Sayella is live: an affordable AAC app, on the App Store now

Sayella AAC is on the App Store. You can download it free for iPhone and iPad today, build a board at the kitchen table this afternoon, and hear a voice that belongs to the person using it.

I built Sayella for my daughter Isla, who is nonverbal and autistic, after finding out what a voice costs a family. That story is here. This post is the practical version: what launch day actually gets you.

We said we would keep this honest, so here is exactly what it means.

What you get, free, on day one

The free download is not a demo and it is not a trial that quietly expires. It includes:

• A complete core-word board, ready to talk. Research-based vocabulary organised by the Fitzgerald colour key, from first words like more, stop and help through to full sentences. No setup required before the first tap speaks.
• Speech that is never switched off. This is the promise the whole app is built on. If you never pay us a penny, the talking parts of Sayella keep working, offline, forever. A lapsed subscription can never take a voice away.
• Real customisation. Add words, change pictures, use your own photos, and reorganise boards, with learned buttons protected so muscle memory is never broken.
• A word library and free printables. Over a hundred themed word packs to add as your communicator grows, and free printable core boards if you want to start modelling on paper today.

And one detail we are quietly proud of: Sayella speaks even when your phone is on silent. A communication device should never be muted by the ring switch, so it is not.

What Premium adds, and what it costs

Premium is for the extras that cost us money to run, never for speech: cloud sync and backup across devices, family profiles for up to five children, team access for therapists and school staff, and AI-generated symbols for the words no symbol library has ever drawn (you get two free with a free account, so you can see the magic before paying anything).

The prices are the ones we said we would charge. Monthly at £7.99, yearly at £59, or a one-off lifetime licence at £189 that you buy once and own. Every option is a fraction of the £250 to £550 the established AAC apps ask for, and there is a 14-day free trial of the subscription. Schools and clinics can ask about organisation licences.

What is honestly still coming

We do not claim things before they are real, so for completeness: Android and Google Play are on the way, and so is the web version for laptops and Chromebooks. Premium recorded UK voices are coming. Switch scanning is planned for a later update, and we will only switch it on when it has been tested with real switch users. If any of those are must-haves for you today, we would rather you know now.

If Sayella helps, tell someone

We are a small, independent effort in a market of very big prices, and we do not have a marketing department. If you download Sayella and it gives someone you love a voice, the single most helpful thing you can do is leave an honest review on the App Store or tell a parent, teacher or therapist who needs it. That is the whole growth plan, and we think it is the right one.

Download Sayella free on the App Store. Free to start. No card needed. Every voice deserves to be heard.