English — Language

A light for your people

A friend across town, the one you love, your mother in another country. Press their face, and your light comes on in their pocket — then fades, slowly, over a few hours.

No chat, no feed, no last-seen. Nothing waits for an answer.

Get it on Google Play

Coming soon to the App Store.

The word

Longing

Karot means longing: missing someone, with all the love inside that ache — whether they are on the other side of the world or just at work until seven.

It is what a mother feels for her son on the other side of the world, and what he feels back, on an ordinary Tuesday. It is also what two people feel at three in the afternoon, one at work and the other across town. And it is what two friends feel who saw each other only yesterday. Karot is made for all of them.

How it works

One press says “I’m thinking of you”

Their face is the button — their photo or mark in a round light. Press it, and a small light sets off and leaves your screen at the right. If your page is open in front of them, it comes in at the left of theirs and settles into your face there; if not, one quiet notification says who: “Mom just thought of you”. Nothing to type, nothing to answer.

When you live hours apart, it also tells them your hour: “Mom just thought of you. It’s 9:40 PM in Dubai.”

Try it: one press, from Mom’s phone to Sam’s

Mom’s phone

Sam

Sam’s phone

Mom

Thought of you just now

Four hours, shown in eight seconds.

Put two phones side by side and you can watch it cross — left to right, in every language.

How a light fades
  1. Just now
  2. 1 hour
  3. 2 hours
  4. 3 hours
  5. 4 hours

A light arrives at full strength, breathes slowly and fades over about four hours, so one look at your phone tells you how recently someone thought of you.

Mornings and evenings have their own words. The first thought of someone’s morning arrives as “Good morning from Mom”, and a thought late in their evening as “Good night from Mom”.

KarotGood morning from Mom

KarotGood night from Mom

Their page

Their sky, at their hour

Each person you miss has a page of their own, painted as the sky over their city right now: the sun at its real height, the blue hour and the glow at the edge of the day, or the moon in its real phase and the stars. Morning here can be night over there, and one look tells you which.

Above them stands a circle: what is between the two of you. What they left rests in it until it fades — hold it to play a drawing or a sign right there, tap it to open it and answer. When there is nothing, it holds a dashed place and “Leave something”.

Under the circle is them: their photo, their mark or their initials in a round light. Its glow is how recently they thought of you, and its white-hot core how recently you did, cooling over three days to their light alone.

With more than one person, a row of small lights runs along the foot of Home, one for each, glowing with how recently they thought of you, and with a dot when something of theirs is waiting. Press one to go straight to them, or swipe up to see everyone as a list. Call each one what you call them, and choose the light they glow in — only you see either.

Six ways to draw a page — Instruments, Frameless, Clockface, Frame, Column and Sky. A style changes how it looks, never what it means.

Karot follows your phone: paper by day, night sky when your phone turns dark.

Hold to watch it drawn again

More than a light

Leave something with it

Sometimes a light is not quite enough. Leave something with it — a drawing, a few words, your voice, a photograph, or one of Karot’s signs. For the day, it rests in the circle above your face on their Home, opened or not, and they open it when they like, with the same five ways to answer underneath.

Mom

  • Draw

    With light, in the colours of the lights. The ink glows under your finger and cools into the line. The first time they open it, it draws itself again, stroke by stroke, the way your hand went.

  • Write

    A few words.

  • Speak

    Up to a minute of your voice.

  • Photo

    One photograph — as it is, in ink, warm, or in their light.

  • Sign

    A small lit window for the one more thing you want to say.

It fades by tomorrow and is deleted from Karot’s servers — unless you both choose to keep it. Then it goes into your book. Nobody is ever told that it was opened.

A drawing or a photograph can be saved to your photos or shared, by either of you. Nobody is told.

Send to several

Anything you leave — a drawing, a few words, your voice, a photograph — for several of your people at once, each their own.

Comes with Karot Plus and Karot Family

Signs

Twelve lit windows

A tap says one thing. Sometimes there is exactly one more — a son who wants his mother to eat properly, someone twelve hours into a shift, a friend home safe after a late train. A sign is that one more thing, in one press.

Each is a small window, lit in the light you gave whoever sent it, with an ordinary scene inside. And each is read in the reader’s own language: a grandmother chooses “Eat well”, and her grandson in Berlin, whose phone is in German, reads “Lass es dir schmecken”.

Twelve of them, always in the same order, from “Miss you” to “Sleep well”. All free: nothing to unlock, nothing to collect.

