Free · On-device screen time

Privacy Policy

Last updated: 27 August 2026

Sthir (“the app”) is a free Android screen-time awareness app, published as com.dip.sthir. This policy explains what stays on your phone, what advertising software may collect, and how to contact us.

The short version

Your screen-time figures stay on the device. There is no Sthir server and you have no account. Nothing the app measures about your phone use is ever uploaded.

The app does show ads (Google AdMob) on three secondary screens. That service is operated by Google, not by us. We do not sell your information.

What we store on the phone

Daily usage totals and per-app time stay in the app’s private storage. Android itself keeps only a short window of usage history, so Sthir records daily totals in order to show a real month of trend. Other apps cannot read them. Uninstalling deletes them.
Your focus session log, which apps you chose to pause, your wind-down hours and your nudge preference are preferences on the device only.

They are not backed up to a Sthir cloud, because there is none.

Where the screen-time data comes from

Sthir reads Android’s Usage Stats API after you grant usage access in system settings. That is a special-access permission you turn on once, and it is the app’s only source of screen-time information.

Sthir uses no accessibility service and no VPN. It does not read the contents of your screen, your notifications, your messages, or your network traffic. It can only see the device it is installed on, and it cannot monitor anyone else’s phone.

Notifications

Notifications are off by default. If you turn on the gentle nudge, the app schedules one local notification at the time you choose. If you start a focus session or a wind-down window, a foreground-service notification shows while it runs. Those alarms live on the device.

Advertising

The app uses Google Mobile Ads (AdMob), with Google’s User Messaging Platform (UMP) for consent.

A banner may appear at the bottom of Settings, a single app’s history, and the focus session log. Ads never appear on the Home screen, on the Focus screen, while a focus or wind-down session is running, on the pause screen, or on the weekly reflection.
There are no full-screen ads, no ads that open when you launch the app, and no rewarded ads.
Google may use an advertising identifier, approximate location derived from your IP address, device and network information, and your interaction with ads, as described in Google’s advertising privacy policy.
Where required, including the EEA, the UK and Switzerland, UMP asks for your consent before personalised ads are shown. You can change advertising consent from the ads controls in your device settings.
Your screen-time figures are never sent to Google or used to target ads. The ad request carries no usage data from this app.

Debug builds of the app use Google’s sample ad units and never request live ads.

Analytics

The app contains no analytics software of our own. We do not measure which screens you open.

Export

If you export a CSV, you choose where it is saved through the system file picker. We do not upload it and we never see it.

Permissions

Permission	Why
`PACKAGE_USAGE_STATS`	Usage access, granted by you in system settings. The sole source of the time, unlock and per-app figures the app exists to show. Read on-device only.
`INTERNET`	Only to load the banner ads described above. No screen-time data is sent over it.
`ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE`	So the ads library can tell whether the device is online.
`AD_ID`	So AdMob can use the advertising identifier where you have allowed it.
`ACCESS_ADSERVICES_AD_ID`, `ACCESS_ADSERVICES_ATTRIBUTION`, `ACCESS_ADSERVICES_TOPICS`	Added by the Google Mobile Ads library for Android’s Privacy Sandbox. Used by Google’s ad serving, not by any code of ours.
`POST_NOTIFICATIONS`	Only if you turn on the gentle nudge or start a focus session.
`FOREGROUND_SERVICE`	So a focus or wind-down session keeps working after you leave the app.
`RECEIVE_BOOT_COMPLETED`	To restore a scheduled wind-down window after a reboot.
`SCHEDULE_EXACT_ALARM`, `WAKE_LOCK`, `VIBRATE`	To deliver a nudge or begin a wind-down window at the time you chose.

The app does not ask for contacts, SMS, location, camera, microphone or files.

Children

Sthir is intended for adults managing their own phone use. It is not directed at children under 13, it is not designed as a parental-control app, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children.

Changes to this policy

This policy is published here. If it changes, this page is updated and the date above changes with it. Material changes will also be noted in the app’s release notes on Google Play.

Contact

Questions about this policy or about privacy in the app: please open an issue at github.com/diptendulkar/diptendulkar.github.io/issues.