A plain-English log of product updates across the mobile app, website, API, and AI systems. Internal admin-only work is left out unless it changes the product experience.
A real first-contact onboarding flow
Spark's onboarding now shows the product loop with a sample relationship, then walks new users through real app surfaces to import a first contact, add useful context, and review a real check-in.
Mobile
See Spark work before you set anything up
New users now watch a clearly labeled, tap-through sample movie of Spark's real loop - tell Spark about someone, see memory filed, then see the next-day check-in it earns - before being asked to add a single contact. Notifications, calendar, profession, and profile questions no longer block first run.
Mobile
Setup checklist on Today
A dismissible checklist at the top of Today tracks real setup progress - people added, AI contacts picked, context given, notifications, calendar, and about-you - and routes each item to the right place. It disappears on its own once everything is done.
Mobile
Try Spark on real app surfaces
After the sample movie, onboarding now guides new users through the real Home screen, real Spark sheet, real contact import card, a real contact profile, Today, and Home's fire habit view instead of switching to a separate setup surface. The first real contact flow now extracts topics, researches useful news, and prepares a real pending check-in before walking the user to Today.
Mobile
Smoother onboarding guidance
The onboarding spotlight now keeps its previous target while the next control is measured, then animates the highlighted area and tooltip into place so the real-surface walkthrough feels calmer as users move across screens and sheets.
Mobile
Clearer iPhone Contacts access
When iOS is only sharing a limited set of contacts, the import screen now explains why the list is short and offers a direct Manage iOS access action plus refresh.
Reliability
Sturdier phone contact imports
Phone contact imports now hand selected contacts to a server-side job before Spark does the heavy import work, so switching apps or a mobile request timeout is much less likely to strand a carefully chosen contact list.
Mobile
Finish contact context later
After importing contacts, users can now leave the one-by-one context step from the top bar, keep selected contacts enabled, and return to the contact list without losing the setup they already completed.
AI
New contacts start with Spark when there is room
Contacts created manually, through imports, shared cards, calendar attendees, or Spark chat now default to Spark suggestions on while the account still has AI-contact capacity. In Spark chat, only the primary newly-created person in a turn is auto-enabled.
AI
Quick questions learn from your check-ins
Spark's daily quick questions now factor in which check-ins you actually sent or dismissed, deepening the topics that land and steering away from the ones you pass on.
Mobile
Calmer guided tour
The full-app walkthrough no longer launches itself right after onboarding. Page-level help remains available from the help button on every major screen.
Android polish and smarter contact search
Spark shipped the latest Android launch polish, better contact search, and backend Steward reliability improvements.
Mobile
Android subscription chips and spacing
Polished Android plan cards, fixed Pro plan subscription chip alignment with an Android-specific baseline correction, contact page spacing, and edit-contact actions so the Android app lines up more closely with the iOS experience.
Mobile
Search contacts by full and preferred names
Contact search now matches full names and preferred names more reliably, making it easier to find the right person from larger contact lists.
Reliability
Large Steward messages route more safely
Improved backend routing for dense Steward requests so large relationship updates support bigger family graphs, retry compactly when the first structured plan is truncated, and no longer fall through to a generic success message when the planner cannot safely file them.
Daily AI reliability and Android subscription webhooks
Spark made daily check-ins and quick questions more reliable, and added Google Play subscription notifications so Android billing changes can update accounts without waiting for a manual sync.
AI
Daily check-ins fill the promised count
Daily generation now fills eligible AI-enabled contacts up to the user's tier budget, using stronger contextual drafts first and plain fallback check-ins only when needed.
AI
Smarter quick questions
Context requests now prioritize broad relationship gaps like how you know someone, family, work, hometown, and hobbies before asking narrow topic-specific questions.
Reliability
News research no longer blocks the whole day
If same-day news research is still running, check-ins retry later; if news research fails, Spark still generates the day from older news and saved relationship context.
Reliability
Google Play subscription updates
Added backend handling for Google Play Real-time Developer Notifications, so Android renewals, cancellations, holds, and refunds can refresh Spark subscription state after Google sends an update.
Account deletion guidance
Spark added a dedicated public account-deletion page for store listing review and users who need deletion instructions outside the app.
