BreathGate
A conscious gate in front of an unconscious intake.
Choose an app. When it comes to the foreground, BreathGate asks for a breath — and then asks whether you still want to go in. The breath makes the pause; the question makes it yours.
It returns on its own timer while you are still inside, per app, so a long session is met rather than waved through.
Pick an app. Next time you open it, BreathGate appears first and asks you to take a breath. Then it asks whether you still want to go in. The breath is the pause; the question puts the choice back in your hands.
It also comes back while you are still in there, on a timer you set for each app, so a long stretch gets met partway through.
What you can check
There is no internet permission. The manifest declares six, and INTERNET sits outside that list where anyone can read it before installing. The release script halts on a build that acquires one, so the check runs every time rather than from memory.
That single omission is enforced by Android itself, which is what makes it the strongest thing in the app: everything else here is a promise, and this one is a property of the platform.
It runs on Usage Access, a smaller claim on your phone than an accessibility service. Everything it holds stays on the device. There is no account to make and no payment to give.
The app has no way to reach the internet. Every app must declare the powers it wants, and you can read that list before installing. BreathGate declares six, and every one acts on your phone alone.
Android itself enforces that, which is what makes it the strongest thing here. Everything else on this page is me telling you something. This one your phone holds me to.
It works by watching which app you have opened — a smaller power than the alternative most apps of this kind use. Everything it stores stays on your phone. It is free, and it opens straight into use.
Specification
| platform | Android 8+ |
|---|---|
| licence | GPL-3.0 — copyleft, so every downstream version stays as free as this one |
| permissions | usage access · display over other apps · foreground service · notifications · boot |
| network | no INTERNET permission, verifiable in the manifest |
| breath | box 4·4·4·4 by default; any pattern, four ways of drawing it |
| price | free — the whole app, with a donation path beside it |
Using BreathGate
Pick the apps you want a pause in front of. Everything after that happens on its own.
- 01 · Grant usage accessAndroid asks for permission to see which app comes to the foreground. That is the whole of how BreathGate knows when to appear, and it is a smaller claim on the phone than an accessibility service.
- 02 · Choose your appsTick the ones worth a pause. Leave the rest alone — a gate in front of everything becomes furniture within a day.
- 03 · Open one of themThe gate arrives, asks for a breath, then asks whether you still want to go in. The breath makes the pause; the question makes it yours.
| It came back while I was still inside | By design, and per app. A long session gets met, again, at the point it has become one. |
|---|---|
| Can I make it harder | Extreme mode lifts the caps on the counts, so a breath can run far longer than the ordinary sliders allow. |
| Does it phone anywhere | There is no internet permission in the build. It is readable in the manifest before you install, and the release script halts on a build that acquires one. |
Three routes, each with the fingerprint to check it against.