Checking cards is always free
Make your own cards, step by step.
Milvo copies the link from your own Yoto MYO card onto a blank NFC card. It shows you every step in plain words — from making the playlist to the moment the new card plays. No account, nothing to set up, nothing you can break.
For iPhone, with Android coming soon. For the grown-up holding the phone — Milvo is an independent app, not affiliated with or endorsed by Yoto Limited.
- Guided, one step at a time
- The wrong card is never touched
- Your first card is free
What the app shows: card A, then card B, then the tick.
How it works
Three steps. The app shows you each one.
You don’t need to know how the cards work inside. Milvo asks for one thing at a time, tells you what to do next, and checks that it worked.
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1
In the Yoto app
Make a playlist
Put your own recordings, stories or songs into a Make Your Own playlist and link it to your MYO card. Milvo shows you what to do there and waits while you do it.
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2
In Milvo
Copy it onto a blank card
Hold your MYO card to the back of the phone, then the blank card. Keep the blank one there until the app says it’s done — a few seconds.
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3
At the player
Put it in the player
The first time, your MYO card has to show the playlist to the player — a few seconds in the slot. The app shows you how. After that, the new card plays like the original.
The first time a playlist goes on a player
A copy plays only a playlist the player already knows — and only your MYO card can introduce it. So, once on each player:
- Connect the player to Wi-Fi and put your MYO card in. A cloud appears, then it starts playing.
- Wait a few more seconds, then take the MYO card out. The player now knows this playlist — and you can always check in the Yoto app whether the player already sees it.
- Put the new card in. It plays.
Using the cards on another player too — at the grandparents’, say? Show it the MYO card once as well.
Tip · listening without Wi-Fi
For the car or a trip: leave the player switched on, plugged in and on Wi-Fi, with no card in, for a few minutes up to a quarter of an hour. It downloads the playlists it knows, so the cards play without Wi-Fi too. You can follow the download in the Yoto app. Not needed for the cards to work at home.
The next card is quicker
Once you know the steps, you don’t need them spelled out again. Choose “Clone, no instructions” in the app: hold your MYO card, then a blank one, done. Making the playlist and showing it to the player stay the same — you just do them without the app walking you through.
See it
What it looks like.
A short walkthrough, from the home screen: checking a card, then the two taps that copy a Yoto card onto a blank one. It is a screen recording with captions, shortened where the app waits, and the cards you see sliding in are drawn for illustration.
What you are watching
- A card checked first — free, and the app only reads it
- The MYO card held to the phone — it stays exactly as it was
- The blank card held to the phone until the app says it’s done
- The confirmation, and the step where the new card goes into the player
Before you start
What you need.
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An iPhone or an Android phone
Recent iPhones and most Android phones can read cards. If yours can’t, Milvo tells you on the first screen. Milvo is on the App Store for iPhone, and the Android version is in closed beta.
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Your MYO card
The Make Your Own card from Yoto. The app calls it card A. Milvo only reads it — it stays exactly as it is, and you can use it again and again.
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Blank cards
Plain cards or stickers, bought in packs. The app calls each one card B. Only one kind works — see what to buy.
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Your own audio
Recordings, stories, songs — files you have, put into a Make Your Own playlist in the Yoto app.
Before you buy blank cards
Most “NFC cards” won’t work.
The player plays only one kind of blank card, and it is not the kind most shops show first. This is where people lose money — so look for these words in the listing.
Blank cards must be MIFARE Ultralight EV1 48 bytes (MF0UL11). NTAG213/215/216, Ultralight EV1 128 bytes, Ultralight C and MIFARE Classic do not work in the player.
When they arrive, the app checks each card for free before it writes anything. A wrong card is never touched — you only lose the time to send it back.
Already bought a pack? Check what it says
What does the packet say?
It is usually in the title or the first line of the listing.
Start here
Pick what the packet says.
Or skip the guessing: the app checks a card in about a second, for free, and changes nothing on it.
Only one kind works — worth knowing before you order fifty.
Nothing to break
You can’t ruin a card by getting it wrong.
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The wrong card is never touched
Before it writes anything, Milvo checks what kind of card it is holding. If it’s the wrong kind, nothing happens to it, and the app shows you where to get the right one.
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You know it worked
Before you lift the new card, Milvo checks what’s on it. A green tick means the card is right — not that the app hopes so.
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A failed try costs nothing
It never uses up your free card, and the app never asks you to fix anything by hand.
Lifted the card too early?
Nothing is broken. Hold it to the phone again — the app starts that card over and finishes the job. Wherever it happens, the app says the same thing:
Hold it there again — nothing is broken
For the curious: what happens inside the card
A card for the player is a plain NFC tag carrying one link. Making a card means copying that link from your MYO card onto a blank tag — and proving it arrived.
The chip answers first. Every write starts with GET_VERSION. If the answer is not MF0UL11, no write command is sent, and there is no “continue anyway” button. This matters because one part of a tag (the capability container) can be written only once and never taken back.
Whole pages, never a patch. Writes land one 4-byte page at a time, and a page lands whole or not at all. Milvo writes every page on every attempt, so an interrupted card is simply unfinished, and the next attempt overwrites it completely.
