The report card
- Content & free listening25% of score6.4
A much smaller library, though with Disney titles and a record-your-own PlayShield.
- Cost of ownership20% of score6.6
£80 up front, then around £10 per StoryShield.
- Easy for small hands20% of score7.4
Snap a disc on and it plays, but the small discs are easy to lose.
- Parental controls & privacy15% of score8.4
Built-in 75, 85 or 94dB limits and app control.
- Sound, battery & build20% of score8.0
Up to 20 hours, wired or wireless, with comfortable padded cups.
The full review
StoryPhones come from Onanoff, the company behind BuddyPhones: volume-limited headphones with the story player built in. Snap a small magnetic StoryShield disc onto the side and the content plays, with no separate speaker needed. The Independent named them its best audio player for battery life.
Two shields come in the box: PlayShield, which you can load with your own recordings through the app, and ZenShield, with six calming sounds. Extra StoryShields cost around £10 each on Onanoff's store, including Disney titles, and once downloaded they play offline.
The volume limiter is the best thing about them, with three settings: 75dB, 85dB and 94dB. For small children I'd leave them on 75 or 85 and keep 94 for noisy planes. Onanoff quotes up to 20 hours of battery, and they also work as ordinary Bluetooth or wired headphones.
The downsides: the library is far smaller than Yoto's or Tonies', set-up needs a 2.4GHz Wi-Fi network (5GHz won't work), and The Independent's tester warns the discs are prime candidates for getting lost under car seats.
Pros and cons
What I like
- No speaker, so the rest of the car gets some peace
- Selectable 75, 85 and 94dB limits
- Up to 20 hours of battery
- Record your own stories on the PlayShield
What I don't
- Small library
- Discs are easy to lose
- Needs 2.4GHz Wi-Fi to set up
Key specs
- Age range
- 3 to 8
- Volume limits
- 75, 85 or 94dB
- Battery
- Up to 20 hours (Onanoff figure)
- Connection
- Bluetooth or wired
- In the box
- PlayShield and ZenShield
- Wi-Fi
- 2.4GHz only
What I read
This is a research-led review. These are the main sources behind the scores, alongside patterns in verified owner reviews. How I review.