A step-by-step guide for parents, caregivers, and speech-language pathologists. No experience needed.
FreeVoice works instantly in any browser — no download, no account, no payment. Here's how to open it for the first time.
On an iPad, use Safari. On Android, use Chrome. On a computer, any modern browser works.
Type freevoiceaac.app in the address bar and tap Go. The app loads immediately — no waiting, no signup.
The first time you open FreeVoice it needs an internet connection to load. After that it works completely offline.
1,090+ symbols are ready immediately. Tap any symbol to hear it spoken. Tap multiple symbols to build a sentence, then tap SPEAK to say the whole thing.
Adding FreeVoice to your home screen makes it behave exactly like a native app — full screen, works offline, opens instantly from an icon.
Once installed to the home screen, FreeVoice opens full-screen with no browser address bar, works with no internet connection, and looks and feels like a dedicated device.
FreeVoice must be opened in Safari to install on an iPad. If you're using Chrome or another browser, copy the URL and paste it into Safari.
At the bottom of Safari, tap the Share button — it looks like a box with an arrow pointing up ⎙. It's in the toolbar at the top or bottom of the browser.
Scroll down in the Share menu and tap "Add to Home Screen". Confirm the name "FreeVoice" and tap Add.
The FreeVoice icon now appears on your iPad home screen. Tap it to open the app in full-screen mode. It works just like a real app — even offline.
On Android with Chrome, tap the three-dot menu → Add to Home Screen. Same result — full-screen app icon on your home screen.
Understanding how FreeVoice is laid out helps you guide your child. Here's every part of the screen explained.
As your child taps symbols, they appear here as chips. When they've built a message, tap SPEAK to read the whole sentence aloud. UNDO removes the last word. CLEAR (hold for half a second) resets everything.
Single-tap phrases like "I need help", "Wait please", and "I'm done" that speak immediately without building a sentence. Great for urgent or frequent messages. Scrolls left and right.
The most important words in any language — I, want, go, more, stop, help, yes, no — are always visible here, color-coded by word type. Yellow = pronouns. Green = verbs. Blue = descriptors. This is based on the Fitzgerald Key system used by SLPs worldwide.
The large grid of symbol cards. Tap any symbol to hear it and add it to the speech bar. Cards with a small ▶ in the corner are categories — tapping them takes you deeper. Use the breadcrumb bar below the core words to navigate back.
Jump directly to any main category. FreeVoice has 10 main tabs including Home, Feelings, Food, Play, Social, School, Body, Places, Routines, and My Words. The active tab is highlighted in amber. My Words is where custom symbols you create live. Swipe the tab bar to see all categories.
Tap any feature to learn more about it.
Natural, human-sounding speech — no robot voice
FreeVoice includes an AI voice model called Kokoro that runs entirely on your device. It sounds like a real human — warm, clear, and natural. This is the same quality you'd pay hundreds of dollars a year for elsewhere.
First use: A prompt will appear asking if you want to download the AI voices (~80MB, one time only). Tap "Download Free Voices." After it downloads it works offline forever.
If you skip it: FreeVoice uses your device's built-in voice instead, which works fine and is also completely free.
On iPad (iOS 17+): If you've set up Apple Personal Voice in your device settings (Accessibility → Personal Voice), FreeVoice will detect it automatically and offer it as a voice option. This lets the app speak in a voice recorded from a family member.
No internet needed after first load
After the first load, FreeVoice works with zero internet connection. On airplanes. In hospitals. In areas with no signal. Anywhere.
All symbols, boards, custom words, and voice settings are stored on the device. Nothing is sent to any server.
Note: If you use the AI voice (Kokoro), it needs to download once (~80MB) before it works offline. After that download, even the AI voice works offline.
Assign a parent's or sibling's real voice to any symbol
Any symbol can be assigned a real recorded voice — mom's voice saying "I love you", a sibling saying a nickname, a teacher saying a common phrase. This is one of the most meaningful features in AAC.
How to record: Enter Parent Mode → long-press any symbol → tap Edit → tap the microphone icon → record → save. The recording plays instead of the AI voice for that specific symbol.