  • Miss you
    One light here and one over there, with the whole valley between them.
  • Love you
    Two lights in an open jar: free to go, and staying.
  • Hugging you
    My sweater with your light held at its heart, the way my arms would hold you.
  • Take care
    An umbrella held over your light, so the rain goes round you.
  • Good luck
    Your lucky star, out and shining over you.
  • Eat well
    Something warm with the lid on, and a wish that you eat, wherever you are.
  • Take it easy
    An armchair with your light sunk into it, for a minute in the middle of your day.
  • Proud of you
    The top of the hill, lit, because you climbed it.
  • Thank you
    Three flowers on the sill, for what you did.
  • See you soon
    One light on the road, coming closer, whichever of you it is.
  • I’m home
    My keys back on their hook: I’m in, and the door is shut behind me.
  • Sleep well
    A plumped pillow and a turned-down sheet: a good night wished for you.

Press a window to see it move and read what it shows.

Widgets

Their light, without opening anything

Put the people you miss on your home screen: their face, their hour, their light. One look tells you who thought of you, and one press answers — without opening Karot.

Android

  1. Their light, breathing

    Each face glows as it does in Karot, brightest when they have just thought of you, fading over about four hours. Their clock is under their name.

  2. Press a face

    The thought goes from the widget itself: a small light leaves their face and goes out at the right edge, the heart on the face turns into a check, and “Sent” shows for a moment.

  3. When they think of you

    If you’re using your phone when they think of you, a light comes in at the left edge and sinks into their face; it swells and beats, and for a few minutes their clock gives way to “Just now”.

  4. What they left

    A drawing, a photograph, a sign or a note’s first words stays in their face for the day. A small dot says it is still waiting, and while it waits, pressing the face opens it. On Android a new drawing draws itself again there, and a sign plays for a minute.

iPhone Home Screen

The small widget holds whoever thought of you last, the medium one up to three. With one person, there is room for a “Thinking of you” button.

iPhone Lock Screen

Whoever thought of you last, as a ring of light: full when they think of you, empty four hours later.

In the notification

When they leave a drawing, expand its notification — pull it down, or press and hold it on iPhone — and the drawing draws itself again. A sign plays its small scene; a photograph shows as it was sent. On Android, drawings and signs move from Android 12; older versions show the finished picture.

How to add one

  • Android

    Touch and hold an empty spot on your home screen, tap Widgets, and choose Karot. Their light will be there every time you look at your phone.

  • iPhone Home Screen

    Touch and hold an empty spot on your Home Screen, tap Edit, then Add Widget, and choose Karot. Their light will be there every time you look at your phone.

  • iPhone Lock Screen

    Touch and hold the Lock Screen, tap Customize, then Lock Screen. Tap the space under the clock and choose Karot.

Letters

A letter for a day you choose

Write what you would tell them if you were there — or say it, in up to three minutes of your voice. Choose the day. It arrives that morning at nine, their time, sealed until they open it.

You can take it back until it arrives. When they open it, you are told when — and until then, nothing ever says “not opened yet”.

Unless you turn it off, they see it coming: on your page on their phone, a small envelope in your light comes a little closer as the day nears — never the day, never what is inside. And the first time they see the sealed letter, your light climbs into its wax seal.

  1. Let them see it coming

  2. It will arrive one of these mornings

  3. It’s here

“Open when…” letters

Some letters are not for a day but for a moment. Write one for when they miss you, can’t sleep or need a smile — or in your own words. It reaches them the next morning and waits on a shelf of its own, sealed, never counted and never lit as unread, until they decide the moment has come. You learn when it was opened, and nothing else.

Comes with Karot Plus and Karot Family

For when it’s time

  • Open when you miss meFrom Mom
  • Open when you can’t sleepFrom Mom
  • Open when you need a smileFrom Mom

Seeing each other

Until we meet

When you know the day you’ll see each other, set it, with a word or two of where. You both watch it come closer, beside their light and on your widgets: “In 12 days”, then “Tomorrow”, then “Today”.

Nothing ever notifies you about it — not when it is set, not as it nears, not on the day. On the day, two lights meet on their page, once; the day after, it quietly goes.

Only the one who sets the day needs a plan. The other sees it for free, and either of you can remove it at any time.

Comes with Karot Plus and Karot Family

In 12 days · Dubai

Birthdays

A card on their birthday

Day and month — the year is never asked. On their day you hear about it in your morning, a small cake sits beside their name, and “Happy birthday” opens the cards.

Nine cards, each a small scene that moves. Choose one, write in it, add up to a minute of your voice, and see it exactly as they will before you send it. The first card of their day opens by itself when they look at Karot; your voice plays only when their hand asks for it.

