How ScreenTasker collects, uses, and protects your family's information.
Last updated: 10 October 2026
Parensys ("we", "us", "our") develops and operates ScreenTasker, an Android app and supporting backend service that help parents manage screen time, chores, and rewards for their family. This policy explains what information is collected, why it is collected, how it is used, and the choices available to you. It applies to the ScreenTasker Android app (both Parent and Child modes), the backend relay server the app depends on to keep a family's devices in sync, and the ScreenTasker website - including its contact form and any email you send us directly.
ScreenTasker is set up and controlled by the parents (or guardians) in the family. Once a parent has added another parent to the family, that parent has the same ability to configure the app, manage child profiles, and invite or remove other parents - there is no special "owner" parent with greater ongoing control. The one exception is the Google Play subscription itself: it is billed to whichever parent's Google Play account purchased it, and only that parent can manage or cancel it, through their own Google Play account. Our server only reads the subscription status Google Play reports for a family - it has no ability to cancel, suspend, or otherwise change a subscription on any parent's behalf, so another parent cannot use the app, or our server, to affect a subscription they did not purchase.
We act as the service provider that stores and synchronises family data on the parents' behalf; we do not use it for our own purposes beyond operating and improving the app.
When a family is set up, we collect the information a parent enters, such as parent and child display names, family and device names, and the mode (Parent or Child) assigned to each device. This information is used to link devices together, distinguish family members, and route data to the correct family unit. Display names and device names are end-to-end encrypted (see Encryption and data security below). The camera is also used, when linking a new device to a family, to scan a one-time QR code shown on another family device; no photo or video is captured or stored from this step.
On a device set up in Child mode, the app uses Android's Accessibility Service to determine which app is currently in the foreground so it can measure screen time and enforce the limits and app blocks a parent has configured. See Accessibility Service disclosure below for details on exactly what this does and does not do. The resulting screen time totals, blocked-app events, and enforcement state are synchronised with the parent's device so the parent can see them. The identity of which apps were used (app names and package identifiers) is end-to-end encrypted.
Separately from usage tracking, the app also reads the list of apps installed on a child's device (app names and package identifiers) and synchronises it to our server, so a parent can see which apps are currently installed and choose specific apps to blacklist or whitelist. Like the app-usage identity described above, this installed-app list is end-to-end encrypted.
On a child's device the app also uses Android's Usage Access permission to measure how long apps are used. These usage totals are shared with the child's parents so they can see which apps are used and for how long; the identity of the apps is end-to-end encrypted as described above. Usage Access is turned on by the user on a system screen, after the app has explained why it is needed.
On a child's device the app also asks for Android's Device Administrator access. ScreenTasker declares no device-administration policies - it cannot lock, wipe or change settings on the device. The access exists only so that the app cannot be uninstalled without Device Administrator access first being deactivated. It is turned on by the user after the app has explained why it is needed.
Tasks or chores a parent creates, their status (assigned, submitted, approved), and the resulting currency balances (e.g. screen time tokens and pocket money, using whatever names and exchange rates a family configures) are stored and synchronised across the family's devices. Task names and descriptions, any photo a child attaches as proof a task is done, and any free text a child enters (for example, a request to skip a task or for extra time) are end-to-end encrypted. The numeric reward and transaction values themselves are readable by our server, since it needs to act as the single source of truth for a child's currency balances.
On a child's device that has been granted the Location permission, the app reads that device's location (using Android's location services, including the Fused Location Provider) and transmits it to our backend server so it can be synchronised to the parent's device. Location data is end-to-end encrypted, so it cannot be read by us in transit or at rest. Because we are unable to access it, we do not use or disclose location data for any purpose other than passing it through, in its encrypted form, to the family's own parent devices for use on those devices. Location data is end-to-end encrypted and cannot be accessed by any third party, including the developer.
