Yoto Player Review – Screen Free Audio for Kids

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I have been conscious for a while now of how much screen time our children are exposed to. Since Covid home schooling in particular, our children have become fully immersed into an online world. Whilst that has some benefits, it can also be damaging to their mental health and wellbeing. We are huge book lovers in this house, reading every single day (and night) before bed. Not only do books help children with their emotions, understanding of their world, writing and vocabulary, but they’re a great form of escapism to live in someone elses shoes for a while.

I’d heard great things about the Yoto box – a screen free audio player for kids and a great alternative to kids cd players or kids music players that we may have been used to in our own childhood. I was excited to learn whether the Yoto box could engage the girls without being constantly stuck to a device. We were kindly offered a Yoto Mini player review for our honest feedback earlier in the year and it has proven to be a HUGE hit with Neve in particular. We’ve since gone on to become somewhat Yoto obsessed, now having two Yoto Players and two Yoto minis in our home. The Yoto has completely overhauled our bedtime and taking a huge amount of stress out of our morning routine.

An Honest Yoto Player Review

We were offered the opportunity to carry out a Yoto player review and understandably, we were really excited. The girls were looking forward to testing out the Yoto functionality, the wide range of Yoto cards and really putting this fun Yoto audio storyteller through its paces.

Read on to learn more about the Yoto box and answers to Yoto Player FAQs. Here’s our verdict in the Real Mum Reviews Yoto Player Review.

PLEASE NOTE – A NEW 3rd Generation Yoto Player was released in June 2023. Whilst this review is about the 2nd generation Yoto, you may wish to read this first, before heading to my Yoto 3rd generation player review. There are some improvements/enhancements to the new model, but much of the content below remains useful for enhancing your Yoto experience.

Our Yoto Player Review: What is the Yoto Box?

The Yoto Box Player is an easy to use, robust and durable cube shaped audio player specifically aimed at children. Unlike other smart devices such as Alexa and Google Home players, the Yoto Player is completely child friendly. There’s no ads, no camera and no microphone – great for peace of mind.

With a large pixel screen and clock, the Yoto Player story box can be used to play a range of content including stories, radio, podcasts and sleep sounds. With simple and intuitive controls, it’s easy enough for your child to operate themselves, promoting independence.

Content is played in the form of Yoto Cards, which are inserted into the Yoto box. With over 700 Yoto cards to choose from (sold at both Yoto’s online store and Amazon) and the ability to Make Your Own (MYO), the Yoto Player is a great for fun, screen free entertainment for kids.

What are the differences between the Yoto Player and Yoto Mini Player?

It’s worth mentioning that at the point of conducting this Yoto Player review, we already owned (and loved) the Yoto Mini player.

The main differences between the Yoto Player and Yoto Mini come down to portability. The Yoto Mini is a smaller (measuring 7 x 7 x 4cm) more portable handheld audio player, ideal for travel, car journeys and use outside of the home. On the flip side, the original Yoto player is larger (measuring 11 x 11 x 10.5cm). It is more suited to use inside the home.

Whilst the Yoto Player does offer a 10 hours battery life that allows it to be carried around, it’s designed more to be a fixed player, placed on the charging dock. The Yoto player is ideal in a bedroom or nursery setting.

Both the Yoto Mini and Yoto Player work using the credit sized card Yoto cards inserted into the top to play content. Likewise, both can be used to play sleep sounds, podcasts and child friendly radio.

What extra features does the Yoto Player have?

The additional features of the Yoto Player that the Yoto Mini doesn’t have include:

• the nightlight (a big bonus for us)
• the larger, more noticeable pixel screen with clock, which almost makes it more ‘robot like’ in appearance.

What age is the Yoto Player for?

The Yoto Player is great for all ages! Officially the Yoto Player is aimed at children aged 3 to 12 year. That said, there are some Yoto cards that are suitable from birth (with parental supervision). Personally, I think the Yoto Player is suitable for all kids (and grown ups!) as the audio options are pretty endless.

