Privacy policy

The short version: nothing leaves your PC. Dumbtop has no account, no ads, no analytics and no tracking, and we collect no data about you.

Applies to the Dumbtop app for Windows and the Dumbtop browser add-on from the Chrome Web Store (in Chrome, Edge, Opera, Brave and other Chromium browsers). Last updated: 4 November 2026.

What Dumbtop stores, and where

To work, Dumbtop keeps a few small files only on your own PC, inside the app's private folder:

• your settings (for example which apps and websites you chose to block, your timer lengths and shortcuts);
• your focus history (session times, tags, the plants in your garden, streaks and simple counts such as "distractions blocked");
• thoughts you "park" for later, "today's one thing" if you write one, and the music apps or sites you choose;
• if "Screen time on this PC" is on (you can switch it off): how many minutes each app or website (domain name only) was in front each day, so Stats can show where your time went and Dumbtop can suggest what to block. Window titles used by your own "block by window title" rules are checked on the spot and never saved;
• if you set up a USB key for Hard Mode: that stick's volume serial number and name (nothing on the stick is read or written);
• if you use the black desk: a copy of your current wallpaper picture (so it can be put back exactly) and the black desk pictures Dumbtop draws;
• a note that you bought Dumbtop Pro, so it keeps working offline (encrypted for your Windows account).

None of this is uploaded, shared or sold. You can see the files from Settings → Your data → Open data folder, delete your history from the same place (screen time has its own "Clear" button), and uninstalling Dumbtop removes them. A garden postcard is only saved where you choose; sharing it is up to you.

What Dumbtop does not do

• It does not send any data to us or to anyone else. We do not run servers that receive data from the app.
• It does not read your files, messages, emails or the contents of web pages.
• It does not record your screen, keyboard or what you type. (While "Hide the taskbar and Start" is on, Dumbtop notices the Windows key and a few Windows shortcuts so the key can open its dock instead of Start. Those key presses are never stored or sent, and no other keys are looked at.)
• It does not use advertising IDs, analytics or crash-reporting services.

The browser add-on

The add-on lets Dumbtop block websites in Chrome and other Chromium browsers (Edge, Opera, Brave, Vivaldi, Arc). It talks only to the Dumbtop app on the same PC (through 127.0.0.1, which never leaves your computer). It receives your block list from the app and sends back only:

• the domain name of the tab you're looking at (for example youtube.com), used for daily time limits you set yourself;
• if you add blocked words: each page's title is compared with your words inside the browser, so a video called "Technoblade never dies" is blocked like a search for it. Titles never leave the add-on and are never stored;
• the domain of a site that was blocked, or that you chose to close after a "pause", so your own stats can show it.

It never sends full web addresses, page contents, form data, passwords or browsing history, and it never contacts the internet. The add-on asks for access to all websites only so that it can show the calm block page on any site you decide to block.

A few things stay inside the browser and never reach the app or anyone else:

• Quiet chats: during a focus session, on chat and email sites (such as WhatsApp, Discord, Slack, Gmail and Outlook in the browser), the add-on stops the site's own notification sounds and pop-ups. It doesn't read, store or send anything from those pages, and calls are left alone;
• Visit with a purpose: the reason you type is kept only until the browser closes, so the gentle check-in can show it, and the add-on counts how many such visits each site had today (three a day). Neither is sent anywhere;
• your current block list, so blocking keeps working if the browser restarts.

If the Dumbtop app isn't on your PC when you install the add-on, it opens a short welcome page with a link to the app in the Microsoft Store. That page is part of the add-on and sends nothing.

Purchases

Dumbtop Pro is sold through the Microsoft Store. Payment is handled entirely by Microsoft; we never see your payment details. The app asks the Microsoft Store whether you own Pro, which involves the Store's own connection to Microsoft under Microsoft's privacy statement.

Windows features Dumbtop uses

While you focus, Dumbtop asks Windows not to put the PC to sleep (the screen can still turn off), so a session isn't cut short while you work on paper. During Hard Mode, a small second copy of Dumbtop runs in the background and opens Dumbtop again if it's closed from Task Manager; it keeps only its own process number and a "closed normally" note in the app's folder.

Dumbtop uses built-in Windows features on your PC – the colour effect for black and white, Do Not Disturb, and notices about which app is in front – to do its job. These run locally and no information from them leaves your PC.

Children

Dumbtop is suitable for students. Because it collects no personal data at all, it collects none from children either.

Changes

If this policy ever changes, the new version will be posted on this page with a new date. We will never start collecting data without saying so clearly first.

Contact

Questions? Contact PaperKite through the "Support" link on Dumbtop's Microsoft Store page.