When the child's device has been granted the "Allow all the time" (background) Location permission, the app collects that device's location in the background, including when the app is closed or not in use. Before asking for the Location permission and again before asking for the background Location permission, the app shows an explanation of this and asks you to agree (Yes) or decline (No); declining skips the permission request.
Locations reported by a child's device are kept as a location history so parents can see where the device has been; a new point is recorded when the device has moved a set distance or a few minutes have passed. Our server keeps at most 48 hours of this history, the family's own devices keep up to 60 days, and older points are deleted automatically. All of it is deleted when the family account is deleted (see Data retention).
There is currently no separate in-app toggle to turn location collection off. Location collection is controlled by Android's own permission system: revoking the Location permission for ScreenTasker on the child's device (Android Settings > Apps > ScreenTasker > Permissions > Location) stops it from being collected. Either the child or the parent can do this directly on the child's device.
A parent's own device may separately use its current location, locally on that device only, to show the parent their position relative to their children's device locations on a map. This parent-side location value is never transmitted to our server or to any other device.
If a family purchases a subscription or add-on through the app, the purchase is processed by Google Play Billing. We receive confirmation that a purchase was made and its entitlement (e.g. which plan is active) so we can unlock the corresponding features - we do not receive or store payment card details, which are handled entirely by Google Play. When a subscription is purchased, the app attaches the purchasing device's Android ID to the purchase as an account identifier, so that Google Play returns it to us with the purchase confirmation; we use it to help detect and prevent abuse of promotional and referral features and to support Google Play's own fraud prevention. We do not otherwise collect an email address directly within the app; if Google Play provides us with an email address as part of a purchase confirmation, we only use it to resolve purchase or billing issues.
ScreenTasker uses Google Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) to wake the app in the background so it can check in with our server promptly - for example, so a child's device picks up a new instruction from a parent quickly. Each device is registered with Firebase and issued a device-specific push token, which Google may associate with other data it holds about that device under its own privacy policy. We use the push token only to address a wake-up message to the correct device; the message itself does not contain family data such as names, tasks, or location, and Firebase does not have access to that data.
The contact form on this website does not submit anything to a ScreenTasker server. When you fill it in and press Send, it opens your own device's email application with a message already addressed to hello@screentasker.app and pre-filled with what you typed; the email is then sent directly from your own email account, the same as if you had written to us yourself.
Whenever you email us - whether through the contact form or directly - we receive your name, email address, and the content of your message. We use this to respond to your enquiry, and we also retain it for possible service improvement, such as considering feature requests and suggestions, and to let you know if and when something you suggested is implemented. This is separate from, and is not synchronised into, any family's app data.
The app includes a "Provide Feedback / Suggestion" option, available in both Parent and Child mode, that lets you ask a question, report a problem, make a suggestion, or send general feedback - optionally attaching this device's log files, and optionally asking for a response either in-app (end-to-end encrypted, see below) or by email (not encrypted).
Everything you submit through this feature - the message itself, any log files you choose to attach, and your name and email address if you ask for an email response - is end-to-end encrypted on your device before it is sent, using a key that only we hold; our server stores the encrypted submission but cannot read its content. If you ask for a response in-app, our reply is addressed to your family using its family ID, and is likewise encrypted so that only your family's own devices can decrypt it, the same way other family data described under Encryption and data security is protected. If you ask for a response by email instead, that response is sent as an ordinary, unencrypted email and could in principle be intercepted in transit, the same as any other email.
We retain a submission until it is resolved and, if you asked for one, a response has been sent - at which point we delete it. If a submission cannot be resolved straight away, we delete it no later than 90 days after it was submitted, regardless of whether it has been resolved by then.
To operate the service reliably and improve it over time, our backend server collects and processes some technical data about each device and its use of the service, including:
Device-level identifiers such as the Android ID (collected on parent devices only) and device model can also help us detect and prevent abuse of promotional or referral features, where we offer them, and to support Google Play's own handling of payment fraud (for example, fraudulent accounts or payment methods) - Google Play remains primarily responsible for detecting that kind of fraud, since it processes the payment itself. For this reason, device identifiers and referral data are retained for a longer period than our usual retention period as standing practice, so that we are able to detect and prevent abuse in future - not only once abuse of a particular feature is already suspected.
