Ello Reviews

Name: Ello
Address: 2447 Mission St., San Francisco, California
Rating: 4.85

4.9 Rating 498 Reviews

96 %

of reviewers recommend Ello

4.9

Based on 498 reviews

Shipping & Delivery
Delivery Methods	Postal Service
On-time Delivery	100%
Customer Service
Communication Channels	Live Chat, Email, Telephone

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Email:

support@ello.com

Location:

2447 Mission St.,
San Francisco
California
94110

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Anonymous

Anonymous // 01/01/2019

Filter: Rated 3 None 5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Stars Helpful Language: Any Any

English

“I love how Ella prompts phonics skills while working with the child to learn to read a word that's difficult. I also like that the stories are interesting and that there's lots of options. I'm a homeschool mom to four kids and I don't always have time to read side by side with my young readers as much as I'd like. This is a great option. But I was sad to see that the app is not just for reading and that it's very gamified. Instead of reading my kids are choosing to watch a lot of videos, they're creating books with Ello, which sounds nice but it's just a means for clicking around in the app rather than reading. Also the rewards for finishing books take up a lot their time. We're a low tech family and I'd rather my kids get bored doing a hard reading lesson with ello after ten or twenty minutes than spend ten minutes actually freaking and another forty "gaming" around on the app. I understand how this might insentivize the child to want to use the app but I actually think it's not helping them to read more it's a distraction from the reading and is simply building an appetite for more screen time, which lets face it the research is clear, screens are just not what are kids need more of/any of. So while I appreciate the concept at its core of ello I feel it went a little off course with some of the side features, and I'm not sure I'll keep using it, which is a bummer.”

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Posted 5 days ago

“I love that this is something independent for my struggling reader to do to improve but I don’t have to hover, opening up time for me to do my tasks. However, I do feel that it’s not necessarily grading what he is reading. There’s times that he hasn’t finished the story and it’s done. There’s also times that he’s misread words and it didn’t address it. Also, would love for the program to self adjust instead of me having to figure out where he needs to go.”

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Posted 1 month ago

Hi Cheri, Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us! We’re thrilled to hear that Ello is providing your struggling reader with some independence, but we understand your concerns about grading and the need for it to adjust automatically. We do move kids through a scope and sequence, and you should be able to access the parent portal to get a parent report regarding progress. Of course, kids can get distracted while reading, which may impact results, so parents can adjust the level manually as well. We also offer support to help with placement if you need it through our support team. One thing our reading specialists advised as we built Ello with them was not to correct every error. This may be a surprise for parents, but literacy specialists know that correcting every error will frustrate kids. While we will bring kids back to review words they miss at the end of the page, we won't do this for every error, but this is purposeful. We are surprised to hear about the issue with the book not being completed. Please do reach out to support@ello.com so we can help! Warm regards, Team Ello

Posted 1 month ago

“I like the app to get my kiddo reading but i dislike how long it takes to get updated progress reports. I wish it was in real time. I got an email saying hes at 10 books but when i log in it still shows 3, which is frustrating. I tried reaching out via text like it says and still havent got a response.”

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Posted 2 months ago

Hi Adrianna, We wish it updated faster too! We know how important it is for parents and kids to see progress in real time and to celebrate those reading wins as they happen. And I’m really glad to hear Ello is helping get your kiddo reading. That’s exactly what we’re here for. Our engineering team is actively working to speed up the processing time for progress reports. Right now, due to high demand, it can take up to a day for updates to reflect, and we know that’s frustrating. Your feedback helps us prioritize this even more. I’m also really sorry you didn’t get a response when you reached out. I see a text reply on our end, so will look into what went wrong. Thank you for taking the time to share both the good and the not-so-good—we’re always working to get better.

Posted 2 months ago

“My daughter (7) uses ello. She was struggling with her fluency: pronouncing words wrong, mumbling, and not using appropriate volume. Ello has helped her work on all of these issues & made her more excited to read than ever! She is highly motivated by the stars and unlocking new outfits. As a mom, and English teacher, I’m happy to see her excited over things that aren’t just games. It’s a perfect combination of entertaining and educational.”