Privacy
Public account-deletion URL
Added dedicated account-deletion documentation that explains how to delete a Spark account in the app, how to request deletion by email, what active product data is deleted, what narrow records may be retained, and the backup retention window.
Contact setup and filtering polish
Spark added smoother contact sharing, sturdier Steward app switching, faster AI-contact filtering, and an easier way to finish AI setup later.
Mobile
Steward draft survives app switching
Kept the Steward sheet open when users briefly switch apps, so typed draft text stays in place while they reference another message or app.
API
Quieter scoped Steward filing
Hardened scoped Steward filing so a bulk contact-facts call can recover when the model includes the current contact's name instead of omitting the already-known contact id.
Mobile
Cleaner notifications inbox
Removed the internal notification type label from inbox rows so reminders and follow-ups no longer show raw enum text like REMINDER_FIRING.
Mobile
Consistent share contact sheet
Updated the Share contact chooser to use Spark's standard sheet presentation, including the shared drag handle, backdrop dismissal, safe-area spacing, and busy-state handling.
Mobile
AI contacts filter
Added an AI enabled status filter to the Contacts Sort & Filter sheet so users can quickly see who Spark is actively helping with.
Mobile
Do context setup later
Added a Do this later action to the AI-contact context step so selected contacts stay enabled without forcing users to skip every person one by one.
Sharing, check-ins, and AI reliability
Spark now supports Spark-to-Spark contact sharing, steadier daily check-ins, and fresher AI route health checks.
Reliability
Automatic AI route health checks
Added a daily backend health-check sweep for configured AI models so Steward and other AI features do not become unavailable simply because a manual model test aged out.
AI
Check-in floor fallback
Spark can top up quiet Today lists with plain cadence check-ins for eligible AI-enabled contacts when richer news or relationship hooks do not fill the daily check-in target.
Mobile
Spark-to-Spark contact sharing
Contact and About Me share actions now offer a Spark import link alongside vCard export. Receivers can preview the contact, create a new record, or merge into a suggested existing match after signup/onboarding.
Web
Shared contact link fallback
Shared contact links now have a web fallback page that helps recipients open Spark or install the app if the native app is not already handling the link.
API
Contact share invites
Added server-backed contact-share invites with hashed tokens, expiry, authenticated previews, conservative payload snapshots, and additive import/merge handling.
Contact summaries refresh faster
Spark now updates AI contact summaries shortly after relationship context changes.
AI
Near-real-time contact summaries
When notes, interactions, reminders, relationships, events, tags, or contact details change, Spark now schedules a debounced bio refresh so contact summaries catch up shortly after the edit without firing one AI call per change.
Android release prep
Spark now has the app identifiers, product catalog, and purchase verification path needed for Google Play release testing.
Mobile
Google Play subscriptions
Added Android subscription product and base-plan support for Pro and Power, including Google Play purchase, restore, manage-subscription, and review links.
API
Android receipt verification
Added Google Play Developer API verification for Android purchase tokens and published Google Play product/base-plan IDs through the pricing config.
Web
Android app identity
Updated Play Store links and admin pricing controls for the Android package com.sparkrm.app.
Manual deploys: guides, prompts, and public docs
Spark now has public product guides, in-app walkthroughs, and low-noise review and sharing prompts.
Mobile
Guided walkthroughs
Added a cohesive first-run guided journey that walks through Home, Spark, Today, Contacts, a contact page, and the Steward sheet with real taps and navigation. Page-level walkthroughs remain replayable from the help button.
Web
Public docs
Added expanded public guides that match the in-app walkthroughs so users can understand Spark's core surfaces in more depth, with a searchable docs layout for faster browsing.
Mobile
Review and sharing prompts
Added earned App Store review prompts and native sharing prompts after positive usage moments. Prompts are throttled and stop once the user rates, says they already reviewed, or shares Spark.
Mobile
Contact detail pages
Restored dedicated read-only contact details and important dates pages for contacts and About Me, with focused edit sheets for individual phone, email, address, and date records.
API
Durable prompt state
Added server-side state for tutorial views and growth prompts so completed prompts stay completed across devices.
