Terms of Service

1. Acceptance of Terms

By creating an account, accessing or using Screen Challenge Buddy ("App"), you agree to these Terms of Service ("Terms"). If you do not agree, please do not use the App.

2. Description of Service

Screen Challenge Buddy helps you reduce your screen time through:

• Free screen-time tracking: your daily usage, unlocks, most used apps, weekly history and streak, on your phone.
• Buddy features (subscription): pair with someone you invite, see each other's progress live, chat, compare your days, and take on buddy challenges. One Google Play subscription covers both people in a pair, and either of you can pay for it (see Section 3).
• Accountability Challenges (optional): commit money to staying under your daily limit. Solo challenges do not need a subscription.

3. Subscriptions and Billing (Google Play)

• One subscription per pair. Buddy features are unlocked for both people in a pair when either of them holds an active subscription or free trial.
• Billed by Google Play. Subscriptions are sold and billed through Google Play under Google Play's terms. We never see your card details.
• Free trial. Where offered, a new subscription starts with a 7-day free trial. If you cancel before the trial ends, you are not charged. If you don't, the paid subscription starts automatically when the trial ends.
• Automatic renewal. Subscriptions renew automatically at the end of each billing period until you cancel. You can cancel at any time in Google Play (Play Store → Payments and subscriptions → Subscriptions), or from the App's Manage Subscription page. Cancelling stops future renewals; you keep access until the end of the period you have paid for.
• Refunds. Subscription payments are non-refundable, except where Google Play's refund policies or applicable law provide otherwise. Refund requests for Google Play purchases are handled by Google through Google Play: under Google's policy, you can usually request a refund yourself within 48 hours of purchase, and after that Google may refer the request to us. We do not issue refunds for partial periods or unused time.
• When access ends. If the subscription ends and nobody renews, buddy features pause for both of you: live progress, chat and new buddy challenges stop, and your chat history is hidden until one of you subscribes again. Your pair is not ended, and a buddy challenge that is already running continues to its end.
• Price changes. Prices are shown in Google Play before you buy. Google Play will tell you about any price change as its policies require.

4. Account Deletion

You can delete your account at any time from Profile → Account Management → Delete Account. The Profile section is always available, including when you have no subscription.

• Deletion is permanent. It removes your data and ends your pairing.
• Active challenges must finish first. You cannot delete your account while an Accountability Challenge is running. Wait for it to end, or ask support at support@screenchallengebuddy.com to cancel it early (a challenge cancelled by support is not charged).
• Deleting your account does not cancel your Google Play subscription. Cancel it in Google Play to stop future charges. Deleting your account does not entitle you to a refund.

5. Accountability Challenges

• Voluntary. You may choose to commit money to meeting your daily screen-time limit for a set number of days.
• $0 authorization. When you set up a challenge, our payment processor, Dodo Payments, creates a $0 payment authorization (a mandate) on your payment method. We store only the reference to that mandate, never your card number or security code.
• When you are charged. You are charged the penalty you agreed to only if you fail the challenge: by going over your daily limit (after the daily buffer), or by not syncing your usage within the grace period (see below). If you succeed, you are not charged. A challenge cancelled by support is not charged.
• Not gambling. Challenges are a commitment device for changing your own behaviour. There is no prize, no opponent's money and no element of chance, and you cannot win money.
• Syncing and the grace period. Usage syncs automatically in the background. If your phone is offline when a challenge ends, the challenge waits in "Pending Sync" and you have 3 days (T+3) from the end date to open the App and sync. If you don't, the challenge is marked "Failed due to inactivity" and the penalty is charged.
• One device per challenge. Screen-time data is device-specific. Do not switch your main phone during a challenge: the App's device check may fail and the challenge may be marked as failed.
• Data your phone deletes. The App relies on usage statistics kept by your phone, which some phones delete after a period (often 14 days). If you stay inactive longer than that and we cannot verify the whole challenge, it is marked "Failed" and the penalty is charged.
• Buddy challenges. In a buddy challenge, each person sets up their own $0 authorization and their own penalty. Each person is charged only for their own failure; neither of you is ever responsible for the other's result.

