How to use Anan

Open Anan and choose where to start

Anan is a web app — there is nothing to buy and no app store needed. Open it, and a friendly start menu lets everyone go straight to what they need.

1. Visit anan-aac.pages.dev on a phone, tablet, computer or interactive whiteboard.
2. On the welcome screen, tap Continue (it reads "Continue as guest" until a carer signs in — the communicator never needs an account). Carers and clinicians can tap the Sign in pill at the top to unlock their toolset.
3. On the start menu, choose Talk (the communication board), Boards, Type, Learn, or I need… for quick & urgent words.
4. Tap ⚙️ Set up & accessibility to choose a theme, button size, voice and access method — or just start talking and adjust later.

Make a message, then say it out loud

1. Tap picture tiles — each word is added to the message bar at the top.
2. Press the big green Speak button to say the whole message aloud in a natural voice.
3. Press Show to display the message full-screen in large text — perfect for a noisy room, a partner who is hard of hearing, or any time reading works better than sound. Tap anywhere to close.
4. Tap a word in the message bar to re-speak just that word; press and hold it to remove it.
5. Delete removes the last word; Clear empties the bar — and an Undo appears straight away if you cleared by mistake.

Find more words across boards

Core words (the words we use most) are always front and centre. Themed boards hold people, food, feelings, places, animals and more. Two boards sit right after Core to make conversation faster: Quick chat — whole social phrases that speak the moment you tap them (Hi, Thank you, My turn, I love you) — and Describing — the words that turn a request into a comment (it’s hot, that’s funny, too loud).

1. Use the tab strip under the message bar to switch boards.
2. Quick chat speaks a full phrase instantly — ideal for fast greetings, manners and turn-taking. Describing words are added to your message so you can comment, not just request.
3. Tap the pinned Boards button (top-left of the tabs) to open the all-boards overview — every board as a big card, one tap to jump there. No endless scrolling.
4. Search any word. In the overview, type into the search box to find a word across every board (e.g. “butterfly”). Tap a result and Anan jumps straight to that board and gently highlights the tile — handy for carers and anyone still learning where words live.
5. Add your own words and photos in Settings → Vocabulary editor (see Profiles & Report below).

Type to talk, with smart help

1. Open Type from the start menu or the top bar.
2. Tap keys to write — word prediction suggests the next word as you go, getting smarter the more it is used.
3. The optional talking keyboard speaks each letter as you type and the whole word at each space — great for emerging spelling and reading.
4. Press Speak to say it, or Add to board to drop it into your message.

Gentle, no-pressure practice

The Learn area has friendly activities for communication and early literacy — listening, first sounds, building words, reading, sorting and sentence-building. There are no wrong answers: every try is encouraged and the answer is always shown.

1. Open Learn and pick an activity.
2. Choose whether letters are voiced as sounds (for decoding) or names at the top.
3. After spelling a word, tap Add to message to use it in real conversation — bridging practice into communication.

Change word forms (he/she, -ing, past, plurals, bigger/biggest)

1. Press and hold (or right-click) a word to open its grammar forms — the base word is always first.
2. Green action words give tense and person — eat → eats / eating / ate. Orange thing-words give plurals and belonging — dog → dogs / dog’s.
3. Blue describing words give comparison and emphasis — big → bigger / biggest / very big / too big, good → better / best. This turns simple requests into rich comments (“that’s the loudest”, “I’m very tired”, “it’s too loud”).
4. Using a keyboard or switch? The same forms are reachable too — press the down arrow on a focused tile, or open the menu while scanning.

Switch & auditory scanning

Anan supports switch users end-to-end — including those with low vision or CVI.

1. In Settings → Access method, choose 1-switch (auto-scan) or 2-switch, and set the scan speed.
2. Turn on Speak the scan so each group and word is read aloud as the highlight lands — scan by ear, no need to watch the screen.
3. Everything is reachable by switch: the board, message bar, boards overview, grammar menus and the Undo prompt.

Themes, size, contrast & voice

Set Anan up to suit the communicator's eyes, hands and preferences — in Settings → Display and Voice & sound.

• 6 themes: Madagascar · Calm · Midnight (dark) · Ocean · Sunset · Mono (neutral)
• Button size S–XL
• High contrast
• Reduced motion
• Easy-read font
• Voice, speed & pitch
• Clear-after-speaking (fast turn-taking)

One device, several communicators

1. Open Settings → Communicator profiles.
2. Add a profile for each person — each keeps their own words, settings, voice, history, learning progress and photo, all separate.
3. Tap a profile to switch. A communication lock can hide the caregiver tools so settings aren't changed by accident, while the board and voice stay fully active.

NDIS / clinical report

Turn everyday use into evidence for plan reviews and AT assessments — all generated on the device.

1. Open Settings → Clinical report.
2. See most-used vocabulary, language composition, and a Literacy & learning progress summary.
3. Add notes, then Print / Save PDF or Export CSV. Nothing leaves the device to make the report.

Add Anan to your device

1. Open anan-aac.pages.dev in your browser.
2. Choose Add to Home Screen (or Install) from the browser menu — it then opens like any app, even offline.
3. On iPhone & iPad: open the site in Safari, tap the Share button, then Add to Home Screen. (Apple installs apps this way, not as a download.)
4. Once installed, press and hold the app icon for quick shortcuts straight to “I need” urgent words or Type — handy in a hurry.
5. On Android you can also install the packaged app.