AI
More reliable daily check-ins
Improved news discovery and check-in drafting so paid users are more likely to see specific, useful suggestions when Spark has enough relationship context.
AI
Paid-user About Me summaries
Added an AI-managed About Me bio for paid users, generated from explicit profile context so Spark can better ground Steward replies and outreach drafts without mixing it into writing voice.
Mobile
Walkthrough touch recovery
Hardened the in-app walkthrough overlay so interrupted tooltip tours cannot leave the app looking normal while blocking taps.
Mobile
App resume touch recovery
Hardened the Spark Steward sheet so closing it cannot leave an invisible modal layer blocking taps.
Mobile
Steward sheet close polish
Restored the Steward sheet's native modal behavior so closing it keeps the app tappable without exposing tabs, hiding the composer, or leaving extra space below the sheet.
Manual deploy: profile and contact polish
The contact and About Me surfaces moved closer to a single, consistent contact-card experience.
Mobile
Contact editing redesign
Updated contact editing with grouped iOS-style inputs, inline phone/email/address/link editing, custom labels, primary selectors, and clearer destructive actions.
Mobile
About Me overhaul
Made the user's own profile look and behave more like a contact detail page, including edit, notes, reminders, relationships, contact details, and share-contact actions.
API
User-level contact details
Added user-level phones, emails, links, addresses, important dates, notes, and relationships so Spark can remember context about the user as richly as it remembers contacts.
Mobile
Preferences cleanup
Refined notification timing, quiet hours, device details, drawer pages, and unsaved-change confirmations for editable screens.
Manual deploy: better daily suggestions
Daily check-ins became more grounded, more deliberate, and better aligned with the overnight generation schedule.
AI
News-grounded check-ins
Improved the check-in selection and drafting pipeline so fresh news can become a specific outreach hook when it is relevant enough.
Reliability
News before generation
Daily generation now waits for the relevant news research cache before drafting check-ins, reducing stale or generic suggestions.
API
No rollover check-ins
Reinforced the rule that each day gets its own suggestions. Yesterday's pending check-ins go stale instead of rolling into Today.
Manual deploy: launch hardening
A set of fixes tightened onboarding, account deletion, scheduling, notifications, and relationship display.
Mobile
Onboarding simplification
Removed the explicit timezone confirmation step and moved correction into preferences.
Mobile
Quieter document checks
Legal-document checks now happen quietly unless the user actually needs to accept updated documents.
API
Account deletion callback fix
Fixed the mobile account-deletion confirmation path so email callbacks work correctly with the user's authenticated session.
API
Background worker split
Separated background job execution from the API runtime so scheduled work can scale without slowing normal app requests.
API
Snooze wake notifications
Snoozed suggestions and quick questions now wake back up at the chosen time instead of being lost in the next-day sweep.
Manual deploy: website, copy, and news ranking
The public site, product positioning, and news-aware suggestion pipeline moved closer to launch-ready shape.
Web
Marketing copy polish
Refined public site copy, pricing language, launch pages, and the core tagline around real connections.
AI
News-ranked check-ins
Added a ranking layer that can use fresh, relevant news as a stronger reason to check in when it fits the contact.
API
Runtime AI provider imports
Hardened the AI provider loading path so production deployments use the configured runtime providers consistently.
Privacy
Legal and privacy readiness
Updated public legal and privacy support pages for App Store launch readiness.
Web 0.5.0
Spark's website and AI operations foundations improved ahead of launch, with public-facing AI quality work and internal reliability controls.
AI
Model routing controls
Improved how Spark routes AI work to the right model class, which supports better quality, cost control, and reliability for suggestions and Steward conversations.
Reliability
AI health and cost guardrails
Added stronger operational checks around AI providers, model readiness, and cost tracking so user-facing AI features can be monitored safely.
Web
Launch site refinements
Continued polishing the public site, pricing explanations, and launch copy for the App Store submission window.
Mobile 1.8.0 and API 0.7.2
The post-import setup flow, Today empty states, and Steward filing reliability all improved.
Mobile
Warm-up after import
Completed contact imports now route into warm-up so users can quickly teach Spark context about the people they just added.
