Privacy Policy — BarkStop
Last updated: 13 September 2026
This policy applies to the Android application BarkStop.
In short
BarkStop has no user accounts, no analytics, no advertising, and no server of
ours. Nothing is ever sent to the developer.
Sound is analysed on your phone. The app only sends anything anywhere if you
switch on one of the optional features below, and then it goes where you tell
it: to your own second phone on your own network, or to your own Home Assistant
installation. Each of those is described further down.
Microphone
The app listens through the microphone while monitoring is on, including when
the screen is off and the app is in the background. This is necessary so it can
detect barking while you are not in the room.
Sound is analysed on the device only, by a model that is bundled with the app
and works without an internet connection. Recognition never leaves the phone.
Sound leaves the phone only in ways you switch on yourself:
- if you save bark clips, they are stored on the phone (see below) and a second
phone you have paired may download them;
- if you open the web interface or pair a second phone, you can listen live;
- if you use the talk function, sound goes the other way, from you to the dog.
All of that travels over your own local network. It does not pass through us
and it is not stored anywhere but on your own devices.
Bark clips
If you turn on "Save bark clips" yourself, the app stores a short clip around
each detected bark on the device, so you can check whether detection was
correct. You choose how many are kept and how long each one is; older ones are
deleted automatically once the limit is reached.
Clips stay in the app's private storage. A second phone you have paired, or a
browser signed in to the web interface, can play them over your local network.
They are removed with "Clear log and clips" or by uninstalling the app.
Camera
The camera is used only if you turn video on. The picture is then available to
a browser on your local network and to a second phone you have paired. It is
not stored anywhere and does not leave your network. If you never turn video
on, the camera is never opened.
The camera is also used, briefly, if you choose to scan a pairing code or a
Home Assistant token from a QR code. Nothing from that is stored as an image.
Flashlight
Used only if you turn on flashing with the warning, or switch it on manually.
Web interface on the local network
If you turn the web interface on, the phone opens a server reachable only from
the network it is connected to. This server is not reachable from the internet;
the app does not open any port on your router and does not ask it to.
Access is protected by a PIN or password that you set. The PIN is never sent
back out by the server. HTTPS is available, with a certificate the phone issues
itself and which never leaves the device. If you turn the PIN requirement off
yourself, the page is open to anyone on that network — that is your choice and
your responsibility.
A second phone
You can use a second phone as a viewer: it connects to the phone left with the
dog and can hear it, see it, talk to it, read the log and change settings.
To make the two find each other, the phone with the dog announces itself on
your local network (a service name, the address, and whether it uses HTTPS).
This announcement is visible to other devices on that same network, as any such
announcement is. Pairing then carries the PIN and the certificate fingerprint
between your two phones, on that network only.
Everything the second phone sees — sound, picture, log, clips, settings —
travels directly between your two devices on your own network.
Home Assistant (optional)
This is the only part that can leave your home network, and only if you set it
up yourself.
If you connect BarkStop to Home Assistant, the app sends to the address you
enter:
- how many barks and warnings there were today;
- the current sound level in decibels;
- the phone's battery percentage;
- an event at the moment a bark is detected.
No audio, no picture and no clips are ever sent to Home Assistant.
It also reads back one entity, so that the second phone can send simple
commands (play a sound, flashlight, stop monitoring) through Home Assistant
when it is not on the same network as the dog's phone.
If you enter an address that is reachable from the internet, this traffic
travels over the internet to your own server. If that address is plain http
rather than https, the access token travels unencrypted; that is a property of
the address you chose, so prefer an https one.
The Home Assistant address and access token are stored on the phone. The token
is never shown on the web interface and is never sent anywhere except to the
Home Assistant address you entered.
Notifications
The app shows an ongoing notification while monitoring runs. Android requires
this for services that run continuously, and it is also the only way monitoring
stays alive.
Data the app stores on the device
- settings, including the web PIN and, if you set it up, the Home Assistant
address and token
- a log of detected barks and played warnings (time, loudness, detection
confidence)
- sounds you recorded or added yourself
- optional bark clips
All of it lives in the app's private storage, accessible only to the app. It is
deleted from within the app or by uninstalling it.
Backup
Android can copy app data to your Google account and to a new phone. BarkStop
deliberately leaves its settings out of that copy, because they contain the web
PIN and any Home Assistant token. Only the sounds you added yourself are
included. After a restore you set the app up again, which is the point.
Advertising and analytics
This version of the app contains no advertising, no analytics and no
third-party components that collect data.
This may change in a future version. If advertising or analytics are ever
added, they will be Google services only — Google AdMob for advertising and
Google Analytics for Firebase for usage statistics. No other advertising or
analytics providers will be used. If that ever happens, then before such a
version is released:
- this policy will be updated to state exactly what is collected, by whom, and
for what purpose;
- the Data safety information shown on the app's Google Play listing will be
updated to match;
- the change will be described in the release notes for that version.
Until then, nothing of the kind is collected, and the description above
reflects what the app actually does.
Children
The app is not directed at children and does not collect any data from anyone.
Changes
If this policy changes, the updated version will be published at this same
address with a new date. Continued use of the app after a change means the
updated policy applies.
Contact
Write about anything to do with this app — a privacy question, help with
setting it up, a bug, a suggestion, or just to say it worked and the dog
finally settled down:
help@lalux.hr
Every message is read. If you are reporting a problem, it helps a lot to
include:
- the phone model and Android version;
- what the app was doing at the time (listening, video on, web interface open,
second phone connected);
- whether it happened once or every time.
If the problem is about detection — barks missed, or false alarms — you can
export the log from the web interface (Log -> Download CSV) and attach it. It
contains times, loudness values and detection confidence, and no audio.