SparkUp Circle
For the people you trust. Invite-only, nothing counted between members, your home network always blocked.
Early access · Android & Linux
Your home internet, wherever your family is.
Start a private SparkUp Circle on a phone or computer at home — free, invite-only, on rules you set. When you need more, the SparkUp community network is in the same app.
- WireGuard
- encrypts every connection
- Free in your Circle
- nothing is counted between members
- Home network off-limits
- routers, NAS and cameras stay unreachable
- VPN or SOCKS5 proxy
- whole device on Android, one app at a time on Linux
Circle + Public
One of the few VPN apps with a private network and a community in one.
Most connection apps pick a side. Private networks connect only your own people; community networks are built around strangers. SparkUp runs both in one app: your family stays private, and you can still share with the community — and benefit from it.
SparkUp Public
For going beyond your family. Share within your rules, earn credit, and use other members' connections with it.
One device can serve both at once — your Circle first, the community within the limits you set.
How it keeps costs down for members
Free inside your Circle
Members use each other's connections without paying or counting anything.
Credit instead of a subscription
Share while your phone charges; the credit you earn pays for Public connections — not your wallet.
Device to device, not a server fleet
Connections go directly between devices whenever they can, instead of through rented servers. That is what lets a Circle stay free.
SparkUp Circle
Use your home internet abroad, in three steps.
A Circle is the group you trust: family, close friends, a small team. No router settings, no admin console — one device at home and an invite.
- 1
Pick a device at home
An Android phone or a Linux computer that stays at home becomes your Circle's way out to the internet.
- 2
Invite by code or QR
Send an invite to the people you trust. You approve who joins, and removing someone cuts their access immediately.
- 3
Connect from anywhere
Family members abroad connect through home over an encrypted WireGuard tunnel. Nothing is counted between members.
- Studying or working abroad? Keep the same home connection your family uses, with fewer “unusual sign-in” prompts. For banking, follow your bank's own travel procedure.
- Parents on holiday browse the way they do at home.
A Circle gives you your home internet, not your home network: devices on the home LAN — NAS, cameras, printers — stay unreachable.
Sharer control
Share your connection. You set the rules.
Every connection through your device is checked against rules you control before it leaves. No need to know what a CIDR is.
Web ports only, by default
AvailableOut of the box, other people's traffic can only reach web ports 80 and 443. Narrow it to the domains you name; everything else is refused.
Your home network stays out of reach
AvailableRouters, NAS boxes, home cameras and cloud metadata addresses are blocked in code. No setting opens them.
Limits you set
AvailableCap data per session and per day. When a limit runs out, your device refuses — and tells the user why.
Share only while charging
AvailableTurn it on and your phone shares only while plugged in. Heat, battery-floor and pause-while-in-use limits are coming.
Choose who can see your device
In developmentApprove each person before they connect, or appear only to users from the network countries you pick.
Totals, never browsing history
AvailableThe app shows you sessions, data and blocked connections — never the sites someone visited.
Domain rules depend on names a connection reveals. Encrypted names (ECH) can slip past them, which is why port and address rules always apply too.
Public sharing, out of the boxAvailable
- Web ports 80 and 443, any domainAllowed
- Every other port and protocolBlocked
- Your home network: LAN, NAS, camerasAlways blocked
- Cloud metadata, loopback, link-localAlways blocked
Narrow it to named domainse.g. only github.com and example.com
Starter profilesIn development
Web onlyports 80/443 · listed domains · no LANLow risk
API / Devcode hosts, packages, APIs · no LANMedium risk
Trusted Circlepeople you invited · no LANLow risk
Want to help more?
Share beyond your Circle, one rung at a time.
There's no single “share my IP” switch. Contribution comes in rungs, each showing who can connect, where their traffic may go and what it costs your device. Start where you're comfortable and step down any time.
Higher rungs serve more people, may earn more, and ask for clearer consent.
AvailableIn development
Sharing contract · Rung 1 of 5Available
My devices
For when you need your home IP while away.
- Who can connect
- Only devices signed in to your own account
- Where traffic may go
- The internet, under the rules you set
- Your IP address
- Seen by websites — but the user is you
- Protected by
- WireGuard encryption, a separate key per device
- Your device
- Share only while charging, within limits you set
- What you get
- Your home connection while travelling — free
- Risk
- Low · 1/5
Each rung is a short contract: who can connect, where traffic may go, what it costs your device. You can step down or pause at any time.