One session. Identifying the chip, writing and reading back happen while the card stays on the phone. The result is compared byte for byte with what was meant to be written; a mismatch is reported, never rounded up to success.
Nothing assumed. Every hold starts by reading the card again — the app never trusts what it remembers from the last attempt. The one confirmation dialog in the app is for stopping a write that is already running.
Privacy
No account. No tracking.
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Nothing to sign up for
No email, no password, no login. You open the app and start.
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No ads, nobody watching
Nothing about you or your child is measured, profiled or sold.
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Works without internet
Copying a card works in aeroplane mode. Only the player needs Wi-Fi.
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Playlist names are optional
To show a playlist’s name, Milvo can look it up on Yoto’s public page for that card. It’s a switch on the first screen; with it off, the app never goes online. Privacy policy.
Pricing
One payment, or none at all.
Checking cards is always free and unlimited. Your first card is free. After that, a one-time purchase unlocks unlimited cards — there is no subscription.
Start free
Free no account
- Checking cards, as often as you like
- Your first card, start to finish
- A card only counts once it has been made and checked — a failed try never does
Unlock the rest
One payment price shown in the app
- Every card after the first one
- Paid through Google Play or the App Store — we never see your card details
- New phone? “Restore purchase” brings it back
Android beta
Help us test Milvo on Android.
The Android version is in closed testing. If you have a Yoto player and an Android phone, we would love your help — you try the app for free, and tell us what is unclear.
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What you need
An Android phone with NFC, a Google account, and ideally a Yoto MYO card and a blank card of the right kind (see what to buy). No blank card? You can still try checking cards.
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What we ask
Install the app and keep it on your phone for 14 days. Open it a few times, try a card if you can, and tell us if anything confused you. You do not need to use it every day.
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Test purchases cost nothing
Buying the unlock during the beta is a test purchase: it works like the real thing but nothing is charged to you.
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Your email address
You join through Google Groups, so Google handles your sign-in. We can see the address as the group’s owner, use it only for this test, and remove everyone when it ends. Details.
Questions
The things people ask first.
What is a MYO card?
It’s the “Make Your Own” card from Yoto. In the Yoto app you link it to a playlist of your own audio. Milvo copies it onto blank cards, so the same playlist can live on more than one card — a spare, one for each child, one for the car.
Do I need to be good with technology?
No. The app asks for one thing at a time and tells you what to do next, in plain words. If a card doesn’t play, it asks what the player does and suggests the fix — or writes the email to us for you.
How long does it take?
Copying a card takes a few seconds. Making the playlist in the Yoto app takes as long as adding your files. The first time on each player, the MYO card needs a few seconds in the slot.
Where do I buy blank cards?
Online, in packs. Look for “MIFARE Ultralight EV1 48 bytes” or “MF0UL11” in the listing — this link (opens in a new tab) takes you to the right search. Cards sold simply as “NFC cards” are usually the wrong kind.
My new card shows a red stop sign. Is it broken?
No. The card is fine — the player hasn’t seen this playlist yet. Put your MYO card in the player until it starts playing, wait a few seconds and take it out. From then on the copy plays. How that works.
If the player doesn’t react to the new card at all, it’s probably the wrong kind of card. The app checks it for free.
Can one MYO card make cards for different playlists?
Not at the same time. A copy follows its MYO card: link the MYO card to another playlist and its copies follow it. Keep one MYO card per playlist.
What if I change the playlist later?
Your cards don’t need to be made again. If you keep the playlist downloaded for listening without Wi-Fi, leave the player to download it again, as in the tip.
Will the cards play without Wi-Fi?
Yes, once the player has downloaded the playlist. Leave it switched on, plugged in and on Wi-Fi, with no card in, for a few minutes up to a quarter of an hour; you can follow it in the Yoto app. It’s optional — at home, on Wi-Fi, the cards play without it.
Can I reuse a card that already has something on it?
Usually, yes, if it’s the right kind. Milvo shows you what’s on it and asks before replacing it. A few cards locked by other apps can’t be changed — the app tells you instead of trying.
Why don’t ordinary NFC cards work?
The player plays only one kind of card, and ignores the rest. That’s the player’s choice, and no app can change it. The kind most shops sell first (NTAG215) is the most common mistake.
Do I need an account, or internet?
No account with us at all. You do need your own Yoto account to make the playlist — that part happens in the Yoto app.
Copying a card works offline. The only optional connection is looking up playlist names, and it’s a switch you can leave off.
Is there an iPhone version?
Yes. Milvo is out for iPhone, and an Android version is coming soon. On an iPhone the card reader is at the top edge, so hold the card there.
How do refunds work?
Through the store you bought it from, under that store’s own refund policy — we never take your payment details. Google Play handles the first 48 hours itself, and on the App Store you ask Apple; if that doesn’t work out, write to us and we will sort it out: help@milvocards.com.
Our own policy is on the terms page, in plain words.
Is this made by Yoto?
No. Milvo is an independent app with no connection to Yoto Limited — not affiliated, not endorsed, not sponsored. We mention the player only to say what the app works with.