Welcome to Yoto Player Setup. Whether you’ve just unboxed your Yoto Player or a Yoto Mini, this guide will walk you through exactly how to set it up – quickly, easily, and most importantly stress-free. We love screen-free, playful learning, and the Yoto Player is one of our favourite resources for supporting independent listening and daily rhythm.
This blog is a guide designed for first-time Yoto users. It will include practical tips and troubleshooting ideas to help you get started with confidence.
What Is a Yoto Player?
Let’s cover this off first in case you’ve just stumbled across this blog post. The Yoto Player is a screen-free audio player designed for children (I think it’s suitable for everyone and you can find out why here).
You insert physical Yoto Cards to play music, stories, educational content, and more. You can also play content direct from the app without needing physical cards. There’s also a Yoto Mini, a more compact version perfect for travel but also a great option if you need a more budget friendly player.
With features like a pixel display, sleep sounds, Bluetooth speaker mode, and a huge card library, it’s a brilliant way to encourage independent, imaginative listening. One of the great features of Yoto is the possibility to play many genres of audio content making it universally engaging.
What You’ll Need for Yoto Player Setup
In this post I will go through how to set up your player. If you want to make a quick start then download the freebie below. Or follow along with the instructions on this blog and check out the top tips and other resources to help you get the most out of your Yoto Player or Yoto Mini.
Yoto Player Setup Top Tips
This is the most important step! Do not try to set up a Yoto Player with little people around. This is for your sanity. Setting up a Yoto Player is usually very straight forward but becomes much trickier if you have any ‘little helpers’. You really want to trust me on this one!
Set Up Before Wrapping/ Gifting
Top tip for gifting. If the Yoto Player is a gift do the set up BEFORE you wrap it up and gift it. Luckily, Yoto package the players in such a way as to make this very easy to unbox, setup, repack and then wrap. Your gift receiver will be none the wiser and incredibly happy that their audio box is ready to go straight out of the box.
Free Yoto Player Setup Checklist
Download below the free Yoto Player Setup Checklist to help get you started quickly with your Yoto Player or Yoto Mini Player.
Before you begin Yoto Player Setup, make sure you have:
- Your Yoto Player or Yoto Mini
- A smartphone or tablet with Bluetooth enabled
- The Yoto App (free from the Apple App Store or Google Play)
- A Wi-Fi connection
- Your Yoto Cards (one or two to test)
Skip to video tutorials here.
Step 1: Download the Yoto App
- Search “Yoto” in your device’s app store
- Download and install the Yoto App
- Open the app and create a free Yoto account, or sign in if you already have one
Whilst you are waiting make sure you are familiar with the safety information here.
Yoto Tip: Use an email you check regularly – you’ll get notifications and community updates as well as information on new releases and free content.
Step 2: Power On Your Yoto Player
- Plug in your Yoto Player using the included USB-C cable and charger
- For the Yoto Mini, press and hold the orange button on the side until the screen lights up
- You should see a welcome animation or hear a start-up chime
Step 3: Pair Your Yoto Player with the App
- In the Yoto App, select settings (bottom right corner of the app) and tap “Set up a player”
- Select the correct model (Yoto Player Gen 2, Gen 3 or Mini). If you have just purchased a Yoto Player recently it will be a Gen 3
- Follow the app’s step-by-step prompts for Yoto Player (Yoto Mini below):
Yoto Mini Player:
- This is the crucial part. If all is working OK you’ll enter the code seen on the player and into the app and then be asked to ‘Join’ the Yoto Hotspot – do this.
- The Yoto pixel display should go green and now you need to return to the app. Select your WiFi and enter your WiFi credentials when prompted.
- If all is successful your pixel display should now show a green WiFi symbol. If it is flashing your Yoto needs to do a software update. Let it run – this can take a few minutes.
Once connected, you’ll be able to control your Yoto Player directly from the app. You can even play your content without your player and even without a card!
Not Working – Keep Your Head
I’ve set up lots of Yoto Players and Yoto Minis over the years and from time to time I’ve had a little trouble getting the Yoto to connect to WiFi.
Here are a few tips to try:
- Just repeat the steps again including switching the player off and then back on (this often works)
- Get closer to the router if you can
- If still not working walk away and try again in half an hour! Yes, this has worked so many times!
- Still having problems then it’s worth trying the set up on a different WiFi network (eg. friends/ family)
- Still no luck then check out this Yoto page where you can find more tips and how to contact Yoto
Setting Up a Family Account
This is a wonderful feature for families to ensure that everyone in your ‘family’ can make the most out of their players by sharing content. Shared content includes Yoto Cards and Make Your Own. To set up your family account follow the steps in this post.
Step 4: Insert a Yoto Card to Start Listening
- Insert a Yoto Card into the top of the Yoto Player or Mini
- Your device will download the card’s content via Wi-Fi – depending upon your WiFi speed this can take a little time (do make sure your player is on charge whilst you are doing this and connected to the internet)
- The pixel display will show a simple icon related to the card
- Turn the orange knobs to adjust the volume or skip tracks.
Bonus tip: After the first play and the card has downloaded to the player, cards should be able to be can often be used offline. However, it’s worth checking this to ensure that the card can be played on that device when offline. To check go into the app – select ‘Settings’ (bottom right) – then the player you are using – then look at ‘Audio download status’. You can then look here to see the status of downloads. If you have more than one player you will need to download to each player.
Step 5: Explore the Yoto App Features
Inside the app, you can:
- See all the Yoto Cards linked to your account – click on ‘Library’
- Set bedtime and wake-up timers – you can do this by going into the app – select ‘Settings’ (bottom right) – then the player you are using. Here you can change the settings of your player including volume controls
- Play Yoto Daily, radio stations, and sleep sounds. Click on ‘Discover’ in the app
- Create your own content with Make Your Own (MYO) cards – you can upload files or record directly on the app just click ‘Create’ in the app
Step 6: Personalise Your Yoto Player (Optional)
- Set up a daily routine using the app’s timers – select ‘Settings’ (bottom right) – then the player you are using. Now you can change the settings of your player
- Use the Night Light on the original Yoto Player (tap the top twice) – make adjustments to colour settings and brightness from settings
- Record your own stories or messages using MYO cards – every player purchase comes with your first MYO card. I’d highly recommend purchasing a multi pack of these. You can discover lots of free content options here
Yoto Player YouTube Video Set Up
Yoto Mini Player YouTube Video Set Up
What’s Next? Get Listening!
Now that your Yoto Player is set up, you can start enjoying screen-free stories, music, learning, and more. It’s a fantastic tool for building independence, establishing routines and encouraging creativity.
We’d recommend starting with:
- Yoto Daily for morning fun and facts
- Calm music or sleep sounds at bedtime
- Yoto Club – you can find out all about Yoto Club options here. If you know you are going to purchase Yoto Club do this before the player if your are getting one of the Collector options so you can use the 10% discount off your player. Find player discount codes here.
- Educational cards during home learning or quiet time
Final Thoughts
The Yoto Player is more than a speaker – it’s a screen-free companion that grows with your child. With just a bit of setup, you unlock hours of meaningful, imaginative play.
If you found this guide helpful, share it with a friend or bookmark it for future reference. And don’t forget to check back for more Yoto tips, reviews, and play ideas right here on Busy Busy Learning. We have new Yoto content every month. Do join our friendly Audio player Facebook Group here for all the latest updates.
