Last updated 15 August 2026

Otso is made by Karlex Oy (Karl-Johan Spiik), Finland.

The short version

Otso has no server. The app makes no network requests of any kind. Nothing you do in Otso is sent anywhere, because there is nowhere for it to be sent.

What Otso can see

Which app is in the foreground. Otso uses Android’s usage access permission to know which application is currently open, so it can show its pause in front of the apps you chose. Otso reads only the identity of that application. It never reads anything inside any app: not your messages, not what is on the screen, not what you type elsewhere.

How long you have used the apps you chose. The same permission lets Otso read the usage figures your phone already keeps — how many times each app was opened and for how long. This is what the before-and-after screen is built from. Otso reads these figures only for the apps you selected, and only to show them back to you.

You grant usage access yourself in Android settings and can withdraw it at any time. Withdrawing it stops the pause from working and has no other effect.

Which apps are installed. To let you choose apps, Otso lists the applications on your phone that have a launcher icon. It does this through Android’s standard app-visibility mechanism and holds no list beyond the ones you tick.

What Otso stores, and where

Everything below is stored in Otso’s own private storage on your phone, using Android’s ordinary app preferences. None of it is transmitted, backed up to a server, or shared with anyone.

  • The apps you chose to be paused in front of
  • Your time ranges and your evening quiet setting
  • Your chosen session length
  • Counters: how many times you opened your chosen apps today, how many times you turned back, and a per-app count of those opens
  • One “before” reading, taken from the usage history your phone had already recorded, at the moment you first chose your apps. It is a single pair of numbers — average opens per day and average minutes per day — and it exists so the app can show you how things have changed since. Android forgets its own history after a few weeks, which is why this one reading is kept.
  • Which pause you were last shown, so the next one is different
  • Whether you have completed the first-run guidance

What you type is not stored. When Otso asks what you came to do, the answer stays in the text field and is discarded when the pause closes. It is never written to storage, and it is never sent anywhere. The same is true of the short sentence Otso sometimes asks you to type.

What Otso does not do

  • No account, no sign-up, no login
  • No servers, no cloud, no backup of your data anywhere
  • No analytics, no crash reporting to a third party, no advertising
  • No third-party SDKs or trackers of any kind
  • No advertising identifier, no device identifier
  • No location, camera, microphone, contacts, calendar, SMS, or call log
  • No comparison with other people, which would require a server there is none of

Purchases

Otso is unlocked with a single in-app purchase handled entirely by Google Play. Otso never sees your name, your email address or any payment details, and it does not store them. What the app receives back from Google is one fact: whether this device’s Google account has bought the unlock. That fact is kept on the phone.

Google’s own handling of the payment is covered by Google’s privacy policy, not this one.

The seven-day free trial is counted on your phone, from the day you first open Otso. Nothing about the trial leaves the device.

Deleting your data

Uninstalling Otso deletes everything it stored. There is nothing held anywhere else, so there is nothing to request the deletion of and no one to request it from.

Children

Otso is intended for adults choosing this for themselves. It is not directed at children and collects nothing from anyone.

Changes

If this policy changes, the date at the top changes with it. Material changes will be described in the app’s release notes.

Contact

Karl-Johan Spiik, Karlex Oy
+358 440 677 776
karl-johan.spiik [ kanelbulle ] karlex.fi

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