We carried out this review with my two children – my youngest who is 6 and my eldest who is 9. Having previously had a Tonies Toniebox I was pleased to see a wider selection of Yoto Cards for older children, with a wide selection of chapter book Yoto Cards that were more appealing to my 9 year old. My youngest can operate the Yoto box without assistance and the controls are very intuitive and easy to use.

Confession time. I sometimes listen to the Yoto by myself! With Yoto MYO cards, I don’t think you can ever be too old for a Yoto!

What’s in the box?

• Yoto Player
• Yoto Make Your Own / Welcome Card
• Instructions
• Yoto charging dock and plug

How easy is the Yoto Player to set up?

The Yoto Player is very straight forward to set up. You can get the Yoto player set up and start using it in minutes.

The Yoto box comes with a quick start guide included, and the instructions are incredibly easy to follow.

How to set up your Yoto Player

You will need to know your WIFI code, so if like me you always forget to jot that down, go and snap a photo of the code from your router before you start.

You first need to download the Yoto app (available free on both the App Store or Google Play for both Apple and android devices)

When your Yoto box is connected to the charging dock, you simply turn it on and press and hold both control buttons until a code appears on screen, This code is then entered on the Yoto App to sync the phone and Yoto device.

In the Yoto App, you then need to ‘set up a Yoto player’ and follow the on screen instructions, including linking the device to your Wifi. This process is even easier if you already have a Yoto device, as you can simply add the new player to your Yoto Household / Family, giving each player a unique name should you wish to control it via the app.

How does the Yoto Player work?

The Yoto Player is really simple and intuitive to use, even for younger children. Even when we were new to Yoto, my daughter (6) was able to very quickly navigate her way around the device. She was able to figure out which buttons to press in no time.

To play content on the Yoto, you simply insert the card in to the top of the cube. The content starts playing automatically. If you remove the card, the content will stop. Reinsert the card and it will continue from where it left off – ideal for longer Yoto cards and stories.

The two buttons on the top of the Yoto control volume and tracks, and you can even change what each button does by setting up shortcuts in the settings on the Yoto App.

What do the two buttons on the Yoto do?

• Turn left button clockwise to increase the volume
• Turn anti clockwise to.lower the volume. Parents can set maximum volumes in the Yoto App if they wish.
• The power button is on the right hand side of the Yoto player (press and hold for three seconds)
• When a card is inserted the right hand button can be used to scroll forward and backwards through the tracks, or pressed to skip to the next track.
• With no card inserted, pressing the right hand button once will trigger the Yoto Daily podcast.

We love the child led element of the Yoto Player, in that your child can quickly and easily pick the story or Yoto Card that they want to listen to and stop, start and pause it as they wish. It also has the added bonus of being fully controllable via the Yoto App, meaning that I can start a story and pause it when I think it’s time for my daughter to go to bed – all from the comfort of my bed!

Does the Yoto Player need WiFi / Internet?

Certain elements of the Yoto Player need a WiFI connection, such as podcasts and radio stations. However, once you have downloaded the Yoto Cards onto your device, they can be listened to anywhere.

The first time you insert a new Yoto Card into a Yoto, the content will be downloaded onto the player, which has 16GB (around 350 hours) worth of storage. You can check if the cards are fully downloaded before you leave via the Yoto App. This means that the Yoto Player can be taken out of the home, for car journeys and to the park should you wish. That said, if you want a more portable option, the Yoto Mini is better suited to travel.

Can you use the Yoto Player as a Bluetooth speaker?

Yes you can. If you wish to stream Spotify or another streaming service from your Yoto Player you simply need to sync the bluetooth connection to your device. To do this, head to your yoto player device on the Yoto App and click on settings. In the advanced settings section, turn on bluetooth pairing. Then press the left hand button on your Yoto player until it pairs. You can then play whatever content you like from your phone straight through the Yoto speakers.

Do you need any additional accessories?

The Yoto Player doesn’t necessarily need any additional accessories, however, there are a few Yoto Accessories that I would recommend. The first is the Yoto Adventure Jacket.

