What Spark does, and what it refuses to promise.

The phone, always. All blocking runs on your device through the operating system's official APIs. The Spark key only matters at the moment you unlock, when you hold your phone against it. It has no idea which apps you chose, it has no light, button or buzzer, and it never touches the internet.

Because you should never hesitate to protect your attention, and you should always hesitate to give it away. Locking is one tap on Lock now in the app, or a schedule, and it never needs the key. The one condition is that a Spark has to be paired first, so there is always something that can end the session. Unlocking is the part that needs the key — you walk to it and hold your phone against it — and it is deliberately the only part that costs you any effort.

Far enough that fetching it is a real decision — another room is ideal. Radio range doesn't come into it: nothing locks or unlocks because the key is near or far, and to unlock you hold your phone against it. What matters is the walk. Leave the key in the kitchen and a willpower problem becomes a walking problem, which is a much easier problem to win.

The Bluetooth Spark works with any iPhone on iOS 17 or later and any Android phone on Android 12 or later, which is why it is the default. There is nothing to plug in and no adapter to buy. There is also a cheaper NFC Spark, which needs a phone with an NFC reader as well: every iPhone that runs Spark has one, but many budget Android handsets don't. So check before you pick that one — the buy page asks your phone's reader directly.

Almost any app on your phone, grouped into modes like Work, Study or Sleep — and calls always get through, whatever you choose. Website blocking depends on what the operating system allows, so it is stronger on some phones than others. Set a mode up once and it stays set up until you change it.

No. The app is free and there is no subscription of any kind — no renewal, no term, nothing to cancel. The Spark key, Bluetooth or NFC, is a one-time purchase, and it is the only thing Spark ever charges you for. With a Spark paired, the app also builds you a daily Path — one thing a day for the time it gives back — at no extra cost.

The Bluetooth Spark runs on a CR2032 coin cell — nothing to charge, no cable in the box. We haven't measured battery life on finished units yet, so we won't quote a number; the app warns you when it's getting low, and a fresh cell costs a few rupees at any shop in India. Swapping it doesn't need re-pairing. The NFC Spark has no battery at all.

No. Spark (heyspark.work) is an app blocker with a physical key, made by Creston & Company in India. It isn't related to Tecno's Spark phones, Readdle's Spark Mail, Adobe Spark (now Adobe Express) or Apache Spark.

Swap in a fresh CR2032 cell; there is nothing to re-pair. The app warns you before it runs low, so this should rarely catch you out. If it dies mid-session and you can't get a new one, an emergency unlock gets you back in — unless Strict mode is on, which switches them off.

Use an emergency unlock if you have one left, then pair a new Spark. An account holds one Spark at a time, so unpair the lost one in the app under Settings › Sparks before pairing its replacement. If you have none left, or Strict mode is on, get in touch and a person will help.

Yes, once it is set up. Pairing a Spark needs you to sign in with an internet connection, once; after that, locking, unlocking and schedules all work offline. Signed in, the app syncs your settings when it has a connection, but nothing in the lock-and-unlock loop waits for our servers.

It is a way back in without the key — for flat batteries, a lost key, or a genuine emergency. You get five, for life. They don't refill, and Strict mode switches them off. They are capped on purpose: an unlimited escape hatch is not an escape hatch, it is the front door. If you are stuck with none left, contact us and a person will help.

One phone at a time. An account holds one Spark and has one active phone: sign in on a new phone and it takes over, signing the old one out, and your modes, schedules and history come with the account. To switch to a different Spark, unpair the old one in the app under Settings › Sparks.

Yes, and we would rather say so. A determined person with physical access to their own phone can always find a way — on Android, Strict mode's friction gives way to Safe Mode or to switching off Spark's Accessibility permission; on iPhone, deleting the app ends the session. Spark is built to beat a moment of weakness at eleven at night, not a determined person with time to spare. Nothing sold to consumers can hold you against your own considered will, and anything claiming otherwise is selling you a feeling rather than a mechanism.

