Support

SpeakPad requires an iPhone or iPad running iOS 17 or iPadOS 17 or later. It is a universal app, available on both iPhone and iPad.

Yes. Downloading, speaking and every accessibility feature are free, with no time limit or ads. SpeakPad Pro is an optional purchase for additional caregiver tools, available only behind the parental gate.

Core communication works offline. Buying or restoring Pro, downloading voices and using iCloud require an internet connection.

In Caregiver Mode, tap any empty cell to add a new word: type a label, pick a symbol, and tap Add. To edit an existing word, tap it. Tapping a folder opens it; to edit the folder tile itself, tap Select, choose the folder, then tap Edit. To rearrange, tap Select, choose a word and tap Move, then tap an empty cell to move it there or another word to swap the two. To add a folder that opens a sub-board, tap Add → New Category. If your grid is full, open More → Board Settings to increase the grid size. Searching the symbols available for your profile’s symbol set is free, and so is reusing any symbol already on this profile’s boards. Each profile can assign 30 new built-in symbols free, and Pro lets you assign more. Personal photos and text stay free.

In Caregiver Mode, tap More (⋯) at the top right, then tap Board Settings and adjust the rows and columns. If you make the grid smaller, words that no longer fit are moved to empty cells, or onto a More page when there is no room, rather than deleted. Sub-board grid size is locked to the home board so tile sizes and motor planning stay consistent.

SpeakPad uses Fitzgerald Key color-coding, a system widely used in speech therapy. Green = verbs (actions), orange = nouns (things), blue = adjectives (describing words), pink = social words, purple = questions, yellow = pronouns (people), brown = prepositions (where), and gray = other. This color consistency helps children find words faster through visual pattern recognition.

Long-press any word on the communication board to see grammar variants. For example, long-pressing 'go' shows 'going', 'went', 'goes', and 'gone'. Tap a variant to speak it and add it to the message bar. SpeakPad fills in these variants automatically for common words in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Dutch, and Irish; for any language, you can add your own variants to a word in its Word Forms section.

Your child can tap Find in the message bar to search or browse the words they can reach and add one to their message (on a portrait iPhone, it is under More actions). In Caregiver Mode, tap Find in the bar along the bottom to search across all boards. Tap a result to jump straight to that board and word.

In Caregiver Mode, tap Select in the bar along the bottom, tap the items you want to change, then tap Hide (tap Show to bring them back). Hidden items appear grayed out in the editor but are completely invisible to the child on the communication board. This lets you introduce vocabulary progressively without permanently removing words, a technique called Progressive Disclosure. For an automatic version of this, see vocabulary stages.

First, check that your device is not on silent (mute). On iPad, check Control Center or the side switch if your model has one. On iPhone, flip the ring/silent switch on the left side so no orange is showing. Also make sure the volume is turned up. SpeakPad uses a special audio mode that should play through silent mode, but some devices require the ringer to be on.

In Caregiver Mode, tap Settings, then Communication. In the Voice section, tap the current voice’s name to see every available voice for your selected language, and adjust speed and pitch with the sliders below it. Higher-quality voices are labeled Enhanced or Premium. Tap Preview to hear a sample. Irish uses the two voices built into SpeakPad instead: choose Pádraig or Siobhán. For English and Irish, SpeakPad Voices lists SpeakPad's natural-sounding voices, which you can download with SpeakPad Pro; playing a sample is free.

Yes. In Caregiver Mode, tap Settings, then Communication, then Language. Turn on Show Bilingual Labels and choose a secondary language. You can set whether the primary, secondary, or both languages are spoken aloud. Each profile can have its own language pair.

Yes. When adding or editing a vocabulary item, you can choose a photo from your device's photo library.

