Privacy Policy — ManoloMode
Last updated: 2026-10-03
ManoloMode is an Android app that blocks distracting apps until you complete a physical exercise. This policy explains what it does with your data. The short version: it does not send your data anywhere, because it has nowhere to send it. There is no ManoloMode server.
1. Who we are
ManoloMode is an independent app with no company behind it. You can reach us at manolomode.app@gmail.com, and we answer there.
2. We do not collect your data
ManoloMode has no user accounts, no login, no analytics, no crash reporting and no third-party trackers of ours. Everything the app knows about you — your reps, your streak, your medals, your settings — is stored on your own device, in the app's private storage, and never leaves it through the app. We have no server, so there is nowhere for it to go.
The one exception is advertising, and only in the free profile. CADET is free and shows one ad when you spend a joker. That ad is served by Google AdMob, which for that request receives your device's advertising ID and standard device information — that is how ad networks work, and it is the price of the free profile. It never receives your exercise data, your streak or anything else this app stores. If you use PREMIUM, HERCULES or SCIENCE there are no ads, and the app makes no network requests of its own. The Google ads library ships inside the app and Android loads it with the process, but with no ad to serve it stays silent. What we cannot speak for is Google Play Services itself: that is part of Android, not of this app.
That includes:
- Your exercise counters (squats, push-ups, plank seconds, steps) and the levels derived from them.
- Your streak, your medals, and the days you used a joker.
- Which profile you chose (Cadet, Premium, Hercules, Science) and its settings.
- Which apps you chose to block, and a local log of the times those apps were intercepted.
- If you use the Science profile, the metrics of that protocol.
3. What the app can see while it runs, and what it does with it
To do its job, ManoloMode needs to know which app is in the foreground. It uses Android's usage access for this, and the check is a comparison: is the app in front one of the apps you asked me to block? The answer is used immediately to decide whether to show the exercise screen. The app does not build a browsing history, does not read the content of any other app, and does not transmit any of it.
The only thing kept is a local counter of interceptions — the package name of a blocked app and the time it happened — which is what powers the "caught" statistic and your streak. It stays on the device.
To count repetitions, the app reads the phone's motion sensors (accelerometer, gyroscope and the hardware step counter) only while an exercise is in progress, and only inside the app's own screen. The raw sensor readings are processed in memory and discarded; what is saved is the resulting count. No raw biometric or motion data is stored or transmitted.
4. Backup to your own Google account
Android's own Auto Backup may copy this app's data to your Google account so you do not lose your streak when you change phone. This is a service of the operating system, not of ManoloMode:
- It goes to your Google Drive, in a hidden area that does not count against your storage quota.
- It is encrypted with your device's PIN, pattern or password on Android 9 and above.
- We cannot read it, request it, or delete it. We never see this data.
- You can turn it off at any time in Android Settings → Google → Backup, or per app.
5. Permissions, and why each one exists
| Permission | Why |
|---|---|
| Usage access | To know which app is in the foreground so blocking can happen at all. Without it the app cannot work. |
| Physical activity | To read the hardware step counter for the "steps" exercise. |
| Display over other apps | Android 10+ forbids an app from opening a screen from the background unless it holds this. Without it, the blocker cannot put itself in front of TikTok — it is what makes the block possible at all, not a decoration. |
| Notifications | To show the permanent notification that tells you the blocker is alive — and to tell you when it is not. |
| Run at startup | So the blocker comes back after you restart your phone, instead of silently staying off. |
| Foreground service | The blocker has to keep watching while you are inside other apps. |
| Vibration | Haptic feedback when you finish a set. |
None of these are used to gather information about you.
6. Children
ManoloMode is not directed at children and we do not knowingly process data from anyone under 16.
7. Your rights
Because there is no server and no account, there is nothing for us to hand over, correct or erase — we hold nothing. To delete everything the app knows about you: uninstall it, or use Android Settings → Apps → ManoloMode → Storage → Clear data. To remove the operating-system backup, turn off Backup in your Google account settings.
8. Changes
If this policy changes, the new version will be published at this address with a new date.
9. Contact
manolomode.app@gmail.com