فارغ — Faarigh

Free from distraction. Unburdened by your phone.

Faarigh (فارغ — Urdu: free, unburdened, at ease) is an open-source Android digital wellbeing app that helps you use your phone with intention. Every interaction is a pause, not a prohibition. You always have the final choice.

No accounts. No servers. No cloud. No tracking. Everything stays on your device.

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What It Does

Modern phones are engineered to capture attention. Faarigh pushes back — not by locking you out, but by creating small moments of deliberation before you act automatically. The core insight, backed by a 2023 PNAS study on the "One Sec" app, is that a two-second friction window is enough to cut mindless app opens by 57% without requiring willpower or restriction.

Faarigh implements four research-backed tools:

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Features

App Pause

When you open a monitored app, Faarigh intercepts the launch and presents a brief, evidence-based micro-intervention before you proceed. You always continue — the question is whether you continue deliberately.

Four intervention techniques are available:

• Simple Pause — A two-second breathing space. No prompts, no guilt. Just a moment to check in with yourself before the app loads.
• Physiological Sigh — A guided double-inhale followed by a slow exhale, the single fastest-acting technique for acute stress reduction (Stanford, Yackle et al. 2017). Takes under 15 seconds.
• Cognitive Defusion — An ACT-based technique that creates distance between you and the urge to scroll. You name the thought, observe it, and choose whether to act on it.
• Urge Surfing — A mindfulness technique from addiction research. You observe the craving as a wave that rises and falls, rather than something that must be satisfied immediately.

You configure which apps are monitored and which technique plays. The intervention ends and the app opens — or you decide you didn't actually want to open it.

Research basis: Holte et al. (2023), PNAS — frictions that increase deliberation reduce compulsive use without triggering reactance or resentment.

Shorts Blocker

YouTube Shorts, Instagram Reels, and TikTok are detected via the Accessibility Service. When you land in a short-form video feed, Faarigh gently redirects you. No content is blocked — you can return immediately if you choose to. The redirection is a pause, not a wall.

Detection works by monitoring window content descriptions and activity names. No network traffic is inspected.

Content Awareness

On-device NSFW image detection using TensorFlow Lite (LiteRT). The model runs entirely on-device — no frames, metadata, or results are ever transmitted anywhere. No internet permission is required for this feature.

When a flagged image is detected on screen (via Accessibility Service screenshot events), a shield overlay is shown. You can dismiss it and view the content if you choose to.

The model is quantized and runs efficiently on arm64 hardware without a dedicated NPU.

DNS Filter

A Pi-hole style local VPN that intercepts DNS queries and blocks ads, trackers, and telemetry at the network level. The VPN is local-only — it does not route your traffic through any external server. Your DNS queries never leave your device.

Included blocklists cover:

• Advertising networks
• Third-party trackers and analytics
• Telemetry and crash reporting endpoints
• Known malware and phishing domains

You can add custom domains to the blocklist or allowlist. The DNS log shows all resolved and blocked queries in real time.

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Philosophy

Conscious choice, not prohibition.

Faarigh is built on the premise that you are an adult capable of making your own decisions. The app's job is not to decide for you — it is to ensure that your decisions are actually decisions and not reflexes.

Every intervention has an exit. Every block has an override. Nothing is permanent. The friction is intentional and calibrated; it is not punitive.

Non-paternalistic design principles:

• No streaks, scores, or shame mechanics
• No notifications urging you to "stay on track"
• No usage limits that lock you out of apps
• No social features, comparisons, or leaderboards
• No judgment about what you choose to do after the pause

Privacy as infrastructure:

• Zero network permissions required for core functionality
• No account creation, no email address, no phone number
• No telemetry, crash reporting, or analytics
• Room database stays on device; no sync, no backup to cloud
• The DNS VPN is local — traffic is not routed through any external server
• TFLite inference runs fully on-device; no frames are sent anywhere
• Open source — you can read every line of what the app does

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Architecture

com.faarigh.app
├── data/
│   ├── db/                  Room database (entities, DAOs, FaarighDatabase)
│   │   └── entity/          InterceptedApp, InterventionEvent, UsageEvent,
│   │                        BlockedDomain, DnsQueryLog, DnsStatsAggregate
│   ├── repository/          Repository interfaces + implementations
│   ├── preferences/         DataStore-backed preferences (modules, theme)
│   ├── blocklist/           Default DNS blocklists (bundled assets)
│   ├── learn/               Static learn/education content
│   └── tracking/            UsageTracker (UsageStatsManager wrapper)
├── service/
│   ├── accessibility/       AccessibilityService + OverlayManager
│   │                        (app interception, shorts detection, NSFW shield)
│   └── vpn/                 LocalVpnService (DNS-only, no traffic routing)
├── ui/
│   ├── overlay/             Full-screen intervention overlays
│   │   ├── InterventionTechnique.kt
│   │   ├── CognitiveDefusionOverlay.kt
│   │   ├── UrgeSurfingOverlay.kt
│   │   ├── ValuesCheckInOverlay.kt
│   │   ├── NsfwShieldOverlay.kt
│   │   ├── ShortsBlockedOverlay.kt
│   │   └── QuarantineOverlay.kt
│   ├── screen/              Jetpack Compose screens (Home, Toolkit, Settings,
│   │                        Modules, Apps, Stats, Protection, Content, Learn)
│   ├── component/           Shared components (FaarighCard, RetroButton,
│   │                        GridPaperBackground, ModuleEducationSheet)
│   ├── navigation/          FaarighNavHost (3-tab bottom nav)
│   ├── theme/               Material 3 theme (Color, Type, Shape)
│   └── widget/              Home screen widgets (Small, Medium, Large)
└── di/                      Hilt modules

