ThumbpausePrivacy policy
Thumbpause is built to work on your phone first. This page says, in plain words, what we handle and why. It covers the Thumbpause app, this website and the waitlist.
The short version
- Your usage data stays on your device unless you sign in.
- We never sell your data, and we do not show ads.
- Coach messages are kept for 90 days, then deleted.
- You can delete your account and your data from the app or by email.
On your device
Which apps you paused, how long you used them, your limits, your streak, your reasons and your hard-mode rules are stored on your phone. Without an account none of it leaves the phone. Android asks you for the permissions needed to notice when you open an app you picked; Thumbpause uses them on the device and does not read what is on your screen.
If you sign in
Signing in is optional. When you do, we keep on our server:
- your account (email address and the sign-in provider's user id);
- your rules (limits, hard-mode settings, the list of paused apps);
- usage in aggregate per app per day (seconds used, pauses shown, times you continued), not a log of every open;
- a few events such as pause shown, continued or closed, with a timestamp, to compute your streak and weekly report;
- your device type, app version and time zone, so your day starts at the right hour;
- your subscription status, which we receive from Google Play or the App Store through RevenueCat. We never see your card or UPI details.
We use this to sync your phone, work out your streak and your Sunday report, and keep the service running. We do not use it to profile you for anyone else.
The AI coach
When you talk to the coach, your messages are sent to our AI provider (OpenAI) to write a reply, and stored on our server for 90 days so the conversation can continue, then deleted. Do not type anything you would not want processed that way. The coach is not a therapist and not a medical service.
Sunday report links
If you share your weekly card, we create a public link that anyone with it can open. It shows only the headline, the time you took back, seven bars, your streak and a stamp. No name, email, app names or dates. Links expire after 90 days and you can turn one off at any time.
This website and the waitlist
If you join the waitlist we store your email address, the apps you ticked, your browser language and the date. We use it to write to you about the launch. This site sets no cookies and has no analytics or ad trackers. If the bot check (Cloudflare Turnstile) is switched on, Cloudflare processes a short check from your browser to tell people from bots. You can ask us to remove your email at any time.
Who else handles data
Only the services we need to run the product: our hosting provider, Cloudflare (network and bot protection), our sign-in provider, RevenueCat (subscriptions), OpenAI (coach replies) and, for the launch email, our email sender. They act on our instructions. We do not sell or rent personal data and we do not share it for advertising.
Your rights
Whoever you are, you can ask us to show you your data, correct it, export it or delete it. If you are in the European Economic Area or the UK (GDPR), India (Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023) or California (CCPA/CPRA), you have these rights by law, including the right to withdraw consent, to object, and to complain to your data protection authority. We do not sell or share personal information, so there is nothing to opt out of; the answer to "do not sell my data" is always yes.
Write to hello@thumbpause.com from the address on your account. We reply within 30 days, usually much sooner.
Deleting your account
In the app, go to Settings and choose Delete account. We then delete your account, rules, usage, events, reports, share links and coach messages from our server. Backups roll off within 35 days. You can also email us. Data that only lives on your phone is removed by uninstalling the app.
Children
Thumbpause is not meant for children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect their data. If you think a child has given us data, email us and we will delete it.
Security and changes
Data is sent over HTTPS and kept in a database with restricted access. No system is perfectly secure, and if a breach affects you we will tell you and the authorities as the law requires. If this policy changes in a way that matters, we will say so in the app before it takes effect.