Sharing contract · Rung 2 of 5Available
Circle
For when the family wants one shared road home.
- Who can connect
- People you invite by code or QR — you approve, and can revoke anyone
- Where traffic may go
- The internet; your home network is always blocked
- Your IP address
- Family members reach websites from your IP
- Protected by
- Invite-only membership; revocation takes effect immediately
- Your device
- Share only while charging, within limits you set
- What you get
- Free for everyone in it — no credit earned or spent
- Risk
- Low · 2/5
Each rung is a short contract: who can connect, where traffic may go, what it costs your device. You can step down or pause at any time.
Sharing contract · Rung 3 of 5In development
Encrypted relay
For when you have a spare server and want to help without your IP facing websites.
- Who can connect
- Community connections that can't reach each other directly
- Where traffic may go
- Nowhere from your IP — you only forward packets
- Your IP address
- Never seen by websites
- Protected by
- Packets are end-to-end encrypted; the relay can't read them
- Your device
- Needs a machine with open UDP — usually a server or desktop
- What you get
- Credit: 60% of the per-GiB price on the hop you carry
- Risk
- Low · 2/5
Each rung is a short contract: who can connect, where traffic may go, what it costs your device. You can step down or pause at any time.
Sharing contract · Rung 4 of 5Available
Limited exit
For when you want to earn credit while keeping the scope narrow.
- Who can connect
- Signed-in community users, within your limits. Coming: approve each person, filter by network country
- Where traffic may go
- Web ports 80/443 by default; narrow it to named domains
- Your IP address
- Seen by websites
- Protected by
- Default-deny rules, home network blocked, limits, revocation
- Your device
- Share only while charging, within limits you set
- What you get
- Credit: 80% of what the user pays per GiB
- Risk
- Medium · 3/5
Each rung is a short contract: who can connect, where traffic may go, what it costs your device. You can step down or pause at any time.
Sharing contract · Rung 5 of 5Available
Open exit
For when you understand the risk and have a separate IP or device for it.
- Who can connect
- Any community user who isn't blocked
- Where traffic may go
- Per your rules — a wider scope
- Your IP address
- Seen by websites; check your internet provider's terms and local law first
- Protected by
- Everything in rung 4, plus handling for abuse reports
- Your device
- Share only while charging, within limits you set
- What you get
- Credit: 80% of what the user pays per GiB
- Risk
- High · 5/5
Each rung is a short contract: who can connect, where traffic may go, what it costs your device. You can step down or pause at any time.
Plainly
Is it safe to share your internet? What SparkUp doesn't promise.
Not an anonymity network.
The app never shows sharers where you go. But like any exit, the network your traffic leaves from — its router and internet provider — can see destination addresses, and the exit's software reads destination names to apply rules. Share with people you trust; for real anonymity, use Tor.
Not an end to all abuse.
Rules, limits and revocation cut the risk, but when you act as an exit your IP is what websites see. Internet providers' terms and the law on exit operators differ by country — check both before sharing with strangers.
No cash payouts.
Credit is a usage allowance for the network. It can't be bought, sold, transferred or cashed out. If cash is what you want, bandwidth-selling apps pay it — SparkUp doesn't.
Not every connection will succeed.
When two devices can't get through NAT and no relay is available, the connection fails — and the app tells you why instead of going quiet.
Not on every platform yet.
Early access runs on Android and Linux. Windows and macOS are in development; there is no iOS app.
Credit
Credit is a usage allowance, not money.
Share with the community and you earn credit; use community connections and you spend it. It can't be bought, sold, transferred or cashed out — so there's nothing to speculate on.
Inside a Circle, nothing is counted. Rates are published and changed gradually.
Credit can't be farmed
Sharers always earn less than users pay, and devices on the same account never earn from each other.
Metered at both ends
Your device keeps its own signed count of what it used. The ledger compares both sides and flags large gaps.
Checks on over-claiming
Unannounced spot checks catch nodes that over-claim. They run only on devices that opt in, are compensated, and never run on low battery or while roaming.
