As you dictate, Spot turns up things he’s found. They arrive as Inkwells — small sealed pots of ink you open when you feel like it, each holding one thing he can wear or one trick he can do.
Everything in here is cosmetic. Nothing you win makes Clabrate transcribe better, and nothing you miss makes it worse.
Where they come from
On the Mac, Inkwells are earned, not bought. There’s no way to buy one in the Mac app, and no available plan gives you more of them.
Spot on Android, which is not out yet, is different: it has a free daily Inkwell and optional ads, and, if you sign in, Inkwells and Daily Boost you can buy through Google Play. Its Collection is separate from your Mac’s.
They turn up for ordinary things: your first dictation, your first conversation with the assistant, passing a words milestone, meeting Spot for the first time, dictating on three separate days in one week. You’ll get one for opening this page, too — that one’s on us.
You don’t have to open them when they arrive. A notice tells you what you did to earn it, the count sits next to Collection in the sidebar, and the Inkwell keeps until you want it. Nothing expires.
Opening one
Open an Inkwell and you get one item: a colour for Spot, a look for his eyes, a finish, a trick he can perform — or, rarely, a whole skin.
If Spot’s switched on he’ll come and open it with you. If he’s off, or you’ve asked macOS for reduced motion, you get exactly the same information in a plain panel instead. You lose the ceremony and nothing else.
Every item has a tier: Common, Uncommon, Rare or Signature. The chances are printed on the Collection page — open Chances — and again on the reveal itself, where they’re the chances that Inkwell actually used rather than a general advertisement.
Duplicates and Ink
Sometimes an Inkwell holds something you already have. When that happens it dissolves into Ink, and the Ink is yours to spend:
| Tier | Dissolves into | Costs, if you’d rather just buy it |
|---|---|---|
| Common | 5 Ink | 35 Ink |
| Uncommon | 12 Ink | 90 Ink |
| Rare | 30 Ink | 240 Ink |
| Signature | 100 Ink | not sold for Ink |
Ink is the only currency, and it can’t be bought with money. On the Mac it only comes from duplicates; Spot on Android also gives 5 Ink for each full minute he’s on your screen, up to six times a day. Spend it on the Collection page: anything you don’t own yet and that has a price shows one.
Signature items can’t be bought with Ink
The rarest things — the full skins, Spot’s showpiece greeting — carry no price at any balance. However much Ink you save, the only way to get one is an Inkwell. That holds in Spot on Android too: Signatures cannot be bought, and no pack promises one.
That’s deliberate. If the best items could be bought with Ink, Ink would quietly become the point, and finding something would stop meaning anything.
Wearing what you find
Spot has three slots — his colour, his eyes and his finish — and he can wear one of each at once. Press Wear it on anything you own.
A full skin is different: it takes him over completely, so anything in those three slots stays yours but stops showing while it’s on. The Collection says so on the card — worn, but a full skin is covering it — rather than leaving you wondering why nothing changed.
Tricks you ask for
Tricks must be unlocked before you can request them. Select an owned trick in Collection, then press Ask Spot. Tricks aren’t worn, and watching the gallery preview doesn’t make desktop Spot perform one.
| Trick | What Spot does | How to unlock it |
|---|---|---|
| Zoomies | Runs in a figure of eight | An Inkwell or 90 Ink |
| Ricochet | Bounces off screen edges | An Inkwell or 240 Ink |
| Splat | Lands with a splash | An Inkwell or 240 Ink |
| Say Hello | Gives a greeting | Signature: Inkwells only |
Enable Let Spot out to roam in Settings → Companion first. If he’s home, a request can bring him out. A request is not a guarantee the animation has played: he may still be arriving, returning home or doing something else. Pending requests expire, so try again once he’s visible and settled. Locked or sleeping screens and Secure Keyboard Entry can prevent him appearing.
Habits he chooses himself
Perch, Catnap and Peek-a-boo are habits, rather than requested tricks. You must own these too. Spot may choose an enabled habit during a visit; most visits have no habit performance, so owning one doesn’t mean it happens every time. When he has alternatives, he avoids repeating the last habit he performed.
In Settings → Companion → What Spot gets up to, switch any owned habit off without losing it. The card appears once you own a habit. There is no Ask Spot button for habits.
Preview and Compare
Select an item to inspect its preview. Pin up to four items to Compare to see them together. Previewing and comparing don’t change Spot’s desktop outfit; press Wear it to apply a cosmetic, or Ask Spot to request an owned trick.
Seasonal items
A few items only appear at certain times of year. December has three.
The important part is easy to get wrong: an Inkwell remembers the season it was earned in. One you earn today can never produce a December item, however long you keep it — you need an Inkwell earned during December. Saving them up doesn’t help.
