Guide
An AAC app for nonspeaking people who spell
Most AAC apps are built around grids of picture symbols. That is the right starting point for many people — and the wrong one for anyone who already has letters. If the person you're looking for an app for can spell, or is learning to, a symbol grid quietly caps what they're allowed to say. A typing-based AAC app doesn't.
Symbol-based vs typing-based AAC
A symbol grid works by selection: the vocabulary someone else chose, arranged in folders. It's fast for common requests and limited to what's been programmed. Typing-based AAC — sometimes called text-based AAC — works by spelling: any word in the language, including names, jokes, arguments, and things nobody anticipated. The trade is that it asks more of literacy and of motor accuracy. TBoard is built to reduce the second cost so the first isn't wasted.
When a typing AAC app is the right fit
It fits when the person knows their letters (or is actively learning them); when a symbol app has felt like a ceiling; when they already point to a printed alphabet or letterboard; or when the barrier isn't knowing the word but reliably hitting the right key. It is not the right fit for someone who doesn't yet have letters — a symbol-based app is genuinely better there, and we would rather say so than sell you the wrong thing.
What the app does
It speaks what's typed. Letters build in a text bar, the person can see and edit before committing, and the app speaks it aloud in a chosen voice — system voices free, premium offline voices with a subscription.
The touch is forgiving. Large, well-spaced keys, a tap guard that ignores accidental repeat taps, adjustable tap timing, and one-tap correction — built for hands that standard touchscreens have failed, including severe speech apraxia and other motor differences.
The board is whatever they need. A full 26-letter board, stencil layouts, QWERTY, numbers — or a board you build yourself, from two giant keys up to a full keyboard, with your own photos and labels.
Literacy keeps growing. Three fresh read-along lessons daily across three levels, with spelling targets and questions, plus practice rounds and a session-by-session record of accuracy and letter patterns. Communication and practice live in one app instead of two.
Honest limits
TBoard is touch-based: there is no switch access and no eye-gaze control. If the person needs either, this is not the app — look at a full AAC system that supports alternative access. The complete AAC experience is designed for landscape tablets; phones get a messaging-only mode. TBoard is independent and method-neutral, is not therapy, and makes no treatment claims.
Common questions
What's the best AAC app for a nonverbal child who can spell? If they have letters, a typing-based app generally beats a symbol grid, because spelling removes the vocabulary ceiling. That's the category TBoard is in.
Is there a free AAC app? TBoard's communication core — board, text-to-speech, custom boards — is free and stays free. Lessons, practice, stats, and premium voices are the paid part, with a 14-day trial.
Does it support switch access or eye gaze? No. Touch only. If alternative access is needed, use a full AAC system that supports it.
Does it work on Android? Yes — iPad and Android tablets. Phones get a messaging-only mode.
Is it therapy? No. TBoard is a communication tool. It is independent, method-neutral, and makes no treatment claims.
Try it
The communication core — board, text-to-speech, and custom boards — is free and stays free, with a 14-day full trial of everything else. Related reading: the letterboard app guide, spelling to communicate on an iPad, and apraxia-friendly AAC.
TBoard on the App Store (iPad)
TBoard on Google Play (Android tablets)
See it moving: the TBoard tour · Questions: support@mutedlabs.com