Stop Swarm Privacy Policy

1. Core privacy principles

Local processing

Screen-time calculations, browsing-time calculations, targeting decisions, thresholds, and visual intervention decisions are performed locally on the user's device.

No advertising or analytics

Stop Swarm does not use third-party advertising, behavioral advertising, analytics SDKs, attribution SDKs, or user profiling.

No automatic transmission of usage activity

Stop Swarm does not automatically transmit screen-time information, browsing activity, visited websites, selected applications, diagnostic information, or interaction history to the developer.

No sale of user data

Stop Swarm does not sell user data.

Stop Swarm does not use or transfer user data for personalized advertising, creditworthiness, lending, or purposes unrelated to Stop Swarm's user-facing functionality.

2. Android Usage Access and screen state

When you grant Android Usage Access, Stop Swarm reads Android events indicating whether the screen is interactive and whether the keyguard is shown or hidden.

These events are used to calculate one aggregate amount of time during which the screen is both on and unlocked.

Stop Swarm does not:

• capture screenshots;
• record the screen;
• read displayed text;
• monitor typing;
• use an Accessibility service;
• record keyboard input;
• create a general history of the content viewed on the device.

3. Android app targeting

The Apps screen can list launchable applications available to Android, including their label, icon, and package identifier.

If you configure application targeting, Stop Swarm stores the targeting mode and the package identifiers you explicitly select.

When the selected targeting mode requires it, Stop Swarm may examine current or recent Android foreground-activity events to determine whether the Stop Swarm overlay should be visible.

Observed foreground package identities used only for this immediate decision remain in memory and are not used to create a chronological application-usage history.

Selected package identifiers may remain stored until you remove the selection, clear Stop Swarm's data, or uninstall Stop Swarm.

A selected package identifier may remain stored if the corresponding application is temporarily uninstalled so that the user's selection can continue to work if the application is reinstalled.

4. Information stored locally by the Android app

The Android application may store the following information in Android app-private storage:

• the effective Stop Swarm day;
• aggregate daily screen time;
• the current screen-time goal;
• any higher goal scheduled to take effect on the following day;
• enabled and paused state;
• temporary overlay-suppression state;
• selected visual theme;
• local entitlement information;
• onboarding state;
• application-targeting mode;
• explicitly selected package identifiers;
• local notification-permission state;
• local tracking state;
• up to 30 aggregate history records containing the date, total duration, and applicable goal.

While tracking is active, the Android foreground notification may display the current aggregate duration and goal and provide local hide/show controls.

When tracking is paused, the notification displays the paused state.

This information is not automatically sent to Stop Swarm or to another party.

5. Android local diagnostics

The Android application can retain a local diagnostic journal containing the latest 400 technical transition events by count.

This journal may include:

• event timestamps;
• a random four-character process-session code;
• service state;
• permission state;
• threshold state;
• renderer state;
• overlay decisions;
• other technical application state.

It does not intentionally record:

• screen content;
• typed text;
• passwords;
• a stable user identifier;
• a chronological per-app usage history;
• observed foreground application names.

The current production interface does not expose routine diagnostic sharing controls.

Retained diagnostic tooling can generate a technical report containing information such as:

• Stop Swarm version and build information;
• Android and API version;
• device manufacturer and model;
• locale;
• event timestamps;
• technical state information.

If diagnostic sharing functionality is explicitly used, Android may allow the user to copy the report to the clipboard or share a read-only cached text file through the Android sharing interface.

Stop Swarm does not upload diagnostic reports automatically.

6. Android overlay, notification, and foreground service

Android's display-over-other-apps permission is used to display Stop Swarm's visual interventions above other applications.

The overlay is configured as non-interactive and does not intentionally receive user gestures or keyboard input.

Android or another application may nevertheless restrict input while an overlay is present.

A user-initiated foreground service keeps Stop Swarm's daily timer and overlay functionality operating after the user leaves the Stop Swarm application.

Its persistent Android notification makes this operation visible.

Users can pause or disable Stop Swarm from within the application and can revoke Android permissions through Android Settings.

Stop Swarm does not use a boot receiver to automatically restart itself following a device reboot.

