Why I'm making Amalino
On a business trip last year, I saw a boy on the plane who couldn't stand or speak the way other children did, and I kept thinking about him afterwards. I build software and hardware for a living, and I started looking at the apps that help children like him communicate. The good ones are expensive, many work only on iPads, and few speak the languages families actually use at home. So I'm making Amalino: free and offline. If your child uses it, I'd love to hear from you.
Some children have a lot to say and no easy way to say it. Some don't speak yet, some speak only a few words, and some may never speak much at all. An app that speaks for them when they tap pictures can change their day: they can ask for a drink, say no, make a joke, or tell you what hurts.
How I build it
- Research first. The core words come from studies of what young children really say. About 200 of them cover most of everyday talk, and they keep their place on the screen so a child's hand learns the way.
- Tested by hand. I try every change on an iPad, an Android tablet and an older Android phone, to make sure it stays quick. Nothing counts as done until it works on a real device.
- Checked by native speakers. Danish, Russian, Ukrainian, Arabic and Spanish are drafted with the help of AI translation, checked by native speakers. Until a native speaker has checked a language, its text is marked as a draft.
- Private from the start. No account, no ads, no analytics. The app works offline, and anything that needs the internet asks first.
- Grown-ups learn too. Children learn to talk with pictures by seeing adults use them. So Amalino shows parents where each word is and gives short, friendly tips, without making anyone feel they're doing it wrong.
Always free for children and families
Amalino is free for children and families, and it will stay that way. There are no ads in it, now or later.
Thank you
The pictures in Amalino are ARASAAC pictograms. They are the property of the Government of Aragón, were created by Sergio Palao for ARASAAC (arasaac.org), and are shared under a Creative Commons licence (BY-NC-SA). A few pictures come from Mulberry Symbols and OpenMoji. Thank you to everyone who shares their work like this, and to every parent and native speaker who tells me what to fix.
The website, the user manual and the app's translations are on GitHub, where anyone can suggest a fix.
Write to me
Questions, ideas, or something that doesn't work? Write to me at hello@amalino.app. I'd love to hear from you.