FAQ
Questions and answers
The long version. If something you need is not here, the support address is on the contact page.
Getting started
Do I need to know anything technical?
No. If you can describe your business to a new employee, you can use this. You will never be shown a file name, a snippet or a technical error.
Why is it invitation-only?
So we can answer every founder properly at this stage. Asking for access takes a minute and a person reads it; if it is a fit you get an invitation code.
What do I need before I start?
A description of the business and what you want people to be able to do. Nothing else. A longer written brief helps, and the first version is shaped by it.
How long until I have something real?
The first version appears in the first few minutes. Whether it is ready for customers depends on how much you want it to do.
The founder test
Do I have to pass it to get in?
Not today. Requesting access works either way and a person reads every request. Your result is attached to the request, so a pass tells us you already know what you are buying.
Then why take it?
Because it is the cheapest way to find out whether this suits you. Twelve questions now, or a surprise in week three about what a phone store asks of you.
What is on it?
Twelve questions about running a business on this: what a customer needs to see first, where a card number may never be typed, what a phone store asks of you, what a change costs, and what happens when you want to leave.
Is it free?
Yes, and it stays free however many times you take it. Nobody is charged anything before they have an account.
What if I fail?
You are shown every question you missed, the right answer, why it is right, and the page that explains it. You can try again six hours later with the same address.
Can somebody take it for me?
They could, but it would be a strange thing to do: the point is that you know what you are buying. Access still needs a code emailed to your own address.
Referrals
What do I earn for introducing a founder?
Ten percent of every recharge they make. Nothing is paid for the sign-up itself, deliberately — a bounty on registrations buys registrations rather than founders, and it is what turns a referral programme into spam.
Can I take it as cash?
It offsets your own bill first, which is what most people want it for. What is left after your bill can be asked for in cash — a request, an admin decision and a human transfer, because we hold no bank credentials.
Should I send them to the test first?
Yes, though nothing forces it. Your earnings come from them recharging, which only happens if this actually suits them — so send it to people it will suit, and let them find out for free first.
Cost
Is there a monthly fee?
No. You pay for changes you asked for, and a release fee only when an app actually goes on a store.
What does a change cost?
Usually 3 to 8 sparks, which is three to eight rupees. You are shown the likely cost before it runs, worked out from what changes on your own app have actually cost.
What is included free?
300 sparks to start — about forty changes. Building an Android or iPhone file is free, including a build we refuse. Connecting a domain you own is free, certificate included.
What if I run out mid-thought?
The builder stops and holds the sentence you were about to send. It is offered back when you top up, and you press send yourself — we never run held work for you.
Apps and stores
Is it a real app or just a website?
Both, labelled honestly. Every app installs to a home screen with its own icon and window on Android, iPhone, Windows and Mac. A real installable Android file is one button, and we put it on the Play Store for you. The App Store is the one we cannot do yet.
Do I need a Google or Apple developer account?
Not for the Play Store — we submit under ours. The App Store is not something we can do for you yet, and the free home-screen route needs no account from anybody.
Will Apple reject it?
Apple rejects apps that only wrap a website, and a wrapped app is what this produces today. We check for that ourselves before any submission, in two different ways, and tell you what is missing rather than letting you find out after paying Apple.
Who owns the app on the store?
The business is yours, the code is yours, and the key your app is built with lives in your project and leaves with you. The Play Store listing goes up under our developer account so you do not have to open one — and if you would rather own the listing yourself, say so and we will set it up in your name instead.
Data, safety and leaving
Where does my app run?
In its own sealed container with hard limits on processor, memory and processes, reachable only through our front door. It cannot affect anyone else’s app and nobody else’s can affect yours.
Does my app ever handle card details?
Never. Paying happens on the payment provider’s own page. Your app is not permitted to collect or transmit card, CVC or bank details.
Can I undo something from last week?
Yes. Every change is its own point in history, and undo returns the app exactly to how it was.
Can I take my app and leave?
Yes, and it is a supported action rather than a favour. You get one file with the working app and its full history, and a script that starts it on any ordinary machine.
Do you use my app to train anything?
No. Your project is yours; it exists to be built and exported, and the export is the proof that nothing about this arrangement depends on you staying.
Start with a sentence about your business
Access is by invitation and asking takes a minute. You begin with 300 free sparks.
Request access Take the free founder test
Access is by invitation and a person reads every request. The founder test is free, takes a few minutes, and tells you what you are getting before you commit to anything.