# Tells

> Tells (store name: "Tells: Guess the Language") is a language guessing game for iPhone, iPad and Android by ToneSeed. Players hear a few seconds of a real native speaker or read a single line of text, name the language, and then learn the "tell": the letter, sound or pattern that gives the language away. It covers 138 languages in 30 scripts, has a free daily broadcast of five rounds, and plays offline with no account. Tells Pro is a weekly or yearly subscription.

Tells is built on one idea: every language has a giveaway. ł means Polish. ő and ű mean Hungarian. Sentences ending in ። mean Amharic. Spanish opens questions with ¿. Turkish has a dotless ı next to a dotted i. Every round ends by revealing and explaining the tell, so each answer teaches the player something they can use on the next one.

## At a glance

- Platforms: iPhone and iPad (iOS 15 or later), Android
- Content: 138 languages, 30 writing systems, 89 languages with recordings of real native speakers, 26 face-offs, 17 World Tour regions
- Account: none required; works offline; progress stays on the device
- Category: Games (Trivia, Word)
- Interface language: English
- Developer: ToneSeed (also makes ToneSeed ear training, ToneSeed Fretboard Trainer and Kanji Mosaic)

## How a round works

1. **Hear it** (Ear round): play a clip of a native speaker, optionally slowed down.
2. **Spot it** (Eye round): a line in its own script; tap the letter that gives the language away.
3. **Name it**: tune the station dial to the language and lock in the answer. The tell is revealed either way.

## Modes

- **Daily broadcast** (free): five Ear and Eye rounds, the same for every player each day, with a streak and a spoiler-free shareable score.
- **Survival** (Pro): keep answering until your lives run out.
- **World Tour** (Pro): 17 regions, from First Frequencies to the Silk Road and Pacific Drift, with stars at every stop.
- **Face-offs** (Pro): look-alike languages side by side, e.g. Spanish vs Portuguese, Czech vs Slovak, Thai vs Lao, Mandarin vs Cantonese, Swedish/Norwegian/Danish, American vs British English.
- **Practice** (Pro): unlimited Ear and Eye rounds on Easy, Normal or Hard.
- **Atlas**: every language met lands on a map, with its Ear and Eye tells, a field note and the languages it is often confused with.
- Progression: XP, levels from Tourist to Linguist, daily missions and achievements.

## Pricing

- Free: the daily broadcast every day.
- Tells Pro: all 138 languages, Survival, World Tour, all face-offs and unlimited practice. US $2.99/week or $24.99/year, with a free trial for new subscribers. Local prices vary.

## Sources

- Speech recordings: FLEURS by Google (CC BY 4.0)
- Written samples: hand-written, plus sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR)

## Links

- Website: https://toneseed.app/tells
- Support: https://toneseed.app/tells/support
- Privacy policy: https://toneseed.app/tells/privacy
- Terms of use: https://toneseed.app/tells/terms
- Contact: support@toneseed.app