SoundingBoard vs Card Talk
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
SoundingBoard
Create custom communication boards quickly using pre-made symbols or your own words. This app provides a powerful tool for individuals needing alternative communication methods. It supports switch access for enhanced usability.
- Customizable communication boards
- AbleNet symbol integration
- User-added words
- Switch access support
- Compatible with AbleNet Blue2 Switch
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SoundingBoard transforms your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad into the latest in communication technology. In just minutes, you can create custom boards using AbleNet symbols or your own words. Perfect for children in special education, persons on the autism spectrum, and adults with disabilities. SoundingBoard includes switch access and is compatible with the AbleNet Blue2 Switch.
Card Talk
This app uses visual cards with voice support to aid children with verbal communication difficulties. It helps users express emotions and intentions while learning vocabulary and grammar. Users can also create custom cards with their own images and recordings.
- 200 everyday use cards with voice
- Multi-language support
- Create custom cards with images and recordings
- Limited card choices for initial learning
- No advertisements
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Card Talk supports communication with cards for children who have difficulties in verbal communication. You can indicate your emotion/intention, and learn vocabularies and grammar at the same time. This app was developed from the actual cards used in LITALICO classrooms. Now everybody can use these special cards to learn communication anywhere, at anytime. The app has been improved over and over based on the feedbacks from classrooms. *LITALICO classrooms are run by teachers and professors who specialize in kids development and education. Characteristics of this app: • All 200 cards for everyday use include voice sound. • The app supports multiple languages so you can switch to whichever language you want to learn. • You can make your original card with original picture and recording. • Choices of cards may be limited so it also fits in initial learning. • NO Advertisements are displayed so there is no visual destruction and kids can use it safely. Please feel free to notify us! app-support@litalico.co.jp Hope you enjoy our app. Thank you!
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Card Talk at 4.5 against SoundingBoard's 3.5. Card Talk also leads on update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 3 months) and review sentiment (68% vs 48%). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. SoundingBoard sells 10 one-off in-app purchases and Card Talk sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Card Talk holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 3.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Card Talk has 269 ratings behind it against 34, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 48% of SoundingBoard's written reviews are positive against 68% of Card Talk's.
SoundingBoard ships an update every 3 months, Card Talk every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 15, 2026 and October 17, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | SoundingBoard | Card Talk |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.5 (34 ratings) | 4.5 (269 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 48.2% of reviews | 68.4% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 34 | 269 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Every 2 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 13.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 26 MB | 77 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | AbleNet | LITALICO Inc. |
Customer experience
SoundingBoard
Card Talk
User reviews
SoundingBoard
From 34 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Highly customizable boards
- 💡 Ability to use own photos
- 🗣️ Record own voice
- 🔗 Link boards together
- 🆓 Free to try/use
Room to improve
- 🐛 App crashing on startup
- 🐛 Boards disappearing/not saving
- 🐛 Edit lock not working
- 🐛 Inconsistent icon activation
- 🐛 Poor UI/UX for creation
Card Talk
From 269 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Easy to use and intuitive interface
- 💡 Customizable cards with personal photos and voice recordings
- 🆓 Free app with no required payments
- 🎯 Effective communication tool for non-verbal autistic children
- 🌍 Multiple language support
Room to improve
- 🔊 Sound/audio functionality frequently not working
- 📱 Screen layout issues on certain iPhone models
- 🖼️ Card images too small to see clearly
- 📊 Limited deck size (only 3-8 cards displayed)
- 🔄 No data synchronization across devices
Bugs and requests
SoundingBoard
Reported bugs
19 issues- App crashing on startup after purchase
- Folders not saving changes
- Created boards disappearing
- Edit lock not working, student can edit pictures
- Cannot record voice over preloaded boards
Show 14 moreShow fewer
- App crashes after in-app purchase
- App crashes every time going into the app
- User created boards not showing up correctly
- Cannot record voice, does not save
- Cannot create new boards with new symbols, save button does nothing
- Sound quit working on iPad 2 with OS 6
- Two touches needed to activate icon/button
- Last time content was added, it didn't work
- Recordings play back very quietly
- Audio does not work at all
- Does not work on iPod touch
- Images are small, cells are small, does not utilize entire screen
- Difficult to get back to the home screen
- Losing new pages after saving
Requested features
20 requests- Large button icons for board selection
- Login system to save boards across platforms
- Ability to log in and save boards across devices
- User login system for shared boards
- Ability to erase pre-made boards
Show 15 moreShow fewer
- Choose a default board to open with
- iPad version to avoid magnification issues
- Sentence strip option
- Improve picture library search
- Facility to play music tracks directly
- More picture cards for school-related content
- More choices for layout on initial screen
- Option to change background color
- Improve navigation for board design
- Basic pre-formatted pages
- Editing options for pics and boards (size, placement)
- Basic communication symbols (yes/no, alphabet)
- More PX available on a page
- Better contrasting pictures with black background
- Universal or iPad version
Card Talk
Reported bugs
12 issues- Sound does not play on any cards (most critical issue)
- App screen does not fit properly on iPhone X and newer models
- Bottom navigation bar overlaps with card selection area
- App crashes when scrolling through categories
- Cards not clickable in certain screen areas
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- Audio works on iPhone but not on iPad
- Custom voice recordings not playing back
- App requires earphones to produce sound
- Frequent audio dropout issues
- App not compatible with iOS versions from past 5+ years
- Screen rotation not properly disabled despite settings
- Family sharing does not sync custom cards between devices
Requested features
20 requests- Fix audio/sound playback issues
- Increase maximum deck size beyond 8 cards
- Add data synchronization and cloud backup across devices
- Enable card categorization and folder organization
- Allow editing and re-recording of existing cards
Show 15 moreShow fewer
- Increase number of custom cards allowed
- Add ability to disable or hide preset cards
- Implement full-screen card enlargement option
- Add text-to-speech functionality for custom cards
- Provide adjustable speech speed and voice options
- Add more language options (Cantonese, Thai, etc.)
- Improve screen optimization for all iPhone models
- Add phrase/sentence saving functionality
- Enable family sharing and multi-device syncing
- Add video card support in addition to pictures
- Implement card history/logging feature
- Add password protection for card editing
- Increase grid display options beyond 3 columns
- Add more diverse preset card categories
- Implement tutorial/help documentation
In-app purchases
SoundingBoard
- Mealtime_MaleFree
- Mealtime_FemaleFree
- Getting Dressed_MaleFree
Show 7 moreShow fewer
- Getting Dressed_FemaleFree
- General Conversation_MaleFree
- General Conversation_FemaleFree
- Fast Food Restaurant_MaleFree
- Fast Food Restaurant_FemaleFree
- Movies_MaleFree
- Movies_FemaleFree
Card Talk
- All Functions$2.99
