It's not, I've tried.

When you buy their blank cards (~£2 each last I checked) they come with a unique URI pre-flashed, that contains a form of unique identifier, what you're buying when you buy their blank cards is a licence (to the online storage, 500MB I think), when you scan it, it activates on your account and you now have a physical card linked to a virtual card/allowance; though you can also link existing digital cards (already scanned on your phone) to a physical card (still has to be one of theirs), in which case you don't benefit from the storage.

I ripped one of my daughter's favourite CDs and uploaded it through the app to link to a blank card I bought from Yoto.

Really? Huh, that's interesting because I find them exceptionally well designed and very sturdy (i.e., kids-ready).

> Because the figures just sit on top of the box, you cant move it around whilst playing it or the figures just fall off and the audio stops.

The figures are magnetic and stay on the box when you move it.

> It was very frustrating watching my kid try to use it in the car on a long journery.

Do you have a different version, perhaps, than me?

We were aware of Tonie before Yoto because our children's friends had them and we decided to go Yoto instead, they're amazingly simple, the app is great with well thought out features, and we've even convinced some of those families with Tonies to switch to Yoto and they've also been very happy.

There's a pretty good market for second hand Yoto cards too in the UK though don't expect much in the way of deals, many of them sell for RRP or higher, though we have found some cards our 5yo really wanted but are only available in the US by buying them second hand.

When my 5yo was about 3 we gave her a CD player and bought lots of CDs, funnily she grew to think that was the height of cutting edge technology and digital (virtual) audio was the old tech. Needless to say, the CDs didn't last in the hands of a 3yo, then followed by a little sibling, they ended up scratched to pieces and wouldn't play any more, the card based approach of Yoto is much more suitable for young children, and the kids are learning lots, they particularly love the audio adventures.

As much as I'd love to hack the thing, I feel the same way another commentor does, that it shouldn't be touched, though I did manage to grab the URL from my OPNSense for the night time radio so I can stream it in my office because it's pretty good.

I am a little cautious that the cards only contain a URL and we don't actually have copies of any of the audio for the cards we've bought (other than what's in the device's cache); we have somewhere in the region of 200+ cards now; which is quite an investment, and it's very much at the mercy of Yoto and their servers remaining active and accessible.

That’s not the point of the article, though.

It never says it’s not a good product. The issue is not that, it’s that it is a disposable product : the day the company behind it closes or decides to unplug the wires, the toniebox instantly becomes a paperweight.

That’s at least an ecological issue, but also a moral issue. I think it’s wrong in 2025 to give objects to our kids that we know have no future.

Disclaimer : someone offered a toniebox to my son so we own one. I agree it’s a good product.

But there was an opportunity to make it working fully offline and they decided not to for money reasons. The figurines could have had some mb of embedded memory, it’s not like they were cheap to buy.

Making your own cards is awesome and the players themselves are very repairable and sound great.