Information for Adults

Why?! is a digital learning companion for children aged approximately 4 to 16 years. Unlike traditional learning apps that provide fixed topics, Why?! responds individually to your child’s spontaneous questions – from “Why is the sky blue?” to “How does the internet work?”. The app grows with age and adapts both language and complexity. An animated animal character makes usage playful and accessible for younger children.

The app starts as early as preschool age (around 4 years) and accompanies your child into adolescence. For small children, operation works completely through voice, while older children can also type and read. This makes Why?! a long-term learning companion that grows with your child’s needs.

Children have countless questions – often more than adults can answer. Why?! enables your child to get answers anytime in a safe environment. The content is age-appropriately prepared and encourages the joy of independent discovery.

Yes. The app is designed to support both preschoolers and teenagers. Younger children benefit from voice interaction and child-friendly explanations, while older children receive more complex, age-appropriate answers in an extended but still controlled AI environment.

No. Why?! is designed to transparently communicate to children that it is an artificial intelligence. The app explains in a child-friendly way that it is a learning tool, but has no feelings and cannot be a real friend.

This honesty is important to us so that children develop a healthy relationship with technology. Real friendships are formed with people – Why?! wants to support staying curious and discovering knowledge.

You as parents determine which topic areas are allowed. Additionally, the app filters all responses so that only child-appropriate content is displayed. Inappropriate questions are either not answered at all or answered in an age-appropriate manner.

This ensures that children cannot use the app independently. Only after your registration and consent can child profiles be created. This so-called Parental Gateway meets the requirements of COPPA (USA) and GDPR (EU).

Yes. The system was developed to meet both standards – and even exceeds them in many points. This means: transparent parental control, minimal data storage, deletion rights, and full traceability of your consents.

Your child can simply speak their question into the microphone. The animated character then also responds by voice. Reading is not necessary.

Our speech recognition is specifically optimized for children’s voices and works very well for most children.

If your child still has difficulty with pronunciation and is mainly understood by familiar people, Why?! may also have difficulty understanding. In this case, simply use Why?! together with your child and speak the questions on their behalf.

You don’t see the complete conversations, but rather a clear summary of the topics that interest your child. This protects your child’s privacy while still giving you a good overview.

AI usage costs money - especially with voice functions. To operate Why?! economically sustainably and at the same time teach children conscious use of AI, we have developed a thoughtful resource system where your child can learn conscious handling. Each interaction with the AI consumes this knowledge water. With our system, it’s not possible to use up all the week’s resources at once.

At the beginning of each week, each child receives a full bottle that’s enough for ten glasses. From the bottle, one glass is filled for each day of the week. When the current glass is empty, it can be refilled from the bottle. If a glass from the previous day wasn’t completely used, the contents are poured back into the bottle and can be used further.

This way, daily use is possible and there’s no disadvantage if the app isn’t used every day.

Yes. Through the resource system, app usage is already limited. If your child should only spend a certain amount of time with media use in general per day, we recommend a children and youth management app with parental control, e.g., Google FamilyLink.

Yes. You can create multiple profiles for up to 5 children and control them individually.

The app regularly creates an overview of the topics that particularly occupy your child. This summary helps you better understand your child’s interests and possibly continue them in everyday life or learning. It contains no detailed information about the conversation, but an overview of areas of interest.

Yes, Why?! works on all your devices. You can install the app on any number of iOS and Android devices – your once-created adult account authorizes all devices for use. The child profiles are then available everywhere.

Practical examples:

• Family tablet: Install Why?! on a shared tablet that all children can use.
• Multiple devices: Download the app on your smartphone and additionally on the children’s personal tablets.

Flexible, however it suits your family.

Yes, all adults can have full access. Since login is done via one-time codes by email, you can add multiple email addresses to your account. Each adult can then sign in with their own email address and has access to all settings and child profiles.

Currently, Why?! includes German, English (United States and United Kingdom), Spanish, French, and Italian. We are working on supporting additional languages.

This is a great strength of Why?!. One or more languages are enabled for each child. The app responds in the language in which the question is asked. This way, children can also speak languages in which they are not yet completely confident and thereby continue learning that language.

The app works on almost all common devices running iOS (from version 15.1) and Android (from version 7.0). The interface is optimized for both smartphones and tablets.

Yes. Since the answers are generated in real-time by the AI, an internet connection is required.

Why?! is a premium product without advertising. Since AI technology is a valuable and currently still cost-intensive resource, this is reflected in our pricing. However, we ensure that the price-performance ratio remains fair and you receive a high-quality and safe product for your child. Exact pricing details can be found in the App Store or Play Store.

There is a subscription model that enables continuous updates, security, and further development of content.

Yes, completely. Your child will never be distracted or influenced by advertising.