How TaleBud works, what to do if something fails, and what you should know as a parent.
Name, age and avatar. Age tunes story length, vocabulary and difficulty. You can have several profiles if you have more than one child.
They can speak (tapping the mic), type it or draw it: if they draw, AI sees what it is and the story grows from the drawing, which also becomes the cover. If they're stuck, there are suggested ideas and sample stories.
“Listen” narrates it, highlighting each word. “Read it” listens while they read aloud and scores them kindly. They can tap any word to hear it.
Comprehension questions, family activities, and games to practise syllables, rhymes and vocabulary.
Progress, reading level, tricky words, settings and privacy. It's protected by a challenge so children can't get in.
Under “Listen”, record your voice reading each page (mom, dad, grandparents…). It stays only on that device and “Listen” will use your voice, highlighting the words.
At the end of the story, “Print or save as PDF” prepares a little book with a cover, big text and a page to draw on. In the print window choose “Save as PDF”.
At the end of a story, create the next chapter with the same characters. The library keeps the saga in order.
Your child is the main character. Describe what they look like (no photos) and who else joins (siblings, friends, pet) in the parents' area.
Seven illustration styles (classic, watercolor, colored pencils, cartoon, clay, Bud World and magical) and four tones, in “Customize your story”.
Bud shows the app step by step, for kids (short and spoken) or for parents (complete). It's under “How does it work?”, below the create button.
Speech recognition only works in Chrome and Edge. On Safari or iPhone, reading works by tapping each word (the app switches automatically). If you're on Chrome and it still fails, check the microphone permission in the padlock of the address bar.
Turn the volume up and check the device isn't muted. On iPhone the side silent switch matters too. If there's no voice for your language, the system uses whichever it has.
Illustrations are generated on the spot and can take a moment. The app preloads them and retries on its own; you'll see “Drawing…” meanwhile. On a weak connection, give it a few seconds.
You can adjust sentences per page and number of pages in the parents' area. If one doesn't land, create another: every story is different.
The browser will ask for microphone permission: accept it. If you declined, enable it from the padlock in the address bar. It works in up-to-date Chrome, Edge and Safari.
Tap “Print / PDF”: the iOS print sheet opens. To save it as a PDF, pinch out on the preview page and share it or save it to Files.
Without an account there's 1 trial story. With an account, the first week is 2 stories a day and the second 2 that week; with Premium, up to 10 a day. Meanwhile you can reread saved stories and play.
On the sign-in screen tap “Forgot your password?” and you'll get a link by email.
Progress is stored in the browser. To carry it to another device you need a free adult account and sync.
Everything works, including listening while the child reads.
Everything works except listening: reading is done by tapping each word. Narration, games and the rest work the same.
From the browser you can add it to the home screen and it opens like an app, full screen.
By default everything is stored on the device. To create the story we send the child's idea (or their drawing, if they draw it), age and language to AI providers; their name only if you enable them as the hero. Voice recordings never leave the device. No ads, no data selling, and you can delete everything whenever you want.
Ages 4 to 11. The app automatically adjusts story length, vocabulary and sentence structure to the child's age: younger readers get 3-5 word sentences with lots of repetition, older ones get richer text.
You can try it free: without signing up you create 1 trial story, and with a free account you get 14 days (the first week, 2 stories a day with every feature; the second, 2 stories that week). No card needed. After that, Premium lets you keep creating stories; the stories you made stay with you. There are no ads on any plan.
No. They can tell their idea out loud or draw it, and listen to the story while the words are highlighted. They learn to read by using it, not before using it.
It works in any modern browser on phone, tablet and computer. Listening to the narrated story works everywhere. The app listening to your child read aloud works best in Chrome or Edge (Android and computer); on iPhone and Safari it depends on the device, and if the microphone isn't available the app switches to “tap and read”: the child taps each word as they read it.
Yes. It is not an open chatbot: the child only creates stories with a guided buddy. No chat with strangers, no comments, no content from other users. We filter both the input and what the AI generates, and the parents' area is protected.
The child's idea, their age and language; their first name only if you enable them as the hero. If the child draws their story, the drawing is sent to the AI (Groq) only to see what it shows; neither we nor Groq store it (zero data retention is on), and on the device it becomes the story's cover. We never send surnames, location, contacts or photos of people. It is all detailed in our privacy policy.
Yes. You can switch the story language while keeping the interface in your own: the child reads in the new language and, tapping a word, hears it and sees the translation. It is one of the most natural ways to start.
There is an easy-read mode, large text, adjustable reading speed and deliberate repetition of key words. The level also adapts to how they are reading, without punishing mistakes.
Yes, and without asking anyone. From the parents' area you can reset progress, delete a whole profile or delete your account with all cloud data. You can also export everything as JSON first.
No, and there never will be. This is an app for children: no ads, no data selling, no advertising profiles.
Practical ideas to help your children learn to read: read the guides.
Email us and we'll reply: hola@talebud.com