What is a Tonie character?

Tonies are small, colourful hand-painted figures that are linked to audio content. Each Tonie has a unique look and represents an audiobook, music, bedtime stories, or even educational content for children. Naturally, children can also play with these beautifully designed figures independently of the Toniebox. However, as soon as a Tonie is placed onto the Toniebox, the magic really happens and the audio adventure begins. In addition, there are also numerous Book Tonies, Clever Tonies, and special Tonies, such as night lights.

Creative-Tonies allow you to upload up to 90 minutes of your own content onto the Toniebox and are also placed directly on top of the box to play. You can personalise your Creative-Tonie in your Tonies app and record whatever you like onto it. This could be a message from a loved one who is currently far away, your favourite book that isn't available as a Tonie yet, or even your current favourite album – and, of course, there are countless pieces of content available to you from the Audio Library!

Under the cute exterior, the Toniebox uses clever tech to deliver a simple, seamless experience. Each Tonie contains a small NFC (Near Field Communication) chip, similar to contactless payment tech or RFID tags. When placed on the box's magnetic top, the built-in RFID reader scans the unique ID, which instructs the box to play the corresponding audio file. For Creative-Tonies, you use the app to record or upload MP3s, which sync to the cloud and download to the box.

The one-time set up of your Toniebox is the first step towards many, many hours of fun! There are two ways to set up your Toniebox, using the mytonies app or my.tonies.com/setup. To complete set up, you will need a 2.4GHz WiFi connection, your Toniebox, and the Toniebox Charging Station.

Let's get started!

The Toniebox was developed for children aged 3 and up and is designed for independent play. The controls are designed specifically for little listeners and their little hands, so kids can easily adjust the volume, fast forward and rewind, and change stories themselves.

Abso-tonie-lutely, you can! You need a Wi-Fi connection to set up the Toniebox, if you’re listening to a brand new Tonie or loading new content on a Creative-Tonie for the first time, but other than that, you’re good to go.

Yes, once the Toniebox has been set up and the Tonies downloaded (wait for the ‘ding’!) you won’t need WiFi. The exception to this is with our audio-drop Tonies which update with new content every day, for example the Podcast Tonie.

With a fully charged battery, the Toniebox can be played for up to 7 hours. It depends, among other things, on the volume at which it is played. The louder the volume, the shorter the battery life is.