Yomi is a little cat who gets fed when kids read stories aloud. Speech recognition listens along, kids can tap any tricky word to hear it, and a simple wizard lets them make up their own stories to read back. Real stories come at three levels, so kids pick what feels right today. What's not in it: streaks, ads, accounts, or data collection. No one loses a 14-day streak at bedtime. Yomi won't teach your kid to read, it gives them a reason to practice. Ages 5–9, English & Finnish, iOS.
What's great
good visual design (1)engaging concept (1)
It is fantastic for beautiful art and for the idea!
What needs improvement
Usability and stability - the first attempt to read to Yomi failed
vs Alternatives
Design of the Yomi character, particular age group of readers.
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15 viewsWhat's great
I love the idea itself, because it goes against the existing gamification trend by flipping it on its head. Instead of constant pressure to perform and earn xp or badges a kid instead gets a fluffy digital cat friend that they read to in order to give it a dopamine boost.
The actual implementation was in tune with this ethos. Yomi’s aesthetic is chilled out and playful. The flow is thoughtful when it comes to ensuring an adult is supervising a child’s interactions and content within the app. Loved the “adult captcha” idea.
What needs improvement
better ui/ux (1)
Kids books are recognizable as easy to digest because they have illustrations and large sentences or small paragraphs to accompany them (example attached). This is the experience that I was hoping to get from Yomi, but it falls short here.
I think that it should be easy enough to clean up though by making the upper half of the page an illustration that accompanies the story, the bottom half the text, and transform the cat into a “Clippy” type character at the bottom right of the page, that reacts to what’s actually going on in the story.
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7 views
Lexie
Hi Product Hunt. I'm Elina, and this is my second launch. 🐱
Yomi is a little cat who loves being read to. Kids read stories out loud, Yomi listens (speech recognition), and every word feeds the cat a little. Tomorrow Yomi is hungry again.
I'm a designer, and I've spent years building educational tools with teachers. In a workshop with first- and second-grade teachers, one question kept coming back: why do some kids freeze when asked to read aloud, even when they can read just fine on their own? A few months later my own kid was doing exactly that, reading silently, refusing to read aloud to anyone. I didn't want to force it. I wanted to build her somewhere safe to practise.
The apps I tried first made it worse, not better: streaks that made bedtime stressful, fire emojis that made her feel bad for taking a day off.
So Yomi deliberately has:
– no streaks (nobody should lose a 14-day streak at bedtime)
– no ads
– no accounts, no data collection
– no leaderboards, no coins, no levels for the kid, only the cat, who is happy today because you read to it
To be honest about what it is: Yomi won't teach your kid to read. Teachers and parents do that. Yomi just gives kids a reason to want the practice, real stories at three levels, tap a word to hear it, and a little wizard for making up your own stories to read back.
It's on iOS in English and Finnish. I'd love to hear from parents here: what made reading practice work (or not work) at your house?
Dapp.com
@elina_patjas i love those cute little art! congrats on the launch!
Lexie
@jun_gong ty!collab with my 7yo old so a strict judge in da house
Product Hunt
@elina_patjas This is going to end up being the first kids focused app I've seen launch here that I actually download and use with my son. I really love the lack of gamification in this. Like you said, my kid does not need the stress of trying to keep a streak alive when it's bedtime haha.
To your question of what's worked: my son really likes when I ask follow up questions after we read. And from my side, I've found that it really helps to actually get him engaged with what we're reading when he knows we're going to talk about it afterwards. So there being comprehension checks in this is going to be a big hit.
I really appreciate seeing something like this that's actually useful for kids and doesn't have a bunch of bs packed into it. Excited to try it out!
Lexie
@jakecrump this made my day, ty 💚
yeah, every story ends with a gentle comprehension check once the kid finishes reading, and it's yomi who asks them because the kid just read him the story.
let me know how it goes when you two try it, I'd rather hear it didn't work than not hear.
Great idea for an app! Any technology that helps kids with reading and getting practice pronouncing words is super helpful. Some ideas for future iterations could be adding pictures to the books somehow, or possibly having Yomi meow/say some phrases to come alive even more. Keep up the great work!
Lexie
@ergoblin thanks! good feedback, i've been already testing some waters with yomi having a voice. and yes to images too!
Lexie
@coderberry3 i hope she finds it helpful, just let her explore it in peace, my kid at least wants to read in her own privacy, so only yomi can listen.
My kid isn't ready for this yet but I love the heart behind it!
Lexie
@tiffany_kavuma ty! let’s hope yomi is still around when they are. i’m working on something for the younger end too, sounds and letters rather than stories so maybe their turn comes sooner than that.
oh i love this idea and style so much! please add German as supported Language <3
Hello Inbox
Hi Elina, I'm not a parent, yet, but I love this. The design and graphics are amazing. Good luck with the launch.
Lexie
@ismaelyws thanks <3 if you know any parents, feel free to share yomi, that's how small things grow.