Questions
The ones we are asked most. Anything else: hello@getglyphy.com.
What is Glyphy?
Two things that work together. Free videos on YouTube show each letter being written, stroke by stroke, with a numbered guide to where each stroke starts and which way it goes. The app lets a child write the letter themselves and tells them what went wrong. Watch it together, then practise it.
What age is it for?
Roughly three to seven — from a child who has just started holding a pencil to one who writes without thinking about it. It is meant to be used next to a grown-up rather than handed over, and five minutes is a session.
Why does stroke order matter at all?
Because a letter drawn in the wrong order looks right and writes wrong. The hand learns a habit in the first week and keeps it for years: the child who draws an a as a circle and then a line has to stop and lift twice for every a they ever write. It is a rule about the hand, not about the alphabet, which is why every script has one.
Which alphabets are in it?
English first — capitals, lowercase and the digits. Kannada and Devanagari follow, each released when every one of its letters has been drawn and checked by hand rather than when the list is long enough to announce.
Does it need the internet?
The videos are on YouTube, so they need a connection. The app does not: every letter, every voice and every picture ships inside it, so it works on a plane, in a car, or on a tablet that has never been online. There is no account to make and nothing to load before a child can start.
What does it cost?
The videos are free. In the app, English capitals are free too — not a trial, just free. Beyond that you buy the alphabet you want, once. There is no subscription: an alphabet has not changed in a thousand years and should not be rented.
My child is left-handed. Does that work?
Yes — there is a setting for it, and it mirrors the hand that draws on screen so it comes in from the other side and stops covering the letter being written. It is the same reason the hand in the videos is a left one.
Will it tell my child they are wrong?
It tells them what went wrong, which is a different thing: started in the wrong place, went the wrong way, took the strokes in the wrong order. Those are the three things the stroke data can actually know. There are no stars to chase, no streak to break and no timer — a child who is racing is not forming letters.
Is there advertising, or anything collected?
The app has no advertising, no tracking, no analytics and no account. What a child has practised stays on their own device and is never sent anywhere. The videos are on YouTube and marked as made for children, so YouTube turns off comments and personalised ads on them; YouTube's own rules apply there. The privacy page says all of this in full.