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Freedom251 › Blog › Android

How to Turn Off Heads Up Notifications and Other Walking Reminders on Android

By Freedom251 Team · · 8 min read

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On a supported Pixel phone or tablet, open Settings → Digital Wellbeing (or Digital Wellbeing and parental controls), choose Heads Up, and switch Use Heads Up off. That disables the walking reminder without changing notifications from your other apps.

What Heads Up does

Heads Up is a Digital Wellbeing feature that displays friendly prompts to look up from your screen while you walk. Its purpose is to reduce the chance that you continue walking while focused on the phone. It is a reminder, not a safety system: turning it off does not change how you should pay attention to traffic, people, stairs, bicycles, or other hazards.

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Google documents Heads Up for Pixel phones from Pixel 2 onward and for tablets. The exact menu wording can vary with the Android release, device configuration, and manufacturer software. The control you are looking for is still the Heads Up page and its Use Heads Up switch.

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Turn off Heads Up on a supported Pixel

  1. Open Settings.
  2. Tap Digital Wellbeing. On some older Pixel software, this appears as Digital Wellbeing and parental controls.
  3. Tap Heads Up.
  4. Turn Use Heads Up off.

The change applies to the Heads Up feature itself. You do not need to uninstall an app, buy an accessory, change a sound profile, or reset the phone. If you later want the reminders back, return to the same page and turn Use Heads Up on.

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Use Settings search when the menu is hard to find

Open Settings and use its search field for Heads Up. If that produces no result, search for Digital Wellbeing and open the matching settings page. Search is useful when the Digital Wellbeing entry is lower in the Settings list or when a software update has changed the order of menus.

Make Digital Wellbeing visible in the app list

Some devices do not show a Digital Wellbeing icon in the app list even though the feature is installed. In Digital Wellbeing settings, enable Show icon in the app list. This adds a launcher icon; it does not itself change Heads Up or any notification setting. You can then open Digital Wellbeing from the app list and select Heads Up.

If Heads Up is missing

A missing Heads Up page does not necessarily mean that you overlooked a switch. Google notes that steps can differ by phone, and the feature is documented only for supported Pixel devices and tablets. Work through these checks without assuming that one menu path applies to every Android skin.

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  • Check the spelling in Settings search. Search for both “Heads Up” and “Digital Wellbeing.”
  • Open the parent page. If Digital Wellbeing appears but Heads Up does not, inspect the available features on that page rather than looking under the general notification list.
  • Check support. The documented support covers Pixel 2 and later and tablets. A different phone model may not expose the feature, or its manufacturer may place an equivalent control elsewhere.
  • Check software availability. Digital Wellbeing must be present and functioning before its Heads Up control can appear. If the feature is absent after searching, the phone may not provide it in that software configuration.
  • Do not substitute another notification switch. Turning off an app’s notifications, Do Not Disturb, or a lock-screen alert does not necessarily disable Heads Up. Those controls govern different kinds of interruptions.

There is no single fallback sequence that Google publishes for every manufacturer. If your device is not a supported Pixel or tablet, use the device maker’s current help pages or settings search rather than applying a Pixel-only path blindly.

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Why your phone tells you to look up while walking

Heads Up belongs to Digital Wellbeing, which groups tools intended to help you understand and manage phone use. The walking prompt is deliberately narrower than a general notification block: it addresses the situation in which the phone detects or infers that you are walking while looking at the screen, then presents a reminder to look up.

The reminder is separate from messages, calendar alerts, email notices, and notifications generated by individual apps. That distinction matters when troubleshooting. If you turn off Heads Up and still see other alerts, the walking feature may already be disabled and the remaining interruptions may be controlled by Android’s notification settings, Focus mode, Bedtime mode, or the apps themselves.

Heads Up versus other interruption controls

Choose a control based on three questions: how broad the change should be, when it should apply, and what happens to notifications while it is active.

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Control Scope Timing Notification effect
Heads Up The walking reminder only Always off or on, according to the Use Heads Up switch Stops the specific look-up reminder; it does not silence unrelated apps
Manage notifications Apps that have recently sent notifications, or individual app notification settings Configured per app and notification category where available Changes which app alerts can appear
Focus mode Apps that you select as distracting Manual activation with Turn on now or a schedule Selected apps are paused and their notifications are blocked while Focus mode is active
Bedtime mode A scheduled period intended for bedtime A schedule, with a Quick Settings on/off control Can optionally use Do Not Disturb during the scheduled period

This comparison prevents a common mistake: using a broad mode to solve a single walking reminder. If Heads Up is the only interruption you dislike, disable Heads Up and leave the rest of your notification system unchanged.

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Stop notifications from particular apps

If the alerts continue after Heads Up is off, review app notifications instead. Digital Wellbeing’s notification controls let you review apps that recently sent notifications and change their notification settings.

