Official rules

Apple

Apple is not a sponsor of Spoe’s challenges and is not involved in them in any way. Apple does not award or pay any money in them.

Who can join

You must live in the United States, in a state where Spoe is offered, and be 18 or older. You confirm your age when you sign up, and a card billed outside the US or in a state Spoe is not offered in is refused.

The stake and the Spoe fee

Each challenge shows two amounts before you join: the stake, which goes into the prize pool, and the Spoe fee, which is Spoe’s charge for running the challenge. You pay both, by card or from your Wallet balance.

The fee never goes into the pool. It is not refunded when a run breaks, only when Spoe cancels the challenge or refunds your run for its own fault.

Joining is final. A run that breaks, or a change of mind, is never refunded.

The challenge’s rule

Each challenge states its rule in one sentence before you join, and the rule is the same for everyone in it. A challenge is one of three kinds.

A daily limit, such as “Stay under 45m on Instagram every day”: your use of the app from midnight to midnight must stay under the limit.

Until a cutoff, such as “Under 20m of Instagram before 5pm”: only your use of the app from midnight until the cutoff counts, and use after the cutoff does not. In “No Instagram until 5pm”, any use before the cutoff breaks the day, however short. Spoe’s lock covers the app, and its website in Safari, from midnight until the cutoff on every day of the run while you can still finish, and getting past it before the cutoff breaks the day.

The whole phone, such as “Under 5h a day on your whole phone”: your total use of every app on the phone counts, essentials included, as far as Screen Time reports it app by app. Time on the Home Screen is not counted, so Spoe’s figure can be lower than the total in Settings. In a review of a whole-phone day, Spoe’s figure decides.

Your days run from midnight in the time zone you joined from, wherever you are. Only the iPhone you join on is measured, but using the app on another device or on its website still counts toward a limit.

How the pool is split

The prize pool is the sum of the stakes of everyone in the challenge. Spoe adds nothing to it.

You finish by keeping to the challenge’s rule on every day of the challenge, with Spoe measuring every day. A day Spoe could not measure does not count as held.

Once the challenge is decided and every review is resolved, the pool is split equally between everyone who finished. Each share is rounded down to the cent, and the cents left over go to Spoe. Winnings go to your Wallet, where you can cash them out once your balance reaches the minimum, or use them to pay for another entry. Winnings still under review cannot be cashed out or spent.

When nobody finishes

If nobody finishes a challenge, Spoe keeps the pool.

Proof on demand

Spoe may ask anyone who finished for proof of their Screen Time before paying out. Nobody in the challenge is paid until every such review is resolved, because one result changes every share.

You have 24 hours from the request to send the proof. If it does not arrive in time, or does not show that you finished, your run does not qualify and your stake stays in the pool for the others.

If Spoe later finds that a paid run cheated, its winnings are taken back and split among the other finishers, and the account is held for review.

Disputes

If you dispute the charge for an entry with your bank, that run stops qualifying, whatever the dispute’s outcome, and its stake stays in the pool. Your account is held while the dispute is open: you cannot join, pay from your balance or cash out.

If Spoe loses the dispute, the disputed amount and the bank’s dispute fee are taken from your Wallet balance, as far as it goes.

Cancellations and refunds

Spoe can cancel a challenge at any time. Every stake and fee is then refunded the way it was paid: card payments to the card, balance payments to the balance.

Spoe can also refund a single run when a fault on Spoe’s side is proven. Its stake and fee are returned the way they were paid, and the pool is split without it.

If the challenge had already paid out, winnings are taken back first, but only as much as is still in each Wallet. A balance never goes below zero.

Solo goals

A solo goal is a stake you put on a rule of your own, alone: a daily total for the apps you pick, no use until a time of day, or no use inside a window, for 3 to 30 days. You choose a stake from $10 to $500. There is no Spoe fee, and nobody else sees your goal.

You pay first, then set the goal up on your phone. A goal you pay for but don’t set up by the end of the day after you paid, in the goal’s time zone, has its whole stake returned to your balance. If you paid by card, that money waits before it can be cashed out, as below. If you delete your account, a goal you paid for by card that never started is refunded to the card.

Your days run on your phone’s clock, and a night belongs to the day its evening falls on. Keep to your rule every day and the whole stake comes back to your balance. Miss it and Spoe keeps the stake. A day that breaks misses the goal at once. A day Spoe couldn’t watch misses it too, once the goal’s last day is over. A new phone, or reinstalling Spoe, can’t report a goal’s days, so they count as not watched.

If a held goal’s days carry a mark your phone can’t explain, the stake waits until Spoe has reviewed the goal.

Redemption

When you miss a solo goal, Spoe offers one redemption: the same goal again, with the same apps, rule, length and stake. You can pay for it until midnight that day, in the goal’s time zone.

Keep the redemption every day and you get its stake back plus half the stake you lost, rounded down to the cent. Miss it and Spoe keeps both stakes. A redemption has no redemption of its own.

Paying for a redemption closes when the offer ends. A card payment that goes through after that is refunded to the card.

When solo money can be cashed out

Money a solo goal returns, when you paid for the goal by card, is in your balance at once and can pay for any goal or challenge. It can be cashed out from midnight 30 days after the card payment, in the time zone you paid in. When held money pays for a goal or challenge, what that brings back is held in the same share, until the latest of its dates.

Your Wallet lists money that can’t be cashed out yet under Pending, with its date. Cash out takes only the part that is free. Money still held is lost if you delete your account.