Common questions

The app is free for children, young people and guardians. No subscription, no ads, nothing that unlocks if you pay.

Individual activities may cost money — that is up to the organisation running them. The price is the first thing shown on an activity, and if it says gratis (free), it is free.

Sparks is mostly used by children and young people between roughly 10 and 18.

If the child is under 13, you as an adult create your own account and a linked account for the child. You then give the consents and see what the child has booked.

Swedish schools have five holidays — sportlov in February, påsklov at Easter, sommarlov over the summer, höstlov in late October and jullov at Christmas. Those are the busiest weeks: youth centres, sports clubs and arts schools often add extra sessions, camps and open days.

The feed in the app is sorted by day. Pick the holiday dates and see what is on near you, filtered by age, town and what is free.

There are three ways in: BankID, Freja eID, or a form that Sparks reviews by hand. BankID and Freja eID are the Swedish electronic ID apps most people here already use for banking and public services.

The form exists so that nobody is shut out. A samordningsnummer — the coordination number given to people without a Swedish personal identity number — works, and so does protected identity.

No, a lot is open to everyone. Some activities require membership of the förening (the sports or culture club) or the fritidsgård, and that is stated on the activity.

You apply for membership in the app. If the child is under 18, you as the guardian are asked and approve it — or not.

It is the child's check-in. A leader scans it on arrival, and attendance is recorded automatically instead of somebody ticking off a list.

The code is personal and refreshes constantly, so a screenshot passed on to someone else will not work. Nobody can check in as somebody else.

You can join the queue. If somebody cancels, you get a notification and the place passes on.

For some activities the staff choose who gets a place from the queue — so it is not whoever is quickest with their phone who wins.

Yes. The web version at web.sparks.se is built for a desktop screen and works just as well from a school computer as from a phone. Same account, same activities.

What is on offer differs between municipalities — it depends on which fritidsgårdar, clubs and culture schools have joined.

Download the app and see what is near you. If there is nothing where you live, do get in touch, so we know where to go knocking.

No. Sparks is run by a non-profit organisation and the app is ad-free. We do not sell ad space and we do not sell information about children.

Every organisation in the app has adult leaders present. These are fritidsgårdar, sports and culture clubs, culture schools and libraries — not private individuals posting something.

As a guardian you approve membership, photography and individual activities, and you can change your mind at any time.

You end a membership yourself in the app, under your memberships.

You delete the account yourself too, under account settings. If the child is under 13, you do it as the guardian from the child's settings. If the child has borrowed something from a fritidsgård, it needs to be returned first.