Privacy.
Last updated 22 September 2026
Who we are
Pause is made by Pause (Mumbai, India). This policy covers the Pause app on Android and iOS, this website, and the Pause Device store.
The short version
Pause steps in when you open an app you chose to pause. Which apps you open, and for how long, stays on your phone.
If you sign in, your account, your settings and simple activity counts sync to our servers so they follow you between phones.
No ads today. No ad networks. We never sell your data or hand it to advertisers.
If you are under 18, we do not profile you or show you personalised suggestions.
What stays on your phone
Pause keeps a local record of the apps you chose to pause, when each one opened, how long you planned to use it and how long you did. It also keeps your to-dos, your one thing for today, the words you are learning, puzzle and breathing progress, lessons you liked, streaks, schedules and focus sessions. None of this is uploaded, except the counts listed in the next section. Android keeps the per-app record for 90 days, then deletes it.
What reaches our servers
Account. If you sign in with Google or Apple, we receive your name, email address and account ID. Apple may give us a relay address instead of your real one. On iOS you can also use Pause as a guest with no account. Stored with Firebase Authentication.
Profile. On Android, the age group you pick during setup. If you answered the setup questions in an older version of Pause (what you do, your goals, a name you typed), those answers are stored with your account too. On iOS, a display name for the leaderboard.
Apps you chose to pause (Android only). The list of apps you picked is saved to your account so it follows you to a new phone. On iOS, Apple hides which apps you picked; we never see them.
Activity counts. How often Pause stepped in, what you did next (breathed, read, walked away, asked for more time), the hour of day, focus minutes, streak length, and daily totals such as "opened 4 times, planned 40 min, used 71". On Android these are sent as events to Google Analytics for Firebase, along with an app-instance ID, the app version, your Android version, device model and language. You can turn this off in Settings. On iOS, each pause is saved to your account as a short log line, and your breathing totals go to the leaderboard under your display name.
Feedback. Your message, app version, phone model, OS version and language, so we can reproduce what you saw.
Where you found Pause. On Android, the Play Store install referrer and an optional referral code, tied to a Firebase installation ID, so we can credit the person who told you about Pause and catch fake installs.
App health. Firebase App Check (Play Integrity on Android, Apple attestation on iOS) confirms requests come from a real copy of Pause. Firebase Remote Config fetches carry your country, language, time zone and OS version.
What we never collect
Location. Contacts, photos or files. Messages or anything typed inside other apps. What is on your screen. Advertising identifiers. Your phone's system Screen Time or usage statistics.
Android permissions
Usage Access and the Accessibility Service are used for one thing: noticing that an app you chose has opened, so Pause can step in. Pause does not read screen content, passwords or messages, and it does not upload what it sees.
Ads and product suggestions
There are none today. If we add a sponsor message or suggest a book or product in future, it will be the same for everyone or based only on what you told us you are interested in. We will not use ad networks that track you across apps, and we will not share your data with advertisers. People under 18 will never see personalised suggestions.
Children and age
Pause is for people 13 and older, and many of our users are students. If you tell us you are under 18, we do not track, profile or target you, and we follow India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act on parental consent. If you believe a child under 13 has an account, email us and we will delete it.
Your choices
Turn analytics off in Settings (Android).
Delete your account and everything we hold from Settings in the app, or email us.
Revoke Usage Access or the Accessibility Service in Android Settings, or Screen Time access in iOS Settings. Pause then stops stepping in until you turn it back on.
Where your data lives
Google Firebase (Authentication, Firestore, Cloud Functions). Google's servers may be outside India. All transfers use HTTPS. Server data is kept until you delete your account.
Store orders
When you buy a Pause Device we collect your name, phone number, email and shipping address to ship the order and answer support requests, and keep them for as long as needed for shipping, returns and tax records. Cashfree processes the payment; its own policy governs payment data. Cashfree also receives your name, phone, email and shipping address with the order so the payment can be matched to it.
Changes
We will post updates here and change the date above.