HomeHow it works
Four steps. One of them is walking.
Spark works in four steps: choose what gets blocked, lock it with a single tap, leave the key somewhere you would have to stand up for, and unlock only when you actually mean to. Setup takes about a minute and you do it once.
Choose, lock, walk away, come back on purpose.
The whole product is one asymmetry: locking costs nothing, and unlocking costs a walk. Everything below follows from that.
Pick the apps and websites that cost you the most, and group them into modes — Work, Study, Sleep. Calls, Maps and your alarm are never blockable. Set it up once and it stays set up.
One tap bricks everything in that mode. No key needed, no Bluetooth, no waiting. Locking is always free, because hesitating to lock is the real failure mode.
Put Spark in a drawer, another room, a bag by the door. That distance is the entire product — it is the part willpower cannot negotiate with.
When you genuinely need an app back, go get the key. Your phone checks it is really there — a fresh random challenge over Bluetooth every time, so nothing about the last unlock can be replayed — and gives you your apps. The walk is the point.
You can start a session by tapping your phone against the key, which is the gesture the home page shows. That is a shortcut, not a requirement. Locking never needs the key to be present and never needs Bluetooth switched on — if it did, the one thing you should never hesitate to do would be the one thing you could not always do.
One set of rules per situation.
A mode is a named group of apps and a window of time. Build the ones that match your actual week — you do not need all of these, and starting with one is fine. Calls, Maps and your alarm sit outside every mode: a phone has to stay a phone in an emergency.
Deep work
The big ones plus the sneaky ones. Two hours, no exceptions.
See the setup8 apps · 6 PM – 10 PMStudy
Everything that isn't notes, reference, or a calculator.
See the setup3 apps · 7 PM – 9 PMFamily time
Just the three that keep pulling you out of the room.
See the setup12 apps · 10:30 PM – 7 AMSleep
From an hour before bed until the alarm goes off.
See the setupThere is no mode limit and no subscription — the blocking app is free, and the key is a one-time purchase. Every situation above has a full write-up in the use cases, and the mechanism behind the unlock is described in how the unlock is secured.
One key, no subscription.
The app is free and stays free. The key is bought once, ships free anywhere in India, and arrives with a GST invoice.
- 1× Spark key · AAA battery pre-installed
- Adhesive dock — park it on your desk, shelf or wall
- Spark app access — free forever, no subscription
1-year warranty · 7-day replacement on damage
Studio shots of the key: in a hand for scale, sitting on a shelf at a distance so the walk reads, and the battery door open. Blocked on the final industrial design — no stock photography and nothing borrowed from another product.
What you need, and what you do not.
Short version: a reasonably current phone and Bluetooth. No NFC, no network, no account, nothing to charge.
| Requirement | What it actually means |
|---|---|
| Phone | iOS 17 or later, or Android 12 or later. That is the floor at which the official operating-system APIs Spark blocks through are available — the blocking is done by your phone, not by the key. |
| Bluetooth | Needed to unlock, never to lock. Deliberately not NFC: a large share of budget Android phones sold in India ship without an NFC radio, and a lock that only works on expensive hardware is the wrong product. |
| Network | None. Locking and unlocking are entirely local — no account, no server, nothing that stops working when your connection does or when ours does. |
| Power | A single AAA battery, already fitted in the key. Nothing to charge and no cable in the box. When it eventually runs out, a replacement costs a few rupees at any shop in India. |
| Distance | Bluetooth reaches roughly ten metres indoors and less through walls. Another room is the placement that works; the next desk is not far enough to be a decision. |
Android permits stricter enforcement than iOS: strict mode can close the uninstall-and-settings route while a session is running. iOS allows less. We document that difference rather than implying a guarantee we cannot keep — and there is always a capped emergency unlock so a flat battery or a lost key never leaves you locked out of your own phone. The full account of what this does and does not defend against is on why a physical key.
Still deciding? Compare Spark with the alternatives, read the FAQ, or get the app and run the whole system on a timer before you buy anything.
Try the loop before you buy the key.
Download the app, build one mode, and lock it for two hours on a timer. If the idea works for you, the key is what makes it survive the tenth time. One payment, no subscription, GST invoice, free shipping across India.