Privacy Policy

Last updated: October 7, 2026

This Privacy Policy explains how Resurface handles information when you use the app. Resurface is operated by PubWave and is designed to help you spend less time in distracting apps: it can pause an app before it opens, block the apps on your Distraction list during Focus, keep only your Essential apps open during Offline, and show you how often you reached for your phone and how often you put it down.

Information We Collect

Resurface does not operate its own backend server for app usage data. Your screen time, your app lists, and your schedules stay on your device. A smaller set of information may be shared with third-party services for purchases, subscriptions, ads, consent management, and app store functionality. We do not collect our own analytics, telemetry, or crash reports. Third-party SDKs may process diagnostic and performance information as described below.

Processed only on your device

• On iOS, the apps, categories, and websites you choose, which Apple's Screen Time framework gives the app only as opaque tokens. Resurface cannot see which apps they stand for; the system draws their names and icons.
• On iOS, your screen time and app usage, which Apple's Screen Time framework shows inside a system extension on your device. Resurface cannot read these numbers or send them anywhere.
• On Android, the list of apps installed on your phone, so you can choose which ones go on your lists, and the time you spend in them, read through Usage access.
• On Android, which app has just come to the front, noticed through the Accessibility service so the app can show its pause or shield screen. The service does not read what is on your screen, what you type, or anything inside other apps.
• How many times a day you opened a listed app and how many times you chose not to, kept for up to 60 days so the app can show your week and your month.
• Your Distraction and Essential lists, schedules, dial setting, session history, emergency exits used, and app settings.
• On iOS, the running session and today's figures shared with the app's widgets and Live Activity, which read them from storage on your device.

Shared with third-party services

• Purchase, subscription, and Pro status provided by Apple, Google, RevenueCat, or the applicable app store.
• Device and advertising identifiers, IP addresses, ad interaction data, consent signals, and diagnostic and performance information processed by advertising services, subject to your platform settings and choices.

How We Use Information

We use information to:

• Pause or block the apps on your lists when you turn the dial or when a schedule starts.
• Keep only your Essential apps open during Offline.
• Show your screen time, the apps you opened, and the times you put your phone down.
• Send local notifications for starting a wait in Resurface, schedule reminders, session endings, and protection alerts.
• Provide Pro features, subscriptions, purchase restoration, and entitlement checks.
• Show and measure ads when monetization is enabled and you are not a Pro subscriber.

Screen Time and App Usage

On iOS, Resurface uses Apple's Screen Time framework (Family Controls, Managed Settings, and Device Activity) with your permission. Apple keeps the apps you choose and your usage private from the app itself: Resurface works with tokens, and your usage is displayed by the system. None of it is uploaded to our servers or shared with advertising or purchase providers.

On Android, Resurface uses Usage access to measure time spent in apps and the Accessibility service only to notice which app comes to the front. The app shows a clear notice and asks for your consent before you turn the Accessibility service on. You can turn either permission off at any time in your device settings, which stops blocking from working. This information stays on your phone.

Notifications

Resurface sends local notifications for schedule reminders, session endings, and protection alerts, and shows a running-session notification on Android. On iOS, tapping Wait on a shield sends a notification. Tap that notification to open Resurface and start waiting. When the countdown finishes, you choose to unlock the app using the button in Resurface. The app does not use a push notification server. You can turn notifications off in your device settings and open Resurface manually after tapping Wait.

Advertising

The app may use Google Mobile Ads and Google User Messaging Platform to show banner, interstitial, and rewarded ads and to manage privacy choices. Ads never appear on the dial or on the pause and shield screens, and are not shown to Pro subscribers. Google may process device and advertising identifiers, IP addresses, ad views and interactions, consent status, crash logs, and performance data such as launch time, hang rate, and energy usage for advertising, measurement, diagnostics, and service improvement according to its policies. Google may derive approximate location from your IP address. Resurface does not request device location permission.

