell phones, and there are some apps designed to help with this problem. One of these, which I have downloaded, is called QualityTime. The purpose of this app, according to its website, is to help you discover your smartphone habits and manage your digital diet. The app is free, available for Apple and Android devices, and does not require internet.

The primary focus of the app is Your Smartphone Timeline, which allows you to see your personal activities log, displayed showing your activity in chunks of time spent on your phone, from morning to night, for any given date. There is also a section to track your “daily frequency,” which shows how many times you use each app, in addition to how long you spend on them. For example, one day this year I was on my phone approximately seven hours, three hours and nine minutes of which was spent just on Snapchat, with me checking the Snapchat app 245 times. That week, I spent fifty-four and a half hours on my phone, twenty-two of which were on Snapchat. This seems a bit excessive, even to me. So what do you do? Take a break. This feature allows you to customize what apps are permitted to be used during your break times, what apps can send you notifications, whether you block phone calls and a penalty for exiting your break early in order to minimize your phone distraction. You can also schedule breaks so that at certain times your phone will automatically go into “take a break” mode. You can choose how long these breaks last, what days they occur, and if you would like these to repeat any other days. These breaks can be surprisingly beneficial and will be greatly appreciated by parents.

QualityTime has over one million downloads and has 4 stars according to Google Play.  I love the app and personally recommend it to all phone-crazed teenagers. It helps you track and limit your phone usage, which is something we all need from time to time.