Everything Anya wanted

Anya wanted a screen with no ads and no scary pop-ups — somewhere that felt like it was hers. That's SparklePop's very first version: a few taps, some colors, a whole lot of sparkle.

Anya wanted to jump between painting and her pet without getting lost — so she got a home screen to choose from, plus new worlds to explore so she'd never get bored.

Anya wanted a unicorn to look after — so she got one she could name, feed, and watch grow.

Anya wanted to spray paint like a real artist — so a spray tool and a rainbow color mode were born. Every painting since has looked like actual magic.

Anya kept asking "what happens if I tap this?" — so the world filled up with things to discover: surprise eggs, snow on the moon, a dancing unicorn, a secret puppy party, and a tiny baby companion.

Anya wanted her unicorn to look exactly how she imagined it — glasses, jewels, a fluffy coat, new horns, even a castle to visit.

The rewards were coming too fast to really enjoy — so we slowed them down and spaced them out. Every surprise gets its own moment now.

Anya asked why the butterflies were always the same color — now they flutter by in random colors. (And her iPad finally has sound, too.)

Anya wanted her friends to know where SparklePop came from — so now there's a page telling every family it was made by a mom, for her daughter.

Anya tapped the "Our Story" badge and asked, "Mumma, what's this button?" It wasn't one — yet. Now it is: tap the heart on the story page and watch the sparkles fly.

Anya poked our photo on the story page expecting it to do something — so now it does. Tap it for a little wiggle, a burst of confetti, and a hello from us.

Anya asked, "how will we make a sticker?" — and wanted to do it just by talking. So now she can! She taps the big mic, says something magical like "a rainbow unicorn with stars," and SparklePop turns her words into a sticker while a gentle voice cheers her on. No typing, no reading. On a device without a mic, she can tap a picture or hit "Surprise me!"

Anya's mom wanted a gentle pause every 10 minutes, and a little learning mixed into playtime — so now a friendly unicorn checks in every 10 minutes across every part of SparklePop, and every time an egg hatches, SparklePop reads Anya a fun fact out loud.

Painting used to share the screen with scoreboards, badges, and buttons — so now Paint has its own home on the hub. Just a canvas, simple colors and tools, and nothing else in the way.

Paint got its words back! Anya can tap 🔤 to type a message, pick a fun font and size, and tap the card to place it — perfect for a "Happy Birthday!" or "I love you." And the rainbow is a color again, so her brush and her words can sparkle in every color at once. When it's ready, one tap sends the card to whoever she loves.

The gentle check-in grew up. Now playtime is a cosy 15 minutes, and when it's up, SparklePop gives Anya a warm little "that's a wrap" — showing her, and reading aloud, all the magical facts she learnt while she played. Then playtime rests for a while, so screens never take over the day.

So many parents asked "where can we follow the story?" — so the welcome page now has a friendly Follow button. It lives only on the grown-ups' screen, never inside Anya's play, so little ones stay in their bubble while mums and dads keep up with what's new on Instagram.

When an egg hatched, the little creature used to vanish in under a second. Now it stays with her for the whole playtime and does a happy hop when she taps it.

Playtime now starts gently: a sleeping unicorn waits for her first tap to wake the magic. And every unicorn she catches trots into a little meadow at the bottom of the screen, so she can see her herd grow.

The biggest change yet. Each day a new mystery egg sits in a nest in the garden. While she plays, the egg wiggles and offers a clue: pop the yellow balloons, guess who says moo, count the corn, find the letter C, visit its home. When she thinks she knows who's inside, she taps the egg to guess, and it hatches. Her new friend stays in the garden, and at the end she gets a card to tell Mummy what she learned.

SparklePop now remembers each day she plays. A little strip of garden grows one step every day, new lands open on her 3rd, 6th and 10th days, and the friends she hatched are still there tomorrow. The first minute is calmer too, with just bubbles and stars before the busier magic arrives.

SparklePop can now be added to a phone or tablet's home screen, where it opens like an app and keeps working even without the internet, which is handy on car rides. It also has its own little icon now: a spotted magic egg.