LockIn privacy policy

• There's no account and nothing to sign in to.
• What LockIn's accessibility service reads is used on your phone, right then, to decide what to block. It isn't sent to us or to anyone else.
• LockIn has no advertising and no analytics, and we don't sell or share your data.
• LockIn uses the internet only to talk to Google Play about LockIn Pro: what it costs, buying it, and checking whether you have it.
• Otherwise, LockIn's data can leave your phone only through your phone's own backup to your Google account, and the crash reports Android sends Google, if you've turned these on. All of this is explained below, with the files and codes you choose to send yourself.

LockIn uses Android's accessibility service to see what's on your screen, so it can close the apps and sites you've blocked. It reads:

• Which apps are on screen, each time that changes: the one in front, one beside it in split screen, and one in a small picture-in-picture window.
• In apps where you block only short videos (like Reels or Shorts): which part of the app is open, from the names of the screen's elements, so it can tell a short-video player from the rest of the app.
• In web browsers, only while one of your block lists blocks websites or keywords: the address shown in the address bar. It skips the bar while you're typing in it.

LockIn uses this to decide, on your phone and at that moment, whether to show its block screen or go back. It doesn't save the addresses of pages you visit. It doesn't look for or keep anything else on your screen, and it never taps, types or changes settings for you, except to go back or to your home screen, or to close a picture-in-picture window, when something is blocked.

So you can pick what to block, LockIn reads the list of apps on your phone that have an icon to open them: each app's name, icon and the category it declares. It also reads:

• Which apps are your phone, messages and maps apps, so it never blocks them.
• Which apps are keyboards and home screens, so it doesn't mistake them for the app you're using.
• The version of each short-video app and browser it knows, so it looks for the right parts of the screen in that version.

LockIn reads these on your phone when it needs them and never sends them anywhere. Of the list, it keeps only the apps you put in your block lists and daily limits.

LockIn stores these in its own storage on your phone:

• Your block lists: the apps, websites and keywords you chose, and how each list looks.
• Your schedules, focus sessions, daily limits and strict mode settings.
• For each app, each day, for the last 7 days: how long it was on screen, how many times you opened it, and how many times you opened it anyway while it was blocked, so daily limits and the block screen work.
• A record of when LockIn blocked an app, when you opened one anyway, and when a focus session finished, for the last 90 days. It names the app, not the page or what was on it.
• For strict mode's unlock keys (an NFC tag or a partner's code): only a salted hash, from which the key itself can't be read back.
• For the settings PIN, if you set one: only a salted hash of it, never the PIN, and how many wrong tries were made.
• Your settings, like the theme, the block screen's message, color and redirect app, and where you are in setup.
• The block screen's photo, if you choose one: a copy of the one photo you pick in Android's photo picker. LockIn can't see your other photos.
• Whether you have LockIn Pro, which plan, and when Google Play last confirmed it, so Pro works offline.

• The daily counts are deleted after 7 days, and the record of blocks after 90 days, on their own.
• Everything else stays until you delete it in LockIn (a list, schedule, limit, unlock key, the PIN or the photo) or remove LockIn. Past focus sessions stay until LockIn is removed.
• Uninstalling LockIn, or clearing its storage in Android's settings, deletes all of it.

• Everything LockIn keeps is in its own private storage on your phone, which Android doesn't let other apps read.
• Unlock keys and the settings PIN are kept only as salted hashes, so not even LockIn can read them back.
• LockIn has no servers, so none of your data is kept by us anywhere. Google Play's billing library talks to the Play Store app on your phone, and Google Play handles the connection to Google.

Google Play, for LockIn Pro

LockIn Pro is sold through Google Play. When you open the Pro screen, buy Pro, or LockIn checks whether you have it (each time it opens), LockIn asks Google Play which plans there are and their prices, and whether your Google account has bought one. Google Play takes the payment; LockIn never sees your card or other payment details, and it sends nothing about your block lists, your usage or what's on your screen. Google Play's billing library, which is built into LockIn, handles this under Google's privacy policy and Google Play's terms.

Your phone's backup

If backup is turned on in your phone's settings, Android copies app data into your phone's backup in your Google account, and can restore it on a new phone or when you install LockIn again. From LockIn, Android's backup takes only what a backup file holds: your block lists, schedules, daily limits, the theme, strict mode's cooldown, and the block screen's message, color and redirect app. It doesn't take the record of what was blocked, how long apps were on screen, focus sessions, unlock keys, the settings PIN, whether you have LockIn Pro (Google Play tells a new phone that), the block screen photo, or where you are in setup.

When LockIn first opens after Android restores it, it puts your lists and settings back, if it has none yet. Setup still asks for its permissions again, because they belong to each phone. Google handles that backup under Google's privacy policy. You can turn it off in your phone's settings.

Crash reports from Android

LockIn has no crash reporting of its own. If you've agreed on your phone to share usage and diagnostics with Google, Android may send Google a report when LockIn crashes or stops responding, and Google Play shows those reports to us. They tell us where in LockIn's code it went wrong and the phone's model and Android version, not who you are or what was on your screen. Google handles them under Google's privacy policy. You can turn this off in your phone's settings.

Files and messages you choose to send

• A backup file goes only where you save it, like your Downloads folder or a cloud drive you pick. LockIn doesn't upload it.
• A partner code for strict mode goes through the messaging app you choose, to the person you choose.

• Accessibility service: to see which app is in front and close what's blocked, as described above.
• Notifications: for the focus countdown, daily limit warnings, and an alert if LockIn's protection turns off.
• Usage access, only if you turn it on: to show in Insights the apps you spent the most time in, from Android's own record of how long each app was open. LockIn reads it on your phone and never sends it anywhere. Blocking works without it, and you can turn it off in your phone's settings at any time.
• NFC: only to read the NFC tag you pair as a strict mode key. LockIn keeps a salted hash of the tag's identity, never the tag's contents.
• Starting after a reboot: to check that protection is still on.
• Internet and Google Play billing: added by Google Play's billing library, only to show, buy and check LockIn Pro as described above.

LockIn isn't made to collect information about anyone, children included, and it doesn't knowingly do so.

When LockIn changes what it reads, keeps or sends, this policy changes with it, and the date at the top changes too.

Questions about privacy: support@monolab.dev