SelfGuard

Privacy Policy

Last updated: 11 August 2026

SelfGuard (“SelfGuard”, “the app”, “we”, “us”) is an Android app published by RestartLab that helps you block pornography, distracting apps, and content, and stay accountable during recovery. This policy explains what information the app handles, why, and the specific cases where data leaves your device. It applies to the SelfGuard Android app (com.selfguardapp.android).

The short version. Your blocks, keywords, focus sessions, streaks, notes, and check-ins are stored only on your device and encrypted, and the app has no ads and no analytics or tracking SDKs. However, to create a content or app block — SelfGuard’s core feature — you must first verify an accountability email (this is required, not optional). Once you do, that email and the details of your active blocks (including the keywords and app names you block) are sent to our server to run verification, backup, and accountability alerts. Focus sessions don’t require an accountability email and stay on your device. If you turn on the optional Network Protection, your device’s DNS is handled by a third-party filtering provider (see Section 4).

1. Information stored only on your device

The following is created and kept locally on your phone, in a database that is encrypted at rest. We cannot see it, and it is not sent to us (aside from the active-block details described in Section 3):

Your blocks and rules (apps, keywords, adult-content, browsers, group profiles) and their durations;
Focus sessions and their settings;
Your recovery streak, milestones, daily check-ins, and your personal “why” note;
App settings and preferences.

2. Device access and permissions

Permission / access	Why	Leaves your device?
Accessibility Service	To enforce your blocks, SelfGuard reads on-screen content (the current app, the web address in supported browsers, and visible text) in real time to detect blocked apps, sites, and words.	No. This is processed on-device, only to enforce your blocks. It is never recorded, stored, or transmitted.
Installed-app list	To show you a list of your installed apps so you can choose which to block or silence. SelfGuard asks Android only for apps that have a launcher icon — it does not request the broad `QUERY_ALL_PACKAGES` permission.	No, the list is read on-device. Only the identifiers of apps you actually choose to block are backed up (see Section 3).
Internet	Accountability email/verification and trusted-time sync.	See Sections 3–5.

Those are all the permissions SelfGuard requests. The app declares a single Android permission — INTERNET — plus the Accessibility Service you switch on yourself. It does not request notifications, location, contacts, storage, camera, or microphone.

3. Information sent when you create blocks (accountability)

Creating any block requires a verified accountability email. This is a required step for SelfGuard’s core blocking — you cannot create an app, keyword, adult-content, browser, profile, or network block without it. The email may be your own or a trusted partner’s. When you set this up and while you have active blocks, we process:

Accountability email address. We send a one-time 6-digit code to the address to verify it, and later use it to email an alert if a commitment appears to have been abandoned (the app stops checking in while a block is still active).
Active block details (“lock backup”). While a block is active, its metadata — the block type and target (for example an app’s package name or a keyword you chose), and its start and end times — is backed up to our server, keyed to your verified email. This lets your commitment survive a reinstall or data-wipe (an anti-tampering feature) and lets us detect abandonment. This means the specific keywords and app identifiers you block are sent to our server. It does not include the contents of your screen, your browsing, your streak, or your personal notes.
Liveness heartbeats. The app periodically confirms it is still running (your email + a timestamp) so we can tell an active commitment from an abandoned one.
Your IP address, unavoidably. As with any request to any website, these requests reach our server carrying your device’s IP address, which our hosting provider (Cloudflare) handles in order to deliver them. We do not store it alongside your data or use it to identify you, profile you, or work out where you are.

Focus sessions do not require an accountability email and are not sent to our server. If you only use Focus and never create a block, none of the above is collected.

4. Network Protection (Private DNS) — optional

SelfGuard’s optional Network Protection guides you to set your device’s system Private DNS to a family-filtering DNS provider — CleanBrowsing (family-filter-dns.cleanbrowsing.org) — so that adult sites are blocked and Safe Search is enforced across every app. If you enable it:

This is a setting on your own device. Your DNS lookups (the domain names your device resolves) are then handled by CleanBrowsing according to that setting.
SelfGuard does not route, receive, store, or log your DNS queries or browsing history. See CleanBrowsing’s privacy policy for how they process DNS queries.
You can turn Private DNS off in your device settings at any time (unless you have chosen to lock Network Protection on for a set period).

