InstaDetox

Privacy Policy

Last updated: 17 September 2026 · Applies to the Android app InstaDetox (com.instadetox.app)

This is a courtesy translation. In case of doubt, the German version prevails.

The short version. InstaDetox has no server. Everything the app knows about your usage stays on your device, and we have no access to it. There is exactly one exception: if you send us feedback from inside the app and explicitly switch on “Attach usage data”, then you send us a file. This never happens automatically, the switch is off by default, and it has to be switched on again every single time. Section 6 describes exactly what the file contains.

1. Controller

The controller within the meaning of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is:

Provider
Shortcut IT GmbH
Address
Försterstr. 11A
31275 Lehrte
Germany
Represented by
Managing Director Stephan Hötger
Email
instadetox-support@shortcut-it.com
Phone
+49 156 79273696

Full provider details are in the imprint.

We have not appointed a data protection officer; the legal conditions requiring one are not met.

2. What the app processes on your device

For InstaDetox to work, the app processes the following information on your device. This data does not leave your device, and we cannot see it. It is held solely in the app’s protected storage area, which other apps cannot access.

WhatWhy
Which app is currently in the foreground So the filter switches on and off at the right moment
The apps you have selected So the app knows what to react to
Screen time of those apps For your usage statistics and the daily colour allowance
How often you opened an app or cancelled, per app For the statistics the app shows you
Your settings (language, appearance, filter mode, breathing pause parameters, daily allowance) So the app remembers your choices
Technical state (whether the accessibility service is running, how often it stalled) So the app can detect a stalled service and restart it
Your original system colour setting So the app can restore it exactly when the filter is switched off

Screen time before installation

One point deserves an explicit mention because it is not obvious: to produce the “this much less than before” comparison, the app reads the Android system’s usage statistics for the 28 days before installation once. Android keeps these statistics independently of our app. InstaDetox derives an average from them and stores only that average. The individual values are not kept. Saying “we only evaluate data from installation onwards” would therefore be inaccurate, which is why we do not say it.

Legal basis

This processing takes place exclusively locally on your device and serves to provide the functions you installed the app for (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR). No transfer to us or to third parties takes place.

3. The accessibility service

InstaDetox uses an accessibility service. Android warns when such a service is enabled, because it carries far-reaching capabilities. So here is exactly what InstaDetox does with it, and what it does not.

What the service does: it is notified by the system when another window comes to the foreground, and it accesses the window structure to determine which app that is. The only thing used from this is the name of the app package. The service also draws the on-screen elements the app needs: the grey veil, the breathing pause, and the small button for deliberately lifting the filter for a moment.

What the service does not do: it does not evaluate text, input, passwords, messages or any other screen content. It records nothing, stores no content and transmits nothing.

Why there is no alternative: Android offers no other interface through which an app can learn reliably and without delay that the foreground app has changed. Narrower alternatives only deliver delayed summaries, so the filter would arrive too late.

You can switch the service off at any time under “Accessibility” in your Android settings. The app then stops working, but it also stops processing anything.

4. System-wide grayscale filter and ADB setup

The system-wide grayscale filter changes a protected system setting (colour correction, called the “daltonizer” in Android). Apps are normally not allowed to change this setting. You therefore grant InstaDetox the necessary permission yourself, on your own device, via the developer options.

From Android 11 onwards this happens through wireless debugging directly on the phone. The app establishes a connection to your own device (localhost, or your own Wi-Fi address). The other end is the ADB service on the same phone. No connection to any server is made, neither ours nor anyone else’s. This is why the “full network access” permission shown by the Play Store is far broader than what actually happens.

For this procedure the app generates a key pair on your device. The private key stays on the device, is excluded from the Android backup (see section 5) and is never transmitted.

When the filter is switched off, the app restores your original colour setting. Settings also contain a “reset grayscale filter” action you can use at any time.

5. Android backup and changing devices

Android can back up app data to your own Google account so that it survives a change of device. Whether this backup is active is your decision in the Android settings, not ours.

Included in the backup: your settings and your app selection. Without them you would have to set the app up from scratch on a new device.

