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Sparky vs Clearspace: Pushups for Minutes or Habits?

October 22, 2026

I build Sparky, so read this knowing where my stake is. The short answer: Clearspace is a pause-before-you-scroll app with an exercise mode on the side, and Sparky is built around earning minutes from habits. Clearspace says one pushup earns one minute, but it says so on its Y Combinator launch page and its blog, not on its App Store listing. Pick Clearspace for the pause, the price and the platforms. Pick Sparky if habits that are not exercise should pay.

Does Clearspace let you earn screen time?

Yes, according to two pages Clearspace wrote, and not according to its App Store listing. The Y Combinator launch post from 1 May 2024 says: “Every pushup you do earns a minute of scrolling, which you can use now or save for later.” The listing description for version 2.7.5 never mentions pushups, earning or minutes.

The closest the listing comes is one line in its feature list: “Screen Time Challenges: train your attention by engaging in challenges that strengthen your ability to focus.” That is accurate as far as it goes. It does not tell a reader that pushups can buy minutes.

Everything else on the listing describes the pause. “When you click on a selected app, decide - proceed after a deep breath or opt out?” That breathe screen is Clearspace’s core loop, and the latest release note, 2.7.5 on 19 August 2026, reads “New quotes in the breathe screen.”

Where is Clearspace’s pushup rule written down?

I looked on 4 October 2026. The rule shows up in a 2024 launch post, a 2025 blog post and three old release notes. It does not show up in the App Store description, on the homepage, or on the product page. The pricing and features URLs return 404 errors.

Here is the full trail, checked 4 October 2026:

• App Store description: no “pushup”, no “earn”, no “minute”.
• App Store version history: “Improved pushup detection” in 2.5.4 (18 April 2025), 2.5.9 (20 May 2025) and 2.6.2 (28 May 2025), then “New Screen Time Challenges” in 2.6.4 (14 July 2025).
• Y Combinator launch, 1 May 2024: one pushup earns one minute, to use now or save for later.
• Clearspace’s blog, 5 May 2025: a parenting post names “Pushup, Squat, and Step to Scroll challenges” and says “you decide the ratio (e.g. 1 push-up = 1 minute)”, citing the same YC page.
• getclearspace.com/pricing and getclearspace.com/features: 404. The site’s own Pricing link goes to the App Store listing, and its Features link goes to a product page about a “centering exercise” that never mentions pushups.

So the honest summary of the rate is one pushup for one minute at launch, with a 2025 blog post saying you can change the ratio. Neither page is the App Store listing, and neither says what the current default is.

How does Clearspace count a pushup?

Clearspace does not say. The YC post claims “we’re pretty sure we built the best pushup detection in the world” and shows a clip, but it never names the method. The three release notes say “Improved pushup detection” and nothing more. Its blog says squats and steps “integrate with your phone’s motion sensors or health data”, which leaves pushups unexplained.

So do not assume a camera, a motion sensor or anything else. The method is undisclosed, and our own category guide says the same. Steps are clearer: the YC post says walking and running are “measured by Apple Health.”

Sparky’s answer is simpler and weaker. Sparky counts nothing. Every check-in is a tap, so a pushup you did not do pays the same as one you did.

What does a minute cost in each app?

At Clearspace’s launch rate, an hour of scrolling costs 60 pushups. In Sparky 1.6, an hour takes about six default habits finished in full, because no default habit pays more than 10 Energy a day, and 1 Energy buys 1 minute.

Sparky’s rates come from its own code, version 1.6 (build 30, commit bc5163bc): a glass of water pays 1 Energy, Breathe pays 3, five of the eight default habits pay 5 per check-in, and Sleep Wind Down pays 10. The full price list, with the bonuses and caps, is in Sparky vs LockedIn.

The two rates measure different things. Sixty pushups takes real effort, and it is the same 60 on a lazy Sunday as on a busy Monday. Sixty Energy in Sparky takes six default habits done in full, such as a walk, reading, brushing your teeth and an early night. That is easier, and easier to fake. Both apps let you keep what you do not spend. Clearspace’s YC post says “save for later”, and Sparky refunds unused session minutes to your bank.

Is the breathe screen the part that works?

The pause has better evidence behind it than any earning mechanic. In the PNAS study of the one sec app, 280 people over 6 weeks closed the target app on 36% of their attempts after a pop-up interrupted them. Co-author Frederik Riedel is the originator of one sec, as the paper discloses.

The same paper ran a second experiment with 500 people to pull the pop-up apart. The option to back out of opening the app had the strongest effect. The waiting time also helped. The deliberation message “was not effective.”

Clearspace’s breathe screen asks you to “proceed after a deep breath or opt out”, which is a delay plus a way out. That is close to the combination the study found strongest, though no one has published a trial of Clearspace itself. It also means the pushups may be the less important half of Clearspace. Sparky 1.6 has no breathing pause at all. Its friction is the Energy balance and the extra step of starting a session, and we have no outcome trial either, as our evidence write-up says.

What does Clearspace cost?

Clearspace’s listing showed seven in-app purchases on 4 October 2026: “ClearSpace Premium (Monthly)” at $6.99, “ClearSpace Premium (Annual)” at $44.99, Family at $79.99, and four unlabeled Clearspace Premium items at $44.99, $49.99, $49.99 and $59.99. Sparky shows $8.99 a month, $59.99 a year and $129.99 for lifetime.

That makes Clearspace cheaper than Sparky Pro by $2 a month and $15 a year. The listing does not say what the unlabeled items are. Sparky has a free tier with five active habits and no time limit. Clearspace does not describe a free tier on its listing.

Both privacy labels declare data used to track you. Clearspace’s label lists Contact Info and Usage Data, linked to you for third-party advertising. Sparky’s lists Purchases, Identifiers and Usage Data.

Which one should you pick?

Pick Clearspace if you want the pause that research supports, a pushup mode that costs real effort, and a cheaper subscription that also runs on Android, Chrome and Vision Pro. Pick Sparky if you want everyday habits like water, reading and sleep to pay, with every rate printed, and you accept that nobody checks your taps.

Pick Clearspace if exercise is the habit you want to trade, or if your iPhone is not on iOS 26. It runs back to iOS 16.0. It costs less. And its breathe screen is the kind of pause with the most evidence behind it. Ask inside the app what a pushup is worth before you build a routine on the launch-day rate.

Pick Sparky if your good hours are full of small habits a camera would never see: water, reading, brushing your teeth, a wind-down routine. Each one has a printed price, unused minutes come back, and the honesty is your job.

Sparky turns small habits into screen time you earn. Download it free on the App Store.