One app — one job
A collage app makes collages. An alarm wakes you up. We would rather ship a small thing that works than a big one with a settings screen nobody survives.
New studio · founded 2026
Small hive.
Big ideas.
NG Hive is a young product studio. We build mobile apps that do one thing — and do it properly. No ad clutter, no accounts you never asked for, and no data leaving your phone without a reason.
0apps released
0on the App Store
0platforms: iOS, watchOS, Android
0new app in TestFlight
∞ideas in the notebook
The studio
We only just started — and that is the whole point
NG Hive is a small independent studio. No legacy code, no five-stage approvals, no six-month roadmaps nobody believes in. An idea from the morning is running on a real phone by the evening — and if it feels wrong in the hand, we throw it away and try again tomorrow.
Your data stays with you
No sign-ups, no ads, no tracking. Lists, collages and heart-rate readings stay on the device. Only Sparrows keeps a family's tasks on our server — they have to reach every phone in the family — and its privacy policy says exactly what is stored.
Tested on real nights
The alarm is checked against real sleep, the shopping reminder in a real parking lot. A simulator has never woken anyone up.
Short iterations
Build it, install it, live with it for a day, fix whatever annoyed us. Repeat. That loop is the entire method.
Products
Four apps we are building right now
All four are out: ShopPing, H.Collage and Sparrows on Google Play, ShopPing and WhatchAlarm on the App Store.
On the App Store
WhatchAlarm
A smart alarm that lives on your Apple Watch
Instead of tearing you out of deep sleep at an exact minute, WhatchAlarm watches your heart rate and wrist movement in a window before your deadline and picks the lightest moment to wake you. If that moment never comes, it wakes you at the deadline anyway — oversleeping is not an option.
- The whole engine runs natively on the watch — the iPhone can stay in another room
- Gentle taps in the light moment; at the deadline, the strongest vibration and then sound
- A window of 10 to 30 minutes and a weekly schedule with its own time for every day
- The next alarm right on the watch face
- Heart rate and movement are read on the watch and never uploaded anywhere
Alarm set
06:40
window 30 min
On the App Store and Google Play
ShopPing
A shopping list that pings you when you are next to the store
Every store you actually shop at gets its own list — a big chain or the little place around the corner you pinned on the map yourself. The moment your phone notices you are nearby and the list is not empty, it quietly reminds you. No account, no subscription, and your lists never leave the phone.
- Geofenced reminders that keep working even when the app is closed
- Alerts land on a paired Apple Watch too, and a test one can be sent from Settings
- Send a list by link — whoever opens it gets the items, no account needed
- Ready-made store lists for a dozen countries, picked by where you actually are
- Add your own stores by dropping a pin on the map
- A photo and a product link for every item, drag to reorder
- Its own font size control — readable without glasses
🛒
Costco4 items left
Nearby
Milk, 2 %🥛
Coffee beans☕
✓Paper towels🧻
AA batteries🔋
📍
You are near Costco4 items on the list
On the App Store and Google Play
H.Collage
A collage of 2 to 10 photos, without the fuss
Say how many photos the collage should have, pick them, and choose a grid from real previews instead of blindly cycling through layouts. Every photo can be dragged and pinched inside its own cell until it sits exactly right. Then save it to Photos or share it straight away.
- 34 layouts for 2 to 10 photos — square, 4:5 or 3:2
- Pan and zoom inside a cell, long-press to swap a photo
- A thin white frame between the photos, one switch away
- Save to Photos or share in a single tap
- A private section behind a numeric code you choose — a browser and your own file server, with everything it keeps encrypted
On Google Play
Sparrows
Family tasks that actually get done
Parents and children give each other tasks, and the app keeps reminding whoever has to do it until the job is finished. A photo proves it, a parent accepts it, and points turn into rewards the family invented itself.
- Reminders repeat until the task is done and go quiet during each person's own quiet hours
- Photo proof and a parent's approval whenever a task needs checking
- Points that turn into rewards the family agreed on
- Private by default — a task is between the two people in it
- The family's creator decides who sees whom — handy when a family lives in two homes
- No sign-up: your profile comes back on a new phone through Apple or Google
Calendar
Day
Week
Month
22232425262728
🧺
Take out the rubbish18:00 · Pete
To doDone
📚
Maths homework20:00 · Mary
To do
🚗
Book the car serviceDad
Overdue
How we work
From a note on a napkin to the App Store
- 01
The annoyance
Every app starts with something that genuinely annoyed us in ordinary life.
- 02
The smallest version
We build the smallest thing that can prove the idea. Usually days, not months.
- 03
Real devices
It goes onto a real phone and a real watch immediately. A simulator has never woken anyone up.
- 04
TestFlight
Testers live with it for a week, we listen to the complaints and fix exactly those.
- 05
Release — and onwards
A release is not the finish line. Updates keep coming while people keep using it.
What is next
The hive keeps filling up
Four cells in our logo are still empty. That is not a coincidence — here is roughly what is going into them.
Now
WhatchAlarm on the App Store
Version 1.0 is out: the alarm lives right on the watch. All three Android versions are on Google Play too.
Soon
Sparrows on the App Store
The Android version is out; the iPhone one stays with testers a while longer.
In design
Spectriq
A puzzle test without words — logic, space, memory and speed — that shows a profile instead of a single number. Made for fun, with norms built from open scientific sources.
App website ↗Empty cell
Your idea?
There is room for one more. Tell us what annoys you every single day.
FAQ
Short answers
Who is behind NG Hive?
An independent development studio registered in the United States. The team is small and contact is direct — you write to us, and we answer ourselves, not a support bot.
Where can I download the apps?
ShopPing, H.Collage and Sparrows for Android are on Google Play. On the App Store you will find ShopPing — search for «ShopPing Nearby» — and H.Collage for iPhone, and WhatchAlarm for Apple Watch. Only Sparrows for iPhone is still with testers: write to us and we will send a TestFlight invite.
Do the apps collect my data?
Nothing for ads or analytics, and none of the apps asks you to sign up. Lists, collages and health readings stay on the device; store search uses map services without any personal identifiers. Sparrows is the exception by design: a family's tasks have to reach every phone in it, so they are kept on our server — its privacy policy lists exactly what is stored and who can see it.
Do you take custom projects?
Sometimes — if the idea fits the hive. Send us a couple of sentences about what you need.
Why a hive?
Because a hive is many small, identical, honest cells that together hold something valuable. That is exactly how we would like our apps to be built.
Contact
Got an idea, a bug or a question?
Write to us — every message is read by a real human. If you want to join the testers, just say which app.