Digital Health with the Device Unlock Widget

Unlocking the Potential of the Device Unlock Widget (and KPIs)

In October 2023, we added the inaugural Digital Health measure to the Before Launcher¹. Let’s take a closer look at the widget and delve into its elements.

…now let’s zoom in:

“36” is the count of how many times I unlocked my device during that day; the number adjacent, “38”, displays my daily unlock average from the previous 7 days. Thus, on that day, the unlocks are slightly below my average for the past week.

This is an opportune moment to address the privacy of this feature: these numbers are only visible/stored on your device — they are not transmitted, utilized, or commercialized in any manner. As we always emphasize: we are not in that business.

While there isn’t a universally recognized average of daily unlocks, research has shown an average of 70–80 unlocks per day². For those aiming to reduce screen time, tallying and averaging unlocks serves as a dynamic benchmark intended to aid in decreasing screen time.

Digital health can be measured in various ways, and no one measure or set of measures will help everyone. For the Before Launcher, we opted for screen unlocks as the first measure because it serves as a valuable Key Performance Indicator (KPI). KPIs are metrics utilized to evaluate performance aspects, ideally offering timely feedback to enable early and beneficial behavioral changes.

To illustrate how KPIs function generally, consider this example outside of digital health: imagine a restaurant owner wanting to cut down the monthly electric bill which is significantly driven by walk-in refrigerators and freezers.

In this scenario, the number of times the refrigerator and freezer doors are opened becomes our Key Performance Indicator — let’s call it the Door Opening Performance Indicator (DOPI). This analogy parallels screen unlocks — the more you check your phone by passing through that “unlock door,” the more it affects your time!

Let’s explore the correlation between DOPI KPI and the electric bill. The more frequently the refrigerator and freezer doors are opened, the more energy is consumed to maintain the desired temperature, inevitably leading to increased operational costs impacting the business’s bottom line. Naturally, the owner expects staff to access these doors but wants them to do so efficiently — reducing energy consumption will curtail associated expenses. Optimizing DOPI might involve training kitchen staff to minimize trips to the freezer by collecting all required items in one visit, rather than multiple in-and-outs.

KPIs are a tool to measure and change behavior. Leaving the restaurant example and returning to digital health on the Before Launcher — we’re hoping this first widget will be a more active assist to those who are interested in becoming more mindful about device use. Let us know how it goes! ³ ⁴

To learn more about who we are, check us out at Before Labs. To download the Before Launcher, click this link.

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¹ We will be doing more of these digital health features.

² Here are some links that support the idea that the average unlocks-per-day is around 80 unlocks per day: Android Authority: https://www.androidauthority.com/phone-usage-habits-unlocking-poll-results-1182239/

Apple actually appears to have tracked this: https://www.trustedreviews.com/news/iphone-user-here-s-how-many-times-you-unlock-each-day-2947664

Psychology Today reports on research which shows 70 as the average: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/rewired-the-psychology-of-technology/202301/screen-time-is-out-of-control

³ Email us… feedback@beforelabs.com

⁴ A final note: Before Launcher still has our flagship passive features which can help reduce screen time: a notification filter and minimalist design.