Cerberus Child — Accessibility Service Declaration

App: Cerberus Child
Android package: com.dariuspbacate.cerberus.child (as configured in the ChildApp Android project)
Service class: com.dariuspbacate.cerberus.child.service.AppBlockerService
Config: res/xml/accessibility_service_config.xml
User-facing description: “Cerberus uses accessibility to block apps your parent has limited and to show the block screen on this phone.”

Developer: Darius Paul Bacate
Support Email: getcerberusapp@gmail.com
Website: https://cerberus-website-nine.vercel.app/

This document is intended for Google Play’s Accessibility Service declaration and related policy review. It describes only what Cerberus Child implements today.

1. Why Accessibility Service is required

Cerberus Child is a parental-control app. Parents configure which apps are blocked. On Android, reliably knowing which app is currently in the foreground—and interrupting a blocked app—requires an Accessibility Service.

Without Accessibility Service, Cerberus Child cannot:

• Detect when a blocked app becomes the foreground app.
• Show the Cerberus block screen / overlay at the moment of access.
• Send the user back to the home screen when a blocked app is opened.
• Provide dependable enforcement of parent-configured app limits.

Other APIs (for example Usage Stats alone) do not provide real-time foreground-app interception suitable for blocking.

2. Functionality that depends on Accessibility Service

Core parental blocking cannot function correctly without Accessibility Service.

3. What information is processed

The Accessibility Service is configured for window-related events and can retrieve window content flags in XML, but the implementation only uses:

1. AccessibilityEvent of type window state changed.
2. The event’s package name (foreground application package).
3. Optionally the active window’s package name to confirm the foreground package.
4. Comparison against the locally cached blocked package list from the parent’s policy.
5. If blocked: display block UI and perform global home action.
6. Activity reporting payload to the Cerberus backend (when paired):
   package_name, app_name, was_blocked.

System UI, launchers, input methods, and the Cerberus Child package itself are excluded from blocking/reporting where implemented.

4. What information is NOT collected via Accessibility

Cerberus Child’s Accessibility Service does not:

• Read or store on-screen text, emails, chat messages, or passwords.
• Traverse or exfiltrate view hierarchies for content scraping.
• Record the screen or take screenshots via Accessibility.
• Track keystrokes or capture credentials.
• Access contacts, SMS, call logs, microphone, or camera through Accessibility.
• Collect location through Accessibility.
• Use Accessibility data for advertising or third-party analytics.

5. Why the app cannot function correctly without it

If Accessibility Service is disabled:

• Foreground package detection for blocking stops.
• Blocked apps can be opened without Cerberus interruption.
• Parent-configured limits are no longer enforced in real time.
• The product’s primary purpose—parental app blocking—fails.

The Child app may still sync policy and show setup guidance, and may report that Accessibility is disabled as a protection-integrity signal to the parent, but blocking does not work without the service.

6. Confirmations for Google Play

We confirm that Cerberus Child’s Accessibility Service is used exclusively for:

• Parental app blocking and related block-screen UX.
• Optional reporting of blocked/open package events to the supervising parent’s Cerberus account.

We confirm that Accessibility Service is not used for:

• Advertising or ad targeting.
• Independent analytics products.
• Spyware, stalkerware, or surveillance unrelated to parent-configured app limits.
• Reading personal communications content.

Parents enable the service knowingly during Child setup. Disabling the service is possible in Android settings and will stop blocking (and may alert the parent).

7. Suggested Play Console short answer

Cerberus Child uses Accessibility Service only to detect the foreground app’s package name and block apps that a parent has limited in Cerberus Parent. When a blocked app opens, Cerberus shows a block screen and returns the child to the home screen. The service does not read on-screen text or messages and is not used for advertising or analytics. Without Accessibility Service, real-time app blocking cannot work.

8. Contact

Developer: Darius Paul Bacate
Support Email: getcerberusapp@gmail.com
Website: https://cerberus-website-nine.vercel.app/
Privacy Contact: getcerberusapp@gmail.com

For Accessibility declaration questions from Google Play review, contact the Support or Privacy Contact above.