SpeakPad includes 26,000+ symbols. New profiles start with SpeakPad’s own symbols, drawn for this app; any word without one yet uses a classic AAC symbol. A profile keeps the symbol set it started with, so an update never changes a picture your child already knows; to switch, open Settings → Boards & Vocabulary → Symbol Set. Profiles using the SpeakPad symbol set can search all 26,000+ symbols. Profiles using the classic set search only the classic symbols; SpeakPad’s own symbols become available when you choose the SpeakPad set. Searching the available symbols is free, and so is reusing any symbol already on this profile’s boards. Each profile can assign 30 new built-in symbols free, and Pro lets you assign more. Personal photos and text stay free.

A Visual Scene Display (VSD) uses a real photo - such as a playground, bedroom, or kitchen - as a communication board. Tappable hotspots are placed on the image, and when your child taps one, SpeakPad speaks the word or phrase. VSDs are great for contextual communication in familiar environments.

In Caregiver Mode, tap Settings, then Boards & Vocabulary, then Vocabulary Set. There are two kinds. Topic boards, such as Mealtime or Emotions, add their boards alongside your child's words: you choose an empty cell for the link, and nothing already on the board moves. Complete sets (Starter, Early Communicator, School Ready and Teen Social) replace every board in the current profile, so buttons move to new places; tap one to preview its home board before you confirm. SpeakPad makes an automatic backup before replacing anything, and you can restore it from the same screen. Your first set and one more change per profile are free, and adding topic boards is always free. Further changes of complete set require Pro; your current boards remain usable.

In Caregiver Mode, tap More (⋯) at the top right, then tap Share Board. This exports the board you're viewing as a .speakpad file you can send via AirDrop, email, Files, or any other method. To move a whole profile between devices, use Export to File under Settings → Data & Backup instead.

In Caregiver Mode, open Settings → Accessibility → Switch Scanning. Enable scanning and choose Row-Column, Linear or Group. Auto-Scan advances on a timer; press to select. In Manual Scan, press the primary switch to advance, then hold it or press the second switch to select. A large on-screen switch lets you try scanning without hardware. Direct hardware input supports compatible keyboard-style and game-controller switches, not every Bluetooth switch. Pair your device in iPhone or iPad Settings and check its input mode against the switch guide. Other hardware may need iOS Switch Control.

In Caregiver Mode, tap More (⋯) at the top right, then tap Print Board. SpeakPad generates a printable PDF of the current board. You can choose the orientation, include linked boards and bilingual labels, and switch on larger text or black-and-white mode, then print or share the PDF.

When adding or editing a vocabulary item in Caregiver Mode, look for the Custom spoken text field. Type exactly how you want the voice to say it. Useful for names, places, or words the voice mispronounces (for example, labeling a tile 'Gran' but typing 'Grahn' so it sounds natural). Leave it blank to speak the label as written.

In Caregiver Mode, tap a word to edit it, then tap Word Forms to open that section. Type a form, such as a tense (went, going) or a plural (dogs), and tap + to add it. SpeakPad fills in built-in forms for common words in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Dutch, and Irish; tap Reset to Defaults to restore them. These variants appear when a child long-presses that word on the communication board.

Yes. SpeakPad imports Open Board files (.obf boards and .obz archives) used by CoughDrop, Cboard, and several other AAC tools. In Caregiver Mode, tap Settings, then Data & Backup, tap Import from File, then choose a file from Files, AirDrop, or email. A .obz archive can contain one or many .obf boards plus images. Symbols, labels, colors, and folder links are preserved where possible.

Yes. For a complete SpeakPad backup, open Settings → Data & Backup and use Export to File to create a native .speakpad file. To share boards with other AAC tools, use Export to Other AAC Apps (.obz) on the same page; this needs SpeakPad Pro. The exported .obz archive contains Open Board .obf files that CoughDrop, Cboard, and other compatible tools can open. Importing boards and sharing .speakpad files are free.

