Yoto: Music, Stories, Sleep Reviews

by Bowshanks

Setup this app mini and app just said 1 pending download even before I really inserted a card (had a defective player before). I then inserted and removed all my cards. App still just said one pending. I figured my account was borked. I deleted my account and created a new account. I setup the player again. App said all audio up to date (should say no audio yet, am I right?). Inserted all cards per instructions and nothing status didn’t change. They say leave it over night. Can’t imagine it downloaded 8 cards in the matter of seconds plus when I insert a card it displays a cloud which would indicate playing from the cloud not local storage.
Basically, Yoto doesn’t provide any information about offline storage.

by CarolineCarolineCaroline

For such an expensive product, there are basically zero advanced controls for setting limits on your child’s listening (like time or chapter limits). Yoto is also impossible to navigate. Also the cost of each story is astronomical.

by Adamudy

App is useless. I can’t even get it set up. In order to connect to this app I need to enter settings. When I come back in Yoto is frozen. I’ve spent far too long trying to get it connected, started from the beginning multiple times and it’s still not working. I think the most fun I’m likely to get from this very expensive toy is throwing it at a wall

by B_hump

My kids love it when it works, but it often doesn’t work. Even now, I’m trying to play a card from my phone. The player is playing a card, but my phone says “this app player is offline”. You get lots of generic codes like this when the thing just doesn’t work. And customer service, while quick to respond, doesn’t have any solutions.

I also bought the card membership, and that’s been rough. You can’t pick new cards from Yoto , it sends you to a browser where you frequently have to resign in, and the site is clunky and awkward with some basic features missing. I will definitely not renew.

by Ccbrsgb

I created an account prior to linking a player which is preventing me from setting up everything correctly. After hours of research, nothing in the self guided help material addresses this issue. Support is closed for several days. Very disappointing. I’ll do 2 stars because I believe the product will be good once things are working.

by Ddubs456

So I love the concept of this app, I was looking for a device that would allow my 3 and 5 year olds to play their own audio books, and it is perfectly fine with that and they have a lot of fun with it. I am pretty disappointed with the fact that the device needs to be connected to Wi-Fi in order to work. I really wanted something that they could use if we were traveling or camping, but we’re not always going to have Wi-Fi or cell service on those trips. I like that I have the option to Sync it to my phone, so if a story card is physically lost then we can still play it since it is saved on my phone, but I really wish there was an option to just use the cards and player off line. Not sure if this is an update that this app can do, but it would be much appreciated!

by Ghhjbtg

The idea is great and we use our this app box frequently. However the system needs improvement. I want the box to be offline when the kids use it. It should be more obvious if the internet is on/off and it should not turn on automatically. The only audio we play on this app are the cards we bought or recorded ourselves to avoid advertisements and other unintended materials. In contrast to CDs or cassettes, which used to be a universal format for audio entertainment, the content in this app and similar apps is extremely limited based on licensing contracts. Or parents have to invest much more time and money than expected to buy and transfer other audio formats onto this app cards. When I make my own playlist and add titles to it later, it will only show the new titles in Yoto , but not on the linked card. Please make Yoto more user friendly!

by Seaturtlenj

Our this app has been a game changer for our 4 year old. He listens to it non stop. Yoto has so many wonderful features. Love that you can play the this app as a speaker through Bluetooth and that parents can control volume and what card is played through Yoto (we lost a couple of cards but can still ply the material through Yoto which is huge!). The only thing that would make this “perfect” is if Yoto had a Loop feature that allowed the cards to restart once they played through.
**FOLLOW UP**
Have there been any updates regarding a loop feature that restarts the card once it’s played through?

by Haley128647

We love the this app! Has been great for our little one. However, a few of the podcasts that are listed have some commercials that are not suitable for children. I would pay extra if we could avoid commercials.

Also - would be great if you could see how much time was remaining on the cards or podcasts that your kiddo is listening to from your phone.