7. Chrome extension purpose

The Stop Swarm Chrome extension helps users reduce excessive browsing and doomscrolling by measuring active browsing time locally and progressively displaying visual interventions on eligible webpages.

The extension uses browsing-related information only to provide this user-facing functionality.

8. Website and browsing activity processed by the Chrome extension

To determine when browsing time should be counted and when Stop Swarm's visual interventions should appear, the extension accesses the URL of the active tab in the last-focused normal Chrome window. For eligible HTTP(S) pages, that URL is immediately reduced locally to its hostname for matching against the user's selected domains.

The full URL, path, query string, and page title are not persisted. Only the current hostname and its matching configured domain, when available, may be kept temporarily in browser session storage as part of the active timing context. Stop Swarm does not create or retain a list of visited pages or per-domain usage totals.

Under Chrome Web Store terminology, this constitutes handling of web browsing activity.

This processing occurs locally in the browser.

Stop Swarm does not automatically transmit the user's browsing activity, browsing history, visited domains, or URLs to the developer or to third parties.

Stop Swarm does not use browsing activity for:

• advertising;
• behavioral profiling;
• marketing attribution;
• sale to third parties;
• creditworthiness;
• lending;
• purposes unrelated to Stop Swarm's screen-time functionality.

9. Chrome host access

The Chrome extension requires access to webpages on which its user-facing functionality operates.

Host access is used to:

• determine whether Stop Swarm should operate on the current webpage;
• measure relevant active browsing time;
• inject and display Stop Swarm's visual interventions.

Host access technically allows a browser extension to interact with webpages covered by the permission.

Stop Swarm uses that access only for its disclosed screen-time and visual-intervention functionality.

Stop Swarm does not intentionally collect or store webpage text, passwords, form contents, private messages, images, videos, or other page content for profiling or unrelated purposes.

10. Chrome idle status

The Chrome idle permission is used to detect the device or system locked state. Browsing time is not counted while Chrome reports that the device is locked.

Ordinary inactivity is not treated as a lock: passive reading or watching a video can remain eligible when the tracked tab and its Chrome window are active.

The lock state is processed locally for screen-time calculation and is not transmitted to Stop Swarm.

11. Chrome alarms

The Chrome alarms permission is used for time-based extension operations such as periodically updating tracking state and performing scheduled resets.

It does not provide Stop Swarm with access to the user's operating-system alarms, calendar, or reminders.

12. Chrome extension storage

The Chrome storage permission is used to retain information required for the extension to function across browser sessions.

Persisted in chrome.storage.local

• whether Stop Swarm is enabled;
• the daily limit in minutes;
• the user-entered list of tracked domains;
• the fixed version-one theme identifier;
• the effective local day key;
• one aggregate duration for the day;
• technical update and checkpoint timestamps used to avoid double counting.

Kept in chrome.storage.session

• whether the current timing segment is active;
• its day key and last checkpoint timestamp;
• the current tab and window identifiers;
• the current hostname and matching configured domain, when available.

Session data is overwritten as the active context changes and is discarded when Chrome ends the browser session or the extension is disabled, reloaded, or updated. Stop Swarm does not build or persist a browsing-history list, per-page history, full URLs, URL paths, query strings, page titles, page content, or per-domain usage totals.

This information is stored using browser-managed extension storage. Stop Swarm does not operate a developer-controlled server that receives these settings or usage counters. The extension does not create a Stop Swarm account associated with this information.

13. Chrome page content and interaction data

Stop Swarm's Chrome extension is designed to display its own visual elements on webpages rather than analyze the underlying content of those webpages.

It does not intentionally collect:

• text entered into websites;
• passwords;
• authentication credentials;
• form submissions;
• emails;
• chat messages;
• payment information;
• health information;
• mouse movement;
• keystrokes;
• clipboard contents.

The extension's visual interventions are part of Stop Swarm's own interface and are not intended to inspect or record the content underneath them.

14. Chrome remote code and external services

The Stop Swarm Chrome extension does not rely on remotely hosted JavaScript or WebAssembly for its functionality.

Executable extension code is distributed as part of the installed extension package.

Stop Swarm does not use downloaded code with eval() or equivalent mechanisms to change the extension's executable behavior remotely.

