Heads Up mode now available on more Android phones

You can find the Heads Up mode within Digital Wellbeing settings on all smartphones running on Android 9 and above OS versions. Previously, this feature was available on Pixel phones only.

Google has expanded Heads Up, a feature that provides periodic reminders to look up from your screen when you're walking while using your phone, to more Android devices.

You can find the Heads Up mode within Digital Wellbeing settings on all smartphones running on Android 9 and above OS versions. Previously, this feature was available on Pixel phones only.

When enabled on your device, this feature provides the following alerts:

• Be Careful
• Stay Alert
• Look Ahead
• Watch Out
• Stay Focused
• Watch your step
• Look up

"With the Heads Up feature, you can get reminders to look up and stay alert when you're walking and using your phone. Launched first on Pixel earlier this year, Heads Up is now available through the Digital Wellbeing setting on devices running Android 9 and newer," Google wrote in a blog post.

Apart from expanding the safety-focused Heads Up feature to more devices, Google, earlier this week, announced a number of new accessibility features that are coming to Android devices this season. These include:

• Camera Switches - a new Android accessibility feature in Switch Access that turns your front-facing camera into a switch so that you can navigate your phone using eye movements and facial gestures.
• Project Activate - a new app from Google Research that makes it easy to communicate via facial gestures. It lets you activate customized preset communications by making facial gestures, such as smiling or looking up.
• Lookout - Lookout by Google makes it easier for people with low vision or blindness to accomplish frequent tasks like sorting mail, putting away groceries and more. This app has various modes including a Document mode that can read out both handwritten and printed text for Latin-based languages. It also has a Currency mode to identify banknotes quickly and reliably, with support for US Dollars, Euros, and Indian Rupees.