Overall- great app and love the this app player!

by Ariybob123

Nothing worked! My kids would never sleep in there own bed. I tried everything in the book, I even tried getting bedtimes stories on Alexa… Thought I’d give this a try and it worked like a charm. The stories are short enough that they keep my boys engaged just enough to fall asleep! I’d love if there was an alarm clock feature to help them get up for school on there own (my 5 year old ask for that feature) 🤞🏻 they update that soon!

by Reginamidd

Hi! We ADORE our this app. It gets 2+ hr of use a day. Yoto is a bit confusing to navigate at first and making your own cards is a little tough to figure out. (I wish the help prompts could pop up in Yoto rather than switching me to safari.) The settings for the player are iffy—I can get my nightlight to turn red but not purple...no clue what’s up with that!

However overall this product gets my recommendation to friends! There’s nothing else like it.

by Bb888j

Our family has used the this app player since it was first released. It is great for kids who enjoy audio stories or making their own music playlists. It allows them autonomy in creating their own albums without the distractions of internet, video games and the like, which are often found on many kids devices or audio/mp3 players. The make-your-own cards are good for also making special audio recordings for the kids (ie grandparents recorded reading a story). The podcast option is a nice feature. We recommend the monthly subscription for anyone interested in the product.

A suggestion would be the ability to download the actual story audio files to a computer for back up purposes. The actual audio file is in the cloud and on the this app device, but if either goes down then all content is lost/inaccessible.
Also, Yoto requires wifi connection to use. Which means if you want to select an audio story/card from Yoto to play on the device then it needs to be wifi connected. Wonder if it is possible to download actual file content to the phone/ipad so the card content (not podcasts) can still be played from Yoto when offline. Or the device and player could connect via bluetooth in order to continue playing audio from Yoto on the this app player.

by Rm Sandra Madere Studios

I like am on this and i want to play a podcast that i have played earlier and that i loved it but when i want to play the certain podcast my mind goes BLANK or as we say *forget* and i am a kid myself I want to listen to my as you will call it a *memory lane* please put this in i am sure people want it to if you want we can have a vote on how many people message the same review please do this i am confident that people want to listen to *EARLER* podcast’s please and it will be nice or*great* if you said YES thank you please add this also…can you put games in this app ok byeeeee!!

by Philnluvly

A cool concept/ product! We recently bought this for our 3yr old and she loves it. From the daily podcast, to the this app radio stream and the ability to select from a variety of audio books, music and educational activities, she enjoys it all! The colorful cards that she can choose and insert along with the two simplistic buttons/controls offer a nice tactile touch to the device. And now the bad. Customer service/ quality control is lackluster. After ordering the player it took over two weeks to ship. No biggie. Wasn’t in a rush but was curious about production and shipping. I sent an email inquiring about shipping times and received an automated message that I should receive a response within 2 days. 4 days after my inquiry I received notice from the site that it had shipped. Then I received an email apologizing for the late response but providing me with tracking. Package arrived and it was missing one of the cards I had ordered. The sleeve for the card was present but the card was nowhere to be found. I responded to the last email sent to me to inform them of the missing card the day I received the package, 7/23. No 2 day response. I emailed again on 7/27. Crickets. Sent another follow up on 7/30 explaining that’d I’d be happy with a refund ($9 - expensive little things) . Nada. Anyways, unsure of if they plan to expand functionality of buttons on the player. Would be great to have additional push options for the right button, like sleep radio perhaps. Others have commented on the lag between app and player and so I’ll just confirm. Maybe I’ll finally get a response after dropping this review. 😊 UPDATE: Developer responded to my review apologizing for poor communication and asked that I reach out using the same email that I had been unsuccessful with in my previous attempts. So again, I thumbed a message and attached a screenshot of the developer response hoping maybe the person(s) charged with responding to customer inquiries would see it and feel compelled to respond. Nope. 🙄😒 At this point I just want the money I spent on the missing card. Guess I’ll just have to dispute the charge with my bank. Sigh.
2nd UPDATE: Looks like there was an issue with their incoming email requests. I was sent the missing card. All good. 😊

by 9handsHS

The Yotos are so well built. (I’ve seen them hit the floor a few times.) Excellent for kids! We have seven children and a this app for each one. They use them so much. The controls are simple and easy for them to use. The parental controls in Yoto are simple to use also. Thanks this app for making a great product!

