Permission Rationale

Why DEADSCROLL needs Android permissions.

DEADSCROLL works in real time. That means some Android permissions are essential if the product is going to intervene honestly and visibly. This page explains what each permission is for, what it enables, and what DEADSCROLL does not use it to do.

Core Permissions

These permissions exist because the nudge has to appear at the right place and time.

Accessibility

Detect target-app entry and attention signals

Accessibility helps DEADSCROLL detect when selected target apps open and when relevant interface signals, such as scrolling, show that attention may be drifting. It also notices when a call or alarm notification appears, so a nudge never covers it. Separately, DEADSCROLL checks Android’s audio information for an alarm sound, so a nudge waits until the alarm stops. It reads only that it is a call or an alarm, never who is calling, which app is playing, or any text. When you choose to leave an app from a nudge, DEADSCROLL uses Accessibility to take you to your home screen. That is the only thing it does for you, and only when you tap to leave.

Overlay

Place the intervention over the app

Overlay permission lets DEADSCROLL display the nudge above the target app in real time. Without it, the intervention cannot appear where the drift is happening.

Usage Access

Support onboarding and usage-aware surfaces

Usage Access helps DEADSCROLL show where attention is getting lost and supports certain usage-based parts of the experience.

Supporting Permissions

Two more permissions keep the intervention reliable.

These do not detect drift or place a nudge. They exist so the product can stay running and can tell you when something needs your attention.

Notifications

Tell you when protection changes

Notifications are how DEADSCROLL reports its own state: that a required permission has stopped working, that protection is paused, or that a free access period is about to end. They are about the product, not about the apps you use.

Battery Optimisation

Stay running long enough to intervene

Android can suspend background work to save power. DEADSCROLL may ask to be exempted so detection is not silently stopped between sessions. The request is optional, and declining it does not disable the product, but interventions can become less reliable.

What DEADSCROLL Does Not Do

The power of the permission does not define the intent of the product.

Accessibility Limits

DEADSCROLL is not trying to inspect your private content.

It is not built to read your private messages for meaning.

It is not built to collect passwords or typed secrets.

It is not built to transmit the contents of your screen to DEADSCROLL-controlled servers.

Usage And Storage Limits

Core app state is intended to remain local.

Settings and intervention history are intended to remain on-device.

These permissions are used to time interventions, not to build an identity profile.

Any third-party technical processing should be disclosed separately in the privacy policy.

Control

Users can revoke access at any time.

System Control

Accessibility and Overlay can be turned off from Android settings.

If those permissions are revoked, DEADSCROLL's core intervention features may stop working until they are restored. That is the expected behavior.

User Scope

You choose which apps DEADSCROLL is allowed to watch.

Target apps can be added or removed inside the product. DEADSCROLL is meant to support a productive life, not force the same rule onto every app on your phone.

Android's Reminders

Android may remind you that DEADSCROLL can view and control your screen.

Android sends this reminder for every app that uses Accessibility. It’s a good prompt to check which apps have that access. DEADSCROLL uses it only to notice when the apps you chose open and when you scroll, and to take you home when you choose to leave from a nudge. If you turn it off, nudges pause until you turn it back on.