Frequently Asked Questions

BoardSpeak works in any modern web browser — Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Edge — on phones, tablets, and computers.

BoardSpeak requires no account, no login, and no personal information. Open it in your browser and start right away.

BoardSpeak is completely free, now and forever. No subscriptions, no paywalls, no "pro" version. Every feature is available to every user. Free, as in free.

iPhone/iPad: Open BoardSpeak in Safari, tap Share, tap "Add to Home Screen", then tap Add.

Android: Open BoardSpeak in Chrome, tap the menu (⋮), tap "Add to Home screen", then tap Add.

Full screen, no browser bars.

BoardSpeak collects zero data. Nothing you type is stored on any server, tracked, or shared. All your messages stay on your device, in your browser only.

BoardSpeak has no analytics, no tracking, no logging. We have no way to see your messages, your activity, or when you use the app.

If you clear your browser cache, your saved messages and learned words will be deleted. Your messages are stored only in your browser's local storage, not on any server. Use the Save button to download them as a text file.

Press and hold any chip for about half a second. An edit panel opens where you can rename, remove, reorder, or add new phrases (up to 40 characters each). Tap Done when finished.

Open Settings (gear icon, top-right), go to the Prediction section, and tap "Reset learned words". This clears the vocabulary your device has learned and returns to the default word list. Your saved messages are not affected.

Tap the star button (☆) above the message to save it to your Saved list. You can tap any saved message anytime to speak it again in your selected voice. Saved messages stay available even after you close and reopen the app.

BoardSpeak includes dwell mode (for eye-gaze), single-switch scan mode, high contrast themes, dyslexic-friendly fonts, sound cues, and speak-as-you-type. See the Settings section of the user guide for full details.

Open Settings (gear icon), go to Voice section, and choose from all voices installed on your device. You can also adjust speed (0.5× – 1.5×) and pitch (0.5 – 2.0) to customize how the board sounds.

Stay in a letter group keeps a letter group open when you tap multiple letters from the same group (like B, E, D in the A–E group). Turn it on in Settings under Input. Useful for words with several letters from the same group.

Tap the Save button (disk icon) below the Speak button to download the current message as a plain text file. The Saved messages list keeps messages available for replay without downloading — star any message to pin it.

Tap the expand button (↗) in the top-right of the output card. This opens a full-screen view with large text. You can turn the device toward your communication partner so they can read it.

Once BoardSpeak loads in your browser, it works offline. Text-to-speech uses your device's built-in voices (which work offline on most devices). Your messages are stored locally, so everything is available without an internet connection.

Please let us know! Email boardspeak@proton.me with details about what went wrong, what device you're using, and which browser you're in.

BoardSpeak is proprietary software. The full source code is private and distributed at the author's discretion. You can use BoardSpeak freely for personal, non-commercial use.