5. Trusted time

So that a block can’t be ended early by changing the phone’s clock, SelfGuard takes the time from a trusted source rather than from the device:

First, a public time (NTP) server (time.google.com). This request contains no personal data — only a time query.
If that is unreachable, our own server (api.selfguardapp.com). Many mobile networks, public Wi-Fi hotspots and captive portals block the NTP protocol while allowing ordinary web traffic; without a trusted time the app would fall back to the phone’s own clock and your blocks could be bypassed. In that case SelfGuard makes a plain HTTPS request and reads only the clock time from the response. It sends no email address, no account information and no details of your blocks. As with any web request, it does reach our server carrying your device’s IP address, which our hosting provider (Cloudflare) handles in order to serve the request; we do not use it to identify you or build a profile.

6. Purchases and subscriptions

This version of SelfGuard sells nothing. There are no in-app purchases and no subscriptions: the app contains no billing code, takes no payment, and collects no purchase or financial information of any kind. A “Premium” tier is described inside the app as coming later, but it cannot be bought yet.

If paid features are added in future, this policy will be updated before they go on sale to name the payment processor and say exactly what it receives.

7. Who processes data on our behalf

We use a small number of service providers strictly to run the features above:

Cloudflare — hosts our verification/lock-backup server and its storage (accountability email, lock backup, heartbeats).
Resend — delivers the verification-code and abandonment-alert emails (receives the recipient email address and message).
CleanBrowsing — the third-party DNS provider used by Network Protection, if you enable it (Section 4); it handles your device’s DNS queries per your device setting.
Google Play — app distribution.

We do not sell or rent your personal information. The app contains no advertising and no third-party analytics or tracking SDKs of any kind. (This website is a separate thing — see Section 12.)

8. Data retention

Verification codes are short-lived and expire within 10 minutes.
The lock backup is stored only while a block is active and is automatically deleted about a day after the last block ends.
The record that an address was verified is kept until you ask us to delete it. After you confirm the 6-digit code we keep a small record — the accountability email address and the date it was verified — with no automatic expiry, so a reinstalled app can restore your active blocks and prove the address is still confirmed. It holds no blocks, no browsing, and no on-device data. You can have it removed at any time (Section 10).
Two small housekeeping records are also kept against your email address and expire on their own: a send counter that limits how many verification emails can be requested per day (deleted after 24 hours), and a flag recording that an abandonment alert was already sent, so your partner is not emailed about the same lapse twice. Neither contains anything beyond a count, a date, and a flag.
The on-device data stays until you delete it or uninstall the app.

9. Security

On-device data is stored in an encrypted database (SQLCipher). Data sent to our server is transmitted over HTTPS. Server-side email keys are held only on our provider’s infrastructure and are never included in the app.

10. Your choices and rights

Use Focus only: Focus sessions don’t require an accountability email, so using only Focus keeps everything on your device.
Delete on-device data: uninstalling the app removes the local database from your phone.
Delete server data: to request deletion of an accountability email and its lock backup, contact us (Section 14). Backups also auto-delete shortly after your blocks end.
Depending on where you live, you may have rights to access, correct, or delete your personal data; contact us to exercise them.

11. Children’s privacy

SelfGuard is intended for adults aged 18 and over and is not directed to children. It is not designed for, marketed to, or intended for use by anyone under 18, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has provided us data, contact us and we will delete it.

12. This website

This page and the rest of selfguardapp.com are hosted on Cloudflare, which serves the site and processes standard request data such as your IP address. The site also uses Cloudflare Web Analytics to count page views. It uses no cookies, does not fingerprint your browser, and does not track you across other websites — it records aggregate information such as page, referrer, country and device type.

This applies to the website only. The Android app itself contains no analytics or tracking of any kind (Section 7).

13. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as the app evolves. Material changes will be reflected here with a new “Last updated” date. Continued use after an update means you accept the revised policy.

14. Contact

Questions or requests about privacy: privacy@selfguardapp.com.