The extension has no Stop Swarm analytics service, advertising service, or telemetry backend.

15. Chrome data retention and deletion

Extension settings and locally maintained tracking information remain in browser-managed storage until they are:

• changed by the user;
• reset through functionality provided by the extension;
• removed by clearing the extension's stored data where supported by Chrome;
• or removed when the extension is uninstalled, subject to Chrome's own storage behavior.

Because Stop Swarm does not maintain a server-side Stop Swarm account or user database containing this browsing information, there is no corresponding Stop Swarm server-side browsing history to delete.

Users can uninstall the extension at any time through Chrome's extension-management interface.

16. Website preferences

The public Stop Swarm website does not use Stop Swarm analytics or advertising trackers.

If you explicitly choose a website language, the site may store a language preference in your browser's local storage, for example:

preferred_language = fr

This preference is used only to remember the selected site language.

Stop Swarm does not associate this preference with a Stop Swarm account.

The site does not intentionally use this preference to create a browsing profile.

17. Network capability and third parties

The Stop Swarm Android application has no Stop Swarm account, developer-operated usage backend, advertising system, analytics platform, attribution platform, or automatic telemetry system.

The Android release may include the official Google Play Billing library and network permissions contributed by that library.

Where purchasing functionality is not available to the user, this infrastructure remains dormant.

If purchases are enabled in a future version, this privacy policy and any applicable Google Play disclosures will be updated as required before that functionality is made available.

The Android application's visible “Share the app” functionality sends a localized message containing Stop Swarm's public website address to an application selected by the user.

The receiving application controls its own processing and any generation of website link previews.

The Chrome extension does not use browsing data for advertising or transfer it to advertising providers.

18. Security

Android application data described above is protected by Android's application sandbox.

Stop Swarm does not claim separate application-level encryption for Android app-private files.

Android cloud backup and device-to-device transfer are disabled for Stop Swarm where configured by the application.

Chrome extension information is stored using Chrome's browser-managed extension storage and is subject to Chrome's own security and storage mechanisms.

Stop Swarm does not intentionally transmit locally processed screen-time or browsing-activity information to its own servers.

19. Retention and deletion

For the Android application, local configuration and aggregate history remain until they are modified, cleared through Android application-data controls, or removed by uninstalling Stop Swarm.

The local Android diagnostic journal retains only its latest 400 events.

Android may independently clear cached files.

For the Chrome extension, locally stored settings and tracking information remain according to the extension's functionality and Chrome's storage behavior until changed, cleared, or removed.

Stop Swarm does not maintain a remote Stop Swarm user account containing these local usage records.

20. User controls

Android

Users can:

• grant or revoke Usage Access;
• grant or revoke display-over-other-apps permission;
• grant or revoke notification permission;
• change app targeting;
• hide visual interventions temporarily;
• pause Stop Swarm;
• disable Stop Swarm;
• clear Stop Swarm's Android application data;
• uninstall the application.

Chrome

Users can:

• enable or disable the extension;
• configure Stop Swarm's settings;
• change website targeting where supported;
• change browsing-time goals;
• remove the extension's access to websites through Chrome where supported;
• clear extension data using available browser or extension controls;
• uninstall the extension.

21. Chrome Web Store Limited Use

The Stop Swarm Chrome extension's use of information obtained through Chrome extension permissions complies with the Chrome Web Store User Data Policy, including its Limited Use requirements.

Information obtained through Chrome permissions is used only to provide or improve Stop Swarm's disclosed user-facing screen-time and visual-intervention functionality.

Stop Swarm does not use or transfer this information for personalized advertising.

Stop Swarm does not sell this information.

Stop Swarm does not use this information to determine creditworthiness or for lending purposes.

Stop Swarm does not allow humans to access individual users' browsing activity through a Stop Swarm backend because this browsing activity is not transmitted to such a backend.

22. Changes to this policy

This privacy policy may be updated when Stop Swarm's functionality, permissions, data access, storage, transmission behavior, or third-party dependencies change.

The effective date at the top of this page will be updated when material changes are made.

23. Privacy contact

For privacy questions, concerns, or requests, contact:

stopswarm.contact@gmail.com