Quick start and help
You send your day. Your child gets a comic they can hold.
Open the Toonie appWaiting for mail. Toonie blinks every few seconds.
Five steps. You need Toonie, your phone, and an internet connection for both.
Put Toonie on a table your child can reach. When Toonie is on, its face appears with eyes that blink every few seconds.
Toonie shows your family code when it starts up. The code is six letters and numbers. Write it down and keep it somewhere safe.
Check that the little printer is switched on and has paper.
You are set whenToonie's eyes are blinking and you have your six-character code.
The app opens in your phone's browser like any web page, so there is nothing to install.
The sticker on Toonie opens this guide, not the app. Tap it any time to come back here.
You are set whenThe app asks for your family code.
Type the code from Toonie's face. Your phone remembers it, so you only do this once.
Anyone with the code can send mail to your child and hear your child's voice notes. Share it with family you trust, and with nobody else.
You are set whenYou see the record button.
Press the record button. The first time, your phone asks to use the microphone. Choose Allow, then press the button again.
Hold the button down while you talk, and let go when you are done. You can add a photo too.
Talk the way you would on the phone. Forty rambling seconds is fine. Toonie turns it into a four-panel comic that a six-year-old can follow.
One panel of a comic. Comics print in black and white on a paper strip.
You are set whenA preview of the comic appears in the app. This can take a while.
Toonie lifts its arm while the comic prints, then waves. When the arm is still, your child tears off the comic and gives Toonie's palm one quick high-five. That high-five tells you they read it.
The first time, show your child how. If your child is not with you, do the high-five yourself to check it works.
You are set whenYour phone shows a line like "She high-fived your comic at 4:12 PM".
| You see | It means |
|---|---|
| Arm lifts and stays up | A comic is printing |
| Arm waves | Mail has landed |
| New mail face | A comic is waiting for a high-five |
| Listening face | Toonie is recording a voice note |
| Face changes, cheeks glow | Someone sent a reaction or a "thinking of you" |
| Sleepy face | Toonie is resting |
| Touch | What it does |
|---|---|
| Quick high-five | Marks the latest comic as read |
| Press and hold | Records a voice note until you let go |
No matches. Try a shorter word.
The paper roll is in upside down. This paper prints on one side only. Open the printer, flip the roll over, and close it.
That is normal. Toonie listens to your message, writes the story, and draws four pictures before it prints. Longer messages take longer.
Use the same kind of paper roll that came with Toonie. Open the printer, drop in the new roll, pull a little paper out past the edge, and close the lid. If the next comic is blank, flip the roll.
Toonie has probably lost its internet connection. Check the internet is working at home: can your phone open a web page on your home Wi-Fi? Toonie catches up by itself once the internet is back.
Tap Toonie's face once, then check the volume. The screen has to be tapped one time each time Toonie starts before it can play sound.
Toonie's face is a page on an iPad, so a swipe can hide it.
To bring the face back: swipe up slowly from the bottom edge of the iPad's screen and stop halfway. Everything that is open appears as small pictures. Tap the one that shows Toonie's face. If Toonie is silent afterwards, tap the face once.
To stop it happening again, lock the iPad on the face:
To unlock the iPad later, press the top button three times quickly, type your passcode, and tap End.
Recording starts when the listening face appears, a moment after the palm is pressed. Wait for the listening face, then talk.
Toonie measures the palm each time it starts, and a hand resting there confuses it. Restart Toonie with nothing touching the palm. Keep metal objects away from the palm.
Your phone may be in private browsing, which forgets the code when the tab closes. Open the app in a normal browser tab and enter the code once more. Clearing your browser's history also makes the app ask again.
The app needs your phone's microphone. If you chose Don't Allow the first time, turn it back on.
iPhone: with the app open, tap the small icon at the end of the address bar, tap Website Settings, and set Microphone to Allow.
Android: with the app open, tap the small icon at the left end of the address bar, tap Permissions, and turn on Microphone.
Then close the app and open it again.
Send them two things: the link to the Toonie app and your family code. They open the link on their own phone and type the code. Only share these with family you trust.
Your phone has to forget the old code first.
iPhone: open Settings, tap Safari (on newer iPhones tap Apps, then Safari), tap Advanced, then Website Data. Find the Toonie app in the list, swipe it to the left and tap Delete.
Android: with the app open, tap the small icon at the left end of the address bar, tap Site settings, then delete the saved data.
Then open the app again and type the right code.
Toonie carries messages between people who love each other. It turns your words into a comic, and it does not chat with your child.
Toonie is an early prototype, and the family code is the only lock on your family's mailbox. Treat it like a house key.