Toniebox Not Turning On? What Finally Worked for Our Toniebox 2

We discovered the Toniebox and thought it was the greatest thing ever. We were having dance parties, and it significantly reduced requests for screen time. I was ready to buy soooo many figurines (see below for tips on buying them). Then it completely stopped working, and we went a week without it.

I now understand why there is so much outreach to support—because it’s not very apparent or intuitive why it isn’t working when something goes wrong.

There are only so many troubleshooting steps you can take. And I did not take apart the battery because I am a bull in a china shop, and that thing would’ve been broken if I touched it.

Our Toniebox just wouldn’t turn on. I couldn’t reconnect it to the app or change the Wi-Fi. Apparently, it was so dead I couldn’t do anything. I thought I had charged it by plugging it into my computer overnight and then an awkwardly placed wall outlet.

After finally receiving a response from Support and getting ready to move forward with a warranty claim, I plugged the Toniebox into my computer again—and it started talking to me (“You’ll need to unplug me if you want to use me”).

Here’s what I did to get our Toniebox 2 to work:

1. Plug it into a reliable power source using the Toniebox 2 USB-C cable.

2. Split your Wi-Fi band into 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz. We have Cox, and I was able to do this through their website (it’s listed as “not recommended”).

   • The Toniebox needs the slower, longer-range 2.4 GHz connection.

3. Let your Toniebox fully recharge, then connect it to your new 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi network.

Tips for Buying Tonies Figurines:

I didn’t know much about Tonies when I first ordered one, but here’s what I wish I had known:

1. Review the tracklist.

   1. They can be all music, all stories, or a combination. For example, Moana 1 starts with music and ends with the story, while Moana 2 starts with the story and ends with music.

2. Listen to an audio sample to get an idea of what it will be like.

   • I thought I wanted to get Spot’s Fun with Friends, and it was not at all what I was expecting

A week without our Toniebox felt long, but once we figured this out, it was back to daily use. Hopefully this helps another parent avoid unnecessary troubleshooting—or a premature warranty claim.