Age suitability
TalkingTiles is built for young children who don’t speak, and for the adults helping them. Here is exactly what is — and isn’t — in it.
Suitable for all ages. No objectionable content.
Who it is for
TalkingTiles is an AAC app — augmentative and alternative communication. It is designed for children who are nonverbal or minimally verbal, including autistic children and children with apraxia, Down syndrome or a developmental language disorder. Older children and adults use the same app.
It is normally set up by a parent, carer, teacher or speech and language therapist, who chooses the language, the voice and how many tiles fit on screen. The child then uses it independently.
What is in the app
Fourteen boards of illustrated symbols covering everyday vocabulary — food, feelings, people, places, clothes, colours, toys, verbs, letters and numbers. Tapping a symbol speaks its word; symbols can be strung into a sentence and spoken together.
All 240 symbols were drawn for this app. They depict ordinary objects, actions and facial expressions in a flat, outlined style. There is no photography, no realistic depiction of people, and nothing frightening, violent or suggestive.
What is not in the app
The things that usually make an app unsuitable for children are simply absent:
- no advertising of any kind, and no ad networks
- no in-app purchases, subscriptions or payments — the app is free and complete
- no chat, messaging, comments or contact with other people
- no user-generated or community content
- no social network integration or sharing
- no camera, microphone, contacts or location access
- no accounts, logins or profiles
Leaving the app
There is one link in the whole app that opens a web browser: a credit on the Settings screen linking to the Creative Commons licence for the symbols. There is no other route out of the app, and no way for a child to reach arbitrary web content from inside it.
Parental controls
Settings can be protected with a PIN, chosen by the adult, under Settings → Parent lock. Once set, the PIN is required before Settings will open — which also puts the one outbound link behind it. The communication boards themselves stay fully usable without the PIN, so locking Settings never stops a child communicating.
The PIN is off by default so the app works out of the box; we recommend setting one if a child uses the device unsupervised.
Data
The app collects nothing about anyone, child or adult. No account, no analytics, no tracking, no identifiers, no voice recordings, and no network requests at all. Settings and saved phrases stay on the device. The privacy page sets this out in full.
A note for grown-ups
TalkingTiles is a communication aid, not a medical device, and it does not replace assessment by a qualified speech and language therapist. Which vocabulary a child needs, and how it should be laid out, is a decision best made with someone who knows them.
Questions
If something here is unclear, or you believe any of it is inaccurate, email support@talkingtiles.app and we will correct it.