Each family and device is identified on our server by a family ID and a device ID. We use these identifiers to look up and diagnose a problem when a family reports one or contacts us, and to address our replies to the correct family.
This diagnostic data is not end-to-end encrypted, since our server needs to read it directly to do its job. It is not used for advertising, is not sold, and is not shared with others beyond what is minimally required to operate and improve the app and service, or as required by law.
ScreenTasker requests Android's Accessibility Service permission on devices set up in Child mode. This permission is used exclusively to support the app's core parental-control purpose, and is neither enabled nor required on devices set up in Parent mode:
The Accessibility Service does not read, log, or transmit the on-screen text, form contents, notifications, or interactive elements of any other app - only the package name of the foreground app (and, for the settings-protection check above, the class name of the currently displayed settings screen). It does not perform keystroke logging, does not dispatch synthetic taps or gestures into other apps, and is not used to serve advertising or to profile the child for any purpose beyond the screen time and task features described in this policy. It is not presented as, and is not intended to function as, an assistive technology for users with disabilities.
The only data derived from the Accessibility Service that leaves the child's device is a per-app session record - package name, start time, end time, and duration - for each app the child used, so a parent can see a history of which apps their child used and for how long. The app names and identifiers in this record are end-to-end encrypted (see Encryption and data security below), so they cannot be read by us. All decisions about what is blocked or allowed are made by the ScreenTasker app itself, based on the rules the parent has configured; the Accessibility Service only reports foreground-app and settings-navigation events and displays overlays on instruction from the app.
We do not sell family data, we do not use it to serve advertising, and we do not share it with others beyond what is minimally required to provide and improve the service, or as required by law.
Family data is synchronised between the devices belonging to that family via our backend relay server; it is not shared with other families. We use the following categories of third-party service providers to operate ScreenTasker:
We may also disclose information if required to do so by law, or to protect the rights, property, or safety of Parensys, our users, or others.
All data transmitted between a family's devices and our backend server is protected using strong (256-bit AES) transport encryption.
In addition, as far as is reasonably practical, sensitive family data is additionally end-to-end encrypted using strong (256-bit AES) encryption, with an encryption key that is generated on, and shared only between, a family's own provisioned devices. This key is never made accessible to us, to our server, or to any device outside the ones a parent has provisioned into the family. In practice, this means that for the data types listed below, our server - and anyone who might intercept traffic between devices - only ever sees encrypted ciphertext, not the underlying data.
The types of data that are end-to-end encrypted include:
Feedback and bug report submissions (see In-app feedback, questions and bug reports above) use a separate encryption channel from the family key described above: they are encrypted to a key that only we hold, not to your family's key, since a submission needs to be readable by us in order to help you - unlike the family data types listed above, this is deliberately not encrypted so that we cannot read it. If you ask for an in-app response to a submission, that response uses your family's own key in the usual way, so only your family's devices can decrypt it; a response you request by email instead is sent unencrypted, as described above.
The local database on each device is not encrypted, either as a whole or field by field: values stored locally on your own devices - including the data types listed above - are stored as plain text there, protected only by Android's normal per-app storage sandboxing, not by our encryption. End-to-end encryption applies once data leaves the device: for every data type listed above, the value that travels across the network and is held on our server is the encrypted ciphertext, not plain text - so if our server (or its storage) were compromised, or traffic between devices intercepted, this data still could not be read without the family's own encryption key.
Some data, described under Diagnostic, service-improvement and fraud-prevention data above, is not end-to-end encrypted, because our server needs to read it directly to operate the service (for example, to act as the source of truth for a child's currency balance, or to diagnose a fault). We apply reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect this data, but no method of transmission or storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.
