Getting started

You land on the Home screen: a message bar across the top, and six areas of tiles below it.

Each tile adds its word to the bar at the top. The bar is the message — real communication even before you press SPEAK, and the completed message stays visible whether or not it is ever spoken.

A few urgent tiles (like YES, NO, STOP) also speak the moment you tap them, and still add themselves to the bar.

For a word that isn’t a tile, tap ABC. Choose a letter group, then letters. Suggestions appear as you go — tap one, or tap ADD to add the word. Tap HOME to return; your message is kept.

Tap 123 for digits, units and time. Build the number, tap ADD, then HOME.

Tap SPEAK to say the whole bar aloud. Speaking doesn’t erase it — the message stays so you can add to it.

DELETE removes the last word. UNDO reverses your last change. CLEAR empties the message.

A keyboard needs no setup — SPACE and ENTER are the select button.

To use a Bluetooth remote or adaptive switch: pair it in the tablet’s Bluetooth settings. Kalam does not pair devices itself. Once connected, most remotes behave like a keyboard — Kalam recognises Space, Enter, and the number keys 1–3. If none of its buttons work, use “Set up switch” in the gear menu.

Space and Enter always work as a fallback.

Just press the switch. The first press after opening the board starts the scan automatically — there’s no “start scanning” button to find.

A highlight ring moves in two steps: first area by area — press on the area you want, and the highlight then moves tile by tile inside it. Press again on the tile to select it. After a selection the highlight returns to the start, so the next choice is predictable.

Open the gear menu and pick slow, medium, or fast. This is the setting you’ll reach for most, so it’s right there in the quick menu.

Have the person make a few real selections before you rely on it. Overshooting? Slow it down. One press being counted twice, or a twitchy switch? See “Other scan settings” below.

Stop any time from the play/pause control in the sidebar, or press ESC on a keyboard.

Tap the gear button, then “Open caregiver editor.” Two deliberate taps — that’s the only protection, so the patient can’t wander in, but you’re never locked out.

On the Board tab, tap any editable tile. Change its label (shown, up to 20 characters) and its spoken output (said, up to 60). Layout, positions, and action buttons are fixed on purpose — you change what a button says, never where it is.

Put real names on the people tiles, and the person’s own frequent phrases where the defaults don’t fit. Save each tile — a brief “Saved” confirms it. Leaving with unsaved changes asks before discarding.

On the Settings tab: choose which screen Kalam opens on (Home, Spell, or Numbers), and drag the Label size slider until words look right, using the live preview.

On the Saved words tab, add the person’s own vocabulary so it surfaces as suggestions on the Spell screen — real accelerators for the words they actually use.

Before handing over, tap through the urgent and daily tiles and press SPEAK. Confirm each says the right thing. If a tile is silent, see Troubleshooting.

After customising the board, go to Settings → Backup → Export. You get a kalam-backup file holding all your customisation. Because Kalam does not keep a cloud copy, save it somewhere separate from the tablet.

Accept the install prompt (on iPad: Share → Add to Home Screen). Then launch it once from the home-screen icon so it caches everything — from then on it opens full-screen and works offline.

With Kalam installed and opened online once, turn on airplane mode and open it again. Home, Spell, Numbers, your saved message, and all settings should load. Then press SPEAK to check the voice offline too — on some devices the voice needs installing for offline use (see “The voice disappears offline”). If speech doesn’t work offline, the completed message still shows in the message bar.

On a new device, open Kalam → Settings → Backup → Import → choose your backup file. Kalam shows a summary first (customised tiles, saved words, language) and only replaces the setup after you confirm. Then install and test offline on the new device.