I decided to go for Yoto over Tonie because it explicitly encourages "Make Your Own" cards which you can put any MP3 files of your own or RSS links to podcast.
You can do custom MP3s with the "Custom Tonies"
Hacking a Toniebox
21–30 of 41 posts
Re: Hacking a Toniebox
#22I'm surprised no one has mentioned the Tonuino project yet. For those looking for a DIY alternative to the Toniebox: it's an open-source project based on an Arduino, MP3s, and an RFID reader, allowing you to build your own custom music and audiobook player for kids.
My children absolutely adore their Tonuino box, and the community around the project is fantastic, constantly sharing creative and impressive builds. If you're a bit handy and enjoy a good DIY project, I highly recommend checking it out. https://www.voss.earth/tonuino/
Re: Hacking a Toniebox
#23We used to have a TonieBox but I found them incredibly restrictive. Also I thought that the physical design was poor. 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. It was very frustrating watching my kid try to use it in the car on a long journery. Scrapped that and invested in Yoto player, its pretty much the same thing but…
Yoto seems marketed towards older children. I don't think my one year old is able to put the cards in the Yoto by himself, but he can easily stand a figure on top of the TonieBox.
Re: Hacking a Toniebox
#24We used to have a TonieBox but I found them incredibly restrictive. Also I thought that the physical design was poor. 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. It was very frustrating watching my kid try to use it in the car on a long journery. Scrapped that and invested in Yoto player, its pretty much the same thing but…
> Also I thought that the physical design was poor.
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?
Re: Hacking a Toniebox
#25> The Toniebox needing an active internet connection also means that the company behind the Toniebox – Tonies SE – can theoretically track anything and everything my kids are doing with the box.
The toniebox can be put into an offline mode, plus I'm blocking the Mac address on my router. The box works fine, you can download new content (for which, of course, you must temporarily remove the above restrictions) and all my kids are doing with the box is put a tonie on top.
I'm all for privacy, especially wrt. to my kids, but I find this box less intrusive than their grandmother with her WhatsApp account.
Re: Hacking a Toniebox
#26What imo doesn’t get mentioned enough about the music on the (German, can’t speak for English) Tonies is the recordings themselves: They are recorded with real musicians and natural postproduction, not like most kids songs found on YouTube nowadays which are heavily compressed and edited. My kids love using the Toniebox and I am happy they do. For me the quality of content outweighs the negative aspects.
Re: Hacking a Toniebox
#27Like many others in threads like this, I initially felt repelled. It’s restrictive, it’s super expensive, and I dislike some (though not all) of the design choices. But then I remind myself: it’s not a product made for me. I don’t have to like it. Clearly, the target group loves it. My kids have adored it for years. Even now, with my oldest having access to Spotify Kids, she still prefers her Toniebox in the evening…
> But then I remind myself: it’s not a product made for me. I don’t have to like it.
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.
Re: Hacking a Toniebox
#28Just in case anyone is here for this. IMO Yoto >> toniebox
Jake (Yoto daily podcast guy) is a legend in our house.
Re: Hacking a Toniebox
#29We used to have a TonieBox but I found them incredibly restrictive. Also I thought that the physical design was poor. 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. It was very frustrating watching my kid try to use it in the car on a long journery. Scrapped that and invested in Yoto player, its pretty much the same thing but…
If you’re interested there’s a home assistant plugin for Yoto.
Re: Hacking a Toniebox
#30Earlier quoted context omitted.
Our daughter absolutely loves her Yoto Mini. We have a hundred or so cards, half of them were blank cards that we print and tape pictures on based on the content. This is probably the best purchase we made for long car rides and flights or just a lazy afternoon on the couch.
My kids love to go to new libraries and find old audiobooks to add to their yoto. I'm also in the process of trying to get my extended family to record something about their life for sort of an oral family history yoto card.
Similarly we use the borrow box library website to download the mp3s to the cards.