Support
FAQ
Here is a list of the most frequently asked questions about PocketPhonics. If your question is not answered here, please see below
How do I see more letter sounds?
If you are using the full version of PocketPhonics there’s well over 60 letter sounds to learn. If you can see a group of letter sounds on the screen (typically the first screen when you start the app), look for two arrow buttons in the top right hand corner:
- if you can see the arrow buttons then to see the next group of sounds either use the right arrow button, or swipe your finger across the screen from right to left;
- if you can’t see the arrow buttons then check your settings as you may have accidentally disabled this feature.
To check your settings:
- Touch the settings button at the bottom of the
screen showing a group of sounds
- Once you've passed the adult test, you need to
choose the screen to change letter sounds settings.
Touch the letter sounds button at the bottom of the
screen.
- Towards the bottom of the letter sounds setting
screen is an option to set whether you can navigate
to all the different sounds groups or not. Change
this setting to "All sounds available"
- Touch the done button in the top right of the screen
The sound is not working
There can be an issue where the iPhone no longer plays the sound through the speaker. If you cannot hear any sound (and the mute button is not on), turn your iPhone off and then turn it on again after a few seconds. Our users report that this fixes the issue.
Why does PocketPhonics teach more than just the sounds for A..Z?
In English, there’s over 40 different sounds (phonemes) that are used to say words. Some sounds like “sh” and “ai” are represented by two letters. The same sound can also be written in several different ways. For instance, “c’, “k” and “ck” all make the same sound. Each of them is a unique letter sound (phonogram) your child needs to learn. PocketPhonics teaches nearly 60 of these different letter sound combinations. If your children only learnt the sounds represented by the individual letters of the alphabet, there would be many words they’d be unable to read.
How can I help my child get the most out of PocketPhonics?
Sit with them and encourage them to practice saying the sounds. Listen carefully and make sure they are able to say the sounds properly. For children who have speech difficulties, this will be a particularly good exercise. Get them to carefully write the letter on the screen and write the letter in the same way as the on-screen demonstration shows. This will teach them how to correctly write the letters. The “play” button at the bottom of this screen will repeat the sound and the demonstration of how to write the letter.
When they play the game, you’ll quickly notice which sounds they recognise, and which they struggle with. Encourage them to practice the ones they find more tricky. You’ll probably find that after a while they become quite happy to play PocketPhonics on their own. Leave them to it. You can come back later and let them show you how they’ve got on.
How do I change the voice to American English?
You need to touch the Settings button on the first screen. An option then appears for “Nationality of voice”. Choose “us”.
Bug reporting
If you‘ve found a bug please try to report it via our contact us form.
We’ll be bundling up fixes into our next release. We’ll only come back to you on your specific issue if we need help replicating it. I’m sure you would much prefer it if we spent our time improving PocketPhonics to make it even better.