Tatikati

Screen-free stories for curious kids — a podcasts app parents trust.

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Inspiration

As a dad of two young boys, I wanted them to enjoy stories the way I did as a child — through imagination, not screens. But most podcast apps are built for adults: full of distractions, ads, and interfaces too complex for kids. That’s why I created Tatikati — to offer children a safe, calm, and screen-free way to explore audio stories, while giving parents peace of mind.

What it does

Tatikati is a podcast app for kids with features designed specifically for families:

  • A Kid Mode with voice navigation and a black screen during playback, to promote mindful listening
  • Curated playlists by theme, age, and emotion
  • A Parent Mode to manage favorites and control access
  • An interface accessible to all ages, combining simplicity, warmth, and a touch of magic

How we built it

  • I developed the entire project solo, using Swift 6 and SwiftUI on iOS
  • The Composable Architecture for clean, predictable state management.
  • The backend is built with Vapor (server-side Swift)
  • GRPC/Protobuf for efficient communication
  • PostgreSQL as the database.
  • Everything runs on Railway, with a focus on scalability, privacy, and performance.

Challenges we ran into

  • Metadata chaos: most podcast RSS feeds are inconsistent, especially with episodes and seasons — requiring smart parsing logic to group stories correctly.
  • UX for kids: designing a flow that even a 3-year-old can navigate intuitively was a challenge in accessibility and empathy.
  • Concurrency and reliability: ensuring perfect synchronization between the iOS client and the Swift backend with async/await and GRPC.
  • Finding the right tone: balancing a magical childlike world with a modern, premium design for parents.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

  • A delightful Kid Mode that parents describe as “peaceful and empowering”
  • A fully native Swift stack, from mobile app to backend
  • Partnerships with inspiring podcast creators who share our educational and imaginative values
  • A design that makes listening feel like entering a cozy, timeless space

What we learned

  • Building for children is about trust, clarity, and emotion — every color, word, and gesture matters.
  • Server-side Swift (Vapor + GRPC) is powerful, elegant, and production-ready.
  • Crafting a meaningful product requires patience, research, and constant iteration with real users — especially kids.

What's next for Tatikati

  • Introducing personalized recommendations and parental dashboards
  • Expanding partnerships with creators to bring more high-quality stories
  • Exploring internationalization to make Tatikati available to families worldwide
  • Building a community around Tatikati — uniting parents, educators, and audio creators who believe in the power of imagination and storytelling
  • Empowering creators with better visibility, fair compensation, and new ways to connect with their audience

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