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Posted 3 months ago

“The audio input features seems to have delay linked to the childs pronounciation. When 'x' child read a word correctly the app delays to capture the input more time than when 'x' child pronounce the same word incorrectly. Something like it was first capture incorrectly, then it wants to capture it incorrectly again.”

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Posted 6 months ago

Hi Alfredo, thank you for your feedback on the audio input features. We understand how important accurate pronunciation capture is for helping children learn effectively. We're actively working on improving the speech recognition daily. We also may be able to help on the support side! Please reach out to support@ello.com, and we can help troubleshoot your issue. If you have any more suggestions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us at support@ello.com. We're here to help and want to ensure Ello is a valuable resource for your child's reading development. Thanks again for your input! Best, The Ello Team

Posted 6 months ago

“My kids have really been enjoying Ello and I have seen improvement. I wish that at the beginning of the books when they introduced tricky words and went over how to say them that the full word would be there visually for the kids and then how to say the word. My other concern is that sometimes words get skipped over because it registers that word is being sad and my kid hasn’t said anything.”

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Posted 8 months ago

Hi Brittney! Thank you for your thoughtful review. We're thrilled to hear that your kids are enjoying Ello and showing improvement—it's always wonderful to see progress! We appreciate your suggestions about displaying tricky words visually at the beginning. Visual aids can definitely enhance understanding, so we'll take this into consideration for future updates. Regarding the issue of words being skipped, we understand how that can be frustrating, especially for young readers. We are constantly working to improve the accuracy of our voice recognition, and your feedback is invaluable in helping us refine that feature. If you have any more thoughts or concerns, please feel free to share them with us at support@ello.com. We're here to help and want to ensure that your experience with Ello is the best it can be. Thanks again for your feedback! Best, The Ello Team

Posted 8 months ago

“Overall it’s a great app wish there were more book selections to choose from. The library isn’t huge and for a reader like my daughter we may go through all the books !”

Helpful Report

Posted 11 months ago

Hi Dana! Thank you so much for your review. There are over 700 books in the Ello library. You will notice that Ello puts forward specific books for a child to read at their specific level that focus on a particular skill. However, once those books are complete, the next set unlocks. This controlled journey assures that your child is mastering specific phonics and literacy skills in an evidence-based progression. You can always access other books in the library outside the quests by scrolling down on the home screen. I hope this helps!

Posted 11 months ago

“It does seem like it will be helpful but there are some glitches in the app where it skips ahead of what he has read or when he touches a word for help it closes it out before sounding it out and we have to touch the word over and over”

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Posted 1 year ago

“Hello, I am new to Ello and I bought it because of the good reviews. Today my son read the first book but when he made a mistake, Ello continued reading and did not correct him. I'm going to continue trying it because my son likes it but be very careful with mistakes.”

Helpful Report

Posted 1 year ago

Dear Fernanda, Thank you so much for your feedback on Ello! We really appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts with us. Speech recognition (as you might know from Alexa or Siri) isn't perfect. We walk a delicate balance between not wanting to be SO strict that a slight accent or difference in pronunciation results in Ello getting stuck or detecting an error, and also not wanting to be so lenient that it lets kids through with a ton of mistakes or doesn't correct a mistake. Kids are particularly sensitive to the first --no one likes to be told they are "wrong" when they aren't-- so we lean a bit more lenient. Ello is always there for kids (via the question mark) when they want help, and we never interrupt them during reading to correct an error. Teachers don't do this either. We wait until the end of the page and then have them go back if we think they missed a word. The bottom line is this: we think about the experience holistically. Ello is motivating support that will correct them on errors (although not all errors, by design), is always there to help if a child proactively asks for it, and motivates them to keep going! Ello uses best practices to ensure we strike the balance between ensuring kids learn from errors and keeping them motivated and engaged. If you ask reading specialists, they will tell you that when they sit with a child during their reading, they do a few things when it comes to errors: • They give them wait time. Ello allows kids to ask for help when they need it, but we never hurry them along. • They don't interrupt them when they make errors - they let them finish the page. Ello has a feature where at the end of the page, we will have your child go back to review words they miss. While they can ask for help anytime, we won't interrupt them while they are reading. • They don't correct every error! This one may be a surprise for parents, but literacy specialists know that correcting for every error will frustrate kids. While we will bring kids back to review words they miss at the end of the page, we won't do this for EVERYerror, this is purposeful. Keep your eyes on the big goal - building confident, enthusiastic readers. Our exciting motivation, evidence-based coaching, and thoughtful timing of support will get them there! Remember: if a child is reading at the right level, they should only be making a few errors on every few pages. More than that might mean the books are too hard! Please don't hesitate to reach out to us at support@ello.com if we can help or adjust the level. Warm regards, Elizabeth (Co-founder and CXO)

