Get out there. The Spareya story

A nice evening, just warm enough outside. Perfect for a run, for tennis, for a kickabout. And you're sitting at home, turning over one single question: who can you call. You text one mate, he's got little kids, can't. You text another and get a “maybe next time”. The third doesn't even reply. So in the end you go nowhere and stay home. And it bugs you, because staying home is the last thing you wanted. You wanted to go. You just had no one to go with.

When you were a kid, this was never a problem. You went outside and within minutes there were enough of you for a match. Nobody planned anything, you were simply there. Then you grow up, work comes, family, everyone's calendar is full of something else, and those calendars drift apart. Getting a football crew together for a Wednesday evening suddenly takes a week.

Sport hasn't gone anywhere, though. You still want to move. It's just that the people you used to play with have somehow scattered. If this sounds familiar, you're reading the right thing. Spareya was built for exactly this.

I'm Marek. I come from a small village called Trebatice, these days I live in Myjava. An ordinary guy, nothing more. I've played sport since I was little and it still keeps me going. After school I went through a pile of jobs, worked abroad too, but none of it ever really grabbed me. Something was always missing, I just didn't know what.

It changed when we found out we were expecting a daughter. That's when I started thinking differently. I wanted to build something of my own, something that means at least something to someone. I started learning, working on myself, and I put everything I had into it.

In January 2026 I went through serious health problems. I was close to death and the doctors saved my life. A few days later our son was born. Once I got my strength back, I went back to work and finished Spareya.

I'm not telling you this so you'll pity me. I'm saying it only so you know this app wasn't dreamed up at a desk out of boredom. I've lived it. When I was a kid, people to play with were always within reach. These days that's somehow faded. So I tried to build a place where you can find them again.

And there's one thing I have to say straight: I couldn't have done it alone. My partner Ivka stood by me even in the hardest times, and she still does. My mum, Ivka's mum and the whole family were there for us too, often even when it wasn't easy for them. Without them there would be no Spareya. I'm grateful to them.

I wanted to build a community of people who love doing sport. When you go out together and take a photo or a video and everyone in it agrees, send it to us. We will be glad to share it on our social media. And in the app you can use “Make a framed photo” to take a photo together as a keepsake. We don't publish photos of children.

Even today, before any unlock, the app has the My sport log and a map with venues, shops and events. You can register your club straight away, and you can find coaches once you sign in.

Meetups with people switch on when your district or area unlocks. You create a meetup or join someone else's. It works for one partner or a whole group, in 137 sports.

If your partner cancels at the last minute, the app offers you other meetups in the same sport.

And because Spareya is for all of Europe, it runs in 24 languages.

This one's serious to me, because an app where strangers meet in person has to be safe. Otherwise there's no point. So I'll put it plainly, exactly as it is.

Spareya is for adults only, aged 18 and over. Before their first meetup, everyone verifies once. You just look into the front camera for a moment and a check confirms that you are a real, live person. No ID is needed. We don't store the photo or the video. We only get a yes or no result. Until you have verified, you can't arrange a meetup.

The map never shows your exact location. It only shows places and meetups.

You can create a meetup for women only. Only people whose profile says their gender is female can join it. Everyone sets their own gender in their profile.

You can report or block anyone, in the chat or on their profile. Reports are anonymous. The other person does not find out about them. Every report is read by a person from our team. When we have dealt with it, you get a notification. If three different people report the same person, that person's account is suspended straight away until we have looked into it.

When you block someone, you no longer see each other in chats or on each other's profiles. If one of you is organising a meetup, the other is removed from it. If you are both going to someone else's meetup, the app lets you know.

You can find everything about safety on the home page, in the section How Spareya keeps you safe.

Spareya will stay free, for you and for clubs, forever. What's free today stays free. This won't change.

There are no premium features yet. Logging your sport, your totals and looking for a partner will stay free.

Spareya is unlocking across Europe, district by district, area by area. The Great Unlock has been running since 1 August 2026.

A district or area unlocks when one per cent of its residents join the waitlist (at least 200 and no more than 3,000). Meetups there then usually go live within 3 working days. No district or area has unlocked yet. And I am curious myself how it will turn out. Which areas are the sportiest? How many people will really get out there?

The first district or area to unlock hosts the first Spareya Games, amateur sports games.

And one more thing for the first ones. Anyone who joins before their district or area unlocks gets the “Founding member” label. They keep it for good.

Do you want to unlock your district or area as soon as possible? Send it to your mates, your club, everyone around you. The more of you there are, the sooner you unlock it.

Download Spareya, log your first sport and join the waitlist in your district or area. Send the link to friends you would like to do sport with.