On a phone or tablet

1. Open cogitolearning.com in Safari. This does not work in Chrome on an iPhone.
2. Tap the share button at the bottom — the square with an arrow pointing up out of it.
3. Scroll down the list and tap Add to Home Screen.
4. Tap Add at the top right.

The Cogito icon is now on your home screen with your other apps.

1. Open cogitolearning.com in Chrome.
2. Tap the three dots at the top right.
3. Tap Add to Home screen or Install app — Chrome uses both names.
4. Confirm.

Lessons your child has already opened keep working when the connection drops. This matters in a car, on a train, or when the internet is simply having a bad day.

1. Already opened on this device: works offline.
2. Never opened on this device: will not work — there is nothing saved to show.

If you open something that was never saved, you will see a page saying You are offline. rather than a browser error. That is expected.

Lesson videos and the helper need a connection. Work your child does offline is kept on the device, and if you are signed in it is backed up to your account the next time the app is opened with a connection.

On a phone or tablet the menu on the left is folded away. Tap the ☰ button (three lines) at the top left of the blue bar to open it.

Inside a lesson, tap Chapter 3 (or whichever chapter it is) at the bottom right. It lists every lesson in the chapter and the check at the end, with All courses at the foot. Tap Close to go back to the lesson.

On a wide laptop screen the same list sits in a column beside the lesson, with This lesson at the top: the parts of the lesson you are in. Tap one to jump to it. The highlight follows as you scroll.

A tablet or a laptop, if you have the choice. Lessons have things to tap, move and shade, and on a small phone screen a young child’s finger covers what they are trying to touch. A phone works perfectly well — it is just harder.

A phone keypad has no minus key. When an answer can be below zero, a +/− key sits beside the number box: type the number, then tap it.

Adding Cogito to the home screen opens it without the browser address bar, which makes it harder for a young child to wander off to something else by accident. It is not a lock, but it helps.