Halt / Privacy policy

Privacy policy

This policy covers the Halt app for Windows, the Halt browser extension, and this website, haltmode.com. It says what information each one handles, why, and who else is involved. Last updated: 22 October 2026.

Who we are

Halt is made and run by Mostafa Mohamed Abdelaziz Abdo Noaman ("Halt", "we"), who is responsible for the information described here. You can reach us at support@haltmode.com.

The Halt app on your PC

What stays on your PC

Everything you set up in Halt is stored on your PC only: the sites and apps on your lists, your schedules, bundles, allowances and lock settings, your stats and challenge progress, and your settings password (stored as a salted hash, never in plain text). None of it is sent to us or to anyone else.

Your Halt Pro license

Halt Basic doesn't use the license server. Halt Pro checks its license with our license server so that one license works on up to 3 PCs and a shared key can be stopped.

• When you activate a license on a PC, Halt sends the license key, two scrambled IDs of that PC, and the PC's name (for example "DESKTOP-4F2K"), so you can tell your PCs apart if you reach the limit. The scrambled IDs are one-way codes made from your PC's hardware ID and its Windows installation ID; the original IDs never leave your PC and can't be read back from the codes.
• About once a day, Halt renews the license with the license key and the two scrambled IDs.
• When you remove the license from a PC, Halt sends the license key and the two scrambled IDs so that PC's place is freed.

The license server keeps: your license number, the name and email address from your purchase, your order number, and for each PC that used the license, its two scrambled IDs, its name, and the dates it was first activated and last checked in. If a license is refunded, the scrambled IDs of its PCs are kept so we can notice repeated refunds. If a license is used on more than 10 different PCs within 90 days, it is marked for us to review. The server does not keep IP addresses. It runs on Cloudflare, which handles the connection to deliver the service.

Your license key itself contains the name and email address from your purchase, so that Halt can show who the license belongs to.

Updates

About once a day, Halt downloads a short list of releases from haltmode.com to see whether a new version is out. A new version is downloaded from GitHub, where our releases are published. These requests contain nothing about you beyond what any download includes, such as your IP address.

Site logos

To show a logo next to each site on your lists, Halt asks DuckDuckGo's icon service (icons.duckduckgo.com) for that site's logo. DuckDuckGo receives the site's name and your IP address, but nothing that identifies you or links the request to Halt's other information. Each logo is saved on your PC, so it is fetched once. See DuckDuckGo's privacy policy.

The adult content filter

When you turn on the adult content filter, your PC and your browsers look up website names through Cloudflare's family DNS service, which blocks adult sites. Like any DNS service, Cloudflare sees the names of the websites your PC looks up. Cloudflare says its family DNS carries the same privacy commitments as its public 1.1.1.1 resolver, which include not selling the data, not using it for advertising, and not keeping your IP address. See Cloudflare's resolver privacy commitments. When the filter is off, Halt doesn't change your DNS.

Support

If you write to us, we receive your email address and what you write. In the app you can choose to add diagnostics to an email: Halt's version, the Windows and Edge versions, the screen size, whether a session or the adult filter is on, which protections are in place, and how many sites, apps and schedules you have. The diagnostics never include the names of the sites or apps on your lists. If you ask for an unlock code for a Permanent adult filter, the request code you send us includes your PC's Halt machine ID.

The Halt browser extension

The extension works only together with the Halt app on the same PC. It asks the app, through the browser's built-in connection to local programs (native messaging), whether a focus session is running, when it ends, and which short-video feeds to block. It keeps that answer in the browser's own storage for a short time so pages don't ask again.

• It does not collect, store or send personal information, browsing history, or the content of any page.
• It makes no connections to the internet. It talks only to the Halt app on your PC.
• On YouTube, Instagram and Facebook it hides the links to Shorts and Reels during a session. It reads nothing from those pages.

Halt installs the extension through your browser's settings, and your browser downloads it from the Chrome Web Store or Microsoft Edge Add-ons like any other extension.

This website

haltmode.com uses no cookies, analytics or trackers, and its fonts are served from this site. It is hosted on GitHub Pages, which handles technical information such as your IP address to deliver the site and keep it secure. See GitHub's privacy statement.

Joining the beta opens your own email app with a message to us. We use your email address only to tell you about the beta and the launch, and we delete it when you ask.

Buying Halt Pro

Halt Pro is sold through Polar (polar.sh), which acts as the merchant of record: it takes the payment, handles sales tax and VAT, and processes refunds. Polar collects your payment details under its own privacy policy. We receive your name, email address and order number, never your card details. We use them to create your license, send it to you by email, and help you with it.

What we don't do

• We don't sell or rent personal information.
• We don't use it for advertising, and we don't track you across websites or apps.
• We don't take screenshots or keep any history of the sites you visit.

How long we keep information

License records are kept while the license exists, and for as long as needed to handle refunds and disputes. Beta email addresses are kept until the launch announcement, or until you ask us to delete them. Support emails are kept as long as they help us answer you. Polar keeps its own records of your purchase as required by tax law.

Your choices and rights

You can ask us to show you the information we hold about you, correct it, or delete it, by writing to support@haltmode.com. We answer within 30 days. Deleting your license record ends Halt Pro on your PCs. If you live in the European Union or the United Kingdom, you can also complain to your data protection authority.

The services we use (GitHub, Cloudflare, Polar and the email service that sends license keys) may process information in countries other than yours.

Children

Halt is not meant for children under 13, and we don't knowingly collect information from them. If you believe a child has sent us information, write to us and we will delete it.

Changes

If this policy changes, we update it on this page and change the date at the top. If a change affects information we already hold, we tell license holders by email.

Contact

Questions about privacy go to support@haltmode.com.