Privacy Policy

Last updated: 25 October 2026

Phi Focus is an offline study-time tracker. Your study data (subjects, sessions, to-dos, schedule, wallpapers, settings) stays on your device and is never sent to us. The app has no ads, no analytics and no crash reporting, and never needs a login. It talks to the internet in only two optional cases: Google Play, when you buy or restore Phi Focus Pro, and friend rooms, if you turn them on, which share a random name and today's total minutes with the people in your rooms.

1. Information We Collect

We never collect your study data, and we do not collect any personal information. Unless you turn on friend rooms (section 3), we hold nothing about you at all.

Phi Focus stores the following on your device to provide its core functionality:

Subject names you create (e.g., "Physics", "Math")
Daily time targets you set
Study session records (start time, duration, date, entry method)
To-dos you create (title, optional notes, optional subject, completion time)
Your study schedule (time blocks and their reminders)
Wallpaper images you choose, copied into the app's own private storage
App preferences (alert sound, vibration, accent colour, theme, layout)
Active session state (so the timer survives app restarts and reboots)
Whether you are an early supporter (a single yes/no flag, see section 4)

None of the above is sent to us or to anyone else. Friend rooms, if you turn them on, send only today's total minutes (section 3). It lives in a local database and in the app's private files.

2. Data Transmission

Phi Focus does not:

Upload your subjects, sessions, to-dos, schedule, notes, wallpapers or settings anywhere
Use any analytics, crash reporting, advertising, ad network or social SDK
Sell or share anything with data brokers
Require an account, a login or cloud sync. Friend rooms use an anonymous account with no email, phone number or sign-in (section 3)

The crash and usage reporting used during closed testing has been removed from the app.

3. Friend rooms (optional)

Friend rooms let you see how long your friends have studied today. They are off by default: until you tap Turn on in the Friends tab, the app makes no request to our server.

When you turn them on, the app sends our server (hosted by Supabase) only:

An anonymous account id, created for this phone. No email, phone number, name or Google sign-in.
A random display name the server picks for you, such as "Quiet Falcon 27". You can shuffle it; you never type one.
Today's total study minutes, the date they belong to, and your phone's timezone offset (for example UTC+5:30), so "today" means your today.
The rooms you create or join, and any room name you type.

It never sends your subjects, sessions, to-dos, schedule, notes, wallpapers, settings, or any earlier day's total. Your name and today's minutes are visible only to the members of rooms you are in. There is no public profile, search or directory. The server keeps each daily total for 14 days, and deletes an account that has sent nothing for 30 days. Invite links you share carry the room's name and its invite code, and nothing else about you.

The database is hosted by Supabase in Tokyo, Japan.

Turning it off. Friends tab → Turn off and delete removes your anonymous account, your name, your daily totals and your room memberships from the server at once. A room you were the last member of is deleted with it. If you uninstall the app or clear its data without turning friend rooms off first, the server keeps your random name and recent totals until that 30-day clean-up deletes them; to have them deleted sooner, email us with your random name (section 10).

4. Purchases (Phi Focus Pro)

Phi Focus is free. An optional upgrade, Phi Focus Pro (a yearly subscription or a one-time lifetime purchase), unlocks phone-down mode and a Pro badge. Purchases are made through Google Play Billing:

Payment is handled entirely by Google Play. We never see or receive your card, bank or payment details, your name, or your email address.
The app asks the Google Play Store app on your phone whether you own Pro. That answer is checked on your device and is not stored or sent to us.
The Google Play Billing Library built into the app may send Google technical information about billing operations (for example, whether a purchase request succeeded) so Google can run and improve Play Billing. This contains none of your study data.

Early supporters. If you had Phi Focus before it became free, the app gives you Pro for life. It decides this on your device by comparing when the app was first installed with the date the app became free, and checking that it was installed from Google Play. It stores only a yes/no flag and sends nothing.

Google processes purchase data under its own terms. See the Google Privacy Policy and the Google Play Terms of Service. To manage or cancel a subscription, use the Google Play Store app → Payments & subscriptions.

5. Permissions

Phi Focus requests the following Android permissions:

Permission	Purpose
`FOREGROUND_SERVICE`, `FOREGROUND_SERVICE_SPECIAL_USE`	Keeps the stopwatch/pomodoro timer counting while the app is in the background
`POST_NOTIFICATIONS`	Shows timer progress while a session is active, and schedule reminders
`VIBRATE`	Vibrates the device when a focus or break period ends (if enabled)
`RECEIVE_BOOT_COMPLETED`	Restores a running timer and your schedule reminders after the phone restarts
`WAKE_LOCK`	Added by Android's WorkManager so a friend-rooms upload can finish once started; only used while friend rooms are on
`com.android.vending.BILLING`	Lets the app offer and check Phi Focus Pro through Google Play
`INTERNET`, `ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE`	Used by friend rooms, and only after you turn them on (section 3), and by the Google Play Billing Library for its own use (section 4).

None of these permissions involve location, camera, microphone, contacts, or any other sensitive data. Choosing a wallpaper uses the Android photo picker, which needs no storage permission: you pick one image, the app copies it into its own private storage, and it never gains access to the rest of your gallery.

6. Data Storage, Backup & Security

Your data is stored locally using Android's Room database and Jetpack DataStore, and wallpapers in the app's private files directory, protected by your device's own security (lock screen, encryption).

If you have turned on Android's own backup (Google One / Google backup) on your phone, Android may include Phi Focus's data in that backup to your Google account, so it can be restored on a new phone. This is controlled by you in your phone's settings, is handled by Google under its own terms, and we cannot access it.

7. Data Retention & Deletion

Your study data exists only on your device (and in your own Android backup, if you use one). You have full control:

Delete individual sessions from within the app
Clear all data via Android Settings → Apps → Phi Focus → Clear Data
Uninstall the app to permanently remove all stored data
Turn off friend rooms (Friends tab → Turn off and delete) to delete everything they sent to our server

We have no copies of your study data and cannot recover it after deletion. Clearing data or uninstalling does not cancel a Pro purchase: it stays tied to your Google account and is restored when you reinstall.

8. Children's Privacy

Phi Focus is not directed at children and does not collect personal information from anyone, including children under 13. Friend rooms hold no personal information: only a random name and daily minutes.

9. Changes to This Policy

If we update this privacy policy, the revised version will be posted on this page with an updated date.

10. Contact

If you have questions about this privacy policy, or you had Phi Focus before it became free and don't see your Pro badge, contact:

Aryan
Email: focus@philauncher.com