Excessive smartphone usage degrades productivity and mental wellbeing, while existing digital wellbeing solutions provide limited enforcement and inadequate privacy safeguards. MindArc is an on-device digital wellbeing framework integrating real-time app restriction, usage analytics, activity-based unlocking, and gamified feedback. The system’s three-layer architecture leverages Android AccessibilityService for reliable foreground app interception, ML Kit Pose Detection for real-time exercise quantification, and Room-backed persistence for offline-first operation. A four-phase finite state machine with exponential moving average smoothing drives pushup and squat repetition counting. Reward mechanisms link verified physical and cognitive effort directly to screen-time grants, promoting sustained behavioral change. Experimental results validate reliable enforcement, accurate tracking, low latency, and minimal battery overhead, confirming effective digital self-regulation.
Chandrasagar et al. (Sat,) studied this question.