A card never fades. It stays with them, in your book, until they choose to let it go — and nothing tells you if they do.

  • A candle for you
  • Balloons
  • A bouquet opening
  • Comes with Karot Plus and Karot FamilyMake a wish
  • Comes with Karot Plus and Karot FamilyUntie the ribbon
  • Comes with Karot Plus and Karot FamilyThe music box
  • Comes with Karot Plus and Karot FamilyYour stars
  • Comes with Karot Plus and Karot FamilyFireworks, slowly
  • Comes with Karot Plus and Karot FamilyA garden that blooms
  • Make a wishMom holds the flame to make a wish
  • Untie the ribbonMom pulls the ribbon to open it
  • The music boxMom turns the key to hear your voice
  • Your starsUnder the stars: the city where Mom is, and today’s date
  • Fireworks, slowlyWith a touch of the sky, Mom opens one more
  • A garden that bloomsWhere Mom touches the ground, a flower grows

Three cards are free: “A candle for you”, “Balloons” and “A bouquet opening”. The other six come with Karot Plus and Karot Family. Whatever you send, they open, play and keep for free.

Comes with Karot Plus and Karot Family

What stays

Our book

A light fades in a few hours and a moment by tomorrow. What the two of you choose to keep goes into a book — one for each of your people, and free. It opens on a cover in your two lights, with their name and yours and the month you were connected; inside, a chapter for each year and a page for each month, turned with your finger.

On each page lies what you kept that month — drawings, photographs, a few words, voices, signs — laid out like a scrapbook, in the order they came. Tap one to take it out; hold it to play it where it lies. The letters that arrived that month wait in a paper pocket at the foot, and a birthday card gets a page of its own.

Down the page’s edge the days are stitched: half in your light, half in theirs, and on a day you both thought of each other, both halves glow. Only yes or no — no number on the page but its dates, and never who did more. Turn the leaf over, and the month is a calendar.

A quiet month folds into one thin leaf. A quiet day is just a quiet day; nothing is lost by not pressing.

September

Mom

What the lights mean

  • Both of you
  • You
  • Mom
  • A quiet day
  • Good morning
  • Good night

With Karot Plus and Karot Family, each year opens on “Your year together”, “On this day” brings back what you kept in the years after, and their kept recordings wait in one place, as “Their voices”.

Comes with Karot Plus and Karot Family

The book itself is free for everyone.

Calm

Calm by design

No chat, no pressure to reply, no streaks. Karot is there to be glanced at, not kept up with.

  • Quiet hours

    While you sleep, taps wait quietly. When your quiet hours end, they arrive together in one gentle notification.

  • Sleeping

    Your people see a moon next to your name until you wake.

  • Free to talk

    For half an hour, an hour or two. Your people get one gentle note, and it ends on its own.

  • Call now

    One press opens a calling app with the number you saved for them. Karot keeps that number on your phone and never sends it to us.

  • Silent pause

    Their taps still arrive and glow, but your phone stays silent.

  • Hide from year recaps

    Keep them out of your look back at the year. Nothing else changes.

Small things it notices

You are both up
When you live hours apart, it is between midnight and five for one of you, and you have both opened Karot in the last quarter of an hour, one line on their page says so. It is a yes or no that lasts only while it is true; Karot never shows when anyone was last seen.
While you’re looking
If someone thinks of you while Karot is open, their face appears at the top of the screen for a few seconds. Press it to go to them.
A heart gone quiet
If you haven’t thought of someone for five days, Karot says their name one morning — never more than once a week, and only one name. You can turn it off in Settings.

Getting started

No sign-up. Just the people you miss.

  1. Your name, a photo if you like, and your city — chosen from a list, so Karot knows your hour. No email, no phone number, no location access.

    No photo? Your initials glow in its place — and later, in Settings, you can choose one of six small night scenes instead: Cup, House, Tree, Lamp, Kite and Bird.

  2. Invite someone — Mom, a partner, an old friend — with a link, a code or a QR code. An invite stays open for seven days.

    An invite looks like thiskarot.love/j/XXXXXXXX

  3. When they open it and say yes, your lights are connected. Every connection is between the two of you alone.

    Now, whenever one of you thinks of the other, a light comes on in the other’s phone.

Privacy

Private, in plain words

What Karot will never do

  • No chat

    No read receipts, no “online”, nothing that waits for an answer.

  • No location

    Your city sets your clock. No GPS, ever.

  • No ads

    Your attention is never for sale.