Turning Bluetooth off doesn't end the session — your apps stay locked. The blocking runs on your phone, not over Bluetooth; the key only matters at the moment you unlock, with your phone held against it. With the radio off the Bluetooth Spark can't be heard, so all it means is switching Bluetooth back on before you unlock.

On Android, Strict mode puts friction in the way: removing or disabling Spark mid-session takes more than a long-press. It is friction, not a lock — Safe Mode, or turning off Spark's Accessibility permission, gets past it. On iPhone, deleting the app ends the session; sign back in and your modes return. The goal is not to make leaving impossible, it is to make it slow enough that the impulse passes first.

No. Android permits more: Strict mode can put friction in front of uninstalling or disabling Spark while you are locked, and it switches off emergency unlocks. iOS allows less, because Apple draws the line for screen-time APIs in a different place — deleting the app ends the session. On both, calls always get through. We document the difference rather than implying a guarantee we cannot keep.

Yes, with some effort, and we would rather tell you. The Bluetooth unlock checks that your Spark is heard at contact range for about 15 seconds — someone with the right radio kit could record that broadcast and replay it. The NFC Spark is a standard tag, and standard tags can be copied. Spark beats a moment of weakness, not an attacker: if you need a lock that stands up to someone else, this is not it.

The app is free, with no subscription. The Spark key is a one-time purchase in rupees, quoted before GST — the Bluetooth Spark, or the slightly cheaper NFC Spark — and buying more than one brings the price per key down. The live figures are on the pricing page, where they come straight from the shop rather than from this sentence.

Yes, on request — email us your order number and we will send one. Prices on the site are quoted excluding GST, so the number you see plus GST is the number you pay at checkout.

Nothing, to most of India. Delivery to Jammu & Kashmir, Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala and the North-East costs a flat ₹100 per order, which checkout adds as soon as you type your PIN code, before you pay. There are no handling or packaging charges anywhere. We do not ship internationally at present.

UPI, credit and debit cards, and netbanking, all through Razorpay.

Yes. At checkout you sign in with your email (we send a code, there is no password) or with Google, and it takes a moment. The order then sits on your account: you see it under My account, and when you sign into the app with the same account the Spark is already there to set up. You can still track any order without signing in, with its order number and the phone number you gave.

Tell us within seven days of delivery, with a photo, by email or on WhatsApp, and we replace it free of charge, including the shipping. You do not need the original packaging.

You can cancel any time before we hand the parcel to the courier, and we refund the full amount to the original payment method. After dispatch we do not refund — if it arrives damaged or does not work, we replace it instead.

One year against manufacturing defects. Battery replacement, physical damage, water damage and loss are not covered — the batteries are standard AAAs you can buy anywhere.

No. There is no student discount and no student code, and we would rather tell you here than have you hunt for one at checkout and find nothing. Volume pricing applies to everyone — buy more than one key and the price per key drops — and a friend's referral link or a promotional code will take money off if you have one. There just isn't a student-specific price.

Your chats, your screens and what you do inside your apps never leave your phone. Signed in, your modes, schedules, limits and session history sync to your account so a new phone can restore them. Even signed out, the app sends an install ID, fetches its settings, sends heartbeats while a session runs and checks for updates. Buying a key creates an order with your name, phone number and delivery address. That is the list — nothing worth selling ever reaches us.

No. There is no advertising business here, and the app has no ads and no analytics SDK. This website does use Google Analytics to count visits. The commercial model is a small physical object sold once, which is exactly why we do not need your data to make the numbers work.

No. The key has no GPS, no internet connection and no memory of anywhere it has been. The Bluetooth Spark broadcasts a signal your phone listens for when you hold it close to unlock; the NFC Spark is a tag with no battery at all. Your phone knows whether your Spark is against it; the key knows nothing at all.