Help us test DecodiVerse

DecodiVerse makes custom, printable storybooks with decodable text. Every story is built on the Science of Reading and checked word by word against the reading step you choose for your child. It's not meant to replace good teachers and engaged parents, but to be another tool in the toolbox. All stories are designed to be printed so your child never has to touch a screen.

For the tech- and privacy-minded: DecodiVerse uses AI models from Google (story writing and safety checks), Anthropic (story writing) and OpenAI (illustrations). Everything we keep is stored in DecodiVerse's own Google Cloud project. The AI providers get only what each story needs, and none of them uses it to train their models. We don't sell your data, use it for advertising or show ads.

The only things we ask about your child are a first name (optional) and a reading level. You can also add story preferences, such as places they'd like stories set or things they love, like magical creatures or construction vehicles. Their first name is never sent to the AI models. The preferences are, so please leave out last names and anything else that identifies your child. Before a story topic goes anywhere, even our safety check, we automatically remove details like email addresses, phone numbers, street addresses and school names. The details are in our privacy policy.

Every story requires a prompt written by a grown-up, so it's not meant to be an app that can be handed off to a kid and left alone. Each story comes with a reading guide up front to help parents prepare their children, along with a summary of the skills used and some questions to ask your child at the end of the story.

I've worked very hard to make sure this isn't another vibe-coded AI slop app, and I absolutely need some help to make sure this is and remains true. So how do we do that? Good question!

Specific feedback helps tremendously. “This is great!” is nice, but it's not all that helpful in figuring out what someone really liked about the app. Alternatively, “This is terrible!” isn't nearly as helpful as “I hate this app because X, Y, and Z.”

More specifically, I have two big questions I've been wrestling with:

1. Progress tracking: I don't want the app or the process to be a source of stress, so I tried to keep the progress tracking very simple and light. The icon in the upper right next to the name shows the highest reading level the child has completed. I considered tracking progress more closely with rewards, but it seems like for every happy kid who gets a star, there are probably a couple feeling stuck and frustrated. But kids do love rewards and gold stars, so I'm definitely open.
2. SoR rule rigidity: This was one of the trickiest problems. It turns out there aren't actually that many decodable words, especially in the earliest reading levels, and rigidly adhering to decodable best practices tends to result in the same few stories over and over. After watching my daughter's eyes instantly glaze over when I shoved a new story in her face, I started making the rules a bit more flexible. The stories got better, but they also started to get a bit more difficult as more tricky words started creeping in. I have a tiny bit of flexibility built in now, but I would love to hear thoughts from educators and other parents.

1. Right below every new story, there's the option to leave a thumbs up or a thumbs down, along with some free text feedback. Press Send feedback to save it (a thumb on its own isn't sent). Entering your quick, honest thoughts after you finish a story is tremendously helpful, and I will read all feedback myself.
2. You can also email me directly at info@decodiverse.com and I will do my best to follow up as quickly as possible.