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Accessibility & Permissions

Doomhole Last updated: June 18, 2026

Doomhole uses Android's Accessibility Service API for a non-accessibility purpose: digital wellbeing. This page explains exactly how, in plain terms.

Why Doomhole needs it

To grow the black hole, Doomhole must know two things in real time, across the apps you choose: which app is currently in front, and whether you are scrolling it. On Android, the Accessibility Service API is the only way to observe foreground-app changes and scroll activity in other apps. The black hole itself is drawn through an accessibility overlay owned by the same service.

What it observes — and what it does not

The service is configured to receive only two kinds of events:

  • Window-state changes — to know which app is in front (so it knows when you leave a selected app).
  • Scroll events — to know that you scrolled, and by roughly how much.

It does not retrieve window content. The service declares canRetrieveWindowContent="false", so it cannot read the text, images, passwords, or any content on your screen. From a scroll it reads only the scroll distance; from a window change only the app's package name.

It observes only the apps you explicitly select. Events from any other app are discarded immediately. Nothing it observes is stored or transmitted — it drives the on-screen animation in the moment, then is discarded.

Your control

Android requires you to turn the service on yourself, and shows a prominent disclosure first. You can disable it at any time in Settings → Accessibility on your device, and Doomhole stops immediately.

Other permissions

  • Internet — used only for optional crash reporting, which is off by default (see Privacy Policy). The wellbeing function never uses the network.
  • Foreground service / media projection — used only by the optional, off-by-default experimental "Screen warp" effect, which distorts a live capture of your own screen on-device. It is started only via Android's standard screen-capture consent dialog, and captured frames never leave your device.
  • Billing — for the one-time Doomhole Pro purchase via Google Play.

Contact

FortyTwo Apps — fortytwoapps.services@gmail.com