Explicitly excluded is the private key from the ADB setup in section 4. A key that grants access to system settings does not belong in a cloud backup, regardless of any encryption, and it would be worthless on another device anyway.

This backup sits in your Google account. We have no access to it. Google’s privacy terms apply.

6. Usage data export (voluntary)

This is the only way data from the app reaches us.

How it works

In the settings menu, under “Feedback & help”, there is a dialogue where you can send us a rating and a message. It contains a switch labelled “Attach usage data”. This switch is off by default and is not remembered: it is back to off every time you open the dialogue. Every single transmission therefore requires a fresh, deliberate decision by you.

If you switch it on, the app creates a file and opens a draft in your own email app. It is only sent if you tap send there yourself. The app does not upload anything; it contains no code to do so.

What the file contains

The file is around two kilobytes and contains:

Not included: the names of the apps you monitor (neither display names nor package names), your location, your contacts, photos, your device identifier, an advertising ID, any pseudonym generated by us, your subscription or unlock status, payment data and order numbers. All usage figures are totals; the file contains no breakdown by individual app.

The file is not anonymous. It carries no identifier that points back to you. But it reaches us as an attachment to your own email and is therefore linked to a person through your sender address. This is why we deliberately describe it as “without a device identifier” rather than “anonymised”.

What we use the data for

For two purposes, both stated explicitly here:

  1. Technical support. To understand your problem and reply to you.
  2. Product improvement. To understand which settings are used and where the app gets stuck. For this analysis we separate the file from your email and evaluate it without any sender reference, so that the evaluated data can no longer be attributed to a person.

Legal basis, recipient, retention

The legal basis is your consent under Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR, given by switching on the toggle and sending the email.

The recipient is exclusively Shortcut IT GmbH at instadetox-support@shortcut-it.com. No transfer to third parties takes place. Our mailbox is operated by our hosting provider IONOS SE, Elgendorfer Str. 57, 56410 Montabaur, Germany, acting as a processor on our behalf.

Retention: we delete your message and its attachment as soon as your enquiry is resolved, and no later than 90 days after receipt. Data separated from the sender reference for product improvement may be kept beyond that, as it can no longer be attributed to a person.

Withdrawal: you can withdraw your consent at any time with effect for the future and request deletion, informally, at instadetox-support@shortcut-it.com. The lawfulness of processing carried out until then is unaffected. As we keep no user accounts, we identify your request by the sender address you wrote from.

The generated file also sits in your app’s cache. It is overwritten with each new export and disappears when you clear the app’s cache in the Android settings or uninstall the app.

7. Feedback without an attachment

You can also write to us without switching the toggle on. That is the normal case. No file is created then. The email contains your star rating, your text and three technical lines: app version, Android version and device model.

The app uses the same route if you give a low rating in the rating prompt and choose to write to us directly instead.

The same rules as in section 6 apply to these messages: consent as the legal basis, deletion after 90 days at the latest, no sharing.

8. Subscription via Google Play

The paid subscription is handled through Google Play. The purchase contract is concluded not with us, but with the Google entity named in the Google Play Terms of Service applicable in your country:

We receive no payment data. We do not see card numbers, bank details, your Google account address or your billing address. You enter this data directly with Google; Google’s privacy terms apply. In the Google Play Console we see aggregated sales figures and individual orders with an order number, but not your identity.

The app includes Google Play’s billing library. This library brings along Google components that transmit technical operating data to Google. This transmission goes to Google, not to us, and we have no influence over it. For this reason we avoid the blanket claim that the app transmits nothing at all.

Unlock codes are verified entirely on your device. A code you enter is not transmitted; it is compared locally against a verification table shipped with the app.

9. No tracking, no advertising, no sharing

To state it explicitly:

10. Your rights

Under the GDPR you have the following rights against us: access (Art. 15), rectification (Art. 16), erasure (Art. 17), restriction of processing (Art. 18), data portability (Art. 20) and objection (Art. 21). Consent given can be withdrawn at any time with effect for the future (Art. 7(3)).

To exercise them, write informally to instadetox-support@shortcut-it.com. How to delete your data or request deletion is described in detail on the Delete your data page.

