Open almost any app and it wants something from you. Your attention, your email address, a subscription, a little more productivity. Even a simple timer often comes with an account, a plan and a list of features.
Prakash Collective goes the other way. It makes toys: small things that are pleasant to use and ask for very little in return.
What counts as a toy here
A toy on this site is something you can open and enjoy in seconds. A flip clock you actually want to look at. A keyboard that sounds like rain. A cursor that leaves a trail of sparkles. Some of them are genuinely useful, like a focus timer or a harmonium for daily singing practice, but they're made with the same care as the ones that are just for fun.
A few rules every toy follows
- Free to use. Every toy is free, and there's nothing to pay to use it fully.
- No account, nothing to install. Everything runs right in your web browser, on a computer, a tablet or a phone.
- Your settings stay with you. Things like your favourite clock style or your typing sound are saved on your own device, not sent to us.
- Small and quick. The toys make their sounds and pictures live as you use them, so the pages stay small and open quickly.
- Made carefully. A toy isn't finished when it works. It's finished when the little details feel right: the way a card flips, how a key sounds, how a plant droops when you leave the tab.
How new toys arrive
A new toy arrives every couple of weeks. On the toys page, the ones coming soon have an I want this heart. Tapping it tells us which toys people are looking forward to most. And if there's a toy you wish existed, you can request it.
Coming up next: - Focus garden, Saturday 24 October: a focus timer that grows a little flower while you work. - Name song, Saturday 7 November: type your name and hear it as a little tune. - Harmonium, Saturday 21 November: play, sing over a tanpura and see if you're on the note.
Why it matters
A screen is where many of us spend most of our day. It can be a slightly friendlier place. That's all these toys are trying to do.