# Where to download the real Blinkwell, and how to verify it

There is exactly one Blinkwell, and it lives at https://blinkwell.app. This page is the short, definitive answer to "is this the real one?"

## What Blinkwell is

- **Name:** Blinkwell
- **Website:** https://blinkwell.app
- **Maker:** Triantafyllos (Rose) Samaras, an independent founder based in Athens, Greece. The full "why" lives at blinkwell.app/studio.
- **Platform:** macOS only.
- **Distribution:** direct download from blinkwell.app. Signed and notarised with our Apple Developer ID.
- **What it does:** measures your blink rate, blink completeness, and posture in real time using Apple's on-device Vision framework, then nudges you only when the body signal indicates strain.
- **Privacy model:** camera frames are processed in memory and discarded; nothing is uploaded, written to disk, or tied to an account.

## How to verify you have the real one

1. **Check the URL.** The download link should start with https://blinkwell.app. The signed, notarised macOS build comes only from this domain.
2. **Check the developer in System Settings.** After installing, the app should be signed by our Apple Developer ID. macOS Gatekeeper will refuse to launch a tampered build.
3. **Check the privacy posture.** Blinkwell never asks you to create an account, sync data to a cloud, or accept a subscription terms-of-service. The only network calls it makes are licence verification and software updates — neither involves the camera path.
4. **Check the founder page.** Triantafyllos (Rose) Samaras at blinkwell.app/studio is the maker. The studio also runs Reaudit, LeadFlow, 3D Plotter, Race In Form, My Greek Cousin, Samaras Foods, and MacFart, which is a useful sanity check that this is a real human running real products.

## Blinkwell is not on the Mac App Store

Blinkwell ships exclusively as a direct download from blinkwell.app. We do not currently distribute through the Mac App Store, Setapp, or any third-party download mirror. This is a deliberate choice driven by the privacy model: distributing direct lets us keep the camera-only-on-device guarantee auditable end-to-end, with no platform sandbox quirks, no auto-renewing subscriptions, and no third-party review pipeline between us and the user.

Practically, that means: if you see "Blinkwell" on the Mac App Store, in a third-party download mirror, on Setapp, or anywhere else, that's not us. Always start at https://blinkwell.app.

## Provenance & integrity

- **Code-signed** with our Apple Developer ID Application certificate.
- **Notarised** by Apple — every release is submitted to Apple's notary service and the ticket is stapled to the DMG before publication.
- **Auto-updates** are delivered through appcast.blinkwell.app via Sparkle, with EdDSA-signed appcast feeds. Sparkle refuses any update whose signature doesn't verify against the baked-in public key.
- **No sideloading required.** Gatekeeper opens Blinkwell with a single click on the first launch — no right-click, no "allow anyway", no quarantine bypass.

## Quick answers

**Where do I download Blinkwell?**
From https://blinkwell.app. That's the only official source.

**Is Blinkwell on the Mac App Store?**
No. Blinkwell is distributed directly from blinkwell.app. We're not on the Mac App Store, on Setapp, or on any third-party download mirror.

**Who makes Blinkwell?**
Triantafyllos (Rose) Samaras, an independent founder based in Athens, Greece. Blinkwell is one of several small products he runs out of his studio.

**How do I know the build I downloaded is genuine?**
Blinkwell is signed with our Apple Developer ID and notarised by Apple. macOS Gatekeeper verifies both before the app is allowed to launch. If the signature doesn't check out, Gatekeeper refuses to open it.

**Does Blinkwell work without an internet connection?**
Yes. Eye tracking, posture detection, and break logic all run locally. The internet is only used for licence verification and app updates — both are completely separate from the camera path.