Seasonal items you don’t own still show in your Collection, marked, rather than vanishing until next year.
Streaks need History
One kind of Inkwell needs History switched on: streak milestones, at 3, 7, 14, 30, 60 and 100 consecutive days. Six Inkwells in all.
History is kept on your Mac and never leaves it. Everything else here works either way — nothing is locked behind it, and nothing you’ve already earned depends on it.
Spot on Android
Spot’s Android app is not out yet. This section describes how it will work when it is. You don’t need an account to play: your Collection stays on your phone.
- Every day you can claim one free Inkwell. Days start at midnight UTC.
- Ads are optional. In the Collection and the Shop, the ink pump lets you watch rewarded ads for Inkwells. Each watch that is confirmed adds one drop to the meter, and a full meter gives one Inkwell. Each day the first four Inkwells take one drop each, the next three take two each, the two after that take four each, and every one after that takes eight. The meter starts again at midnight UTC, and unfinished drops don’t carry over.
- Ink can make an Inkwell. In the Collection, 16 Ink makes one Inkwell. The button names the kind you will get, and the info icon by your Inkwells shows its chances before you tap. It can’t be undone. The Inkwell can open to a find you already have, and a duplicate still gives you Ink. This is in Spot on Android only, not on the Mac.
- Buying needs an account. Sign in with your Clabrate email to buy packs of Inkwells or Daily Boost through Google Play. The packs hold 5 Inkwells or 15 Inkwells in all. Each has one Inkwell that always opens to a Rare, picked from the Rares on its own list that you don’t have yet. Seasonal Rares aren’t on that list, and once you have them all it opens to one you already have. The rest are ordinary Inkwells. Signatures are never sold on their own, and no pack promises one. Daily Boost makes your free daily claim 3 Inkwells instead of 1. Daily Boost lasts for as long as we offer Spot on Android and you keep your account. If we ever stop offering Spot on Android or Daily Boost, we will tell you in the app at least 90 days before.
- Signing in keeps your Collection on your Clabrate account. The first time an account is signed in to, the app adds this phone’s Collection to it, up to set limits (100 Inkwells, 1,000 Ink and a count of 50 duplicates in a row). This happens only once per account, and a phone’s Collection goes to only one account. It is not added to an account that already has a purchase or already took in a Collection. Whatever isn’t added, including finds that are not out yet, stays on your phone. A Signature you found while signed out is kept on that phone only. It is not added to your account. It belongs to the phone, not to any account: it stays there when you sign in, sign out or delete your account, and whichever account is signed in sees it marked “This device only”. It is lost if you remove the app, clear its data or change phones. Your Mac’s Spot Collection is never added to your account.
- Refunds go through Google Play, or email support@clabrate.com. A refund of a whole pack takes back what it gave you: its unopened Inkwells, the finds from its opened ones (unless you also got them another way) and any Ink they paid out. If you already spent that Ink, you owe the difference in Ink, and Ink you earn later pays it off before you can spend any. You never owe money. You can also ask us to refund just the Inkwells you paid for and haven’t opened, within 30 days of buying them; you keep what the opened ones gave you. That’s only while the pack’s Rare Inkwell, the one that always opens to a Rare, is still unopened. The app opens it last. See the Refund Policy.
- Deleting your account deletes everything on it, including what you bought, and it can’t be undone. It also deletes our record of what you bought, so we can’t give those items back or move them to a new account. If you have unopened Inkwells you bought in the last 30 days, ask for the refund before you delete. Daily Boost can be refunded, before or after you delete. See Privacy & your data.
Common questions
Can I buy Inkwells, or Ink? Not on the Mac: there, Inkwells are earned and Ink comes only from duplicates. In Spot on Android you can buy Inkwells and Daily Boost through Google Play once you sign in. Ink is not sold directly anywhere.
Do I lose anything if I never open one? No. They keep indefinitely, and opening one is never required for anything.
Does any of it affect how Clabrate works? No. It’s all cosmetic — colours, eyes, finishes and tricks for Spot.
I turned Spot off. What happens to my Collection? Nothing. Everything you’ve earned stays yours, and it’s all still there when you turn him back on.
Why did equipping a colour do nothing? You’re probably wearing a full skin, which covers all three slots. Take the skin off and your colour comes back.
Where are the odds? On the Collection page under Chances, on every reveal, and in Spot on Android’s Shop before you buy a pack. In Spot on Android, a bought ordinary Inkwell starts at a 60% chance of a Common find, 27% Uncommon, 10% Rare and 3% Signature; the app shows the exact chances each Inkwell uses. An Inkwell from the daily claim, from ads or made from Ink can come from a seasonal pool with its own chances; the info icon by your Inkwells shows them. The reveal shows the chances that particular Inkwell used, including any adjustment for a long run without a rare one.