Whilst we personally think the Yoto Player looks better ‘nude’, the silicone Adventure Jacket is the best way to protect your Yoto Player from accidental drops or tumbles. If you’re using the Yoto with a younger child who is likely to want to carry it about, I would definitely add that to your basket too. The Yoto Adventure Jacket retails at £24.99 (currently on offer at £19.99) and comes in a choice of seven colours. We have the Rain Cloud Adventure Jacket which is a dark grey.

Other useful Yoto accessories include Yoto storage such as the Yoto Card Case to store your Yoto Cards. The cards, whilst robust abd hardwearing are slim and small – so otherwise have the potential to get lost of fall down the sides of the sofa.

In addition, we also love the Yoto Headphones which can be inserted into the Yoto player headphone jack when you need a bit of peace and quiet. The Yoto Headphones also have a daisy chain mode, allowing two children to share one device with two headphones.

What Yoto cards are there?

There are over 700 different Yoto Cards to get your hands on for your Yoto Player. Yoto cards include everything from Disney stories, Roald Dahl Classics, Julia Donaldson collections and Tom Fletcher chapter books. Content ranges from stories to music, podcasts to activities. You can even buy educational Yoto Cards and cards that can introduce children to new languages.

According to Yoto, some of the most Popular Yoto cards in 2022 include The Gruffalo (listened to a whopping 5.8 MILLION times) and Disney Classics Frozen (listened to 2.3 million times). Similiarly, the recent Disney release Encanto also has a card which was listened to just shy of 1 million.

Some of our favourite Yoto Cards include Roald Dahl’s Enchanted Forest, the Claude Collection and Zog. You can check out our tried and tested recommendations on the best Yoto Cards below. Not surpirsingly, there are LOADS new Yoto Cards expected in 2023! Watch this space!

What is the battery life like on the Yoto Player?

Most of the time we have kept our Yoto Player on the charging base, which means we haven’t had to worry too much about battery life. That said, the Yoto Player claims to have a battery life of up to 10 hours off charge. How long it lasts will ultimately depend on how much your child is pressing buttons, swapping traps or switching cards in that time.

This is less than the 20 hours on the more portable Yoto Mini. We will only be using the Yoto Player at home, so 10 hours is perfectly adequate for our needs.

Yoto Player Tips and Tricks: Features we love

Yoto Pixel Screen

We LOVE the giant pixel screen on the Yoto Player. Not only does it have a cute robot face when you first done it on, but the screen displays a unique image for each track on the Yoto card. Neve loves this part of the Yoto experience, always looking forward to what image comes next.

If you decide to create Make Your Own content, you can even create your own Yoto Icons to display on the screen. We use the app ‘8-bit painter’ to do this. You can also download other community created Yoto icons at yotoicons.com

Yoto Make Your Own Cards (Yoto MYO Cards)

We are LOVING being able to Make Our Own Yoto cards. There are a number of ways to do this. First, we have made some Yoto cards of me reading Neve’s favourite stories aloud. We then downloaded audio content via our local library at Borrowbox (although for legal reasons you should delete this from your cards when your loan period has expired). You can also add content from purchase MP3s, CD or audio books that you already own. You can read our tried and tested step by step instructions on how to MYO Yoto Cards below.

Yoto nightlight and Ok to wake clock

We LOVE the nightlight feature on the Yoto player, which is subtle enough not to over stimulate your child, but bright enough to provide a gentle glow in their bedroom. The nightlight is set up in the settings on the Yoto App. You xan choose from 7 different colours – a selection of which are pictured below. You can also set Night and Day modes on the Yoto which can be used as an Ok to wake sleep trainer.

I set the Yoto Player to change colour at 7.25am. This way, if Neve wakes up earlier than this, her clock will still be purple and she knows to go back to sleep. if the Yoto is blue, she can get up. Whilst Neve is obviously a little older; we’ve found this works really well. I would have loved this with Neve as a toddler, because sleep training a preschooler is hard!

So time for our Yoto Player review – what do we love and what would we improve?

