Samsung’s Indian division recently released an Android app called Walk Mode which is meant to warn its users about any “unsafe steps” they take while strolling around. The mobile tool is currently available for download from the Google Play Store exclusively in India, though its APK file can also be sideloaded onto many devices in any other country, regardless of whether they’re made by Samsung or not. The app is advertised as a danger detector designed to keep its users safe, boasting a number of functionalities like car horn detection and real-time “unsafe walking alerts.” In reality, users report that Walk Mode is essentially looking to completely stop you from using your phone while walking. Once enabled, the app first delivers a persistent notification and then brings up a relatively large overlay screen whenever it detects that the phone is active while its user is walking.
The warnings it delivers aren’t possible to ignore and will have to be manually dismissed in order to do whatever it is you were hoping to accomplish in the first place when you took out your phone while walking, and with the app presuming that a handset in motion always equals danger, it effectively makes all of its extra functionalities like the aforementioned car horn detector irrelevant seeing how it delivers alerts and warnings as soon as the device is in your hand. The tool is also said to be a major battery drain and features a number of reward mechanics that are meant to gamify the end user experience, providing people with badges and other digital goods if they manage to improve their phone usage safety ranking.
It’s currently unclear if the Samsung R&D Institute India Noida will eventually make Walk Mode available in more territories, though that doesn’t seem like a probable scenario. Refer to the gallery below to see how the app looks in practice or follow the Google Play Store link beneath this writing to download the app on your device, provided that you’re from India and own a smartphone running Android 5.0 Lollipop or later builds of the omnipresent operating system.