Recordings are stored privately on your device and are never sent anywhere.
PIN-locked editing so children can't change their boards
Parent Mode locks editing behind a PIN so your child can use the app freely without accidentally changing anything.
To enter Parent Mode: Triple-tap the top-right corner of the screen quickly. Enter your PIN (default: 1234).
First time: You'll be prompted to set a new PIN. Choose something you'll remember and write it down somewhere safe — if forgotten, recovery requires clearing app data which erases custom boards. See the FAQ for reset instructions. The default PIN before setting one is 1234.
In Parent Mode you can add symbols, edit boards, record voices, adjust settings, and manage vocabulary filters.
Show or hide symbols for therapy sessions
Speech-language pathologists use this feature to focus on specific vocabulary during sessions. You can hide symbols without deleting them, then show them again when ready.
How it works: In Parent Mode, tap any symbol to toggle it hidden or visible. Hidden symbols are greyed out in edit mode and completely invisible in use mode.
You can save named Vocab Lists — for example "Therapy Week 4" or "School Words" — and switch between them. Great for targeting specific communication goals.
For users with visual impairments or sensory sensitivities
High contrast mode uses dark backgrounds with high-contrast symbols and larger text — designed for users with low vision or those who respond better to reduced visual complexity.
To enable: Settings → Card Style → High Contrast.
Choose a character that looks like your child
FreeVoice includes 14 diverse characters — different skin tones, genders, and backgrounds — that appear on the Feelings board. When your child taps "Happy" or "Scared," they see a character that looks like them expressing that emotion.
To choose a character: Settings → Character → browse by skin tone and gender → tap to select. The character appears on all 24 emotion symbols instantly.
Characters include: Alex, Jordan, Sofia, Miguel, Amara, Wei, Aiko, Isabella, Kai, Leila, Tariq, Sasha, Elijah, and Lucas — representing a wide range of ethnicities and backgrounds.
This was a deliberate design decision: representation matters in AAC. A child should be able to see themselves in their own communication tool.
Hear the symbol label before it activates
When Auditory Touch is on, touching a symbol speaks its label aloud. A second tap activates it. This helps users with motor uncertainty who tap cautiously — they can hear what they're about to select before committing.
To enable: Settings → Accessibility → Auditory Touch.
Every child is different. Personalize FreeVoice with photos, custom words, favorite foods, and family names.
Triple-tap the top-right corner quickly and enter your PIN. You'll see an amber border appear around the app — that means you're in editing mode.
The most meaningful way to personalize. Add a photo of grandma, the family dog, a favorite snack, or your child's school bus. Real photos make communication more meaningful and faster to recognize. Photos are shown first when you add a symbol — just take a picture from your Camera Roll.
How to: Tap Add Symbol → choose a photo from Camera Roll → crop if needed → enter the label and phrase → Save.
Add photos of people your child communicates with most — parents, siblings, teachers, grandparents. Hearing "Grandma" is far more motivating than a generic "person" symbol. Start with photos of the 3-5 most important people in your child's daily life.
Navigate to any board (Food, Feelings, School, etc.) while in Parent Mode. You'll see an Add Symbol ＋ card at the end of the grid. Tap it to add a new symbol directly to that board.
For example: tap the Food tab, scroll to the end, tap Add Symbol, choose a photo or emoji, type "Pizza" — and pizza appears in the Food board.
In Parent Mode, long-press any custom symbol for half a second. A menu appears with Edit, Move to Board, and Delete options.
Tap "Move to Board" → select the destination board → the symbol moves there immediately.
This is the most natural way to customize. See a category card like "Soda" or "Snacks"? Long-press it (hold for half a second) and tap "➕ Add symbol inside".
For example: long-press the Soda card → Add symbol inside → type "Coke" → save. Now Coke appears inside the Soda sub-board when your child taps Soda.
This works for any category card in the entire app — Food, Drinks, Play, School, anything with a ▶ arrow.
This is how you personalize FreeVoice for your child's specific world — add their favorite foods, their school's name, their pet's name, their friends. The more personal, the more your child will want to communicate.
