1
Choose the playtime
You choose how long Tadidum’s battery will last and which mini-apps are available.
Tadidum turns your phone into a toddler-friendly play phone.
Tadidum locks itself to the screen, and your toddler can fiddle around as they please. They cannot access other apps or notifications.
It has a ‘battery’ that you control — see how it works!
It's a pretend phone with functional interactions. Your kid gets a camera, photos, pretend calls, and more than ten small activities without access to your other apps or camera roll.
When time is up, Tadidum’s battery runs out and the screen goes dark.
Phone or Tablet / iPad
Works on an airplane
No passive screen time
No ads or tracking
How it works
Pick a time, lock the screen, and hand over the phone.
Tadidum uses features already built into your phone: Guided Access on iPhone and screen pinning on Android.
2
Lock Tadidum to the screen
Tadidum shows you how to lock the app to the screen. Once locked, your child cannot leave Tadidum, open other apps, or pull down your notifications.
3
The battery runs out
When the timer ends, Tadidum goes to sleep. The screen stays dark until a parent exits.
What’s inside
A small phone of their own, inside yours.
These are interactive little apps. There are no videos to sit through and no stream of content waiting underneath.
Camera
Takes low resolution photos and stores them inside Tadidum. It does not fill your camera roll, and button mashing does not take fifteen photos at once.
Photos
A view-only gallery of the pictures taken inside Tadidum. Your actual camera roll is not available to the child. You can import selected photos from your gallery / camera roll too.
Pretend phone
The buttons boop, the number appears, and the call goes to a pretend character. It cannot call anyone.
And there is more to play with
Doodle, Music, Talk, Pairs, Dots, Gobbler, Puzzles, numbers, letters, and other small activities. They all use big controls and work without reading.
The timer is the battery
When playtime ends, Tadidum turns off.
The battery meter stays visible throughout playtime, so the ending does not come out of nowhere. When it reaches zero, Tadidum goes to sleep and the screen stays dark until a parent exits.
Nobody needs to grab the phone away. From the child’s point of view, it ran out of battery and needs charging.
This does not promise a peaceful hand-back with every child. It works very well with my daughter, which is why I kept building it.
Less engagement, by design
Unlike apps built around engagement, Tadidum is designed to be put down.
That goal guides the details: what appears on screen, how a tap sounds and feels, and what happens when playtime is over. Each choice is made for the child, not for session length, repeat visits, or another app metric.
Calm colors
Warm colors, clear shapes, and strong contrast make the screen easy to use. Nothing flashes for attention.
Beeps and boops
A tap gets a friendly beep or boop. There are no loud jingles or victory sounds.
Things to do
Take a photo, make a drawing, match a pair, or tap out a tune. There are no points, streaks, or prizes.
A real ending
You choose how long the battery lasts. At zero, Tadidum goes to sleep.
Privacy
Play works offline. Sharing usage data is optional.
Tadidum sends us basic usage counts, such as when playtime happened, how long it lasted, and which mini-apps were opened. The statistics go to a server we run. We use them to see what is working and what needs fixing.
No names, email addresses, advertising IDs, photos, recordings, or anything your child makes are sent. A random installation ID stops us from counting the same installation twice, but it is not linked to you.
Usage sharing is on by default. You can turn it off at any time in Parent Settings. Child play works without an internet connection either way.
Why I made it
I built Tadidum for my two-year-old daughter.
She started by looking at family photos and joining video calls with her grandparents. Then she wanted the phone in her own hands. And she uses it as if she is the QA engineer tasked with breaking it down.
We tried using parental control to limit usage to camera and gallery, but she could still delete photos and fill the camera roll at impressive speed. Taking the phone back could also turn into a negotiation nobody enjoyed.
I wanted to give her something she could explore without us hovering over every tap. I also wanted phone time to have a clear ending. So I built Tadidum.
“Battery finished, Mumma.”
A few direct answers
Things parents usually ask.
Does Tadidum replace or change my phone?
No. It is an app you install. Your normal phone is unchanged when Tadidum is closed.
Can my child leave Tadidum and open other apps?
Not while the phone’s lock feature is on. Tadidum shows you how to use Guided Access on iPhone or screen pinning on Android. Once locked, your child cannot leave Tadidum, open other apps, or pull down your notifications.
On iPhone, The triple-click started an emergency call. What went wrong?
Guided Access was not switched on yet. In India, three quick presses of the side button are Apple’s Emergency SOS shortcut until Guided Access is on. Stop the countdown, then turn Guided Access on in Settings › Accessibility › Guided Access. After that the triple-click starts Tadidum, and Emergency SOS moves to holding the side button together with a volume button.
Does it need Wi-Fi?
No for child play. Optional anonymous analytics and purchase checks use the internet when it is available, but the mini-apps keep working without it.
Which languages does it support?
English, Kazakh, and Russian are available now. More languages are planned.
