Checked July 2026
The best free AAC apps, and which ones are actually free.
Four of these cost nothing. One is free to install but charges to unlock. One is on nearly every “free AAC apps” list on the internet and costs US$295after a two-month trial. We checked each price against the app’s own listing, and every claim below links to where we got it.
| App | Really free? | Works offline? | Platforms | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weave Chat AAC | Free | Not stated | iOS, Android | 4.7 · 478 |
| LetMeTalk | Free | Yes | iOS, Mac | 3.7 · 99 |
| Cboard | Free | Chrome only | Web | Web app |
| ChatterBoards AAC | Free | Not stated | iOS, Mac | 4.2 · 95 |
| Speech Assistant AAC | Free to install, has purchases | Not stated | Android | 4.5 · 2,990 |
| CoughDrop | Not free · trial only | Not stated | iOS, Android | 3.6 · 59 |
Prices, ratings and platforms read from each app’s own store listing or website on 14 July 2026. They change; check before you rely on them.
Weave Chat AAC
Freeby Weave Chat, LLC
- Price
- Free. No in-app purchases listed.
- Platforms
- iPhone, iPad, Mac (M1 or later), Apple Vision Pro. The developer's site also mentions Android and Kindle.
- Offline
- Not stated on the listing or the site. Assume you need a connection until they say otherwise.
- Symbols
- Multiple symbol sets, selectable. None named on the listing.
The best-rated genuinely free app we found, and the highest-placed on the App Store's own results for “aac”. Colour-coded on the Fitzgerald Key, which is the clinical convention. Built by a speech-language pathologist and an engineer, and the site commits that it is “free and always will be”.
Watch out: The lack of any offline statement is the one real gap, and it matters more in AAC than almost anywhere else.
LetMeTalk
Freeby AppNotize UG
- Price
- Free, financed by donations. No in-app purchases listed.
- Platforms
- iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac (macOS 11+, M1 or later)
- Offline
- Yes. The listing states it needs “no internet connection or mobile contract”.
- Symbols
- Over 9,000 ARASAAC images
The only app here that explicitly promises it works with no connection, which is the thing that actually matters when you are on a bus or a ward. Over 16 languages. Long-established.
Watch out: The lowest rating of the free options, and the interface shows its age.
Cboard
Freeby cboard-org (open source)
- Price
- Free. Open source under GPL-3.0. No paid tier.
- Platforms
- Any modern browser: desktop, tablet, phone. Nothing to install.
- Offline
- Partly. The site states offline support is available on Google Chrome only (desktop and Android).
- Symbols
- Mulberry, ARASAAC and Global Symbols
Nothing to install and nothing to buy, so it is the fastest way to try a board today. A verified Digital Public Good, referenced by a UNICEF project, and available in around 40 languages. Because it is open source, it cannot be taken away or paywalled later.
Watch out: Offline only works in Chrome, so on an iPhone (Safari) you need a connection. Platform support beyond the browser is hedged by the project itself.
ChatterBoards AAC
Freeby Paul Popiel
- Price
- Free. No in-app purchases listed.
- Platforms
- iPhone, iPad, Mac (M1 or later), Apple Vision
- Offline
- Not stated on the listing.
- Symbols
- Around 3,500 Mulberry symbols, 500 Freepik symbols, some ARASAAC samples, plus your own photos
A solid free symbol board with a big library and support for your own photographs, which matters more than stock symbols for real people and places.
Watch out: Last updated November 2020. That is over five years without a release, so treat it as unmaintained: it works today, but nobody is fixing it when iOS changes.
Speech Assistant AAC
Free to install, has purchasesby A-Soft-nl
- Price
- Free to install, with in-app purchases. We could not confirm the amount from the listing, so we are not going to guess it.
- Platforms
- Android
- Offline
- Not stated on the listing.
- Symbols
- Not stated on the listing.
By far the most-reviewed app in this list, and one of very few credible options on Android, where free AAC is genuinely thin. Text-to-speech led, which suits literate adults.
Watch out: It is free to install but it does carry in-app purchases, and the listing does not say what they unlock or cost. Check inside the app before you commit to it.
CoughDrop
Not free · trial onlyby MavWare LLC
- Price
- Not free. Two-month free trial, then US$9 per month or US$295 as a lifetime purchase for a communicator. Supporter access is US$45 one-time.
- Platforms
- iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Vision, Android, web
- Offline
- Not stated on the listing.
- Symbols
- Unnamed “rich symbol set”; LessonPix, SymbolStix and Boardmaker can be added for US$45.
Genuinely good at the thing it is built for: syncing one person's boards across devices and giving a team of carers and therapists shared access. That is a real problem and few apps solve it.
Watch out: It appears in “free AAC app” lists constantly and it is not one. The free part is a two-month trial. We are listing it here so you do not find that out two months in.
How to actually choose
Free is the least interesting thing about an AAC app. These are the questions that decide whether someone still uses it in a year.
Does it speak with no signal?
Only LetMeTalk states this outright, and Cboard manages it in Chrome only. If an app needs a connection to speak, it fails in the lift, the ward and the car. Test it in aeroplane mode before you commit.
Can you get your boards back out?
Months of customisation live in these apps. Look for export to the open .obf or .obz format. Without it, changing app means starting from zero.
Do the buttons stay put?
Motor memory builds on position. An app that reflows the grid when you change its size destroys the speed that took months to build.
Does it have adult words?
Most starter boards are built around snack time and cannot say “leave me alone” or “I am in pain”. If the person is an adult, check the default vocabulary before anything else.
Is anyone still maintaining it?
ChatterBoards has not been updated since 2020. It works now, but an unmaintained app is a countdown.
Questions people ask
Is there a genuinely free AAC app?
Yes, several. Weave Chat AAC, LetMeTalk and ChatterBoards AAC are free on the App Store with no in-app purchases listed, and Cboard is a free open-source web app. What to watch for is the difference between free and free-to-start: some well-known apps are advertised as free but are a trial, after which speech itself stops.
Is there a free version of Proloquo2Go?
No. Proloquo2Go is a paid app, and AssistiveWare's newer Proloquo is sold by subscription. There is no free tier of either. If cost is the obstacle, the free apps on this page are the realistic starting point, and a printed board costs nothing at all.
Can I turn my iPad into an AAC device?
Yes, and it is how most people start. Install an AAC app and the iPad is an AAC device in every practical sense. The distinction that matters is funding rather than function: insurers and Medicaid have historically funded dedicated speech-generating devices rather than general tablets, so if you are pursuing funding the route differs from what you would buy yourself.
How do I get an AAC device for free?
Three routes, in the order worth trying. Print a paper board today, which costs nothing and works immediately. Then install one of the free apps here on a device you already own. Then, if you need a dedicated device, pursue funding through insurance, Medicaid, a school, or a charity grant, which is slow but is how most dedicated devices are actually paid for.
What should I look for in a free AAC app?
That it speaks with no internet connection, that button positions stay fixed so motor memory can build, that the vocabulary suits the person's age rather than only children, and that you can export your boards so years of customisation are not trapped in one app. Free matters far less than not losing the work you put in.
Free today, before any app
A printed communication board costs nothing, needs no device and never runs out of battery. Start there while you work out what someone actually needs. There are boards written specifically for autism, for adults and for a hospital bed. New to all this? Start with what an AAC device actually is.