Coverage of Spool, its founder, and the voice check-in research behind it — sometimes drawing on our anonymized check-in data. For interviews, data questions, or assets, email team@thespoolapp.com.
The Daily Cardinal
UW alum develops app to fight screen addiction
By Hayden Lund. July 8, 2026.
The Daily Cardinal profiles Spool founder Prafull Sharma (UW–Madison ’23) and how Spool uses affect labeling — asking you to say why out loud before a blocked app opens — to act "as a mirror" for phone use and help people reclaim their focus.
We Are Founders
What 8,667 People Said the Second Before They Picked Up Their Phone
By Chris Kernaghan, Prafull Sharma and Jainam Manot. June 11, 2026.
The article analyzes 8,667 anonymized Spool voice recordings from 193 users and finds that people frame phone urges as obligations: "I need to" over "I want to".