A practical note: as we keep no user accounts and store no identifiers, we normally hold no data about you at all, unless you have written to us. In that case we find your data through the sender address of your message. You delete the data on your device completely by uninstalling the app or clearing its storage in the Android settings.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with a data protection supervisory authority (Art. 77 GDPR). The authority responsible for us is:

Die Landesbeauftragte für den Datenschutz Niedersachsen
Prinzenstraße 5, 30159 Hannover, Germany

You may instead contact the supervisory authority of your own country of residence or place of work. The European Data Protection Board maintains a list of the supervisory authorities of all EU member states.

11. Users outside the EU

We also offer InstaDetox in countries outside the European Union. There, in addition to the GDPR (which binds us as a German company in any case), the respective national data protection law applies. What the app processes does not change as a result: it works locally, there is no server, and data only reaches us if you write to us yourself. What differs is the names of the rights and the competent supervisory authority. These sections apply regardless of the language in which you read this page: what matters is where you are located, not which language version you chose.

11.1 Switzerland

The Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection (revDSG) applies to you in addition. It applies to us as a company established in Germany under the market location principle, because our data processing has effects in Switzerland.

Under Art. 25 revDSG you have the right to request information from us about whether and which data concerning you is processed. This information is generally to be provided within 30 days and free of charge. You also have rights to rectification and deletion. The route is the same as in section 10: an informal email to instadetox-support@shortcut-it.com.

We have not designated a representative in Switzerland under Art. 14 revDSG. That obligation applies to foreign companies only where they regularly process large volumes of personal data or where there is a high risk to the persons concerned. Neither applies to InstaDetox: the app has no server, no user account and no identifiers, and it does not process sensitive personal data on a large scale.

The supervisory authority is the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC), Feldeggweg 1, 3003 Bern.

11.2 Brazil (LGPD)

The Brazilian General Data Protection Law (Lei Geral de Proteção de Dados Pessoais, Lei nº 13.709/2018, LGPD) applies to you in addition. Under Art. 3 LGPD it also covers processing by companies abroad where that processing serves the offering of goods or services in Brazil or concerns persons located in Brazil. That is the case for InstaDetox.

As a titular (data subject) you have the following rights against us under Art. 18 LGPD:

You exercise these rights too by an informal email to instadetox-support@shortcut-it.com. In practice the answer is usually short: we hold something about you only if you have written to us.

Transfer to Germany. When you send us feedback, that email leaves Brazil and arrives in our mailbox in Germany. The legal basis for this international transfer is your consent under Art. 33 VIII in conjunction with Art. 7 I LGPD: for every single message you decide yourself whether to write to us and whether to switch on “Attach usage data”. Without that action nothing leaves your device. Germany is a member of the EU and subject to the GDPR, and therefore to a level of protection equivalent to that of the LGPD.

The supervisory authority is the Autoridade Nacional de Proteção de Dados (ANPD), Esplanada dos Ministérios, Bloco C, Brasília, DF, Brazil. You may lodge a complaint there at any time.

11.3 Colombia

The Colombian data protection law (Ley 1581 de 2012, together with Decreto 1377 de 2013) applies to you in addition. Under Art. 8 of that law you have the right to access your data, to have it corrected or updated, to request its deletion, to withdraw consent you have given, to request proof of consent, to be informed about the use of your data, and to lodge a complaint with the supervisory authority.

We answer queries (consultas) within ten working days and complaints (reclamos) within fifteen working days. Here too an email to instadetox-support@shortcut-it.com is sufficient.

We have not registered our databases in the Registro Nacional de Bases de Datos (RNBD). That obligation applies only to controllers above a certain company size (assets exceeding 100,000 UVT); we are below it. In addition, we do not maintain a database of user data: there is no server and no user account.

The supervisory authority is the Superintendencia de Industria y Comercio (SIC), Delegatura para la Protección de Datos Personales, Bogotá, Colombia.

12. Changes to this policy

We adapt this policy when the app changes or the legal situation requires it. The version published here is the one that applies; the date at the top shows the current status. If the scope or purpose of processing changes materially, we will point this out in the app.