123 Words — Instruction Manual

1. First Launch

Every time the app starts you'll see a splash screen for about two seconds before the first word appears. This gives kids a clear signal that the app is loading.

The launch screen — dark navy with 1·2·3 tiles

The dark navy background and the three coloured tiles match the app icon, so children recognise it immediately. The screen dismisses on its own — no tap needed.

2. The Main Screen

After the splash, the first word appears. Every element of the screen has one job.

The main screen — word, picture, tiles, and buttons

Top Bar

ABC · title · Settings

Control	What it does
ABC button	Toggles between UPPERCASE and lowercase letters. Tap once — all tiles and text switch instantly.
123 Words (title)	Display only — no tap action.
VOX button (top right)	Opens the Voices picker so you can change the reading voice.

Word Picture

Each word has its own picture — AI art, emoji, or system icon

Pictures come from three sources (see Word Pictures for details). AI-generated images float gently up and down while the word is displayed.

Letter Tiles

One tile per letter — the middle letter is highlighted during spelling

The word is always three letters. Each letter has its own rounded tile. During the Spell animation each tile lights up brighter as its letter is spoken.

Buttons

Play speaks the word; Spell names each letter

Button	What it does
🔊 Play	Speaks the whole word in one go. Tap again to replay.
A\| Spell	Says each letter in sequence while the matching tile pulses brighter.

3. Swiping for a New Word

Swipe anywhere on the screen — left or right — to jump to the next word. The background colour changes with every word, keeping the experience visually fresh.

← swipe →

New word, new colour

The word is also spoken automatically when it first appears (after a short pause), so children hear the word without needing to tap anything.

Tip for parents: The word order is random each time, so children encounter new words every session without repetitive patterns.

4. Hearing the Word — Play

Tap the Play button to hear the word spoken clearly. The app uses the device's built-in text-to-speech engine, so the voice quality is high and the pronunciation is natural.

You can tap Play as many times as you like — each tap replays the word from the start.
The word is also spoken automatically when a new word appears (0.6 second delay).
To change which voice speaks, tap the VOX button — see Voices.

5. Spelling the Word — Spell

Tap Spell to hear each letter spoken one at a time. As each letter is said, its tile briefly brightens so children can follow along visually.

Each tile lights up as its letter is spoken

After all three letters have been spelled, the full word is spoken as a recap — so the session for each word ends with the complete pronunciation.

Learning sequence: Swipe → word is spoken automatically → tap Spell to hear letters → tap Play to hear the word again. No reading required — everything is audio-driven.

6. Uppercase / Lowercase

Tap the ABC button in the top-left corner to toggle between capital and lowercase letters. The change applies instantly to the tiles.

Mode	Tile display	Best for
ABC (uppercase)	W · I · G	Early learners seeing letters for the first time
abc (lowercase)	w · i · g	Kids who know capitals and are learning lowercase forms

The setting is not saved between sessions — the app always opens in uppercase so it's consistent for the youngest readers.

7. Word Pictures

Every word has an image. Pictures come from three sources, shown with a badge if you flip them over.

Source	Badge	Description
AI-generated	AI	Custom illustration created with DALL-E 3 specifically for this app. These images float gently while displayed.
OpenMoji	Emoji	Open-source emoji artwork (openmoji.org). Clean, colourful, recognisable.
SF Symbol	Symbol	Apple system icons, used as a fallback when no other image is available.

Revealing Image Provenance

Place two fingers simultaneously on any word picture to flip it over. The back of the card shows:

The source badge (AI / Emoji / Symbol)
A short description of where the image came from

Tap anywhere else, or two-finger tap again, to flip back to the picture.

Note: The floating animation on AI images is intentional — it signals to children that the picture is "alive" and relates to the word being shown.

8. Choosing a Voice

Tap the VOX button in the top-right corner to open the Voices picker. You can choose from any text-to-speech voice installed on the device.

The default voice is the system default English voice.
Additional voices can be downloaded in Settings → Accessibility → Spoken Content → Voices.
Higher-quality (Enhanced / Premium) voices sound more natural and are recommended for young learners.
Your chosen voice is remembered between sessions.

For best results: Download the Enhanced or Premium version of an English voice. On iPhone: Settings → Accessibility → Spoken Content → Voices → English → choose a voice → tap the download icon.

9. Parent Controls

A hidden settings area gives parents access to configuration options. It is protected by a tap sequence that young children are unlikely to discover by accident.

Unlocking Settings

While viewing any word with 3 or more letters, tap this exact sequence within 8 seconds:

1st letter tile → Spell → 3rd letter tile → Play → 2nd letter tile

Example — if the word is CAT: tap C → Spell → T → Play → A.

Important: As soon as you tap the first letter tile, all normal functions (speech, swipe) are locked until the combo succeeds or the 8-second window expires. This prevents a partial combo from disrupting the child's session.

Settings Options

Setting	Description
Word List	View all words in the app, see which ones have images, and browse the Image Gallery.
Image Gallery	A filterable grid of every word image. Filter by All / AI / Emoji / Symbol / Missing. Useful for checking coverage and image quality.
Parent Onboarding	Re-read the welcome guide that explains how the combo works and what each button does.

Image Gallery

The gallery shows all ~220 words with their images and provenance badges. Use the filter tabs at the top:

All — every word
AI — AI-generated images only
Emoji — OpenMoji images only
Symbol — SF Symbol fallbacks
Missing — words with no image (target: zero)

Use the search bar at the top of the gallery to find a specific word instantly.

10. Word List

The app includes over 220 three-letter words chosen for clarity and child-friendliness. The list covers:

Category	Examples
Animals	ant, bat, bee, cat, cow, dog, elk, emu, fox, hen, jay, owl, pig, ram, yak
Body & People	arm, ear, eye, lip, man, men, rib, toe
Food & Drink	bun, fig, ham, jam, oat, pie, rye, tea
Nature	dew, elm, fog, ice, ivy, mud, oak, sky, sun
Objects & Tools	axe, bag, bin, box, bus, can, cup, jar, jug, key, kit, lab, oar, urn
Actions & Play	dig, hop, jog, run, ski, tap, zip
Other common words	big, few, hot, new, old, red, wet

Words are presented in random order each session. The random order is re-shuffled each time the app launches, so each session feels different.

Excluded words: Words that could be offensive, confusing, or age-inappropriate (e.g. gun) have been deliberately omitted.

Quick Reference

Gesture / Control	Action
Swipe left or right	Go to next word
Tap Play	Hear the whole word
Tap Spell	Hear each letter, then the whole word
Tap ABC	Toggle uppercase / lowercase
Tap VOX	Open voice picker
Two-finger tap on picture	Flip to see image source
Tap 1st letter → Spell → 3rd → Play → 2nd	Unlock parent settings