September 25, 2023

Screetime Feature

TikTok and Instagram have already won at getting peoples immediate attention. When people are bored the first thing they do is open their apps. They have created a habit forming routine based on the situation of boredom. So how do we compete with that? We don't.

Origin Story

What we were trying to do with spark calls was to create a new habit for users. We quickly learned that this would be an uphill battle. spark calls was never meant to be a platform on which you spend countless hours scrolling through useless content. It's a utility app that you get to control when you use it. Feeling bored? Open the app, set your status, and forget about it. So, instead of trying to compete with big tech social apps, we decided to work with them.


Feature

The Screen Time Shortcut is a feature that allows you the ability to automatically set your status whenever you're aimlessly scrolling on social media. It's a one-time setup process, and then you're good for life. First, you need to go into your activities and select the 'Checking Socials' activity card. Once selected, you'll be prompted to set up Screen Time and choose which apps you want this feature to work with. Once set up, the feature will activate anytime you are scrolling on the chosen social media for more than 10 minutes. For example, if you've been scrolling on TikTok for more than 10 minutes, you will see a shield notification letting you know that your status has been set to 'Free' on Spark. You have the option to cancel this action if you prefer to continue scrolling through social media instead.