Yoto Launches Developer Program, Inspiring New Audio-Driven Experiences

UK, August 8, 2025 – Yoto, the award-winning audio platform for children, has officially launched a public API, opening the door for programmers to build playful, connected and imaginative experiences for families worldwide.

Designed to help kids lead their listening, learning and play, the Yoto Player and Yoto Mini are screen-free devices that play content using physical audio cards. Each Yoto card is linked to audio content for kids aged 0-12+ ranging from music, stories and mindfulness to educational topics, podcasts and more.

With Yoto’s open API, developers can now officially create new experiences for kids by building integrations and features. Think: kids in control of their own bedtime routines, turning off the lights and drawing the curtains with an insert of a Yoto card thanks to a Smart Home integration, or budding astronauts tracking the ISS with real-time NASA data. Even before this release, one Yoto community member developed an integration between a popular home automation platform and the Yoto API, showcasing the potential for innovation beyond Yoto’s own playground.

From interactive audio adventures to smart home functions, the public API unlocks endless possibilities for innovation while driving Yoto’s mission forward: opening new paths for kids to listen, learn, play and have fun at their own pace, all while staying safe, screen-free and in control of their own adventures. Crucially, all new integrations shared on the official community site, Yoto Space, will be subject to Yoto’s existing stringent vetting protocols and safeguards.

The in-house Yoto Labs Developer team has already created a few experimental apps to showcase the potential of the public API. These are all live and available for families to try out on the Yoto app and on yoto.space/developers:

• Weather Whiz: Delivers real-time local local weather reports, making getting dressed in the morning a breeze.

• WhatsApp Voice Message: Lets parents send voice notes directly from WhatsApp to a Yoto Card from anywhere they are, allowing kids to listen in real time and respond with an emoji picked from the right hand button of their player.

• Where’s that Satellite?: Uses NASA data to let children track satellites in real-time, with voiceovers that explain their positions and share fun facts.

“When we began designing the first Yoto Player back in 2015, we imagined it as a way to bring families together – a medium for sharing the magic of world-class children's audio. Today, having surpassed over 500 million hours of listening around the world, we’re proud to see how the platform is inspiring creatives from all walks of life to help Yoto families turn even more everyday moments into magical ones,” said Filip Denker, Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer at Yoto. “With the open API, we’re inviting developers to imagine even more possibilities. We can’t wait to see what they create.”

To celebrate the leap from players to platform, the company is hosting its first ever Yoto Developer Challenge, a competition inviting coders across the UK, Ireland, USA, Canada and Australia to experiment with the platform. Submissions will be judged based on real family usage data, with a combined cash prize of $10,000, awarded to the top three most- used apps, along with a standout favorite selected by an internal Yoto panel.

Entries are open until 23:59 PM BST on September 15, 2025. Learn more about Yoto's open API, the apps available to families now and the Yoto Developer Challenge 2025 at yoto.space/developers.

About Yoto

Yoto is an interactive audio platform for kids. Yoto offers a catalog of stories, songs, activities and more to inspire creative play and learning without a screen. The carefully connected audio players – the Yoto Player and the Yoto Mini - put kids safely in control. No cameras. No microphones. No ads.

Inspired by Montessori principles, Ben Drury and Filip Denker founded Yoto in 2017. The very first Yoto Player launched on Kickstarter, then promptly sold out in 2019. The second generation Yoto Player was designed with renowned design agency, Pentagram, and launched in early 2020. Yoto Mini - the portable audio player - launched in late 2021.

Now available worldwide, Yoto has won awards and accolades from critics, parents and children alike. Yoto Mini was named as a winner in Good Housekeeping’s 2022 Parenting Awards, TIME Magazine named Yoto Player one of the Best Inventions of 2020, and Yoto Mini won a prestigious D&AD Pencil in 2024.

Yoto’s platform features both award-winning original content and audio that has been licensed or co-created with partners. These partners include Penguin Random House, Macmillan, Sony, Disney, Sesame Workshop, HarperCollins, Hachette, Paramount, Bonnier and Scholastic.