Demo coming soon
Step in. Sunspi's technology covers every inch from the neck down, front and back, not just what's easy to reach.
Sunspi covers from the neck down. Apply your own face and scalp sunscreen separately.
Coverage
Every inch from the neck down: shoulders, mid-back, the backs of your legs, your feet. Face and scalp stay your own step.
Speed
Step in. Step out. Back to the water before your friends finish their shoulders.
Ocean
No oxybenzone. No octinoxate. Protect your skin without costing the reef.
Even coat
One even layer from the neck down. No spray drifting off in the wind.
Value
Neck-down protection without buying, carrying or forgetting a bottle.
Team
Built by Embry-Riddle engineers and UGA pre-medical and business students.
The problem
More people in the U.S. are diagnosed with skin cancer each year than with all other cancers combined.1 Every one of them is a person who heard the word in an exam room and went home to tell someone they love.
9,500+
people in the U.S. are diagnosed with skin cancer. Every day.2
That's more than six every minute. Someone's mother. Someone's teammate. Someone who thought it was just a freckle.
8,510
Americans are expected to die of melanoma in 2026.3
About 23 people a day. Close to one every hour, all year long.
It almost never starts with anything dramatic. A burn across the shoulders after a long day on the water. A strip of back you couldn't reach. A sting on the backs of your legs you shrug off by dinner.
Then another summer. Another burn. On average, a person's risk of melanoma doubles after more than five sunburns.4 None of them felt like the one that mattered.
1 in 5
Americans will develop skin cancer by age 70.5
112,000
new invasive melanoma cases expected in the U.S. in 2026.3
+46.6%
rise in new invasive melanoma cases diagnosed each year, 2016–2026.1
Where it's found changes everything.
Catching it early saves lives. Never getting the burn is better still.
~86%
of melanomas were attributed to UV radiation from the sun in one UK study.7
In a landmark randomized trial, regular daily use of SPF 15+ sunscreen, used as directed, cut melanoma risk by 50%.8 The protection already exists. The problem is getting enough of it, everywhere, every time.
That's what Sunspi is for: an even coat of reef-safe sunscreen from the neck down, in seconds, for a few dollars.
The 50% figure is general sunscreen research, not a Sunspi clinical result. Sunspi is not a medical treatment.
Why sunscreen falls short
Nobody gets this wrong on purpose. Bottles, sprays and two hands just weren't built for the job. Here is what the research shows.
01
SPF numbers are measured at 2 mg of sunscreen per square centimeter of skin. For an adult body that's about 1 ounce, roughly a shot glass.9 In real life, people put on far less: about 0.39 to 1.0 mg/cm² under natural conditions.10
25–50%
of the recommended amount is all most people apply.9
02
Sunscreen only works where it lands. Hands miss the places they can't easily reach or see: the back, the shoulders, the backs of the legs, the feet.
31%
of target skin showed no sunscreen after a single cream application in a fluorescence study. The central back, legs and feet, especially the soles, were often missed.11
71.5%
of the back was covered when people applied sunscreen to it by hand. The middle back got the least.12
27%
of Americans know the recommended minimum amount: at least 2 tablespoons.13
0
Median coverage on the back of the neck and the ears in one study of hand application. Those are part of your own face-and-head step, so give them a second look.14
03 Rarely reapplied
We forget it. We skip it on cloudy days. And once it's on, most of us never put on more.
38%
of sunscreen users typically reapply every two hours.13
28%
tend not to reapply at all.13
53%
say they often forget to apply sunscreen.13
21%
use sunscreen regularly on cloudy days. 57% do overall.13
Only 12.3% of men and 29.0% of women said they always used sunscreen when outside on a sunny day for more than an hour.15
04
Wind carries the mist away, and a clear, fast-drying spray makes it hard to tell what you've covered. Dermatologists say to skip spraying on windy days, spray until skin glistens, then rub it in anyway.16
One report in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology described blotchy protection: skin inside the mist was spared while the skin around it burned.17
05
Greasy hands. Sand that sticks. Someone waiting at the water's edge while you wrestle with your back. When applying sunscreen is a chore, it gets rushed or skipped, and a rushed coat is a thin coat.
06
Used the way it's tested, sunscreen goes fast. A typical 6-ounce spray bottle holds just six applications.18
A 2011 analysis estimated that a family of four at the beach applying the recommended amount would spend a median of $178–$238 a week on sunscreen, at 2011 prices.19
07
Oxybenzone and octinoxate are still permitted in U.S. sunscreens. NOAA lists both among the chemical UV filters that can harm marine life, including corals.20
Hawaii has banned their sale without a prescription since January 1, 2021.21 Palau banned reef-toxic sunscreens from 2020.22 Key West passed a similar ordinance in 2019, but Florida preempted it, so it never took effect.23
Enter Sunspi
Keep the sunscreen. Lose the guesswork. Here is how Sunspi answers each fault.
01 Too little
A full, even coat. No guessing how much.
02 Missed spots
Every inch from the neck down, including the back, shoulders, backs of the legs and feet.
03 Rarely reapplied
Seconds, right where you play. Reapplying is just stepping back in.
