Peekless
Hide your screen from them, not from you.
Peekless draws a shade over your screen and opens a small window on the line you are actually reading. Drag the window as you scroll. Keep using your phone with the shade on — no blacked-out screen, no tilting your phone to see your own messages.
Get it on Google PlayScreens
Spotlight mode, the default
The shade covers your screen except for one window over the text you are reading. Drag the window down the page as you read. You see your message; the person next to you sees a dark panel.
Full dimming when you want it
Darken the entire screen evenly and add a fine pattern on top. Useful for a map or a photo, where a single reading window makes no sense.
Emergency cover, as an option
Tilt the phone past an angle you set and the screen covers completely. This hides the screen from you too, so it is switched off by default — turn it on only if you want it.
A floating handle you can reach
Tap it to pause the shade, drag it to move the window, long-press it to turn everything off. No hunting through a settings screen while someone is reading over your shoulder.
Home screen widget
One tap turns the shade on or off without opening the app. Put it next to your messaging app and hit it as you sit down on the train.
Tune it to your screen
Set shade opacity, window size and shape (a horizontal band, a rectangle or a circle), pattern strength, and the tilt angle for emergency cover.
It never reads your screen
Peekless only draws on top. It uses no accessibility service, no screen capture permission and no camera. It cannot see what app you are in or what your screen says.
Free, with nothing locked
Every feature works from the first launch. No subscription, no in-app purchase, and nothing you unlock by watching an ad.
FAQ
- I tried one of these and I couldn't see my own screen either — is this the same?
- No, and that complaint is why Peekless exists. Competing apps go fully black when you tilt the phone, which hides the screen from the owner as well. Peekless defaults to spotlight mode: the shade stays put and a window shows you the line you are reading. Tilt-to-cover exists here too, but it is off until you turn it on.
- If I tilt my phone even slightly, does the whole screen go black?
- Only if you enable emergency cover, and only past the angle you set. Leave it off and tilting does nothing — the shade and its window stay exactly where you put them.
- How is this different from a privacy screen filter?
- A physical filter is a polarising film that narrows the viewing angle in hardware, and it works even while your phone is off. Peekless is not a polarising filter and does not imitate one. It is software drawing a dark layer on top of your screen, so you can change the opacity, move the reading window, or switch it off in a tap — things a film cannot do.
- Does it read or capture my screen?
- No. Peekless draws on top of whatever is showing and never looks underneath. It requests no accessibility service, no screen capture permission and no camera access. There is no account and no server, so nothing leaves your phone.
- Is it really free?
- Yes. Every feature is available from the first launch. There is no subscription, no in-app purchase, and no feature gated behind watching an ad.
- Can someone standing right behind me still read my screen?
- Yes, if they are looking straight at it over your shoulder in spotlight mode, they can read whatever is inside the open window. Peekless is aimed at the person sitting beside you at an angle. If that matters to you, shrink the window, raise the opacity, or use full dimming.
- Does it stop screenshots or someone photographing my screen?
- No. Peekless cannot block a screenshot taken on your phone, and it cannot stop a camera pointed at it. It does not claim to. The app says so on its own how-to-use screen before you start.
- Why does it need "display over other apps"?
- That permission is the whole feature — it is what lets the shade be drawn above the app you are using. The only other permission is notifications, used for the on/off control in your notification shade and for optional reminders.
Guides
Being straight with you: Peekless is not a polarising privacy filter, and it is not the hardware privacy display built into some recent phones. It makes your screen hard to read from the side. It does not stop someone looking at it head-on from right behind you, and it does not block screenshots or a camera. The app tells you this on its how-to-use screen before you start.