A Toniebox alternative that needs no extra hardware

By Andrei Baciu

Co-founder of Wunderli and architect of its story engine

Updated 12 October 2026

If you are weighing up a Toniebox alternative, the first thing to decide is whether you want another box at all. Yoto is the other well-known box in the UK and works on a similar principle: a speaker plus physical cards or figures. Wunderli takes a different route: there is nothing extra to buy, a parent shapes characters, world and mood from their child's ideas on the phone or tablet they already own, and Wunderli writes a new story and narrates it as an audio play. For a toddler who should press play on their own, a box remains the better choice.

Everything said about Toniebox and Yoto below comes from the makers' own websites, tonies.com and yotoplay.com, checked on 9 October 2026.

The short answer, by situation

• Your child is under four, or should choose and start stories alone. Choose a box. tonies says the Toniebox 2 is "1+ certified"; Yoto says its players suit children "3 years and up".
• You want a gift that can be unwrapped and collected. A box. The figures and cards are part of the appeal.
• You want specific, well-known characters and books. A box. Both makers sell large libraries of familiar titles.
• You do not want more hardware, or you want stories that start from your child's own idea. Wunderli.
• Your family uses German, French or English, or more than one of them. Wunderli covers all three, each at three language levels.
• You want listening to end when the story ends. Wunderli plays nothing automatically afterwards.

What tonies says the Toniebox does

The Toniebox is a screen-free audio player. A child places a Tonie figure on top and the audio begins. According to the Toniebox 2 page on tonies.com (tonies, 2026), it is "1+ certified", comes with "250+ characters" to collect and has a sleep timer and a sunrise alarm. tonies also states that the Toniebox 2 "will need to be connected to WiFi for set up and the first time you play a Tonie or a Tonieplay Game"; after that, content plays without a connection.

For your own content, tonies sells Creative Tonies with "90 minutes of recordable space for personal stories, songs, or messages". That is the route for a grandparent who wants to record a bedtime story in their own voice.

Where Yoto fits

Yoto uses cards instead of figures. A child pops a Yoto Card into the player and it plays. On its UK site (Yoto, 2026), Yoto lists "1,000+ Yoto Cards" and content "for ages 0-12+", and says the players are "suitable for children 3 years and up", with younger children listening "with caregivers handling the device". Make Your Own cards hold your own recordings. If Yoto is the box you are comparing against, our Yoto alternative page goes into it in detail.

Toniebox, Yoto and Wunderli side by side

How Wunderli works without a box

You open Wunderli and go through six steps together with your child. You settle on the characters, the world they live in and the mood of the story, then choose the language, the language level and the length. Wunderli writes the story and narrates it as an audio play, with its own voice for each character. Once the story is playing, the screen stays off. When it ends, nothing else starts: no next episode, no suggestion. The whole process is on How Wunderli works.

Stories are created online and then play offline, which helps in the car or on a plane. The honest trade-off: the phone or tablet is the speaker, so it stays in the room while the story plays, screen off. If you would rather keep phones out of the bedroom altogether, a box is the cleaner answer. Some practical ideas for evenings without screens are in screen-free activities for kids and bedtime routines for children.

Why the format matters less than the habit

More children in the UK now say they enjoy listening than say they enjoy reading. The National Literacy Trust's survey of children and young people's listening in 2024 found that 42.3% of 8 to 18 year olds enjoyed listening to audio in their free time, compared with 34.6% who enjoyed reading, the first time listening came out ahead since the charity began asking in 2020. Whichever device you pick, it feeds the same habit. The choice is about who operates it, what you already own and where the stories come from. More on the format itself in audio stories for children.

When the Toniebox is the better choice

• Your child is a toddler, or you want them to manage their listening without asking you.
• A physical present matters, something to unwrap and collect.
• You want a large library of familiar characters and audiobooks.
• A relative wants to record stories for a Creative Tonie.
• You want a night light, sleep timer and sunrise alarm in the same device.
• You would rather not have a phone or tablet in your child's room.

Using both

A box and Wunderli are not mutually exclusive. A family can keep the Toniebox for favourite recordings their child plays alone, and use Wunderli on the evenings when the child arrives with a character or a place of their own, such as a fox who is afraid of thunder or a detective on a night train. How Wunderli handles safety and data is set out on Child safety.

tonies® and Toniebox are trademarks of tonies; Yoto is a trademark of its owner. Wunderli has no business relationship with either company. We name the products only to explain how the approaches differ.

Weighing the two best-known players against each other? Our Toniebox vs Yoto comparison sets them side by side, using the makers' own information.

If you are comparing apps rather than boxes, our bedtime story app checklist shows what to check in the store listing and on the first evening.

Frequently asked questions