Niki Talk vs Spoken

Niki Talk is an augmentative and alternative communication app intended to help children with autism or disabilities that impair communication. With Niki Talk Designer, users can create custom boards and add pictograms and photos to a personalized album. Designer generates speech through text-to-speech in 31 languages, and the purchase page lists 70 voices. The Trial version lasts 30 days and limits an album to 30 pictures. The Full version costs €4,900, paid once and provides unlimited album pictures and access that never expires. Both plans list one user and unlimited downloads on iPad, iPhone, and Android. The app is also listed for Kindle; Designer can be used on PC, Mac, and iPad. To use an album on a device, users configure it with the same ID and password as Designer and enable album downloads. The maker says its apps do not collect or transmit personal or location data, use analytics, or include advertising. A separate app, Niki Agenda, supports daily or weekly scheduling, activity symbols, customizable pictograms, and token-based rewards.

Spoken is an augmentative and alternative communication app for people who cannot use speech because of nonverbal autism, aphasia, stroke, or other speech and language disorders. Users compose messages on a mobile device, and the app reads them aloud with text-to-speech. It predicts words and can offer suggestions that adapt to a user’s communication. Access methods include touch, typing, handwriting, drawing, eye tracking, VoiceOver, and TalkBack. The free base version includes an attention button, large text display, large print mode, dark mode, and phrase sharing. Premium adds saved phrases, customizable lifelike voices, and a quiz that tailors suggestions to familiar people, pets, and places. Spoken runs on iOS and iPadOS 11 or later, Android 5.1 or later, and Apple Silicon Macs. Internet access is needed for all features, though limited functions work offline. The automatic Premium trial lasts around 600 words. The base app remains available afterward; Premium costs $12.99 a month, $99 a year, or $249, paid once website purchase.