A page will not load

What to try when a TaleTykes page will not open, shows an error, or stops working without the internet, in the order most likely to fix it.

Fixing a problemUpdated

When a page will not open, the cause is usually the connection, or a page that was left open for a long time. Try these steps in order, and stop when the page works.

Start here

  1. Refresh the page. A page left open for a long time can be out of date, and refreshing fetches the current one.
  2. Check the connection by opening another website on the same device.
  3. If the page says "That did not work", press "Try again". This message means something went wrong at our end while drawing the page, and nothing you or your readers have made has been lost. If trying again does not help, use "Go to the start" or "Back to your home page".
  4. If the page says "There is nothing here", the address is wrong or the page has moved. Use "Go to the start" or "Your account", or the link on that page to your child's books.

With no internet

On a device where your child reads, a page that cannot be reached opens "Books on this tablet" instead. That page lists the books kept on the device, and those open with no internet at all. Everything else, including making a book, needs a connection.

  • If it says "Nothing is kept on this tablet yet", no books were kept on this device. Next time you have a connection, your child can tap the arrow on a book to keep it.
  • If it says "This browser cannot keep books.", try another browser for reading offline.
  • You can open the shelf yourself at Books on this tablet.

Reading offline explains how many books a device can keep.

Keep your browser up to date

TaleTykes runs in a web browser, so there is nothing to install. Keep the browser itself up to date, and try another one if a page works on one device but not on another. After a browser updates, your child may need to sign in again. Devices and browsers has more.

Old copies and stored data

We do not keep copies of our pages on your device. The only things kept are the offline shelf, the files the pages are built from, which cannot go out of date because each update uses new ones, and the books you chose to keep. So clearing your browser's data is rarely needed, and refreshing is the better first step.

If you do clear your browser's data for our site:

  • you are signed out;
  • the device is no longer set up for your children, so you need to set it up again before they can sign in;
  • the books kept on the device are removed.

If what you want is to take the books and the setup off a device, "Forget this device" on your Safety page does exactly that.

Private browsing

A private window forgets that you signed in when it closes, and it forgets that the device was set up for your children. Some private windows cannot keep books either. For a device your child reads on, use an ordinary window.

Sign out and back in

If one page keeps failing while others work, sign out and sign in again. To sign out, open the menu under your initial at the top of any of your pages and press "Sign out". Signing out does not undo the setup of the device, although it does sign out any reader who was reading on it. If you cannot get back in, see You cannot sign in.

Still not loading

Try another browser or another device. If the page still will not open, tell us its address, the device and browser you used, and roughly when it happened. Signed in, use Help in your dashboard; if you cannot open that, write to support@taletykes.com.

Next in Fixing a problem: How to contact us

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Still need a hand?

Write to us at support@taletykes.com and a person will answer. There are no bots and no ticket numbers.

For anything urgent about a child's safety or privacy, write to privacy@taletykes.com. Short answers to common questions are on the questions page.