Yes, in SpeakPad 3.0.1 or later. Drawing is free. In Caregiver Mode, open Settings → Communication and turn on Show Draw Button. Tap Draw in the message bar to open the pad; on a portrait iPhone, look under More actions. Draw with a finger or supported Apple Pencil, change colors, erase, undo or clear. Add to Board passes through the caregiver gate, then lets you label and place the drawing as a word. The pad keeps a separate drawing for each profile and is hidden while in-app switch scanning is enabled.

In SpeakPad 3.0.1 or later, open Settings → Usage Analytics in Caregiver Mode and find Goals. With Pro, use Add Goal to set a communication goal, then Start Data Session to measure its use. Review the session to mark prompted uses and see progress over time. Pro also provides printable data sheets and goal progress in PDF reports. Viewing existing goals and raw data exports stay free, as do ordinary target-word counts and dated session notes.

Yes. Each child gets their own profile with separate boards, voice, language, and settings. To switch, tap the gear icon, pass the parental gate, then tap Settings → Switch Profile. Create new profiles on the same screen, and rename the current one in Settings → Name & Photo. Two profiles are free. Creating a third or later profile requires Pro.

In Caregiver Mode, tap Settings, then Data & Backup, then tap Back Up Now to save to iCloud. To save a backup file instead, tap Export to File on the same page to create a .speakpad file you can store or share.

On your old device, open Caregiver Mode and go to Settings → Data & Backup. Either tap Back Up Now (iCloud) or Export to File to save a .speakpad file (via AirDrop, Files, or email). On your new device, install SpeakPad and finish setup, then open the same Data & Backup page: restore the iCloud backup from the list, or tap Import from File to load your .speakpad file.

In Caregiver Mode, tap Settings, then under Caregiver tap Usage Analytics. You'll see word frequency charts, daily communication counts, and session data. Use the date range to narrow the period. To export a report, scroll to the Export Data section and choose Export as CSV, Export as JSON, PDF Report for SLT, or Plain Text Report. Analytics data is stored on the device and never sent to us; it leaves only in an export you make or in your own iCloud backup. The dashboard and raw CSV/JSON exports are free. Formatted activity PDF reports require Pro. Printing a communication board stays free.

With SpeakPad Pro, yes, for devices signed in to the same iCloud account. In Caregiver Mode, tap Settings, then Data & Backup, and turn on Keep Devices in Sync. When a newer backup from another device arrives in iCloud, SpeakPad shows an Update Available prompt; tap Update to apply it. You can also turn on Update Automatically When Safe to apply changes without asking when this device has no unsaved edits. A safety copy is always made first, so any update can be undone from the backup list. Without Pro, you can still move boards yourself: back up to iCloud on one device and restore on the other, or send a .speakpad file.

Yes, with Share With the Team in SpeakPad 3.0.1 or later. In Caregiver Mode, open Settings → Data & Backup and use the share button under Share With the Team. Each person uses their own iCloud account. Starting a share and publishing edits require Pro; accepting an invitation and applying an offered update are free. Changes are published when you leave Caregiver Mode. Recipients choose when to apply them; this is not simultaneous editing. Opening an invitation link asks for the parental gate first. If a colleague's update is waiting, apply it before your own changes are shared. Applying replaces this device's boards and updates or removes the goals, sessions and notes shared earlier; a safety backup lets you undo it. Boards, photos, recordings, goals, sessions and notes are shared, while each device keeps its own settings and raw usage history. iCloud must be available and allowed by your organization.

The Core Zone is the top rows of your home board - high-frequency words like 'want' and 'help' - that stay frozen at the top of every sub-board. These core words are always one tap away, no matter which category board you navigate to. Turn it on and set how many rows it uses in Settings → Boards & Vocabulary.

Tap symbols to build a sentence in the message bar at the top of the screen. Press the blue Speak button to read the full sentence aloud. Tap any word tile to hear just that word. To clear the whole message, tap the × button; if you clear it by mistake, tap Undo to bring it back. Your recent sentences are saved automatically - tap the clock icon to recall and re-speak previous messages, or pin a frequent one as a Saved Message.