  • No streaks, no scores

    Missing someone isn’t a game. Karot never counts who did more.

And the plain facts

  • Nothing to sign up for. If you choose to keep your people for a new phone, Karot keeps the Apple, Google or email sign-in you chose, and nothing else from it.
  • Nobody is ever shown when you were last seen, and nobody is told that something you left was opened. Two exceptions, said plainly: a letter’s writer learns when it was opened, and “You are both up” appears while you are both awake in the small hours.
  • The phone numbers you save for calling are kept on your phone and never reach us. On iPhone, like the rest of Karot’s settings, they go into your phone’s own iCloud or computer backup.
  • Karot counts which screens are opened and which things are done — a thought sent, a letter opened — never what you write and never who your people are. Google does the counting; you can switch it off in Settings → About Karot.
  • Your profile photo sits at a public web address: anyone who has the link can open it.
  • What someone leaves you can show on your home-screen widget — a drawing, a photograph, a note’s first words — and so can the day you’ll see each other. Put it where you are comfortable.
  • Karot’s own servers are in Frankfurt, in the EU; notifications travel through Apple and Google, as every app’s do. Delete your account in the app, and your profile, connections, days and letters are deleted with it.
  • Either of you can end a connection. The other is not told, and your shared days and everything you kept together are deleted; letters that already arrived stay with whoever received them.
  • This website sets no cookies, loads nothing from anyone else, and runs no analytics.

The whole privacy policy, in plain words (in English)

Questions

Does the other person need Karot too?

Yes. Karot is between two phones that both have it. Send an invite; when they open it and say yes, you are connected.

Which phones does it work on?

iPhone with iOS 17 or later, and Android 8.0 or later.

Will it work for my parents?

It was made with them in mind. There is nothing to sign up for, one press is the whole of it, and text can be made much larger — every screen is designed to work at the largest size.

Is it for couples or friends too?

For anyone you think of. Each connection is just the two of you.

Is it a messenger?

No. There is no chat and nothing waits for an answer. A tap says it; long talks belong to your calls.

Does Karot know where I am?

Only the city you choose, for your clock. It never asks for your location.

Which languages does it speak?

Seventeen: English, Հայերեն, Русский, Français, Deutsch, Українська, Türkçe, Español, ქართული, Беларуская, Italiano, Português, Polski, Română, العربية, فارسی and हिन्दी. It can simply follow your phone; Arabic and Persian read right to left. Signs are always read in the reader’s language.

What if I get a new phone?

Nothing to sign up for. After a few days Karot offers, once, to keep your people with Apple, Google or your email; it’s also in Settings → Keep your people. Once kept, your Karot opens on a new phone with your people, your days and your letters: open Karot there and choose “I already use Karot”. If it was never kept, only the phone that made it can open it: on an iPhone, restoring the whole phone from an iCloud backup can bring it along; otherwise a new phone starts afresh. If you ever leave, delete your account in Settings → About Karot first: deleting the app alone leaves it on our servers, and a kept one can still be opened again.

What does it cost?

Karot is free for everyone you love, however many they are, with letters up to thirty days ahead; voice, drawings, photographs, signs, “Our book”, three birthday cards and widgets are free for everyone. Karot Plus and Karot Family add the same things: “Open when…” letters, which wait sealed until the moment they are for; “Until we meet”, the day you will see each other, coming closer for you both; “On this day”, what you kept coming back on its date; their voices in one place; a drawing, a few words, your voice or a photograph for several of your people at once; letters for the year ahead; six more birthday cards; and “Your year together”, a gentle look back at the days you thought of each other. What someone with a plan makes for you, you receive and open for free. Karot Plus is for you alone; Karot Family is for you and up to five of your people, whom you choose. On Android they aren’t on sale yet.

Every light of yours, together.

What if notifications don’t arrive?

Some Android phones put apps to sleep to save battery. Karot’s Device check in Settings shows the steps for Xiaomi, Samsung, Huawei, OPPO and vivo, and can send you a test tap.

When can I get it?

Karot is on Google Play now. It is coming soon to the App Store too, and this page will link to it the day it is there.

Who sees our book?

Only the two of you, each on your own phone. It holds what you both chose to keep, the cards and letters between you, and the days you thought of each other — never who did more.

How can I reach you?

Write to hello@karot.love, in any language — we read every message. You can also write from the app itself: Settings → Tell us what you think.

Keep a small light on

Get it on Google Play

Coming soon to the App Store.

Were you sent an invite? Open the link on your phone, or type its code in Karot.