Key technology decisions:

Concern	Solution	Reason
App interception	AccessibilityService + TYPE_APPLICATION_OVERLAY window	No root required; works on stock Android
Short-form detection	Accessibility content description matching	No network inspection; no false positives on search
NSFW detection	LiteRT (TFLite) on-device inference	Zero data egress; offline; no API key
DNS filtering	VpnService local loopback, DNS-only	No traffic routing; works without root
Persistence	Room + DataStore	Typed, offline, no sync surface
DI	Hilt	Standard; integrates with ViewModel + WorkManager
UI	Jetpack Compose + Material 3	Single codebase; declarative; easy to theme

Permissions used and why:

Permission	Required for
BIND_ACCESSIBILITY_SERVICE	App interception, shorts detection, NSFW detection
SYSTEM_ALERT_WINDOW	Drawing intervention overlays over other apps
BIND_VPN_SERVICE	Local DNS filter VPN
PACKAGE_USAGE_STATS	Usage statistics on Home and Stats screens
RECEIVE_BOOT_COMPLETED	Restoring VPN and accessibility state after reboot
FOREGROUND_SERVICE	Keeping VPN service alive

No INTERNET permission is used for core features. The DNS VPN intercepts DNS traffic locally before it leaves the device — it does not make outbound connections on your behalf.

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Build Instructions

Prerequisites

• Android Studio Hedgehog (2023.1.1) or later
• JDK 17 (bundled with Android Studio)
• Android SDK 35

Clone and open

git clone https://github.com/rm-Umar/faarigh.git
cd faarigh

Open the project root in Android Studio. Let Gradle sync complete.

Debug build

./gradlew assembleDebug

Install on a connected device or emulator:

adb install app/build/outputs/apk/debug/app-debug.apk

Or use Android Studio's Run button directly.

Release build

Release builds require a signing configuration. See the Signing section below before running:

./gradlew assembleRelease

Output: app/build/outputs/apk/release/app-release.apk

ADB install (sideloading)

# Enable USB debugging on the device: Settings > Developer options > USB debugging
adb devices                          # confirm device is visible
adb install -r app-release.apk      # -r replaces existing install

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Signing

Release builds are signed using a keystore referenced from app/keystore.properties. This file is not committed to the repository.

Generate a keystore

keytool -genkey -v \
  -keystore faarigh-release.jks \
  -alias faarigh \
  -keyalg RSA \
  -keysize 2048 \
  -validity 10000

Keep the .jks file safe. If you lose it, you cannot update a previously installed APK with the same signature — users will need to uninstall and reinstall.

Create keystore.properties

Create app/keystore.properties with the following content:

storeFile=../faarigh-release.jks
storePassword=your_store_password
keyAlias=faarigh
keyPassword=your_key_password

The path in storeFile is relative to the app/ directory. Place the keystore at the project root or adjust the path accordingly.

keystore.properties is listed in .gitignore. Do not commit it.

Build and verify

./gradlew assembleRelease
# verify the signature
apksigner verify --verbose app/build/outputs/apk/release/app-release.apk

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Installing the APK

What the Play Protect warning means

When you install an APK that was not downloaded from the Play Store, Android shows a Play Protect warning: "This app was not verified by Google Play."

This warning means Google has not reviewed this specific APK — it does not mean the app is malicious. Because Faarigh is open source, you can review the code yourself before installing.

To install:

1. On your Android device, go to Settings > Apps > Special app access > Install unknown apps
2. Select your browser or file manager and enable Allow from this source
3. Download the APK from the releases page
4. Open the downloaded file and tap Install
5. If Play Protect shows a warning, tap Install anyway (or More details > Install anyway)

After installation, you can disable "Install unknown apps" again if you prefer.

F-Droid

F-Droid distribution is planned. The app is fully compatible with F-Droid's requirements: no proprietary dependencies, no tracking SDKs, no Play Services dependencies.

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Contributing

Faarigh is built for personal use and shared freely. Contributions are welcome.

If you are adding a new intervention technique, please include a reference to the research it is based on — the psychology behind each technique matters and should be accurately represented.

If you find a privacy issue — data that leaves the device unexpectedly, a permission that is broader than necessary, or any behavior inconsistent with the privacy claims above — please open an issue immediately.

Areas where contributions would be most valuable:

• Additional blocklist sources for the DNS filter
• Localization (the app name is Urdu; other languages are welcome)
• Accessibility improvements
• Additional intervention techniques grounded in clinical research
• F-Droid packaging

Code style

• Kotlin, idiomatic, no Java interop where avoidable
• Jetpack Compose for all UI; no XML layouts except where forced (widgets, overlays)
• Hilt for dependency injection
• Repository pattern; ViewModels do not touch DAOs directly
• No coroutine scopes in Composables; use LaunchedEffect / collectAsStateWithLifecycle

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License

Faarigh is open source. See LICENSE for details.

The NSFW detection model is a quantized TFLite model. Check assets/ for any accompanying model license.

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Research References

• Holte, A.J., Ward, A., Oulasvirta, A., & Kim, D. (2023). Reducing Smartphone Use with Minimal Friction. PNAS. — The empirical basis for the Simple Pause intervention.
• Yackle, K., Schwarz, L.A., et al. (2017). Breathing control center neurons that promote arousal in mice. Science. — Basis for the Physiological Sigh technique.
• Hayes, S.C., Strosahl, K.D., & Wilson, K.G. (2011). Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. Guilford Press. — Theoretical basis for Cognitive Defusion and Urge Surfing.
• Bowen, S., & Marlatt, G.A. (2009). Surfing the Urge: Brief Mindfulness-Based Intervention for College Student Smokers. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors. — Urge Surfing protocol.