This page is provided as a general reference for Social Break users and is not a substitute for legal advice. If you have specific legal questions, please consult an attorney.
Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy explains what information Social Break collects when you use the website, the Android app, the browser extension and the desktop app, how we use it, and the choices you have. Social Break is responsible for your data.
Information We Collect
- Account information: username, email address, and password (stored as a secure hash, never in plain text).
- Plan & media list: the apps and websites you choose to track or limit, and your limit settings.
- Usage data: how many minutes you spend each day in the apps and websites on your media list, sent by the Android app, browser extension or desktop app you connect. The Android app can also show you how long you spent in other apps on your phone; that stays on your phone and is never sent to us. Details for each are below.
- What you plan in Social Break: habits and check-ins, goals, milestones and weekly check-ins, days you close (the goals you marked and an optional note), and badges. Day notes are encrypted at rest.
- Payment information: Premium bought on the website is processed by Stripe, and Premium bought in the Android app is processed by Google Play. We never see or store your card number - only a subscription reference and its status.
- Student discount (optional): the school email address you verify, and when it was verified.
- Communications: messages you send us through the Contact page, and feedback you leave on articles.
- Google sign-in (optional): if you sign in with Google, Google shares your name and email address with us.
- Technical data: your IP address is processed by our hosting and security providers to deliver and protect the service, and used on the Premium page to show prices in your likely currency (country level only, not stored).
Android App: What It Can Access
The Android app asks for a few permissions, each for one job, and tells you why before asking:
- Usage access lets the app read how long apps are open on your phone. Only the time for apps on your list is sent to our servers. The time in your other apps - shown to you under "Other apps", and used to suggest apps you might want to add - is worked out on your phone and never leaves it.
- App limits is an accessibility service, used for one thing: to notice which app comes to the front, so Social Break can show its own screen when you open an app you've limited. It reads no screen content - it asks Android only for "a window changed" events, and takes only the name of the app in front. It never sees what's on your screen, what you type, or anything inside other apps.
- Notifications are used for reminders, like the Sunday goals check-in, which you can switch off. They're created on your phone.
- Run at startup lets your limits keep working after the phone restarts.
- Your login token is stored in the phone's secure storage, never your password. Logging out or uninstalling removes it from the phone.
Browser Extension: What It Can Access
Our Chrome extension requests broad host permissions (access to all websites) because its core function - blocking or limiting time on sites you choose - requires it to be able to check the URL of whatever site you're currently on. It does not inject scripts into pages to read their content. Specifically, the extension:
- Reads the URL (not the content) of your currently active browser tab, to check it against your own Media List.
- Uses Chrome's idle-detection API to pause time tracking while your computer is idle or locked, so time isn't counted while you're away.
- Stores your login session (an authentication token) in the extension's local storage so you don't have to log in every time; it never stores your password.
- Can redirect a tab to a local "Take a Breath" page when you reach a limit you've set, which shows the goal you said comes first.
- Can show a local daily notification summarizing your day's usage; this notification is generated on your device and is not itself transmitted anywhere.
- If you disconnect or uninstall the extension, the login token and cached usage data stored locally in the extension are removed from your device immediately. Data already sent to our servers is kept until you delete your account.
Desktop App: What It Can Access
The Social Break desktop app is a small, optional Windows tool for tracking time in native applications the same way the browser extension tracks browser tabs. It runs as a visible icon in your system tray - it never hides its own presence. Specifically, the desktop app:
- Reads only the name of whichever application currently has focus, to check it against the desktop-app entries on your own Media List. It does not read keystrokes, screen contents, file contents, clipboard data, or any other activity - not even for apps you haven't added to your Media List.
- Uses Windows' own idle-detection APIs to pause time tracking while your computer is idle or locked, so time isn't counted while you're away.
- Stores your login token encrypted on disk (via Windows' built-in Data Protection API), tied to your Windows user account - not in plain text, and it never stores your password.
- Can show its own overlay window and minimize the tracked app when you reach a limit you've set, the same enforcement moment as the browser extension's block page.
- If you log out or uninstall the desktop app, the locally stored login token and cached usage data are removed from your device immediately. Data already sent to our servers is kept until you delete your account.
