A pause button for threat-mode thoughts.
Pause is a privacy-first, self-help Android app designed to support you when experiencing paranoid or highly anxious thoughts. It helps you ground your senses, slow down, and choose safe next steps.
What do you need right now?
Fear deserves care. But fear alone does not prove danger.
Designed for crisis. Built for privacy.
During intense paranoid episodes, the mind is in threat mode. Pause offers a calm, systematic interface to help you re-anchor in facts.
Local-First Privacy
Your concern descriptions, evidence entries, and custom contacts never leave your device. All data is saved strictly in a secure local database on your phone.
Clinical Safety Gate
Before launching a check, the app asks five simple questions. If it detects acute distress, self-harm risk, or extreme exhaustion, it immediately redirects to crisis helpline support.
Grounding First
Slows down the threat-alert response. Includes structured sensory pacing (such as 5-4-3-2-1 check or slow breathing) before analyzing any thoughts.
No Arguing / Neutral Reflection
The app does not tell you if a threat is real or debate your beliefs. Instead, it invites you to sort observable facts from interpretations, helping you find lower-risk explanations.
Try the Pause Check experience.
Test the core interaction of the Android app directly in your browser. Experience the safety gate, breathing grounding, and factual framing worksheet.
This interactive demo runs entirely client-side. No entries are saved or sent anywhere.
Safety Gate
First, are you safe enough to do this slowly?
1. Could you hurt yourself or someone else right now?
2. Do you feel you must act immediately to confront, expose, or escape?
3. Have you had very little sleep and feel highly energized or agitated?
Get Support Now
This is a high-intensity moment.
You do not have to handle this alone. Please contact your caregiver, doctor, or a local crisis helpline immediately before taking any action.
Sensory Centering
Let's slow down the alarm.
Focus on the circle. Take slow, deep breaths.
Sort Facts from Stories
Sort statements into Observable Facts (what a camera can record) or Interpretations (what your mind tells you).
"I hear footsteps outside my door."
Safest Next Steps
You completed a pause check. Here is your immediate 30-minute safety routine:
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✓
Delay action for 24 hours
Do not send messages or confront suspected parties today.
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✓
Reduce stimulation
Turn down lights, reduce noise, and close social feeds.
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✓
Check with one trusted contact
Share a summary or just sit together to feel anchored.
Want to save checks locally and record customized contacts?
Caregiver Support Script
"I can see this feels very real and frightening. I’m not saying you’re lying. I’m also not sure the danger is confirmed. Let’s slow it down and check what is safest before doing anything."
Support a loved one, without arguments.
When a friend or family member is experiencing threat-mode thoughts, debating them can increase paranoia and isolate them. Pause helps you respond constructively.
What to Do
- Stay calm: Keep your body language open and voice soft.
- Validate the fear: Say "I hear how scary this is for you."
- Reduce triggers: Dim lights, turn off loud media.
- Encourage delay: Propose waiting 24 hours before acting.
What to Avoid
- Do not mock: Avoid laughing, joking, or calling it crazy.
- Do not debate: Do not try to compile proof or argue logic.
- Do not confirm: Do not play along or validate the threat.
- Do not track: Avoid helping search the house or web.
Safety-First, Private by Design
Pause is built on clinical best practices, prioritizing your absolute privacy and physical safety.
Your worksheets are written to a local Room SQLite database on your device. The app never sends your answers to a remote database.
We do not use advertising, marketing tracking SDKs, or social feeds. This prevents surveillance triggers and preserves system performance.
Crash reports are disabled by default. If you choose to opt-in, any text you entered into worksheets is stripped before transmission.
Helplines and trusted contacts are opened directly via your phone's native dialer. The app does not request direct phone call permissions.
Frequently Asked Questions
No. Pause is a self-help support tool designed for in-the-moment grounding. It does not provide diagnoses, psychiatric prescriptions, therapy plans, or emergency interventions. It is intended to be used alongside professional clinical treatment.
Pause was built as a public good to support individuals during vulnerable psychological experiences. There are no paywalls, subscriptions, in-app advertisements, or user-data monetization schemes.
Arguing with threat thoughts often creates resistance or triggers intense stress. Instead, sorting helps you focus on what is "externally observable" (facts a camera could capture) vs the mind's interpretation. This lowers threat certainty naturally rather than starting an exhausting debate.
Yes. The app is open-source. You can review the codebase, submit bug fixes, or audit the security configurations on GitHub.
Begin your pause.
Get the open-source Pause app for Android devices. Ground your thoughts, document evidence privately, and keep emergency contacts a single tap away.
Direct APK Installation
Download the production build file directly. Simple, tracker-free install.
Download APK (v1.0.0)Build From Source
Clone the repository and compile in Android Studio for complete control.
View GitHub Repository