screen.free / answering machine

Make an answering machine with just the Yoto app.

Away from home? Does FaceTime bring out the squirmies?
We'll show you how to record voice messages on your phone that play on their Yoto through a Make Your Own card.

This is exactly how we made our first "answering machine", before we built our app. Dad left messages for the kids during a work trip, from the airport and the hotel. They thrilled to check their messages morning and night just by popping in the card.

You'll appreciate our app when more people want to leave messages. We'll get to that at the end. But if it's only you, this may be all you need.

1 NEW 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 * 0 # for the kids MESSAGES WHILE YOU WERE OUT Dad called!

What you'll need

If someone else set up the Yoto

Join their Family Account first. They tap Invite a family member in the app's Settings and send you a code. You tap Join a family account and enter it.

The Yoto app's Settings, with Invite a family member and Join a family account buttons, and the account's email blurred Yoto's Join a family screen, asking for a code sent by someone already in the family

Before you travel

  1. 1

    Record a first message

    On the Create tab, tap Record something. There's a short countdown, then talk. Tap Save when done, and it goes into My recordings, where you can listen back.

    The Yoto app's Create tab, with a Record something buttonThe Yoto app recording, with Delete and Save beside the pause button
  2. 2

    Make a playlist

    Choose the recording, tap Add to a playlist, and make a new one. Give it a name your child will know, like "Messages from Dad."

    A new recording in My recordings, with an Add to a playlist button, and the other recordings' titles blurred
  3. 3

    Link it to a card

    Open the playlist, tap Link to a card, and have a Make Your Own card ready. You can use your phone or the player, which needs to be on and connected to wifi. You'll only do this once.

    A playlist in the Yoto app, with Add audio and Link to a card buttonsYoto's choice of how to link a card: use your phone, or use a Yoto player
  4. 4

    Hand over the card

    Your child puts it in the player and hears you. The answering machine is set up.

From the road

  1. 5

    Add to the same playlist

    Record a message, then add it to the same playlist. Nobody at home has to do anything: Yoto updates every card linked to it.

    A recording uploaded to a playlist, which has room for 95 more tracks

  2. A few things that help

    • Take the card out and put it back. A card already in the Yoto may not notice new recordings until it's read again.
    • Text home. The app won't notify anyone a new message has arrived on its own.
    • Forgot to link a card? If a grown-up at home is on the same Family Account, your playlist shows up in their app, and they can link it from there.
    • Put the date in the title. You can rename recordings to help you distinguish between them later.

That's the built-in approach, and for one parent on the road it works well.
To get family and friends involved in leaving messages, we think our way is easier. We explain why below. But if you're already convinced...

Try our easier approach for free

Including family and friends on your answering machine

In the simple case aboe, you're recording on the account the player belongs to. That won't work for Grandma or dear Uncle Edmund.

Yoto's audio sharing guide covers a few different approaches. We'll walk you through them.

Grandma makes a Yoto account and manages a playlist herself
She records and makes a playlist in her own account, then sends you a sharing link. You link it to a card. She essentially goes through the solo answering machine steps, above.
If cost is top priority and family is up for it, this is the route we'd pick.
Where this option breaks down

Everyone starts with a chore

Before Grandma records a word, she needs the app, an account, a playlist, and a link to send you. Only the person who made a playlist can add to it, and a card points at one playlist at a time. So five relatives means five Yoto accounts, five playlists, five links, and five cards for your child to keep track of.

Links can be forwarded

Yoto is clear: once a playlist is shared, anyone with the link can listen and pass it on, with the creator's email attached. For a story, that's fine. For your family's voices talking to your child, you probably want it locked down.

Yoto's notice before sharing: the creator's email address will be visible, and onward sharing will be possible The message Yoto's share opens: a note about listening, the playlist's name and a link, with the address and link blurred

You don't hold the controls

A shared playlist belongs to its creator, so you can't edit it, and whatever they add goes straight to the card without you hearing it first. That's fine with one person you trust. It's a bigger issue across a whole family, and the other options give up control of Yoto player settings or your password.

The answering machine goes silent

You never know when a message has arrived, and nothing intentionally prompts Grandma to leave one. Perhaps the first month is lovely. By the third, someone has to keep asking for notes.

Send audio files
Uncle Edmund and cousin Sophie record MP3s with any voice recorder and send them to you, and you upload it to your own playlist.

It's all on you

Family doesn't need to make a Yoto account here, but congrats! you've just become the family's switchboard. Every message is in limbo until you save it, upload it, and add it to the playlist, so when you're busy or away, the kids get no messages.

Add them to your Family Account
Great for a spouse, but not ideal for many other use cases.

Limited options, and you lose control of the playlist

Yoto warns that "families share access to all content and players", every member can control your players and their settings, and remove other members. And an account can only be in one family, so folks who join your family account leave any others. For say, a grandad with grandchildren in two homes, this won't work for both.

Let family sign in as you
Yoto's guide lists this option, too. We'd pass on it for security.

Password sharing

Your email and password give others access to everything your account can do, and a family with several relatives could quickly lose control of their password. Even worse if it's a password you reuse all over the internet.

Let's make it easy for the whole family

Screen-free Answering Machine works with just the Yoto owner's account. You set it up and link one card in the Yoto app, once. Send invitations. Everyone leaves messages on one playlist that lives in your own Yoto library. Nobody installs anything. No passwords to remember.

Grandma's first message

DIY with Yoto built-ins

  1. She downloads the Yoto app and makes an account.
  2. She records, and makes a playlist.
  3. She shares a link with you, with her email attached.
  4. You listen, accept it, and link it to a spare card.
  5. Your child has one more card to keep track of.

Screen-free Answering Machine

  1. She opens the invitation you sent, and taps to join.
  2. She taps the red button and talks.
  3. She sends it when she's happy with it.
The Yoto app Screen-free Answering Machine
Who can record One person, per playlist and per card. Everyone you invite, on one tape and one card.
Who needs a Yoto account Everyone who records, or you upload their audio for them. Only you. Everyone else signs in with their email.
Who's in charge Each person, of their own playlist. You. Invite, pause or remove anyone, and limit how many messages they leave a day.
Passing it on Anyone with a shared link can listen and share it further. No links to pass around. Nothing is public or re-shareable.
Who hears what Anyone with a shared link hears every track. In our app, people hear only their own messages. You hear them all, and everything plays on the Yoto.
Removing a message Only the person who made the playlist. You can delete any message, and everyone else can delete their own.
Keeping it going Up to you. We gently remind folks who've gone quiet, and you can nudge folks in-app for fresh messages with a button press.
Knowing there's a new one Someone has to tell you. One quiet notice, in the app, by notification, or in an evening email.
Telling people apart The titles they give their tracks. Track titles include name and day, and each person has their own picture on the player's screen.

Just you on the road? Use built-in Yoto playlists.

Want to include anyone else? Ours is easier on everyone.
Try it free for 14 days.

Set up your answering machine

The Yoto steps were taken from Yoto's help pages (recording and playlists, sharing with loved ones, safe sharing) in November 2026. Their app changes, so a button may have moved. We're not part of Yoto, and they haven't reviewed this page.

You're offline. Messages will wait. Reconnecting…