Compare
How SparkUp compares to other ways of sharing a connection
Each model is built for something different. This table is honest about where SparkUp loses, too.
| Criterion | SparkUp VPN | Proxyware appsapps that pay for unused bandwidth | Token dVPNsnetworks that pay node runners in tokens | Mesh VPNsprivate networks for your own devices |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Private group and community in one app | Yes: SparkUp Circle and Public | No: community only | No: community only | No: private network only |
| Main purpose | Sharing a connection in a trusted group first, the community second | Selling bandwidth to business customers | Decentralised VPN marketplace | Connecting your own or your team's devices |
| Who uses your connection | You and the Circle you invite; Public within your limits (per-person approval in development) | The company's customers | Verified business traffic or public traffic, depending on what the operator accepts | Only people on your private network |
| Filter internet destinations | Yes: IP, port, protocol, domain; home network always blocked | Not documented | Not documented (you choose a traffic class) | Not for exit nodes |
| Free sharing with family | Yes: SparkUp Circle | No | No | Yes, and the main ones are free for a handful of users |
| What you get back | Credit to use the network, never cash | Cash | Tokens or BTC, for node runners | Not applicable |
| Crypto needed to use it | No | No | Not required for users | No |
| Platforms | Android, Linux (early access) | Many | Many | Most desktop and mobile systems |
| Source code | Not published | Closed (not checked per app) | Partly open (not checked) | Some are open source |
Based on public documentation checked in September 2026. “Not documented” means we found nothing, not that it can't exist. If cash income is your goal, proxyware apps suit you better — SparkUp doesn't pay cash.
Under the hood
How a SparkUp connection works
- 1
Sign in the device
A Google account plus a passkey. Each device holds its own signing key; adding a new one needs a passkey or an existing device to approve.
OIDC · passkey - 2
Get a signed ticket
The coordinator issues a signed ticket bound to both ends' WireGuard keys. A forged or altered ticket fails at the handshake.
Ed25519 · WireGuard - 3
Direct, or around
The two devices try to get through NAT and connect directly. If they can't, traffic goes via a relay, which only ever sees encrypted packets.
ICE · coturn - 4
Rules first, then the internet
The exit unwraps traffic inside a userspace network stack, checks each connection against the owner's rules, and only then lets it out. Both ends count bytes and sign their reports.
gVisor netstack · allowlist
FAQ
Questions people ask
Is SparkUp free?
Inside a SparkUp Circle, yes: nothing is counted between members. Using community connections spends credit, which you earn by sharing.
Is SparkUp a VPN or a proxy?
Both, depending on the device. On Android it runs as a device-wide VPN. On Linux it also opens a local SOCKS5 proxy — port 1080 by default — so you can send one browser or one tool through it instead of the whole machine, with DNS resolved inside the tunnel so it doesn't leak. You can let other devices on your network use that proxy too.
How is SparkUp different from a mesh VPN?
A mesh VPN builds a private network out of devices you already own, and it does that well: mature clients, wide platform support, and an exit node if you want one. SparkUp Circle is for households who would rather not learn what an exit node is — invite by QR, one switch to share — and it adds rules for where traffic may go, which mesh exit nodes generally do not. SparkUp is much earlier: Android and Linux only for now.
Can the person sharing see which sites I visit?
The app never shows sharers where you go — only totals. But, as with any exit, the network your traffic leaves from can see destination addresses. Share with people you trust.
Can I reach my NAS or cameras at home?
No. A Circle gives you your home internet, not your home network. Devices on the home LAN are blocked in code, so nobody connected through you can reach them.
Will sharing drain my phone's battery?
You can set SparkUp to share only while charging and cap data per session and per day. Heat and battery thresholds, and pausing while you use the phone, are in development.
Is it legal to share my internet connection?
Sharing within your household is usually fine, but internet providers' terms differ — some forbid sharing service outside the home — and the law on exit operators varies by country. Check both before sharing with strangers. This isn't legal advice.
Can I cash out credit?
No. Credit is a usage allowance: it can't be bought, sold, transferred or cashed out. Rates are published and change gradually.
How is SparkUp different from apps that pay for your bandwidth?
Those apps pay cash and route their business customers' traffic through your connection; you don't choose who uses it or where it goes. SparkUp pays no cash, and your connection only carries SparkUp users' traffic, under rules you set.
Which devices does it run on?
Early access runs on Android and Linux. Windows and macOS are in development; there is no iOS app.
How many devices can join a Circle?
Up to 253 devices per Circle. The owner approves who joins and can revoke anyone at any time.
Early access
Start a family Circle — join early access.
SparkUp opens in groups. Tell us where you'd like to start and which devices you use, and we'll invite you when a group opens.
Tip: sign up together as a family. A Circle has a sharer at home and people abroad from day one.