Posted 1 year ago

“I like the idea, but am not sure how happy I am with the digital version. We were mailed books before (and love it), but switched to digital. My dyslexic daughter can’t use the tools her tutors have taught her to follow along while reading as they involve touching the word (if you touch the word it pulls up Ello to help- which gets very frustrating for her). We also miss the classic familar books that we use to get mailed us. I understand writing your own books, but they are not quite the same- plus she can’t use them towards her AR goal at school, so we are having to supplement other books on top of these. I see where you are going, but think it still needs work.”

Helpful Report

Posted 1 year ago

Dear Mandi, Thank you so much for taking the time to share your feedback with us here at Ello! We greatly appreciate hearing from our customers. I wanted to share with you that we do still have a subscription option that includes physical books. Our current subscription offerings include a digital-only subscription and a digital and physical books subscription. With the digital and physical books subscription, you have access to all the digital books in our catalog, as well as physical books that you receive in the mail (just like you did previously!). If you would like to switch to the model with physical books, we can help! Just reach out to support@ello.com and we will get you set-up! Happy reading :) Elizabeth, co-founder and CXO

Posted 1 year ago

“I do wish there was a way to have a parents section, where you would be able to see where your child had the most difficulties. Otherwise it has been a great tool for our family.”

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Posted 1 year ago

Hi Ashtin! We sent a weekly parent report that shares information about your child's progress each week. We are working on putting this information into a parent section of the app as well. I hope this helps!

Posted 1 year ago

“I would give the program itself a 5. My 5 year old loves reading with Ello even more than library books. She’s excited every time she advanced to the next level and gets a new set of books. I would give the app though a 2. It freezes A LOT and we have to shut it down and restart it. It’s very frustrating.”

Helpful Report

Posted 1 year ago

Hi Shelby! Thank you so much for taking the time to share your feedback about Ello. We truly appreciate it. The experience you are having with the app is definitely not the one we want you to have. We suggest trying to update the app to see if it is helpful (the app does not automatically update). If you continue to have issues, please contact support@ello.com so we can help troubleshoot. If you ever have any questions or need assistance with anything, please don't hesitate to reach out to us. We are here to help and make your experience with Ello better. Thank you again, Shelby! We are grateful to have you as part of the Ello community.

Posted 1 year ago

“Great App for children struggling to read. The Application needs more setting options accessible to the users. The text message customer service is great, but would like to make the adjustment myself. I dislike that I am not able to edit interest in the child account once it's been created. Interest change and will like more variety.”

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Posted 1 year ago

“My 7 year old loves Ello! He looks forward to reading, which has been a struggle. It doesn’t follow his voice as well as I wish, it expects him to read faster than he does, and it picks up background noise advancing to the next word(s). The videos at the end of each book are exciting for him. He does look forward to getting stars but that has fallen short when there are limited options to use the stars on. He gets discouraged when most clothing items are so far out of reach (etc. 1000 points).”

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Posted 1 year ago

“I love the idea. I just wish the app wasn’t so glitchy. It’s had my son read the same book 3 times for no credit and then gave him 2x credit for a book he read only once. Seems inconsistent with guidance. The elephant is glitchy when talking at time. I literally reset the tablet and bought a headset to make sure it wasn’t on our end—definitely the app. Would love to see updates happen. Not sure how long I’ll keep it.”

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Posted 1 year ago

“It's such a cute idea and so far I love it. The only recommendation on change or review for the company is that my daughter learned there is a way to skip the words so she gets through the book really fast. Also, I was excited that she got two decorate her own elephant and then later was told I cannot because I didn't have an iPad. If they would have told me this before I purchased it, I would have gotten an iPad. The app is the only reason I purchased a tablet.”

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Posted 1 year ago

Ello is rated 4.9 based on 498 reviews