Toniebox
Ranked 3 of 3 kids audio players by recommenders
Kids' audio player with no account lock-in, so boxes can be resold or lent. Critics cite high audio play prices and data tracking.
Kids' audio player with no account lock-in, so boxes can be resold or lent. Critics cite high audio play prices and data tracking.
9 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 7
- criticize it
- 2
- approval share
- 78%
Recommended in 4 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 7 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 3.5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 4 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
No account lock-in, easy to hack
“Nothing is tied to a specific account or box, so there are no restrictions on resale or lending.”
Comment from 12 Jan 2026 in “Floppy disks turn out to be the greatest TV remote for kids” “The toni boxes are also quite hackable”
Comment from 13 Jan 2026 in “Floppy disks turn out to be the greatest TV remote for kids”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
High price per audio play
“Prices are crazy (like EUR30 for a 45min audio play)”
Comment from 23 Feb 2026 in “The Musidex: A physical music library for the streaming era” Privacy concerns and data tracking
“I was so upset about this locked and privacy nightmare I brought it back to the seller for a refund”
Comment from 31 Oct 2026 in “Show HN: Marelleo, an open-source story box I built for my kids using ESP32” “how much data gets tracked by the original firmware”
Comment from 22 Jan 2026 in “2 years building a kids audio app as a solo dev – lessons learned”
Other kids audio players people recommend
The two most recommended other kids audio players, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yoto Player | 24 | 6 | 80% | 3 | — | — |
| Marelleo story box | 14 | 0 | 100% | 2 | — | — |
| TonieboxThis page | 7 | 2 | 78% | 4 | — | — |
What people said
7 of the 9 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“I was so upset about this locked and privacy nightmare I brought it back to the seller for a refund”
“inspired by the Toniebox gesture”
“Prices are crazy (like EUR30 for a 45min audio play)”
“the Toniebox phase is actually pretty great”
“how much data gets tracked by the original firmware”
“The toni boxes are also quite hackable”
“Nothing is tied to a specific account or box, so there are no restrictions on resale or lending.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.