Structure, stories, and a voice for every child.

Two apps built by a parent, for parents. Visual schedules, social stories, step-by-step task strips, and AAC communication -- tools that therapists are calling a game changer.

Explore Guiding Steps Explore Yappie
Early Access

Early Access iOS Beta Testing

Both apps are in beta and we're looking for families and therapists to try them before launch. Free access, real feedback, better apps.

1

Install TestFlight

Download Apple's TestFlight app from the App Store. It's free and made by Apple -- it's how developers share pre-release apps for testing.

2

Open the Invite Link

Tap the buttons below on your iPhone or iPad. Each will open in TestFlight and ask you to accept the beta invitation.

3

Install and Explore

Tap Install in TestFlight and the apps will appear on your home screen. Use them like any app -- and let us know what you think.

Join the Guiding Steps Beta Join the Yappie Beta

Requires an iPhone or iPad running iOS 16 or later. The beta is free -- no purchase needed. Your feedback helps us build a better app for every family.

Routines, Stories & Task Strips

Guiding Steps

The therapy tool that doesn't exist yet -- until now.

Visual schedules, reward charts, social stories, and step-by-step task strips designed for children who thrive with routine and preparation. Built with developmental therapists. Nothing like it on the market.

  • Visual task strips for potty training, handwashing, brushing teeth, and more
  • Visual schedules with step-by-step progress tracking
  • Social stories for doctor visits, haircuts, school, and new experiences
  • Print and share stories as PDFs for offline use
  • Reward charts that celebrate effort, not perfection
  • Pre-loaded templates -- start using it in seconds
  • Sensory-friendly design throughout

One-time purchase, no subscription.

Guiding Steps morning routine schedule with step-by-step progress
New in Guiding Steps

Visual Task Strips

Break any routine into simple, visual steps your child can follow independently. Therapists have been making these with laminated cards for decades -- now it's in an app.

🚽

Potty Training

Pull pants down, sit on potty, go, wipe, pull pants up, flush. Each step has its own image. Tap "Done!" to move forward.

🧼

Handwashing

Turn on water, wet hands, get soap, rub, rinse, dry. The same sequence every time -- building independence through consistency.

🪥

Any Routine You Need

Brushing teeth, getting dressed, bedtime -- use our templates or create your own with custom photos. 2-8 steps, your child's pace.

Inside Guiding Steps

Social Stories That Prepare, Not Just Describe

Help your child feel ready for new experiences with personalized, illustrated stories they can read together with you -- or on their own. Print them out for the car ride there.

🩺

Doctor Visits

"The doctor will look at your body to make sure you are healthy." Step-by-step preparation that reduces anxiety before it starts.

✂

Haircuts

"The clippers might buzz and feel tingly. That is just what they do." Sensory-aware language that validates your child's experience.

🏫

First Day of School

"It is okay to feel nervous about something new." Stories that name the feeling and give your child a plan.

"I've been making visual task strips with laminated cards and velcro for 20 years. An app that does this well -- with pre-loaded templates and custom photos -- fills a gap nothing else on the market touches."
-- Developmental Therapist, Beta Tester
Communication

Yappie

Your child's voice, in their hands.

A communication board designed for children ages 2-6. Tap words, build sentences, hear them spoken out loud. Customizable, colorful, and clinically informed.

  • 600+ developmentally curated words with color-coded categories your child learns to navigate
  • Activity mode surfaces the right words for mealtime, playground, bath, and more
  • Custom photos -- use images your child actually recognizes
  • Works offline -- no internet needed after setup
  • Built on AAC best practices (motor planning, core vocabulary)

One-time purchase, no subscription.

Yappie AAC board showing colorful word categories and sentence builder
Only in Yappie

Activity Mode

Switch into an activity and Yappie surfaces just the words your child needs for that moment -- no digging through folders while life is happening.

🍽

Mealtime

Words like "more", "all done", "water", and "yummy" -- surfaced together when it's time to eat.

🏝

Playground

"Push", "swing", "slide", "my turn" -- the words your child needs when they're playing, not buried in a folder.

🛁

Bath Time

"Warm", "cold", "splash", "all done" -- context-specific vocabulary that makes communication natural.

Built different. On purpose.

❤

Built by a parent

These apps exist because our family needed them. Every feature solves a real problem.

🔒

Your data stays on device

No accounts. No cloud. No tracking. Everything lives on your phone, nowhere else.

✨

Pay once, use forever

No subscriptions. No in-app purchases. One fair price and it's yours.

A Different Chapter

Beyond Childhood

Yappie started as a voice for children. But while building it, a close friend told me about his mother — a woman with a lifetime of things to say, who was now struggling to get the words out.

There was no app that fit. The AAC tools on the market were designed for kids — bright colors, cartoon icons, nursery words. Nothing that treated her like the adult she is.

So we built one.

Yappie Adult uses the same AAC foundation, redesigned for grown-ups — medical vocabulary, personal care, quick phrases for pain and dignity and daily life. It's not a product roadmap item. It's a promise to a friend.

  • 900+ words organized for adult life — medical, personal care, food, feelings, safety
  • Quick phrases for urgent needs, autonomy, and personal dignity
  • Calm, mature interface — no cartoon icons, no childish colors
  • Same offline-first, no-account, no-tracking privacy you trust
Join the Yappie Adult Beta

The same tools, for a different chapter of life.

About

My daughter is four years old and was diagnosed with autism in 2024. Getting her to communicate has been our family's single focus since she was two -- but progress was slow, and the tools that could help were out of reach.

Our developmental and speech therapists recommended an AAC device. Insurance wouldn't cover it. When I talked to other parents, the story was almost always the same: insurance won't cover it, or the price is too high. The families who need these tools the most are the ones who can't afford them.

I believe every child who needs a voice should have access to one. So I started building.

Yappie and Guiding Steps are built by one parent, one developer, during nights and weekends -- for families like mine. I'm still in it, just like you.

Support

Have a question, found a bug, or just want to say hi? We'd love to hear from you.

Email Support