Mobile
Clearer Today setup states
Improved empty and setup states on Today so new users understand what Spark needs before daily suggestions can appear.
API
Steward filing hardening
Made contact filing more reliable when Spark turns a user's notes or conversation into structured relationship memory.
Mobile 1.7.x and API 0.6-0.7
Spark's AI quality, Steward filing, and launch readiness improved across several rapid releases.
AI
Suggestion quality pass
Improved AI suggestion quality so check-ins and drafted messages are more specific, less generic, and better aligned with saved context.
API
Safer relationship filing
Prevented self-relationships and improved global filing planner behavior so Spark handles relationship facts more carefully.
Mobile
Steward sheet stability
Hardened the Steward sheet rendering path so filing results and tool-call summaries appear more reliably.
Reliability
Launch readiness checks
Added operational runbooks and verification passes around jobs, support flows, demo accounts, and App Store readiness.
Mobile 1.5-1.6, API 0.4-0.5, and Web 0.4.0
Today, subscriptions, milestone handling, marketing pages, analytics, and launch observability all moved forward.
Mobile
Today page revamp
Improved Today with day-of milestones, better suggestion bucketing, and clearer handling for event-driven and AI-driven nudges.
API
Subscription verification fix
Fixed App Store purchase verification so subscriptions relink correctly to the user who verifies the transaction.
AI
Steward speed and quality work
Improved Steward's model path, planner caching, and filing quality so conversations can produce better structured memory with less latency.
Mobile
Crash reporting and analytics
Added launch-ready mobile crash reporting and product analytics while keeping analytics manually scoped and privacy-conscious.
Web
Marketing overhaul
Refreshed the public website with stronger SEO, vertical pages, and launch-ready Spark positioning.
Mobile 1.4.x, API 0.3.x, and Web 0.3.x
Spark completed its brand transition, refined pricing, and shipped a broad voice-mode and quality pass.
Mobile
Voice mode polish
Improved the voice experience for talking to Spark, including interaction polish around recording and filing.
AI
Cost and quality overhaul
Adjusted AI behavior, routing, and limits so Spark can preserve quality while keeping launch costs sustainable.
Web
Pricing and intro offer alignment
Aligned annual pricing and first-month-free introductory offer messaging with App Store Connect.
Web
Spark brand cleanup
Finished replacing old Mauve/Kickstart public references with Spark across user-facing surfaces.
Mobile 1.3.0, API 0.2.0, and Web 0.2.0
Voice, the yearly fire goal, and the Home experience became core parts of Spark's relationship ritual.
Mobile
Steward voice mode
Added the voice path for talking to Spark so users can capture relationship context without typing.
Mobile
Yearly fire goal
Added a longer-term fire goal so weekly relationship work contributes to a visible yearly rhythm.
Mobile
Home polish
Refined the Home experience around sparks, fire progress, and the user's relationship habit.
API
Voice-ready backend
Added the server-side pieces needed to support voice sessions and route spoken context into Spark's filing system.
Mobile 1.2.0 and API 0.1.0
Relationship management foundations expanded with reminders, events, interaction logging, calendar work, and stronger Steward support.
API
Reminder and event tooling
Added AI-aware tools for creating and managing reminders and events from Steward conversations.
Mobile
Interaction logging
Improved the path for logging texts, calls, emails, in-person meetings, and other touchpoints with contacts.
Mobile
Calendar and Steward polish
Refined the calendar and Steward experiences so important dates, reminders, and filed context are easier to work with.
API
Contact deletion support
Added stronger contact deletion behavior for cases where a contact really should be removed rather than archived.
Mobile 1.1.x and API 0.0.2
Subscription management and early AI quota policy became more complete.
Mobile
Expanded subscription management
Improved the in-app subscription management path so users can understand and manage their Spark plan more clearly.
API
Unmetered Steward quota policy
Added support for unmetered Steward quota policy so beta/support users can be handled without breaking normal limits.
Reliability
iOS OTA release path
Improved the release path for publishing iOS over-the-air updates safely.
Mobile 1.0.2
Spark's mobile app received a broad performance pass.
Mobile
Render and list performance
Improved app-wide rendering and list performance so larger contact sets and repeated daily use feel smoother.
