Privacy Policy - Nudge
Last updated: 14 August 2026
Nudge has no account, no server of its own and no analytics. Everything it observes about your phone usage stays on your device. Nudge is free and supported by ads on its own screens; see Advertising for exactly what that involves.
Nudge is an Android screen-time tool that runs entirely on your device.
What Nudge can see
To know when to interrupt you, Nudge uses Android's accessibility service to observe:
- which app is currently in the foreground, and
- the address bar of supported web browsers.
This information is checked against the blocklist you configured, in memory, and then discarded. It is never sent anywhere and never shared with anyone. Nudge does not read page content, messages, form fields, passwords, or anything you type.
The one exception is a block itself: when Nudge interrupts you, it records the name of that app or website and how long you waited, on your device only, so the statistics screen can show you where your time goes. See below.
Nudge also uses Android's usage-access permission to show you your own screen-time statistics. That data stays on the device.
What Nudge stores on your device
Kept in the app's private storage, readable only by Nudge:
- Your settings - timer lengths, session limit, strict mode
- Your blocklist - the apps, website categories and domains you chose
- Your history - how many times you were interrupted, by what, and for how long, kept for a maximum of 35 days and then deleted automatically
Uninstalling Nudge, or clearing its data in Android settings, removes all of it permanently. There is no backup and no copy anywhere else.
Advertising
Nudge is free and shows ads supplied by Google AdMob. Ads appear only on Nudge's own screens: in the content of the app, and as a full-screen ad when you open it. They are never shown on the block screen that appears over other apps.
To serve them, the Google Mobile Ads SDK collects and shares with Google your device's advertising ID, coarse device and app information, and ad interaction events such as impressions and clicks. That is handled by Google, not by Nudge, and is described in how Google uses information from sites or apps that use our services.
You can reset or delete your advertising ID at any time in Android Settings > Privacy > Ads. In the EEA, the UK and Switzerland you are asked for consent before personalised ads are shown, and you can change that choice later.
What the accessibility service sees, which app is in the foreground and your browser's address bar, is never shared with the ad SDK or anyone else. It does not leave your device and is not used for ad targeting. That separation is deliberate.
Payments
Nudge has no paid plan, no subscription and no in-app purchases. Every feature is free. Nudge never asks for, sees or stores payment details of any kind.
Permissions and why they exist
| Permission | Why |
|---|---|
| Accessibility service | Detect the foreground app and browser address bar, so blocks can trigger |
| Display over other apps | Draw the block screen on top of the app you opened |
| Notifications | Required by Android for the foreground service that keeps Nudge running |
| Usage access | Show your screen-time statistics |
| Ignore battery optimisation | Optional - stops the system killing the guard in the background |
| Biometrics | Optional - only if you turn on the app lock. See below |
| Run at startup | Restore your guard after a reboot |
The app lock
If you turn on Lock Nudge, opening the app asks for your fingerprint or device PIN. This is handled entirely by Android's own prompt: Nudge asks the system "is this the device owner?" and receives yes or no. It never sees, reads or stores your fingerprint, face or PIN, and no biometric data is transmitted anywhere. Your fingerprint never leaves the secure hardware on your phone.
Children
Nudge is intended for people aged 18 and over and is not directed at children.
Third parties
Nudge contains no analytics SDK and no crash-reporting SDK. The only third party involved is Google AdMob, for the ads described above.
Changes
If a future version of Nudge ever collects data, this policy will be updated before that version ships, and the change will be described here and in the Play Store listing's Data Safety section.
Contact
Questions about this policy: [email protected]