04 Sprays drift
Applied inside the booth. Nothing drifting away on the wind.
05 Messy and slow
No sticky hands. No asking someone to do your back.
06 Costly
A few dollars. No bottle to buy, carry or forget.
07 Hard on reefs
Only reef-safe sunscreen. No oxybenzone. No octinoxate.
Face and scalp stay your step. Sunspi covers from the neck down. Apply your own sunscreen to your face, ears and scalp separately.
How it works
Three steps. A few seconds. No sticky hands.
Walk into the Sunspi booth. Honestly, that's the hardest part.
In seconds, Sunspi's technology lays down an even coat of reef-safe sunscreen from the neck down. Front, back, shoulders, legs, feet.
Back to the water, the court, the trail. Protected, for a few dollars.
Every inch from the neck down
Speed
Faster than finding someone to do your back.
Even coverage
Neck to feet. No streaks, no thin patches, no guessing how much.
Missed spots
Shoulders, mid-back, backs of the legs, feet. Handled.
Reef-safe
Every coat. Every booth. No exceptions.
Care
Designed with pre-medical students who know what the sun does to skin.
Made for where you play
The ocean
Float face-down over a living reef and the world goes loud with color. Fish flicker through branching coral. Everything moves, eats, hides, grows.
A bleached reef is the same place gone white as bone. Quiet. Coral is alive, and when it bleaches, it is starving. Sunscreen is not the only thing hurting reefs. But it is something we carry into the water ourselves, every day, by choice.
What NOAA says some sunscreen chemicals can do to coral:20
Oxybenzone and octinoxate are among the chemicals NOAA lists as able to harm marine life. A 2022 National Academies review found that specific chemical UV filters can harm aquatic life, including corals. This is an active area of research.20
Every swim rinses some of what we're wearing into the sea. NOAA describes mineral sunscreen as a better option for the water, with fewer effects on aquatic organisms.20
2019
Key West passed an ordinance banning sales of sunscreens with oxybenzone or octinoxate. Florida then preempted local rules in 2020, so it never took effect.23
2020
Palau banned the sale and import of "reef-toxic" sunscreens, including those with oxybenzone and octinoxate.22
2021
Hawaii made it unlawful to sell sunscreen containing oxybenzone or octinoxate without a prescription. Still in force.21
Every Sunspi booth.
Reef-safe only.
Your protection shouldn't cost the ocean anything. With Sunspi, you get an even coat from the neck down, in seconds, for a few dollars, and the only thing that goes in the water with you is reef-safe sunscreen.
Four problems. One booth. Plus your own face and scalp sunscreen.
Melanoma risk
Make sun protection a quick, everyday habit.
Missed spots, thin coats
Even coverage from the neck down. Every inch. Every side.
Infrequent use
Seconds, a few dollars, right where you play.
Reef damage
Reef-safe sunscreen only.
Sunspi applies sunscreen from the neck down. It is not a medical treatment and is not a substitute for skin checks with a dermatologist.
The team
Sunspi is built by people who understand machines and people who understand skin.
Daytona Beach, Florida
Designing the booth and the technology that lays down one even coat from the neck down, in seconds.
Athens, Georgia
Bringing the skin-health perspective: why coverage matters, and why melanoma prevention starts with habits.
Learn more
Plain-language explainers on skin cancer, sunscreen and the ocean, with every source listed.
Skin cancer
The 2026 figures, what drives risk, and why where it's caught changes the outcome.
Application
Too little, too rarely, and the back, shoulders, backs of the legs and feet left bare.
Reefs
What the science says about oxybenzone and octinoxate, and what the label does and doesn't promise.
Policy
What the state and county laws actually ban, and what the evidence shows so far.
Our mission
Wherever there's a risk of skin damage, we want a Sunspi there. Affordable for everyone, for a few dollars.
Saving people and the environment.
One even coat at a time.
Demo coming soon
Join the waitlist and hear when the Sunspi demo is ready.
Thanks. See you on the sand.
You're on the list. We'll email you when the demo is ready.
A booth you step into that gives you an even coat of reef-safe sunscreen from the neck down in seconds, for a few dollars. Every inch from the neck down, not just what's easy to reach.
No. Sunspi covers from the neck down. Apply your own sunscreen to your face, ears and scalp separately, before or after you step in.
Seconds. Step in, get covered, step out.
Only reef-safe sunscreen. No oxybenzone and no octinoxate, the two ingredients banned from sale in Hawaii. We'll share full formulation details with the demo.
A few dollars per session. Final pricing comes closer to launch.
The demo is coming soon. Join the waitlist and we'll let you know.
Yes. Follow the sunscreen label. Dermatologists recommend reapplying about every two hours, and after swimming or sweating.9 With Sunspi, reapplying from the neck down takes seconds. Remember to reapply on your face and scalp too.
No. Sunspi applies sunscreen. It does not diagnose, treat or cure anything, and it's not a substitute for regular skin checks. The melanoma and sunscreen figures on this page come from general published research, not from studies of Sunspi.
A team of Embry-Riddle engineers and UGA pre-medical and business students.
