Privacy
last updated october 14, 2026
Screen Health Larry is an iPhone app that helps the people in a group, such as a family or a group of friends, see how much time each of them spends on their phones. The short version: it collects your first name and your total screen time each day, and shows them only to the group you join.
What we collect
- Your first name, which you type when you set up.
- A group name and group code, to start or join a group. You choose who to give the code to.
- Your total screen time for each day, in minutes, for example “2h 10m today”, plus the part of it after 6:30pm, and when your phone last checked in. It is only the total, never which apps. Weekly averages, streaks and progress are worked out from those totals.
- A random account token, kept on your phone and on our server, so the app knows it is you. There is no email or password.
- The year you were born, which we use to check you are 13 or older and to compare you with people your age.
- Optionally, when you set up (you can skip it): your country and, if you are an adult, your state and gender, so Larry can compare you with people like you. We only keep state and gender for people 18 and older.
- Your daily average from before you started, which you type in from Apple’s Screen Time, and later the average of your first week in the app. They are the starting line for your progress chart.
- How many categories and apps you ticked in Apple’s list when you set up (just the counts, never which ones), so we can tell if a counter reads low because too little was ticked.
- Your phone number. We keep a scrambled copy for good, never the number itself, so Larry can tell which people in a group chat have an account. Larry also texts you on iMessage to say hi once you finish setting up. Until then the number stays on your phone. When you finish, it goes to our server and waits only until he has sent that first text (usually under a minute, never more than an hour), and then it is deleted. Reply STOP to Larry and he stops texting you. You can remove your scrambled copy any time.
How we get your screen time
The app uses Apple’s Screen Time framework. When you set up, you tick “All Apps & Categories” in Apple’s own picker, and the app only learns your total minutes, in steps of about five minutes. It cannot see which apps you use or what you do inside them. Time spent in Screen Health Larry itself may not be counted, so Apple’s own Screen Time total can read a little higher than ours.
What we don’t collect
The app never reads your messages, and it does not collect which apps you use, what you do inside them, browsing history, your location, photos, or an advertising ID. Your contacts are used only if you choose to turn that on (see Your contacts). The one exception to reading messages is Larry in a group chat, below, and only in a chat that adds him.
Larry in your group chat
Larry can also join a group chat in iMessage. He only joins when the group adds him and sends his link code, and he ignores every other conversation.
- In a chat he is in, he reads the messages there so he can answer and get to know the group. Everyone in the chat is told this when he joins.
- Recent messages are kept for 14 days, then deleted. Larry also keeps a private notebook for that chat in two parts. Lasting notes, such as nicknames, inside jokes, running bits and preferences, are kept until someone asks him to forget them or he leaves. Short-term notes, such as a plan someone mentioned, a goal or a one-off moment, fade after days or weeks. He is told not to note anything about health, family, relationships, money, religion, politics, ages or location.
- To tell who in the chat has an account, Larry looks up the phone numbers of the people in the chat and compares them with the scrambled numbers in the app. Numbers of people who don’t have an account are not saved.
- So the app can show who is in the chat but hasn’t joined yet, Larry shares a scrambled copy of the phone numbers of the people in a chat he has joined, never the numbers themselves. It is deleted when he leaves.
- Each chat is kept separate. Larry never uses one chat’s notes or messages in another.
- To write his replies, the recent chat is sent to an AI service (through OpenRouter) set to providers that do not keep it or train on it. A second small AI model (Jev, from TypeSafe) reads the last 15 messages only to decide whether he should reply, react or stay quiet, under the same no-retention setting.
- Larry posts to a chat in the evening (a couple of posts at most a night: the weekly results, the new challenge, a recap) and may check in after a quiet spell, less often the longer nobody answers. He replies when people talk to him. Saying “larry pause” or “larry leave” stops it.
- When he joins a chat, Larry sends his contact card so anyone in the chat can save him. Saving it is up to you. If you answer his guess question in the chat (how much you think you use your phone a day), your guess is kept in that chat’s notes until he posts the results.
- Anyone in the chat can say “larry forget that”, “larry pause”, or “larry leave” to have him forget a note, stop listening, or leave and delete that chat’s messages and notes.
Comparisons
The app can show how your screen time compares with groups of people, such as Gen Z, or Gen Z in California. These are totals and typical values for a whole group, shown only when the group has at least 20 people. When a week ends, Larry’s roast of whoever finished last may say that a large group, such as Gen X, did better, but only a group that person is not in, so it never reveals anything about them. Nobody sees another person’s age, gender or location, and we never show a comparison that could point to one person.
Your contacts
If you choose to, the app can show your friends’ names and photos from your contacts. To do that it reads phone numbers from your contacts and sends only those numbers to our server, which checks them against the scrambled numbers of the people in your group and answers which ones match. We don’t save the numbers you send. Names and photos from your contacts never leave your phone. You can turn this off in Settings.
Who sees it
- The other members of your group, whoever you invited, see your first name and your screen time: each day’s total, your weekly averages and how much it has come down since you started.
- A group’s leaderboard can also be opened on the web with the group code, so only share your code with people you want to see it.
- We do not sell your data, use it for ads, or share it with data brokers.
- Your app data is stored with our hosting provider, Cloudflare, who process it for us. Larry’s group chat data stays on a computer we run. Website visit counts are stored with PostHog (US), who process them for us.
This website
When you open a page on screenhealthlarry.com, we count the visit with PostHog, a product-analytics service. We use it to see how many people open an invite link, tap “Get the app”, and then actually open the app, so we can fix the steps where people get stuck. We don’t set cookies or store anything in your browser for this, we don’t keep your IP address, we don’t record your screen, and we don’t know who you are. The invite code in a link is never sent. Nothing from this website is used for ads or sold. If your browser sends a “Do Not Track” or Global Privacy Control signal, we don’t count your visit at all.
When you tap “Get the app” on an invite page, we put the group code on your clipboard. The app reads it the first time it opens (iPhone asks you first) so your group is already filled in, then clears it.
The waitlist
If you join the waitlist on screenhealthlarry.com, we keep the first name and phone number you give us, and whether you use an iPhone or an Android. We use them for one thing: Larry, an AI, texts you about your spot and when there is room in the beta. Message frequency varies, and message and data rates may apply. Reply STOP to any text and we stop. We don’t sell the list or share it for ads. To be taken off the list, text STOP to Larry or email us and we will delete your entry. You must be 13 or older to join.
Your choices
You can stop sharing any time by turning off Screen Time access for the app in iPhone Settings, or by deleting the app. To delete your account and the data on our servers, use “Delete my account” in the app’s Settings, or email dylan@albertazziventures.com. Anyone can leave a group, which removes their results from it, and the person who started a group can delete it for everyone. We keep your data until you delete it.
Children
The app is not meant for children under 13.
Changes
If this changes, we will update this page and the date above.