6. Buddy Features

6.1 Pairing

Pairing is by invitation only. You can send an invite link or code to someone you know, or accept one sent to you. Invites expire after 7 days. Nothing is shared until the invited person taps "Accept and connect".

6.2 What You Share With Your Buddy

Being paired means sharing your progress with each other. By creating an invite or accepting one, you agree that, while your pair has buddy access, your Buddy can see:

• your screen time today, your daily limit and changes to it;
• your unlock count today and yesterday;
• your daily totals for the last 8 days and your streak;
• when you reach 75% of your limit and when you go over it;
• your 5 most used apps today, with the time spent on each, and your top app for yesterday;
• a daily and weekly comparison between the two of you, based on these figures.

Sharing is mutual: you see the same about your Buddy. There is no setting to switch parts of it off; it is what the buddy feature is. Your Buddy cannot see what you do inside apps, your browsing history, your messages with anyone else, your contacts, photos or location. Our Privacy Policy explains this in full.

6.3 Leaving a Pair

To stop sharing, leave the pair: Buddy tab → menu (⋮) → Leave pair. Your Buddy is notified and the pair ends 24 hours later, or straight away if your Buddy chooses to end it now. If you need it to end immediately because of your Buddy's behaviour, use Report and unpair instead (see 6.4). A buddy challenge that is already running continues as a solo challenge for each of you.

6.4 Chat and Conduct

• Treat your Buddy with respect. Harassment, abuse, threats, hate speech, spam, and sharing illegal, explicit or offensive material are not allowed. Do not share personal contact details, links or social media handles in chat.
• You can send up to 100 messages in any 24 hours and up to 3 nudges a day. Messages are checked by automated filters.
• If your Buddy behaves inappropriately, tap "Report and unpair" in the chat menu (⋮) or on their profile. Your pair ends straight away, your Buddy is only told that it has ended, and we keep a small record of the report (see the Privacy Policy). To pair again, one of you would have to send a new invite and the other accept it.
• We may suspend or close accounts that break these rules, without notice or refund.

7. Age Requirement

You must be at least 18 years old to use the App. By using it, you confirm that you are.

8. Disclaimers and Limitation of Liability

The App is provided "as is" and "as available". Screen-time figures come from your phone's own usage statistics, and we do not guarantee that they are complete or accurate. To the fullest extent the law allows, we are not liable for any indirect, incidental, special or consequential damages arising from your use of the App or from Accountability Challenges.

9. Our Right to Suspend or Close Accounts

We may suspend, restrict or close any account, without notice or refund, if we decide that it has been used for:

• manipulating screen-time data, tampering with the device clock, or exploiting the system to falsify challenge results;
• fraud, including creating and deleting accounts to avoid penalties;
• abusive, harassing, threatening or illegal behaviour toward other users;
• anything else that undermines the integrity, security or community standards of the App.

In these cases we may keep an anonymized identifier on a secure blocklist to prevent re-registration, as described in our Privacy Policy.

10. Challenge Reviews and Penalty Refunds

Challenge penalties are charged through Dodo Payments. They are refundable only after a review that finds a technical error on our side. Google Play subscription payments are not covered by this section (see Section 3).

When you can ask for a review: if you believe your challenge was marked as failed because of a technical error (for example a measurement error on your phone, a sync failure, a proven App defect, or a payment setup problem that left a challenge stuck), within 48 hours of the failure being recorded.

How to ask: from Challenge History in the App, or through Help & Feedback in your Profile. Include the date and what went wrong.

How we decide: we usually reply within 2 to 3 business days. Our decision is final.

Refunds:

• If we confirm a technical error, we refund the penalty in full or fix the setup problem.
• Going over your limit for real, even by accident, is not a technical error and is not refunded.
• Requests made after the 48-hour window are not considered.

Honest requests only: giving false or misleading information in a review may lead to your account being closed without refund (see Section 9).

11. Changes to These Terms

We may update these Terms. We will tell you about significant changes in the App. If you keep using the App after changes take effect, you accept the updated Terms.

12. Contact

Questions about these Terms? Contact us through Help & Feedback in the App, or email support@screenchallengebuddy.com.