by ZBarge

It is a true rarity to find a company that is so dedicated to serving their customers. They tirelessly add to and adapt their app to best suite their customers. New and fresh content shows up all the time. They play an active roll within the Facebook group so that they can address issues quickly and efficiently. Their customer service is surpassed by no other company I’ve ever dealt with. To give you an idea of the type of people who work at this app: when the price of everything is skyrocketing, this app just sent out a notice that they will be REDUCING the price of most of their cards in order to ensure that this app can continue to be accessible to kids and families. There are also plenty of free features (incredible and labor intensive for them) that they’ve chosen not to charge for. They’re amazing. Give it a shot and you won’t be disappointed. Trust me :)

by Badd_Wolff

It is one of the most useful apps I have. It is a wonderful extension of an already wonderful product. It helps to access content my kid does not have direct control over, set alarms, set volume limits for both speaker and headphones, remotely play a card or sleep sounds without entering the room, daytime and nighttime settings, display options, set button function, making cards, sampling cards, and more. I use Yoto daily.

by Harrypotterlover

I got our first this app radio for my first when she was 2.5yrs. She’s five now and listens to cards every night. Yoto is FANTASTIC. You can listen to your cards and any podcast via Yoto . You can put specific settings on the this app device via Yoto and you can change what is playing in the physical this app. We LOVE Yoto and device for our littles. Seriously worth it🙏🏻

by JessieBan

I have 4 children, 10 years old and under and we just got a this app player 2 months ago and it’s been a part of our daily routine ever since! From the moment they wake up.. they turn on this app daily to hear what fun and interesting things Jake has to share with us.. to listening to the radio and all their this app cards when they are doing school work or free time.. and finally this app sleep radio at night and that wonderful night light built in! Our only problem now is that we can’t wait for the this app mini to come out so all of my kids can get their own player and not fight over our 1 this app original player haha

by Karrobella

This is by far, the best device I have ever invested in, so well worth it all!! 🤍 My little one has been enjoying it daily, keeping herself entertained. There are so many benefits to it — plus, it has drastically improved her playtime, imagination, creativity, vocabulary, spontaneity, you name it! She is a bubble of joy enjoying it all, spending her hours listening intensively while she plays in her own little world — My only regret, not getting it much sooner!! She looks forward to each month for the darling subscription of new cards in her name, which adds to all the charm in using this, growing her own adorable library. Bedtime is lovely — the sleeping sounds off your own phone app connected to the device are sweet. You won’t regret investing in this!! It’s perfectly lovely for the whole family… X

by Tristan711

This device is so well designed that our 1.5 year old is able to play with it and figure it out. What a contraption— simple, well constructed (the player and the cards), but deceptively expandable (if you choose to) with make-your-own cards, Bluetooth, and built in internet radio… it’s like a modern cassette player without any unnecessary bells and whistles.

Would that all products be held to the standards of the this app player.

by Lindseylujan

We have a 4 year old daughter who has to come with us to work sometimes. We are a family who really tries to limit screen time. So our daughters this app has been perfect for listening to books and music for your daughter as we are on the go…. We also live the this app daily!!

by Realsserious

I’d be remiss if I didn’t write a review praising this company for their excellent products, thorough customer support, and rapid development. We’ve been this app believers for years because this is the device that transitioned our kids from daily screen-time to daily audiobook-time. Though Yoto hasn’t always been great, we’ve received several surveys allowing us to provide input on the feature set. And I can honestly say that this has been one of the greatest app evolutions I’ve ever seen. I don’t know just how many employees the company now has, but this app’s organization is firing on all cylinders. Huge props to all of you - your direction and attention to detail is astonishing. Thank you for allowing your customers to be a part of your design process, and thanks for creating such an approachable platform!

by Jack Attack201

I am a quality assurance engineer in software which means it’s my job to test software and find bugs. This makes me naturally critical of all software and I have to say that this app is one of the very, very few companies I am impressed by including even the giants like Microsoft. The quality of this app’s software, their customer responsiveness/agile engineering, their user experience design, the lack of bugs and their overall business model is really just top of the line. I absolutely love this company and their product. And my kid loves it too! This is a company I feel good about supporting!

by Strinam

I bought a this app after seeing an ad on Facebook. I love audiobooks and loved the idea of a similar experience for my son. I love that this app is constantly updating Yoto and the devices without forcing existing customers to purchase a new device to get the upgrades. I like that it grows with my son. As he gets older, I can set an alarm to get him used to waking up on his own. I can set a sleep timer so he can listen to a story as he falls asleep. The available books are always added to (HELLO! Doctor WHO!!). Would love to see more YA books make an entry.

