Ninja BuddyOur story
It started with my son.
Ninja Buddy wasn't planned as a product. I built it for one kid, my son. Everything on this site grew out of that.
One kid, and an app that didn't exist yet
When I went looking for an app for my son, I couldn't find one that would simply wait for a child's answer, take it seriously, and play.
AI toys, communication apps and kids' games each got part of the way there. None put the pieces together.
So I built a buddy that does. Buddy tells jokes and stories, plays sounds and songs, and asks one yes-or-no question at a time. Then it waits. A snap, a spoken word, an accessibility switch or a tap on the screen all count as an answer.
More of his story is coming soon. We'll share more about him here, when our family is ready.
Before we built more
We did the homework first
Once a first version was running, the question changed from "can I build this?" to "what should this be, for a kid like mine?" Kids with disabilities are often let down by technology that wasn't designed for them. So before adding more, we stopped and did the research.
We reviewed the AI toys launched in 2025 and 2026, communication (AAC) apps that families pay hundreds of dollars for, audio games for blind children, story players and therapy robots. We also read published studies on AI, robots, music and communication for children, looking for what worked, what failed, and what nobody had built yet.
That research produced 23 recommended changes. We've built 21; 2 are still to come. Just as important, it told us what not to build.
From one family to many
Why we're sharing it
Somewhere there's another family, or a special education classroom, with a kid who answers in their own way and an app store with little for them. Ninja Buddy will be for them too.
Opening it up means building things one family didn't need, like profiles for several students on one device, which are planned for the classroom launch. It also means a subscription to pay for the AI behind Buddy. Here's the price, why, and what we'll never charge for.
What doesn't change is who it's built around: one real kid. Every decision is still checked against one question: "would this be good for him?"
For every family and classroom
What's built in, and what we promise
A play session, not a friend
Buddy's rules: never claim feelings, never say it will miss your child, and end every goodbye by sending your child to a real person.
Your child's answer counts
A snap counts as much as a spoken word. Buddy is told never to say "try again." When an answer is unclear, it's told to say its best guess and keep playing.
Respect for their age
Buddy is told to praise the way you would someone your child's age: short, real, never gushing. Your child can pick their own celebration sound, like a drum fill, a crowd roar or a guitar riff.
A grown-up stays in charge
You start every session and can stop it any time. Buddy knows what you write or approve, plus short notes from past sessions that you can read and delete. No AI follows rules perfectly every time, which is why a grown-up stays in the room, close enough to hear and step in.
Your child's data, handled with care
Notes, transcripts and logs are stored on your device. To run a session, what you've written about your child and the conversation so far (including short text of your child's answers, never audio) go to Anthropic's Claude API. Afterward, the transcript is sent once so the AI can write short notes. See exactly what's sent. Our promise: no ads, no selling data, and your child's notes are never behind a paywall.
Honest about the evidence
We built on what the research supports and say plainly where it's thin. It's a play app, not therapy. Ninja Buddy hasn't launched yet. Its features are built and checked by automated tests, but most haven't been tried with children yet, so this site describes what each one is designed to do, not results.
Say hello
Questions, ideas, or a kid you think would enjoy playing with Buddy? We'd love to hear from you.