Frequently Asked Questions

No. Physical tempered-glass privacy protectors use microscopic optical louvers embedded in the glass that permanently restrict horizontal viewing angles, which darkens your screen even when you are alone at home. Aura Privacy is an on-demand software overlay that digitally obscures or dims screen content only when you need it, masks private notifications, and alerts you to nearby bystanders without permanently darkening your hardware display.

When you hand your phone to a child or friend to watch a video or look at pictures, accidental taps can pause the video or accidentally close the app. Aura Privacy overlays a transparent touch-consuming layer across the screen. To unlock the device, you perform an intentional double-tap on a floating glowing handle with haptic confirmation, or tap the unlock button in the notification drawer.

No. Aura Privacy does not perform facial recognition, does not identify people, and never records or saves any images or video. The on-device Google ML Kit algorithm only detects the count of faces in the camera frame. All processing occurs strictly inside your phone's temporary volatile RAM, and camera frames are immediately recycled and destroyed via imageProxy.close(). Zero imagery or data is ever saved to storage or uploaded to any server.

Android requires the SYSTEM_ALERT_WINDOW permission so Aura Privacy can draw the digital dimming shade, reading strip, and touch blocker above your running apps. The overlay operates with standard Android system flags (FLAG_NOT_FOCUSABLE and FLAG_NOT_TOUCHABLE), allowing you to interact with your underlying apps normally while the dark shade is active.

Notification Listener permission is strictly required for the Safe Notification Cover feature. It enables the app to detect incoming push notifications from selected sensitive apps (such as WhatsApp, Telegram, or banking apps) and replace the visible preview with privacy bullets (••••••••), preventing bystanders from seeing confidential verification codes or messages. Critical alerts like phone calls and alarms are never blocked.

On OLED and AMOLED displays, black pixels consume less electrical power because individual organic subpixels turn off completely when rendering pure #000000 black. Aura Privacy includes a True Black overlay mode designed to take advantage of this physical display characteristic. Actual energy savings depend on your device display hardware, brightness level, and usage patterns.

Yes. All core protection tools, overlays, touch blocking, and on-device AI multi-face detection run 100% locally on your device without needing an active internet connection.

Yes. Core privacy features—including the Full Screen Privacy Shield, custom opacity slider (10% to 98%), Quick Settings Tile, Child Lock touch blocker, and the Trust Center—are 100% free forever. Advanced Pro features (such as AI Shoulder Surfer Detection, Safe Notification Cover, Reading Strip, and Sensor Gestures) can be tried for free for 1 hour at a time simply by watching a rewarded ad, or unlocked permanently through a one-time Lifetime Pro purchase.