ImpulseShift — Privacy Policy

ImpulseShift is 100% offline. The release build does not even request the Internet permission, so the app is physically incapable of sending your data anywhere. Everything it tracks — your saves, opens, streaks, and settings — lives in a local database on your device. There are no accounts, no analytics, no ads, and no servers.

OneByteZ. Contact: rakul0agn@gmail.com

The following is created as you use the app and stored only on your device, in local Hive databases:

• Your counts of mindful “Saves” and “Opens”
• Intercept history and your reclaimed-time and streak metrics
• Which apps you have chosen to have ImpulseShift guard
• App settings and preferences (such as sandbox options)
• Your Pro unlock status

To know when to step in, ImpulseShift uses Android’s UsageStatsManager to detect which app has just come to the foreground. It compares that app’s package name against the list of apps you chose to guard (for example, Instagram, TikTok, or X). That is the only thing it does with this information.

ImpulseShift does not read the content of any other app — not your messages, posts, screens, keystrokes, or activity inside them. It only learns the package name of the app in front, on your device, in the moment, to decide whether to show its 15-second pause. Nothing about this is transmitted or stored beyond your own local metrics.

The release build of ImpulseShift declares no INTERNET permission in its Android manifest. This is a deliberate, verifiable guarantee: the app cannot make network requests, so none of your data can ever leave your device through it.

• No account registration, no email, no phone number
• No analytics, telemetry, or usage metrics sent to us
• No advertising and no advertising identifiers
• No location data, contacts, SMS, call logs, or photos
• No content from the apps you guard
• No server-side copy of anything

ImpulseShift offers an optional one-time “Pro” unlock (a non-consumable lifetime purchase) through Google Play Billing. Billing is handled entirely by the Google Play Store app on your device — ImpulseShift never sees your payment method, card number, or billing address, and uses no Internet permission of its own to process it. The app only learns an anonymous entitlement (whether Pro is owned) so it can unlock the relevant features. Google’s handling of payment data is governed by Google’s Privacy Policy (policies.google.com/privacy).

Each permission is used only for the feature it enables:

• Usage Access (PACKAGE_USAGE_STATS) — to detect when a guarded app comes to the foreground. Granted by you in system settings.
• Display over other apps (SYSTEM_ALERT_WINDOW) — to show the 15-second pause screen on top of the app you opened.
• Foreground service + notification (POST_NOTIFICATIONS) — to keep the lightweight monitor running with a persistent notification, as Android requires.
• Run at startup (RECEIVE_BOOT_COMPLETED) — to re-arm monitoring after your device restarts.
• Vibrate — for the haptic pulses of the countdown ring.

ImpulseShift is an independent tool. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Instagram, TikTok, X, Meta, ByteDance, or any other app it can be configured to guard. Those names and logos are the trademarks of their respective owners.

ImpulseShift is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect any data about children. Since the app collects no data on any server, there is nothing for us to delete.

Because ImpulseShift holds no personal data about you on any server, there is nothing for us to access, correct, or delete on your behalf. You are in full control: all data is on your device, and uninstalling the app permanently removes it.

We retain no user data. There is no server to hold anything. Uninstalling the app wipes its local data from your device.

The only third party involved is Google Play, solely for processing the optional one-time Pro purchase. No other third party receives any data from ImpulseShift.

We may update this Privacy Policy when the app changes. Material changes will be announced in the app’s release notes. Continued use after an update constitutes acceptance of the revised policy.

Questions, complaints, or data requests: rakul0agn@gmail.com