Need a board that doesn't exist yet? Like "Grandma's House" or "Swimming Lessons" or "Doctor Visit"?
How to: Enter Parent Mode → Settings → Board Management → type a board name and emoji → tap Create. Your new board appears in the navigation and you can start adding symbols to it.
Custom boards are perfect for specific routines, locations, or activities that your child experiences regularly.
One tap applies your chosen skin tone to every human symbol in the app. Settings → Skin Tone → choose from 6 options. It updates every symbol immediately.
Representation matters — this was a deliberate first-class feature, not an afterthought.
FreeVoice has three voice options, from instant device voices to natural AI voices — all completely free.
FreeVoice uses your device's built-in text-to-speech voice by default. On iPad this is quite good — especially the Siri voices. No setup needed, works instantly.
To improve device voice quality on iPad: iOS Settings → Accessibility → Spoken Content → Voices → English → download Siri Voice 1 or 2 for the best quality.
When you first open FreeVoice, a prompt appears asking to download AI voices. Tap "Download Free Voices" and wait for the ~80MB download. This is a one-time download that works offline forever after.
Nine voice options are available: Heart (warmest, recommended for children), Bella, Sky, Sarah, Nicole, Adam, Michael, Emma, George.
To switch voices: Settings → Voice. You'll see three sections — AI Voices (Kokoro), Apple Personal Voice (if available), and Device Voices. Tap any voice to select it. The selected voice shows a green highlight. Your choice is saved automatically.
Note: The very first time you tap a new word, you may briefly hear your device's built-in voice while the AI voice generates. After that first tap, the AI voice is cached and plays instantly on every future tap of that word.
"Heart" is the default AI voice — warm, gentle, and natural. It's specifically the best choice for a child's primary AAC voice.
Apple lets you record 150 phrases and create a voice that sounds like you — completely on-device, completely private. If you've set this up, FreeVoice detects it automatically and shows it in the voice selector.
To set up Personal Voice: iOS Settings → Accessibility → Personal Voice → Create a Personal Voice. Takes about 15 minutes to record phrases. Processing takes a few hours.
This is incredibly meaningful — a family member's voice can speak for the child.
If FreeVoice mispronounces a word — a child's name, a nickname, a specific food — you can override it. Settings → Pronunciation → add the word and type how it should sound phonetically. For example: "Abuela" → "ah-BWAY-lah". The corrected pronunciation applies everywhere that word appears.
Your child's custom boards are precious. Here's how to back them up and share them with therapists, teachers, and other devices.
Back up regularly. FreeVoice stores everything locally on your device. If you clear your browser data or get a new device without restoring a backup, custom boards and symbols will be lost. We recommend backing up monthly.
Settings → Backup & Restore → Export Backup. A JSON file downloads to your device containing all your boards, symbols, and settings — including any photos you've added.
Save it to iCloud Drive or Google Drive so you can restore it on any device.
Settings → Backup & Restore → Import Backup. Select your backup JSON file. FreeVoice will automatically create a backup of your current data first, then restore the imported boards.
In Parent Mode, tap "Share Board" on any board. A QR code appears that anyone can scan to import that board into their own FreeVoice.
Perfect for SLPs sharing a Doctor Visit board with multiple families, or teachers sharing a School board with parents. The board opens instantly when the link is tapped.
SLPs and families can share boards with each other using the Share Board QR code feature. Ask your child's SLP for their school or therapy boards, or share yours via the QR code link.
FreeVoice is designed to support evidence-based AAC practice. Here's everything relevant to clinical use.
FreeVoice implements the core vocabulary and Fitzgerald Key conventions that SLPs rely on, alongside practical tools for session management.
FreeVoice is free, runs on any device the school already has (iPad, Chromebook, Windows laptop), and requires no IT approval or app store purchase. Share the URL freevoiceaac.app and it works immediately on any device in the building.
SLPs can contribute community boards, suggest new symbols, request features, and report bugs via GitHub. Your clinical expertise makes FreeVoice better for everyone. See github.com/Chuea81/freevoice-aac/CONTRIBUTING.md.
Open FreeVoice on any device. No download, no account, no waiting.