The short version
- Head motion from your AirPods is processed on your Mac and is never stored or sent anywhere.
- The app never uses your camera and never captures or records your screen.
- The app has no account, no analytics and no ads. The website uses cookie-free, anonymous visitor counts.
- When you buy, our payment provider handles your payment details. We never see your full card number.
- We don't sell your data, and we never will.
Who we are
Just a Pause is made by Adrian Viziteu, an independent developer based in Romania (“we”, “us”). We are responsible for the personal data described in this policy. You can reach us at hello@justapause.com.
The app
Head motion
To know when you look away, the app reads head-motion data from your AirPods through Apple's Core Motion framework. macOS asks for your permission first. This data is processed in memory on your Mac, in real time. It is never saved, never sent to us and never shared with anyone.
Your screen and your camera
The blur is drawn by macOS itself. The app does not need screen-recording permission and never captures, stores or sends what is on your screen.
So it can stay off during video calls, the app checks a system flag that says whether any camera on your Mac is in use. It does not ask for camera permission, never turns a camera on and never receives any image.
Settings
Your preferences and screen calibration are stored locally on your Mac. They never leave it. Deleting the app and its preferences removes them.
Licence activation
When you enter your licence key, the app sends the key and your Mac's name (for example “Adrian's MacBook”) to Polar (polar.sh), which checks the key and records the activation. The Mac's name is shown in your customer portal so you can recognise and remove activations. The key is stored in your Mac's Keychain. When you deactivate the app, the activation is removed.
Update checks
The app checks for updates using Sparkle, by downloading a small file from https://justapause.com. Like any web request, this shares your IP address and a basic user agent (the app version and macOS version) with our server. We use this only to deliver updates. You can turn automatic update checks off in the app's settings.
This website
Our website is hosted by Vercel Inc.. When you visit, the hosting provider automatically processes technical data such as your IP address, browser type and the pages you request, to deliver the site and keep it secure. These logs are kept for a short period.
To understand how many people visit and which pages they read, we use Vercel Web Analytics. It doesn't use cookies and doesn't identify you. It counts page views together with general information such as your country, browser, operating system and the site that sent you. Your IP address is not stored: visits are grouped using a short-lived anonymous value that resets every day. We do not use advertising or tracking cookies.
Purchases
Payments are handled by Polar (polar.sh), which acts as our merchant of record. When you buy Just a Pause, they collect the details needed to process your payment, such as your name, email address, billing country and payment method, under their own privacy policy. We receive your email address, your country and the details of your order so we can deliver the app and your licence key, provide support and handle refunds. We never receive your full card details.
When you contact us
If you email us or message us on X, we receive your message and the contact details you send with it. We use them only to reply and help you.
Why we use your data
Under the GDPR, we rely on these legal bases:
- Contract: to sell you the app, deliver it and process refunds.
- Legitimate interests: to keep the website secure, count visits anonymously, deliver updates and answer your messages.
- Legal obligation: to keep purchase records for tax and accounting.
Who we share it with
We share personal data only with service providers that help us run Just a Pause: our payment provider, our hosting provider and our email provider. They may use it only to provide their service to us. We may also disclose data when the law requires it. We never sell personal data.
Some of these providers may process data outside your country, including outside the European Economic Area. When they do, the transfer is covered by appropriate safeguards, such as the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses.
How long we keep it
- Head motion: never stored.
- Purchase records: as long as tax and accounting laws require, usually up to 10 years.
- Support emails: as long as needed to help you, then deleted.
- Website and update-check logs: kept briefly for security, then deleted.
Your rights
Depending on where you live, you may have the right to access, correct, delete or export your personal data, to object to or restrict how we use it, and to withdraw consent at any time. To use any of these rights, email hello@justapause.com. We will reply within one month.
You also have the right to complain to your local data protection authority.
Children
Just a Pause is not directed at children under 16, and we do not knowingly collect personal data from them.
Changes to this policy
If we change this policy, we will post the new version on this page and update the date at the top. If the changes are significant, we will make that clear on the website.
Contact
Questions about privacy? Email hello@justapause.com or see our contact page.