Firefly Jar Support

Questions, problems or ideas? Write to [email protected]. We usually reply within a few days. Please mention your phone model and Android version.

Frequently asked questions

Is Firefly Jar free?

Yes. The timer, the stats, the activity tags and all twelve firefly species are free, with no subscription. The only purchase is the optional one-time Lantern Pack: three more jars, three more nights and three more night ambiences. There are no ads, except one you can choose to watch to call a flown-away firefly back.

What counts as leaving the app?

Going to the home screen or another app while the screen is on. That starts the grace period, which you can set to 10, 20, 30 or 60 seconds in Settings → Grace period (20 seconds by default), and a quiet "Your firefly is waiting" notification shows how long you have. Come back in time and the session carries on ("It almost flew away…"). Turning the screen off is fine: you can lay the phone face down until the session ends. If you turn the screen back on and stay in another app, the grace period starts from that moment.

Why did my firefly fly away?

You were away from the app, with the screen on, for longer than the grace period. Opening the recent-apps list to switch apps counts as leaving too. It also happens if you leave shortly before the end and only come back after the session has ended: the firefly waits for the grace period, not for the end. Turning the screen off never makes a firefly fly away, and the session keeps its time even if Android closes the app in the background. To stop a session yourself, tap Give up; it ends without a firefly.

I didn't hear the chime with the screen off

The chime is a notification, so the app needs permission to show notifications. Open Settings → Notifications → Open system settings and allow notifications for Firefly Jar, including the "Session complete" channel. Also check that the phone is not in silent or Do Not Disturb mode. On Android 12 and later, turn on Precise chime in the same section: without it, Android may play the chime a few minutes late while the phone sleeps. Either way the session counts from its planned end, so a late chime never costs you the firefly.

How does calling a firefly back work?

When a firefly flies away, the result screen may offer Watch a short ad to call it back. The ad is only loaded when you tap that button; the app shows no other ads. After the ad, the session carries on where it stopped, with the time you lost added to the end. You can call a firefly back once per night (the night starts at 4 a.m.) and once per session. If no ad is available right now, try again later. In the EEA, the UK and Switzerland, Google's consent message appears the first time you tap, and you can change your choice later in Settings → Privacy options.

How are species decided?

Each completed session brings one firefly, and its species follows fixed rules. The first rule that matches wins, in this order: your 100th firefly is the Centennial Firefly; a session of 25 minutes or more can be a very rare Golden Firefly (1 in 100) or a rare Rain Firefly (1 in 10); a streak of 30, 7 or 3 nights brings the Moon, Week or Ember Firefly; finishing between 5 and 9 in the morning brings the Dawn Firefly, and between 11 at night and 2 in the morning the Night Owl Firefly; otherwise 60, 45 or 25 minutes or more bring the Violet, Teal or Amber Firefly, and any shorter session the Meadow Firefly. The rare roll is fixed when the session starts, so restarting the app does not change it. The Collection shows hints for the species you have not found yet.

When does the night roll over, and how do streaks work?

A night runs from 4 a.m. to 4 a.m. local time, so studying past midnight still counts for the evening you started in. At 4 a.m. tonight's fireflies leave the jar and rise into the sky as stars. Your streak is the number of nights in a row with at least one completed session. It does not break during the day: as long as you finish a session before the next 4 a.m., it keeps growing. Sessions that flew away or were given up do not count.

How do I share a night sky with friends?

Tap the Night sky button on the jar screen, type the name your friends will see, and tap Create a sky. You get a six-character invite code; tap Share the code to send it. Friends tap Join with a code and type it in. A sky holds up to eight people and lasts seven nights, and from then on every session any of you completes rises into the same sky. You can be in one sky at a time: joining another one leaves the first. The shared sky needs an internet connection.

What does a shared sky share, and how do I leave it and delete my sky data?

Only the name you typed and, for each session you complete while in the sky, the firefly species and the time it finished. No minutes, tags, streaks or anything else from your phone. To leave, open Night sky and tap Leave the sky: your membership and your fireflies are removed from the sky right away, and the last person to leave deletes the sky. Your own jar and history stay on your phone. Anonymous accounts that have not been used for 30 days are deleted automatically. You can also write to us with your invite code and we will delete your sky data. The privacy policy has the details.

Do I need an account?

No. The timer, collection and stats work without any account. The shared night sky signs you in anonymously the first time you open it, without an email or password. Linking a Google account there is optional and only means the same sky follows you to a new phone; tap Sign out to go back to a fresh anonymous account.

I bought the Lantern Pack. How do I restore it?

Make sure Google Play on your phone uses the same Google account you bought it with. The app checks your purchases when it starts and whenever you return to it, so the pack usually unlocks by itself. If it does not, open Settings → Lantern Pack and tap Restore purchase. Restoring needs an internet connection.

Will I lose my fireflies if I change phones?

Your fireflies, history and settings are stored on your phone, not on our servers. If Android backup is on, Android can copy them to your Google account and restore them when you install Firefly Jar on a new phone signed in to the same account. There is no cloud save, so we cannot recover them for you. To keep your place in a shared night sky, link a Google account in the sky before you switch, or join again with the invite code.

Does it work offline?

Yes. Focus sessions, the chime, the collection and the stats all work without a connection. Only the shared night sky, the ad to call a firefly back, and buying or restoring the Lantern Pack need the internet.