  1. Open Settings and go to Digital Wellbeing (or Digital Wellbeing and parental controls).
  2. Open the notification-management area shown on your device, such as Manage notifications.
  3. Review the apps listed as recently sending notifications.
  4. Select an app and change the notification options that are available for it.

Labels and the depth of notification categories can differ by Android version. Change only the app or category that is causing the unwanted alert when you want to preserve important calls, messages, or safety notifications from other apps.

Use Focus mode for a manual or scheduled block

Focus mode is broader than Heads Up because it pauses the distracting apps you choose and blocks their notifications while the mode is active. It is useful when you want a temporary interruption-free period, such as a walk, commute, study session, or meeting, but do not want to disable every app permanently.

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  1. Open Settings → Digital Wellbeing.
  2. Tap Focus mode.
  3. Select the apps you want to pause.
  4. Tap Turn on now for an immediate block, or configure a schedule if the same period repeats.

Focus mode does not replace the Heads Up switch. You can leave Heads Up on and use Focus mode for selected apps, or turn Heads Up off and use Focus mode separately. The two settings address different sources of interruption.

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Use Bedtime mode for a recurring quiet period

Bedtime mode is designed for a scheduled period rather than a walking-specific reminder. Set a schedule when you want the phone to enter a predictable nighttime routine. Digital Wellbeing allows Bedtime mode to use Do Not Disturb optionally, which can suppress a broader range of alerts during that period.

  1. Open Settings → Digital Wellbeing.
  2. Tap Bedtime mode.
  3. Create or adjust the schedule shown on your device.
  4. If you want broader silence during bedtime, enable the option to use Do Not Disturb.
  5. Use Quick Settings when you need to turn Bedtime mode on or off outside its schedule.

Because Bedtime mode is schedule-based, it is not the right fix for a Heads Up prompt that appears during daytime walks. Use the dedicated Heads Up switch for that case.

What to do when the reminder seems to return

First, verify the switch rather than judging by one notification. Open the Heads Up page and confirm that Use Heads Up is off. If the switch is off but you still receive alerts, identify what the alert says and which app or system component produced it. A message, reminder, or wellness prompt from another feature can look similar without being Heads Up.

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  • Search Settings for Heads Up and reopen its page.
  • Confirm that the switch is visibly off after leaving and re-entering the page.
  • Check Manage notifications for an app that recently generated the alert.
  • Check whether Focus mode or Bedtime mode is active if other notifications are also being blocked or delayed.
  • If the Heads Up page is unavailable, confirm the device model and software support before treating the absence as a fault.

A software update or a different user profile can change menu placement. Repeating the search from the active profile helps distinguish a moved setting from a missing feature.

How to choose the least disruptive fix

You only want walking reminders gone

Turn off Use Heads Up. This has the narrowest scope and leaves app notifications, Focus mode, and Bedtime mode alone.

You want selected distracting apps silent for a while

Use Focus mode, select the apps, and choose Turn on now or a schedule. This blocks notifications from those selected apps while active, rather than changing the walking reminder.

You want a recurring nighttime quiet period

Configure Bedtime mode and decide whether it should use Do Not Disturb. Its schedule and broader effect make it appropriate for bedtime, not for a single walking prompt.

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You want to stop one app’s alerts

Use notification management and adjust that app’s notification settings. This preserves alerts from other apps and does not require changing Digital Wellbeing’s walking feature.

What the change does not require

Disabling Heads Up is an in-settings software change. No physical product, accessory, repair utility, subscription, or replacement phone is required. The feature is part of Digital Wellbeing on supported software, so the relevant action is changing its switch rather than removing hardware or installing a separate tool.

Quick reference

Goal Path or action Result
Disable walking reminders Settings → Digital Wellbeing → Heads Up → Use Heads Up off Heads Up reminders are disabled
Find a hidden Digital Wellbeing entry Settings search for Digital Wellbeing; optionally enable Show icon in the app list Opens or exposes the Digital Wellbeing controls
Silence selected apps temporarily Digital Wellbeing → Focus mode → select apps → Turn on now Selected apps pause and their notifications are blocked while active
Silence a scheduled bedtime period Digital Wellbeing → Bedtime mode; create a schedule and optionally use Do Not Disturb Applies the bedtime routine during its schedule
Control one app’s alerts Open the notification-management controls and adjust the app Changes that app’s notification behavior without disabling Heads Up

Final checks

For a supported Pixel phone or tablet, the decisive setting is the Use Heads Up switch under Settings → Digital Wellbeing → Heads Up. If your menus differ, use Settings search and account for the alternate parent label Digital Wellbeing and parental controls. If the feature is not listed at all, verify device support instead of assuming that a general notification setting will control it.

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AndroidBedtime modeDigital WellbeingFocus modeHeads UpNotificationsPixel

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