Spark vs Stay Focused
Stay Focused is built by INNOXAPPS, a company in Noida, which makes it one of the few blockers in this category priced in rupees natively. Its strength is granularity: limits per app by time, by number of launches and by unlock count, plus a study timer. Its uninstall protection rests on device administrator permission, and its Strict Mode is held by a PIN, an expiry date, a QR code or retyping random text. Spark's difference is where the unlock lives — on a physical key in another room rather than behind a PIN on the same phone. The free tier of Stay Focused shows ads; Spark's app has no subscription and no ads, and requires buying a key.
Every figure below was read from Stay Focused’s own site or store listing on 18 Sept 2026. Prices change — check the source links before deciding. What this page says about Spark was last corrected on 13 Sept 2026.
At a glance
Side by side
| Dimension | Stay Focused | Spark |
|---|---|---|
| What gates the unlock | A PIN, an expiry date, a QR code, or retyping random text | Holding the phone against a key you left in another room |
| Limit style | Quotas: time, launches and unlock counts per app | All-or-nothing per mode, on a schedule or on demand |
| Price in India | Play listed in-app purchases from ₹49 to ₹3,999 on 18 Sep 2026 | Free app; the key is bought once, in rupees quoted ex-GST |
| Ads | Yes, on the free tier | None |
| Made in | Noida, India | India |
| The escape hatch | Whatever you configured — and the PIN is one you know | Five emergency unlocks, for life, hidden in Strict mode |
Stay Focused
How Stay Focused works
Stay Focused is an Android-first app and website blocker with usage quotas, schedules and a Pomodoro study timer, from the Indian developer INNOXAPPS LLP, with an iOS build and a Chrome extension.
In the vendor's own words on Play: device administrator permission is used so that you can prevent yourself from uninstalling it, and the accessibility API is used optionally to see the websites you browse, which is how website blocking and statistics work. App blocking itself is the app intercepting what comes to the foreground.
Platforms
Android (primary), iOS, and a Chrome extension.
Pricing
Free with ads and in-app purchases. On the Indian Play Store on 18 Sep 2026 the listing showed in-app purchases from ₹49 to ₹3,999 — Play's range for the app, not a price list. On iOS the App Store listed $3.99 monthly, $9.99 quarterly and $24.99 yearly. The vendor does not publish a per-tier rupee breakdown.
How hard it is to get around
Moderate, and configurable. Strict Mode (also called Lock Mode) is what resists you: it can be gated by a PIN, by an expiry date, by scanning a QR code, or by retyping a string of random text. Uninstalling requires deactivating device administrator first, which Strict Mode gates. We found no vendor documentation of safe-mode, clear-data or factory-reset routes, so we do not assert them — but note that every Android blocker of this type is ultimately removable by someone determined enough.
The difference that matters
A PIN you know, or a key you have to walk to
Stay Focused's QR-code option is the most interesting thing in this comparison, because it is reaching for the same idea Spark is built on. Print a QR code, leave it in another room, and ending a session means physically going to it. That is friction from distance rather than from a secret, and it works.
The difference is what happens on a bad day. A QR code is an image: it can be photographed, kept in your gallery, and scanned from the sofa — the one route a printed code cannot defend. A key is an object, and the only copy of it is where you left it. Spark's keys are not copy-proof either, but copying one takes equipment and intent, not a screenshot.
For most people this decides nothing until the week it decides everything. If a PIN you chose has never once been the reason a block ended early, Stay Focused is a capable, cheaper answer built closer to home. If you already know how that story goes, the useful thing is distance you cannot screenshot.
To be fair
When Stay Focused is the better choice
Quotas, and value. No other app in this comparison set lets you limit an app by how many times you launch it or by how many times you unlock the phone, which fits people whose problem is frequency rather than duration. The Pomodoro timer makes it a genuine study tool, the free tier is usable, and it is priced and supported from India.
Choose Stay Focused if
- You want limits rather than bans — twenty minutes of Instagram, or ten launches, rather than none.
- You want an Indian developer, rupee pricing and support in a compatible time zone.
- You are a student who wants blocking tied to Pomodoro study sessions in one app.
- You want to try something free before spending on hardware, and can live with ads.
- You want it today from the Play Store; Spark is not there yet.
Documented limitations
- The free tier shows ads.
- Website blocking and statistics need the accessibility service — a broad permission to grant.
- Uninstall protection rests on device administrator permission, which is software you can revoke once Strict Mode allows it.
- The iOS build is a separate product constrained by Apple's Screen Time framework.
- No per-tier rupee price is published; Play shows only a range.
Sources
Questions
Stay Focused, answered
Is Stay Focused an Indian app?
Yes. The Play listing gives INNOXAPPS LLP in Noida, Uttar Pradesh as the developer, and its in-app purchases are priced in rupees on the Indian storefront.
How do I get past Stay Focused's Strict Mode?
By whichever condition you set when you turned it on: a PIN, an expiry date, scanning a QR code, or retyping random text. The point of the QR option is that you can leave the code somewhere inconvenient — though a photograph of it defeats that.
Is Stay Focused free?
There is a free tier with ads. On 18 Sep 2026 the Indian Play Store listed in-app purchases ranging from ₹49 to ₹3,999 for the paid features; the vendor does not publish which plan costs what.
Stay Focused or Spark?
If your problem is duration or frequency and a PIN holds you, Stay Focused does more for less. If the PIN is the problem — because you know it — then the difference that matters is that Spark's unlock is an object you have to walk to.
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Read the comparisonFacts checked 18 Sept 2026 · Spark’s side corrected 13 Sept 2026
Locking is one tap. Unlocking costs you a walk.
No subscription. Buy a Spark once and sign in to pair it; after that, locking is one tap, even offline. Unlocking means fetching the key and holding your phone against it — which turns a bad moment into a walk.