Where a privacy law requires it, such as in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland, Google's consent form asks for your ad privacy choices before ads are shown; on iOS, this happens when you first open the app. On iOS, Resurface then asks through Apple's App Tracking Transparency prompt whether ads may use your device's advertising identifier to track you across apps and websites owned by other companies. If you did not consent to personalized ads in Google's form, Resurface does not show this prompt. If you allow tracking, ads may be more relevant to you. If you do not, you still see ads, but they do not use that identifier. The app works the same either way, and you can change your choice at any time in Settings › Privacy & Security › Tracking. Where a privacy law requires it, you can also change your ad privacy choices later in the app's settings.

Purchases and Subscriptions

Purchases and subscriptions are processed by Apple, Google, and RevenueCat. We do not receive your full payment card details. We may receive purchase status, product identifiers, entitlement information, transaction metadata, and anonymous app user identifiers needed to unlock Pro features and restore purchases.

Third-Party Services

The app may use third-party services including:

• Google Mobile Ads and Google User Messaging Platform for advertising and consent management: Google Privacy Policy and Google partner sites policy.
• RevenueCat for purchase and subscription management: RevenueCat Privacy Policy.
• Apple App Store and Google Play for app distribution, purchases, platform services, and, on iOS, the list of our other apps shown in the Tools tab: Apple Privacy Policy and Google Privacy Policy.

Legal Bases

Where privacy laws require a legal basis, we process information to perform app functionality you request, honor your consent choices, comply with legal obligations, prevent fraud or misuse, and maintain app reliability.

Data Storage and Retention

Your lists, schedules, daily counts, session history, and app settings are stored on your device. Subscription and purchase status may also be cached locally so Pro access can load quickly and be restored through the app store or purchase provider.

Local app data remains on your device until you delete it, clear app data, reset settings, or uninstall the app. Daily counts older than 60 days are removed automatically. One exception: on iOS, the reward record is also kept in the device keychain. It includes the date and number of rewards earned that day, your unused reward balance, and the expiry time of any temporary unlock of Review’s month view. This prevents reinstalling the app from resetting the daily reward limit and lets unused rewards and an active month-view unlock be restored. This record stays on the device and may remain after the app is uninstalled; it does not contain your screen time or app lists. Purchase records are retained by Apple, Google, and RevenueCat according to their policies. Ad consent records are retained according to Google consent management rules. Support emails are retained only as long as needed to respond, maintain records, resolve disputes, or comply with legal obligations.

Data Sharing

We do not sell your personal information. We do not share your screen time, your app lists, your schedules, or which apps you open with advertising or purchase providers. Information may be shared with service providers only as needed for ads, consent management, purchase management, app store functionality, legal compliance, fraud prevention, or troubleshooting.

Children

Resurface is not intended for children under 13 and is not a parental control app. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If we learn that personal information from a child under 13 has been provided to us, we will take reasonable steps to delete it or help the parent or guardian remove it from the relevant service or device.

Your Choices

You can turn off Screen Time access, Usage access, the Accessibility service, notifications, and tracking in your device settings, restore or manage subscriptions through the app store, and use available privacy choices for ads where required. You can also delete the app or clear app data to remove locally stored app data from your device, except for the iOS keychain reward record described above. If you enabled Delete protection on iOS, app deletion is restricted while Pause, Focus, or Offline is running. Deletion is allowed again once no session or schedule is applying protection; the Delete protection switch can then be turned off in Resurface.

Regional Privacy Rights

Depending on where you live, including regions such as the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, California, and other jurisdictions with privacy laws, you may have rights to access, correct, delete, restrict, export, or object to the processing of your personal information, withdraw consent where processing is based on consent, and opt out of certain sharing where applicable. We do not sell personal information. To exercise privacy rights, contact us at the email below. For information controlled by Apple, Google, or RevenueCat, we may direct you to the relevant provider because certain purchase, advertising, consent, and platform records are managed directly by those services.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy when the app, our services, or legal requirements change. The latest version will always be available on this page.

Contact

For privacy questions, contact us at pubwave.live@gmail.com.