This easy-to-use player is a game-changer for anyone with small kids.
If you’ve ever scrolled through parenting TikToks or Reels, you’ve probably come across the Yoto Player. First launched on Kickstarter in 2017, the brand has since evolved its tech with major upgrades. The core concept remains the same: a personal audio player for kids with simple, kid-friendly controls. If you’re after a fun, screen-free way to keep little ones entertained and learning, this one’s a must-have.
I put it to the test to see if it lived up to all the hype.
The Yoto Player Design
Purposefully minimalist in design and smaller than a box of Kleenex, the Yoto Player can be squeezed onto just about any nightstand or overcrowded play table.
The entire front panel is a digital display, which shows off colourful pixelated images that correspond to stories, songs, or whatever else it's playing. For example, as it plays the chapter “Home Problems” in Stuart Little, a tiny pixelated house is displayed on the screen, and when a lullaby playlist plays, a little star appears. When you’re not playing anything, the screen goes dark, and when it’s reanimated, it shows the time and weather.
The player has a slot for cards on top and two large, kid-friendly buttons that can be pressed and rotated (used for pausing, chapter changing, volume control, etc.). As for audio, there are speaker panels on both sides of the box, and there is a 3.5 mm headphone jack for wired headphones (the player also supports Bluetooth headphones).
Turn it around to the back panel and you'll find a perimeter light that can cycle through seven different hues. This panel also functions as a room thermometer.
The battery can last for up to 24 hours on a full charge, and it comes with a USB cord so you can easily juice it back up when it dies. For peace of mind, there are no cameras, no mics, and no ads that run during programming.
The Yoto Player Set Up
Setting up the Yoto Player is a simple task. All you have to do is turn it on, pair it with your phone, and you’re off to the races. After that, you can choose audio files from the companion app to play or scan your own story cards and pop them in.
It took less than two minutes to get it up and running, and since the app walked me through the process, I didn't even have to open the instruction booklet.
Using the Yoto Player
The Yoto Player is a multi-functional little wonder, complete with a vivid pixel display to bring the audio to life. It can be used to play sleep sounds, as a bedtime storyteller, as an alarm clock with the time-to-rise function, as a room thermometer, or as a portable speaker. The closest thing I can compare it to is my Hatch Restore 3, but for kids.
Your kid can easily skip, adjust the volume, change the chapter, and more with the large antenna-like knobs at the top of the box. Yoto Cards work facing up, upside down, backward and forward, so your child doesn’t have to focus on that at all, and the easy-to-use design keeps navigation frustration to a minimum.
It’s important to note that when you first open a Yoto Card, it needs to download the contents to the app, which requires an internet connection. However, once it is in the app, you won’t need to be connected to use the cards. You can truly use it anywhere. If you plan on using it while travelling, you may want to choose the Yoto Mini for its smaller, more compact design.
The Yoto Cards
If you're buying the Yoto Player for the stories, songs, and lessons (its main functions), you'll need to purchase Yoto Cards. There are over 1,000 available, ranging from baby-oriented bedtime stories to songs and full books, like James and the Giant Peach and Stuart Little (among other favourites). There are also songs from their favourite Disney films like Moana and music from your favourite artists like Spice Girls and Abba, plus learning cards ranging from basic words for little tykes to Horrible Histories for older kids.
You can also purchase “Make Your Own” blank cards, which can be loaded with your own audio. That means you can build your kids a customized playlist, record grandma singing their favourite song, or have their aunt or uncle read them a story. With these, you can also customize the imagery that goes along with each song.
You can find options for as inexpensive as $12.99, and full collections that cost north of $50. All content is safe and has been created with kids in mind.
The Yoto App
On top of the cards, you can also access stories, radio, white noise, sounds, and more from the companion app—there’s even a toothbrush timer that counts them down with a fun song and bright imagery on the screen.
You have full control over whatever is playing and the volume, so you can turn down Peppa Pig when you’ve had enough (or swap to Bluetooth headphones or corded headphones).
My Final Thought on the Yoto Player
With controls that are easy enough for a toddler to navigate, cards that cater to all ages, and a multifunctional design that goes beyond storytelling, the Yoto Player is a worthwhile investment. It's engaging, can be used as a learning tool, and when your kid isn't playing with the Yoto Cards, it works as an alarm clock and white noise machine. You definitely get a lot of bang for your buck with this one.
