Most of what your child does on TaleTykes is choosing from pictures. There are only a few places where they can use their own words, and everything they type or say there is checked before it goes anywhere near a story.
The places your child can use their own words
| Where | Who can use it | What they can put in |
|---|---|---|
| "Write your own beginning", in the book maker | Any reader | Up to 400 characters, typed, or said aloud where the device has a microphone |
| The library search box | Ages 5 and up; the youngest readers browse by picture | A word or two, up to 40 characters |
| Things they like | Ages 7 to 9 and 9 to 12 | Up to 60 characters; younger readers tap pictures instead |
| Comments on shared books | Ages 5 and up | Between 2 and 140 characters |
| Asking or answering Pip in a book | Any reader | Said aloud, or by tapping one of the choices offered; there is no box to type in |
Comments are not open yet. They start once the updated notice to parents is in force and you have agreed to it.
Your child is never corrected on screen: there is no spelling warning and no word count. A story beginning becomes page one of their book in their own words, with only misspelled words put right. More about each place is in The book maker, What your child likes and The shared library and comments.
What is refused
The first thing the checks look for is any sign that your child might be at risk, which we tell you about straight away. After that, they refuse:
- Anything that reads like an instruction rather than a story idea, such as asking the app to ignore its rules, a web link, or something that looks like code. What your child writes is treated as ingredients for a story and never as instructions.
- Contact details. A story beginning with an address or a phone number in it is not used, and your child is asked to leave that part out.
- Anything that could identify or reach a person, in a comment. That includes your child's own name or a family member's, their age or birthday, their school or teacher, where they live, a zip code, a phone number, an email address, a link, a username, or a request to meet, to message or to be added on another app. A comment like that is refused and its words are not kept.
The library search box only takes letters, numbers, spaces, apostrophes and hyphens. What your child searches for is never kept and never becomes part of a story.
When something is refused, your child sees one short line in Pip's words, with no reason and no rule, such as "Let's keep it to story ideas. Shall we pick who is in it?" In the search box it is always "Try a word or two, like dragon or space."
How stories and pictures are checked describes the checks themselves.
What happens to your child's voice
When your child speaks, whether to start their own story, to talk to Pip, or to read a page aloud, the browser asks for the microphone first, and nothing is recorded until your child presses the button to speak. The sound is turned into words, and the recording is gone as soon as that is done. We never store a recording of your child's voice.
The words are used for the moment they were said for. When your child reads a page aloud, we keep only numbers about how it went, never the words themselves.
If you have a question, write to support@taletykes.com or see Contact.