Tap to start
MUTEDtap, or say "Mute off"

Watercolor of a hand dropping a phone into a pumpkin, which then glows as a jack-o'-lantern.

Talking Jack-o'-Lantern

Put an old phone inside a pumpkin and it talks to trick-or-treaters. It hears them, answers out loud in character, and glows as it speaks.

  1. 1. Get a Pumpkin Pass on the phone you use every day.
  2. 2. Pick a pumpkin and hear how it talks.
  3. 3. Send it to the old phone. This phone shows a code, the old phone scans it.
  4. 4. Tap Start on the old phone.
  5. 5. Put it in the pumpkin, screen facing out. Done.

Only one phone? That works too. Do every step on it and skip step 3.

1. Get a Pumpkin Pass

🎃 Get a Pumpkin Pass, $4.99

We handle everything: every character, voice, and color, plus about 400 replies of talk time, enough for a whole Halloween night. Top up anytime. No account, no key, nothing to set up.

Rather not pay? Use your own free Google key for the basic pumpkin.

2. Pick your pumpkin

Pick a character and hear it. Tap any voice to hear it too.

Try other voices

Tap a voice to hear it. The one you tap is the one it uses.

Match the visitor answers in the language people speak to it. If it switches languages by mistake, pick one language.

The screen glows in the lantern color and gets brighter as it talks. The flashlight can flicker too (always white), but only on Android phones in Chrome. iPhones use the screen.

3. Send it to the old phone

Putting this phone in the pumpkin? Skip to step 4.

On this phone:

On the old phone: open jack-o.io, then

Point this camera at the code on the other phone.

4. Tap Start on the old phone

  • Brightness all the way up. Turn off auto-brightness.
  • Keep the screen on. iPhone: Settings › Display & Brightness › Auto-Lock › Never, and turn off Low Power Mode. Android: Settings › Display › Screen timeout › the longest, and turn off battery saver.
  • Volume all the way up, and plug it in to charge.

Allow the microphone when it asks.

5. Put it in the pumpkin

Screen facing out, through the carved face. That's it. 🎃

Tip: yellow or orange tape over the flashlight gives a warmer glow.

To mute it, tap the screen or say "Mute on" (or "Pumpkin, stop talking"). To unmute, tap again or say "Mute off" (or "Pumpkin, unmute"). Tap Settings in the corner to change things.

Free option: use your own Google key

Bring a free Google key (or an OpenAI key) and the basic pumpkin is free forever. The $1.99 unlock below adds every character, voice, and color.

Your own key

The pumpkin's voice and wit come from Google (or OpenAI). A "key" is a long code, like a password, that lets your pumpkin use them. Google's is free.

How do I get a key?
  1. Open Google's free key page and sign in with any Google or Gmail account. Agree to the terms if it asks.
  2. Tap Create API key.
  3. Tap the copy button next to the long code.
  4. Come back here and paste it in the box above.

You can save both a Google and an OpenAI key and switch between them with the buttons above.

Your key stays on this phone. It only goes to Google (or OpenAI). Don't share it with people you don't know.

Using an old phone? Paste the key on this phone, then use step 3 above to send it to the old phone.

Unlock everything

One payment of $1.99, yours to keep:

  • Any voice for any character. Free characters use their own voice.
  • Write your own character. Make it anyone you like.
  • Lantern colors. Red, green, purple, ghostly white, or any color you pick.
🎃 Unlock for $1.99
How the unlock works
  • It follows your key, not the phone. Paste your key in step 1 before you buy. Any phone using that key unlocks by itself, including phones you set up with Share my key.
  • Changing keys is fine. If an unlocked phone switches to a new key (or from Google to OpenAI), the new key unlocks too. One purchase covers up to 6 keys.
  • No account, no sign-in. We never see your key. Only a scrambled fingerprint of it, which can't be turned back into the key, is saved with your payment.
  • Payment is handled by Stripe. Your card details never touch this site.
  • Refunds: email ddilanchian@gmail.com with your order number from the Stripe receipt.

Privacy

  • When someone talks to the pumpkin, what they say goes to Google (or OpenAI, if you use an OpenAI key) so it can answer.
  • This website doesn't record or keep anything. Your key and settings stay on this phone.
  • With a free Google key, Google may use what it hears to improve its products.
  • If you buy the unlock, Stripe handles the payment. We keep only a scrambled fingerprint of your key with it, so your phones unlock automatically. We can't turn it back into your key.
  • If you came here from a Google ad, Google's ad tag notes whether that visit led to a purchase, so we can tell which ads work. It doesn't see what the pumpkin hears.
  • Put a small "talking pumpkin" sign nearby so people know it's listening.