Tap the keyboard button (labeled Type) in the message bar to open a full keyboard over any board, so you never lose your place; on a portrait iPhone it is under More actions. As you type, SpeakPad suggests word completions based on common words and your own message history, all processed on-device, never sent anywhere. Tap a suggestion to accept it. This is ideal for users who are developing literacy skills. Caregivers can show or hide the keyboard button in Settings → Communication, or add a dedicated keyboard board with Add → New Category.

Saved Messages are reusable phrases you can pin for quick access. Build a sentence in the message bar and tap Pin, or open History and pin a message from there; on a portrait iPhone, pin from History, under More actions. In Caregiver Mode, open Settings → Saved Messages to add, reorder or remove them.

Modeling Mode lets a caregiver or therapist show language on the child's own board, the technique known as aided language stimulation. Tap the gear icon, pass the parental gate, then tap Model in the bar along the bottom, or choose Modeling Mode from More. Your taps build a separate message, so they stay out of the child's own message, history, and usage data. Taps still speak if Speak on Tap is on; to model silently, turn Speak on Tap off in Settings → Communication. The first time, a short primer explains how to model. Tap Return to My Message to hand the board back, with the child's unfinished message restored.

SpeakPad supports 9 languages: English, Spanish, French, Arabic, Portuguese, Hindi, Simplified Chinese, Dutch, and Irish. Board labels, starter boards, speech, and the app interface are available in every one of them. Apple has no Irish voice, so SpeakPad speaks Irish with two voices of its own, built into the app. You can also enable bilingual mode to show labels in two languages at once.

In Caregiver Mode, tap Settings, then Switch Profile. Swipe left on the profile you want to delete and tap Delete. This removes all boards, settings, and history for that profile. To keep the profile but start it again, open Settings → Reset or Delete and choose Reset This Profile: its boards return to defaults and its custom words, photos and usage data are cleared. SpeakPad makes a safety backup first.

First, create a Visual Scene board: in Caregiver Mode, tap Add → New Category, choose Visual Scene, give it a name, and pick a photo from your library (or use one of the built-in demo scenes). Once the board is created, navigate to it and tap Hotspots in the bar along the bottom. Tap anywhere on the photo to place a hotspot, then give it a label and choose a category color. You can drag hotspots to reposition them and use the resize handle to adjust their size.

Optional SpeakPad Pro purchases support development. In Caregiver Mode, open Settings and tap Unlock SpeakPad Pro. You can also help by leaving an App Store review or sharing SpeakPad with other families.

In Caregiver Mode, tap Settings, then Name & Photo, just below Switch Profile. Tap the avatar to take a photo, choose one from the library, or remove the current picture. The profile photo appears in both Settings and the profile picker.

Vocabulary stages reveal the starter board's words gradually, so a child isn't overwhelmed early on. There are three: First Words (requests, people, and social basics), Growing (adds describing words, questions, and positions), and Everything (all starter words). Raising the stage only reveals more words; buttons never move, so the motor plan a child learns early still holds later. Words you add yourself are always shown. Set the stage in Settings → Boards & Vocabulary; setup also lets you start with some words hidden.

Completely. SpeakPad collects no data at all. See our Privacy Policy for details. Privacy Policy

Enter a wrong PIN five times and the gate switches to a multiplication problem, so a forgotten PIN never locks you out. Solve it to get in, then set a new PIN in Settings → Parental Gate. If you're using a math-problem gate (the default), there's no PIN to forget; just solve the sum shown on screen. You can switch between gate types (easy math, hard math, or 4-digit PIN) in the same place. If your school's device management service set the PIN, ask your IT team.

Use Apple's Guided Access. Open your device's Settings → Accessibility → Guided Access, turn it on, and set a passcode. Return to SpeakPad, then triple-click the side button to start Guided Access. Triple-click again and enter your passcode to exit.