by Chloeprent

We love our this app! Kids can choose what they want to listen to and put it on, and all the speakers have calm and somewhat monotonous voices that can blend into the background as a child falls asleep. No dramatic music or noises company the storytelling, it’s just a soothing voice that you want to keep listening to. Our two year olds love it! They run to the room to listen to stories at bedtime. So far we have listened to the Disney stories but I imagine all the other content is fantastic too. I highly recommend!

by Cellsworth13

this app is such a great addition to our family. Yoto is very easy to use and I love the ability to listen to stuff in the “discover” section. this app is adding new stuff all the time it seems. If you’re new to this app I also highly recommend signing up for their club! It makes it so easy to build your this app library quickly!

by ChipmunkJ

My kids (3&5) love their this app Player! I was researching music players that is tough for young ones to handle and not as complicated as a MP3 player. this app was the best choice! I love that you can create your own cards, most of our cards we created ourselves which include stories and music. I’m always cautious what my kids listen to so I’m so glad they have this option to create your own cards. I’ve reached out to customer service multiple times with questions and sometimes minor bugs, each time they promptly reply to me and fixed all my issues and answered all my questions. I can see they have a dedicated team who are really passionate in what they do.

by Natural Babes

For one My kids love the radio, sleep tight stories and wow in the world and we wow. Thats all they ever listen to. Their random facts through the day are amazing.

I had written a review complaining about not being able to save favorites to a place, they reached out to me telling me about the update and how there is an actual feature. So I was just not searching hard enough, and upon telling my kids they had already knew and I was the only one behind. Yoto is officially awesome!
Thank you

by NicoleA21

I absolutely love the this app player, but Yoto is by far my favorite part. I like that I can control it from my phone or listen from my phone in the car without having to worry about getting cards out. I have a 2 year old who loves to change the cards at will lol so it’s also nice to have Yoto as backup when he is looking for a specific track.
I will say, much like their actual website, there are a few lags here and there which can be a little frustrating when we’re in “toddler meltdown” mode. Other than that, I cannot recommend this enough. I even recommend it to all my friends who bought Tonies.

by 234&5678

I have three words: Best, thing, ever! I watch this app daily every night and am always so happy, Jake if your reading this I want to tell you “Thanks for existing!” I love it when there are Jokes, Games, (‘Sausages’ is the game I look forward to playing every Friday night) and all the rest, and when I place the card in, I love it if there was a infinity star rating I would give infinite stars, I LOVE YOU this app!

by IndygoEssence

Very engaging content for little ones and parents^^ this app brings many moments of peace and laughter to a household of helicopter moms and dads all around the world 🎉🎉 w/or without the speaker. Better than any of those useless/creepy apps most children are unfortunately exposed to. this app is a hero to society that doesn’t wear a cape! Every child should have one!

by Pippingoff

this app has been a game changer for our family. Our 4 year old loves it and listens for usually an hr a day. Try the ladybird series! You’ll be amazed how much your kid learns. To the this app team - thank you! Love the amazing features (especially radio, sleep sounds, the night/morning light, and the timers).

by Velvetme

Yoto is a must even if you don’t own the player. We linked up our stories, use the radio and podcasts. It goes with us on every car trip.

by Great Products, Easy To Order

We have been able to listen to audio books as much as we want since we got our player! It’s a great investment for family everywhere!

by MarshLow111

Ever since getting this app, I’ve seen a love for music, dancing and acting come out in my kids. They are always asking to play more songs and stories so they can run around the house and act them out. Love seeing their creativity at their young age

by LanhamCreations

Love the this app Player! I have a 5 and 3 year old, they both love it. Really easy to use. Yoto is great too because you can play cards if you don’t have the this app player with you. Amazing for car rides!

by Colbiefan

This is the best kids toy we have, and we have all the things! In the car, playing, it’s also a nice learning tool!

by Uptakecupcake

This works nicely with my one year old and grabs his attention well

by 907grrrl

Fun little app—higher quality material than the random stuff have found on Alexa, including clever games, jokes/riddles that appeal to a 7 year old—looking forward to exploring more.