We retain family data for as long as the family account remains active, so that history such as past tasks and screen time can remain available to parents. A parent can remove a child profile or a device from the family at any time within the app. Removing one takes it out of the family and disconnects the device, but it does not by itself delete the records already held for it: those are kept, marked as removed, until the whole family account is deleted. The entire family account is permanently deleted from our live, in-service systems in either of two ways: (1) a parent requests deletion - either in-app, under Settings → Family Account → Delete Family Account, or via the web at deletefamily.html if the app is no longer installed - which takes effect immediately (every device in the family is disconnected from that point on) with the data itself automatically and permanently deleted 72 hours later; or (2) automatically, with no request needed, once a family account has had no device sync activity for 30 consecutive days. Except where we are required to retain limited records for legal or accounting purposes, or for fraud detection and prevention purposes, no other manual process is involved in either path.
Separately from our live systems, we maintain periodic backups - including full system backups used for disaster recovery - that may incidentally include a copy of family data as it existed at the time of the backup. Some of these backups are taken and stored off-site, on rotating cold-storage media, by us directly; our infrastructure or hosting provider may also take its own backups as part of its standard practices.
As a general line in the sand - describing how backups may actively be used, not how long any backup is kept - backups up to around 30 days old may be used for a small number of specific purposes beyond disaster recovery: diagnosing certain technical issues with the service, and restoring data that was deleted as a result of an unauthorised or fraudulent request (for example, if a child gained access to a parent's device and used it to request deletion of the family).
Backups older than that are not actively used by us for any purpose. By that age, a backup would no longer be practical to use for restoring a family's data, since too much would have changed in the meantime. Older backups continue to exist mainly because they are bundled together with backups of other, unrelated data that we (or our infrastructure provider) retain for other purposes, and separating out just the ScreenTasker portion of a bundled backup to delete it earlier is not practically possible. The main circumstance in which an older backup might be accessed at all is in response to a valid law enforcement request; because most family data is end-to-end encrypted (see Encryption and data security above), the data in such a backup would in any case be of limited use without the family's own encryption key, which we do not hold. Each backup copy is eventually overwritten or destroyed as part of our ordinary backup rotation.
ScreenTasker is a tool for parents to use with their children, not a service aimed directly at children creating their own accounts. A child's profile and device are always set up and controlled by a parent, who determines what information is entered, what monitoring is enabled, and how long it is kept. If you are a parent and have questions about the information collected about your child, or wish to review, correct, or delete it, see Your choices and rights below.
The parent account acts on the child's behalf: the parent chooses whether to set up a child's profile and device, agrees to this policy for the child, and can review and correct the child's information in the app, remove the child's profile or devices from the family (the records already held are kept until the family account is deleted), and have all of the family's data deleted by deleting the family account (see Data retention). ScreenTasker shows no advertising, does not use children's data for advertising or profiling, and does not sell it. Data about a child is shared only with that child's own family devices (and, in encrypted form, passes through our server), and most of it is end-to-end encrypted as described above. For questions or requests about a child's data, contact us using the details under Contact us.
Where we offer a referral program, we collect and retain the referral codes families generate, records of when and by which family a code was redeemed, and the Android ID of the device used to purchase a redeeming family's subscription, for as long as reasonably necessary to detect and prevent abuse of the program (for example, the same purchasing device being used to claim a referral benefit more than once) - this data is not deleted as part of the ordinary family-account deletion process described under Data retention above. See our Referral Program Terms & Conditions for the full terms, including eligibility, what each family receives, and when a benefit may be held or withheld.
We may update this policy from time to time as the app evolves. If we make a material change, we will update the "Last updated" date above and, where appropriate, notify parents within the app. We do not collect an email address directly within the app (see Purchase information above for the one exception), so we are generally not able to notify you of changes by email.
If you have questions about this policy or how ScreenTasker handles your family's data, email us at hello@screentasker.app or use the contact form.