Yoto Player Review: Pros

• Easy and intuitive to use
• Robust and hardwearing audio player (great for kids)
• Ad free, camera free and microphone free (great for privacy and security with children)
• Large pixel screen which brings each card and track to life
• Built in clock (great for teaching the time)
• Night light and Ok to wake clock (in a choice of colours)
• Ability to control the Yoto from another room using the Yoto App (lifesaver!)
• Huge range of Yoto cards to choose from, which are affordable and suitable for wide range of ages (including older children)
• Wide range of free content including radio stations, podcasts and sleepsounds
• Yoto Daily podcast has overhauled our before school morning routine
• Excellent sound quality
• Great customer service (and a brand who listens to feedback and acts on it!)
• Yoto Club (great value for money for those buying cards more regularly or looking to build up a Yoto Library)

Yoto Player Review: Cons

So how would we improve the Yoto?

• Volume is limited – For most parents will be a good thing, but there are times when I wish it could be just a smidge louder, for example when listening to a story with my daughter whilst getting ready.
• The Yoto Club has some limitations. Recent changes to the set up of the Yoto Club haven’t pleased everyone. There are now limited choices from which you can use your Yoto credits. Would be great to see exclusive content for Yoto Club members or the ability to have early access to new release Yoto Cards. Without this, I think people will only have the Yoto Club membership for a limited period of time. Great for beginners looking to build up their Yoto library, less great for those who already have a wide selection of Yoto Cards.
• No rewind controller – The Yoto Player doesn’t currently have the ability to rewind using the buttons (only switch between tracks). If your child has a tendency to natter, they can’t manually rewind it on the Yoto Player itself. That said, you can rewind on the Yoto App. You simply manually move the progress bar back by a few seconds – an easy workaround if you have your phone to hand.
• Lack of movement – Some children may miss the interactive element of a screen or book. My youngest did expect the pixels on screen to move initially. For this reason, its great to combine books and the cards (but obviously that comes with an additional expense).
• Cost – The cost of Yoto cards is inevitably more costly than purchasing a standard audio book, ebook or physical book. That said, not in all cases – for example – The Matilda Yoto Card costs £9.99 and its currently £10.99 on Audible. Either way, the Yoto cards are generally cheaper to buy than Tonies chraracters. I feel they are well worth the RRP.

Which is better, the Yoto Player or the Yoto Mini Player?

Honestly, we’ve enjoyed and used both. We tend to keep the original Yoto Player on charge in my daughters bedroom all of the time, so it acts as more of a fixed bedtime audio player that we listen to before bed.

The Yoto Mini Player has become a more portable option for us. We listen to the Yoto Daily podcast on the player downstairs whilst eating breakfast, We would also opt to use the Yoto Mini if we were travelling or visiting friends and family. For that reason, I absolutely think that you can justify purchasing both if budget allows.

Yoto vs Tonie which is better?

The Yoto vs Tonie Debate is a fairly big one. Many parents ask which is better – the Yoto Player or the Tonies Toniebox?

There are lots of similarities between the Toniebox and the Yoto Player. In my opinion, the Yoto Player offers something extra, particularly given the wide range of free content such as podcasts, music, sleep sounds and Make Your Own (MYO content) .

Yoto also has a wider selection of cards available and is slightly more affordable than the Tonies characters.

You can check out our full Yoto vs Tonie comparison in our full comparison post below.

Is the Yoto Player worth the money?

Absolutely! The Yoto has been used every single day since we had it. We use it at breakfast getting ready for school and is now a crucial part of our bedtime routine. In summary, for less than £100, I think the Yoto Player is worth every penny.

We are really looking forward to the new Yoto cards expected in 2023!

Can you trust us?

Here at Real Mum Reviews, we’ve been sharing our honest reviews of products aimed at parents since 2013. We pride ourselves on providing detailed, thorough and impartial reviews. We aim to answer the questions that parents really want to know when making those all-important purchase decisions. Whether the item has been gifted to us or paid for directly by ourselves, we promise to provide honest, impartial and genuine. We provide verdicts of our experience including our views on the pros and cons of each product we test. What follows is our honest Yoto Player Review with tried and tested hints, tips and hacks from our experiences a real Mum with two daughters.

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