How We Use Your Information
We use your information to provide Social Break to you - running your account, measuring and enforcing the limits you set, showing your progress, processing payments and answering support requests. That is the basis for almost everything here: it's needed to provide the service you signed up for. We do not use advertising trackers, we do not show ads, and we never sell or rent your data.
Emails We Send
- Service emails you need, like password resets, receipts and replies to your messages.
- The weekly progress report, for Premium members. It's on by default for new accounts and can be turned off any time in Settings.
- A reminder if you haven't visited in a while - at most two, then no more until you come back. You can turn these off in Settings on the website, and every one of these emails links there.
Who We Share Data With
Only with the service providers needed to run Social Break, each handling data on our behalf:
- Render - hosting and database.
- Cloudflare - network delivery and security.
- Resend - sending emails.
- Stripe - website payments.
- Google Play and our payment-management provider - in-app purchases in the Android app.
- Google - sign-in, only if you use it, and web fonts loaded by the website.
- IPinfo - a country-level lookup of your IP address on the Premium page, to show prices in your currency.
- Sentry - error monitoring. Error reports contain technical details like the page address and where the code failed - never the contents of what you submitted.
Some of these providers process data outside your country, including in the United States, under the safeguards they provide for international transfers. We may also disclose information if the law requires it.
Data Retention & Deletion
We keep your data for as long as your account exists. You can delete your account at any time - from Settings in the Android app, or from the account menu on the website (Settings → Delete Account). Deletion is immediate and permanent: your account and everything tied to it, including messages you sent us, are removed. Feedback you left on articles stays, no longer linked to you, and records of payments are kept for accounting as the law requires - on our side with nothing that identifies you. See how to delete your account for the steps, including if you can't sign in.
Deleting your account cancels a Premium subscription bought on the website. A subscription bought through Google Play has to be cancelled in the Play Store, since Google manages that billing.
Your Rights
You can access, correct, download or delete your data, object to or restrict how we use it, and withdraw any consent you gave. You can download your habit history from the Habits page and your screen time from your stats page; for anything else, email socialbreakproject@gmail.com and we'll respond within one month. If you're in the EU/EEA or the UK and think we've handled your data wrongly, you can complain to the data protection authority in your country.
Children's Privacy
Social Break is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect information from them. If you're under the age of digital consent where you live (up to 16 in parts of the EU), please use Social Break with a parent's or guardian's permission.
Changes to This Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time, and the date at the top of this page shows when it last changed. For significant changes, we'll let you know by email or in the app before they take effect.
Terms of Service
By creating an account or using Social Break, you agree to these Terms.
The Service
Social Break is a habit-tracking tool to help you reduce social media use, including a free tier and an optional paid Premium subscription that unlocks additional features. Social Break is a personal productivity tool and is not a substitute for professional medical, psychological, or mental health advice.
Your Account
You are responsible for keeping your login credentials secure and for all activity that happens under your account. You must provide accurate information when registering.
Subscriptions & Billing
Premium is billed on a recurring monthly or annual basis and renews automatically until cancelled. Bought on the website, it's billed through Stripe and can be cancelled anytime from the Premium page's "Manage Billing" link. Bought in the Android app, it's billed through Google Play and can be cancelled in the Play Store under Subscriptions; Google Play's refund policies apply to those purchases. Cancellation stops future renewals; we do not provide prorated refunds for the remainder of a billing period already paid for.
Lifetime Premium is a single payment that never renews and gives Premium for as long as Social Break runs. Bought on the website it's charged once through Stripe; bought in the Android app, once through Google Play, whose refund policies apply. If you buy it while a subscription is running, that subscription's renewal is switched off on the website; a Google Play subscription has to be cancelled in the Play Store.
Acceptable Use
You agree not to misuse the service - including attempting to bypass security or paid features, scrape or reverse-engineer the API used by our apps and extension, or use the service for any unlawful purpose.
Disclaimer & Limitation of Liability
Social Break is provided "as is" without warranties of any kind. To the fullest extent permitted by law, Social Break is not liable for any indirect or consequential damages arising from your use of the service.
Termination
We may suspend or terminate accounts that violate these Terms. You may stop using the service and cancel your subscription at any time.
Changes to These Terms
We may update these Terms from time to time. Continued use of Social Break after a change means you accept the updated Terms.