When an app is free, someone is still paying. Usually it is you. You pay with your attention: the ads that interrupt your game, the pop-ups that beg for a subscription, the "recommended" content that keeps you scrolling. You pay with your data: every tap, every search, every minute spent is logged, packaged, and sold to advertisers or fed into algorithms that learn how to hold your attention a little longer next time. The product is not the app. The product is you.
That model is everywhere. Social networks, casual games, "free" productivity tools, weather apps that want your location at all times. They are not charities. They exist to extract value from users and hand it to shareholders. The more you use them, the more you are worth to them. That is the cost of "free."
Why It Hurts Accessibility Most
For people who rely on assistive technology, that cost is often higher. Ads are not just annoying; they are barriers. A flashing banner or a tiny "skip" button can make a game or a site unusable for someone with low vision. Tracking and data harvesting add another layer of harm: the same people who are already marginalised or at greater risk of surveillance are asked to hand over even more of their behaviour in exchange for basic tools. "Free" in that context is not a gift. It is a trade that many people cannot afford to refuse, and that makes it exploitative.
Pure Contrast Tools started in part because of that. My partner, Stephanie, is severely sight impaired. The games she wanted to play were full of ads and dark patterns. So I built her versions that were just the game: high contrast, no ads, no tracking. We are not building for a market. We are building for people who deserve tools that do not treat them as the product.
What We Do Instead
We do not monetise our users. We do not show ads. We do not sell or share your data. We do not use cookies for advertising. We do not run a newsletter that captures your email so we can "engage" you later. We publish on the blog and changelog; you can follow via RSS with no signup. Where we use a feature that needs data (for example, scam detection or a translator), we send only what is needed for that request and we do not retain it. Our feedback form keeps submissions for 28 days and then deletes them. Nothing more.
No Ads. No Trackers. No You-as-Product.
- Your attention is yours. We do not interrupt you with ads or upsells. The tools are the point.
- Your data is not our business model. We do not profile you, sell your information, or use it to train AI. We do not need to. We are not trying to grow a user base to monetise later.
- Zero retention where possible. We do not keep your input after we have answered your request. You are not a dataset.
- EU-hosted. Our infrastructure runs in the European Union, under strong data protection law. We are not hiding in a jurisdiction that favours data extraction.
You Deserve Better
Free is not always bad. Open-source software, public services, and projects that run on donations or sheer stubbornness can be free without making you the product. The difference is intent. When a company offers something "free" and makes billions, ask who is really paying. When an app wants your data "to improve the experience," ask who benefits from that improvement. You deserve tools that respect you: that help you play, work, or get things done without demanding your attention or your data in return. That is what we are trying to build. No ads. No trackers. Just the tool.