No one's telling them to 'put the phone down', because every time they play, they're helping save a critically endangered language.

A unique Pilbara story has travelled around the world; a story of cultural revival, driven not by textbooks or classrooms but by community, kids and clever technology.

The Nyiyaparli people, whose language was on the verge of extinction, have found a remarkable way to bring it back for the next generation: a smartphone game.

"We keep telling kids to get off their phones, but here's a story where staying on the phone might just help save a language and the cultural knowledge it unlocks," said Leonard Michael Stream, a member of the Nyiyaparli Living Language Project Cultural Working Group.

Nyiyaparli Widi ('widi' means game in Nyiyaparli) flips the smartphone debate on its head. It's not another game keeping kids quiet; it's tool making noise where it matters, preserving culture through language revival.

Nyiyaparli Widi is an initiative of the Nyiyaparli Living Language Project – a community led programme to keep Nyiyaparli Language alive forever. The Nyiyaparli Living Language Project is proudly powered by Karlka Nyiyaparli Aboriginal Corporation RNTBC.

The game launched recently at a time when only eight fluent speakers of Nyiyaparli remain; 18 months earlier, there were 11. Developers say the stakes "could not be higher" - the community is in a serious race to save a way of life and communicating.

Nyiyaparli Widi is a 'game changer' with young kids, and adults, learning their own language as they play and the whole community is engaged. Even for non-Nyiyaparli people the game has the same attraction as many top rating smartphones games kids are playing only this time the kids are learning as they play.

Nyiyaparli Widi launched nationally in conjunction with the recent PULiiMA Indigenous Languages and Technology Conference 2025; the largest Indigenous language conference in the southern hemisphere.

Designed with - and voiced by - the Nyiyaparli community of Western Australia, the game features:

- Real words from the critically endangered Nyiyaparli language

- Real Pilbara locations and sites of Nyiyaparli cultural importance, used as in-game missions

- Voices of Elders passed, Senior Language speakers, parents, and kids

"Paathupaathu Points" (respect points) earned for collecting Nyiyaparli cultural items

Nyiyaparli Widi is now available on the Apple iOS Store and Google Play.