🧑🏫 AI tutors and tutoring · 💬 Chatbots and assistants · ➗ Math apps and platforms
Rori
By Rising Academies. Visit Rori
Desk research from the maker's own pages. Not yet tried by us. Checked 2026-10-24.
A free math tutor that runs inside WhatsApp, made by Rising Academies, a school network working with governments in West and East Africa. A student sends 'Hi' to Rori's number, agrees to start, answers a few questions about themselves, and then gets short lessons, practice questions and instant feedback that adjust to their level. It is aimed at students behind grade level in Ghana, Sierra Leone, Kenya, Rwanda, Liberia and The Gambia, but anyone with WhatsApp can try it.
Our take: A promising, evidence-backed free tutor for children in its target countries; families elsewhere, or with kids under 13, should weigh the WhatsApp rule.
| Ages it suits | grades 3-9, plus adults relearning basics |
|---|---|
| What its terms say about age | Rori's own pages state no age rule. WhatsApp's terms say users must be at least 13 (or older where local law requires) to use it on their own. (terms) |
| Price | Free. Free; needs WhatsApp and mobile data (Oct 2026). |
| Works on | Android, iPhone and iPad |
| Account | The child's own account |
| Ads | Not stated |
| In-app purchases | None |
| The AI in it | A chatbot tutor that reads free-form answers, gives hints and feedback, and grounds its replies in its own curriculum using retrieval-augmented generation. |
What's good
- Free and works on basic smartphones
- Real randomized study behind it
- Short, focused lessons
- Built with African classrooms
Watch for
- Needs WhatsApp, which is 13+
- No privacy notice specific to Rori found
- Curriculum fits African schools, not US ones
- Gives the answer after repeated misses
Data and privacy
The privacy policy linked from Rori covers Rising's website and Bambai app and does not describe the WhatsApp chats Rori collects; messages also pass through WhatsApp. Read the privacy policy.
Does it work?
A University of Oxford and J-PAL study of about 1,000 students in grades 3-9 at 11 schools in Ghana found that two 30-minute Rori sessions a week for 8 months raised math scores (effect size 0.36); the authors call it early, first-year evidence.
In the Big Index
- Rori
- The maker in the who's who: Rising Academies (Rori)
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Where these facts come from
- https://www.risingacademies.com/
- https://www.risingacademies.com/oursolutions
- https://www.risingacademies.com/impact
- https://www.risingacademies.com/privacy
- https://rori.ai/
- https://rori.ai/about
- https://rori.ai/get-rori
- https://rori.ai/learning-outcomes
- https://www.whatsapp.com/legal/terms-of-service
Prices, terms and features change. Nobody paid to be listed, nothing here is an affiliate link, and Peabody never rates itself. Where we and the maker disagree, the maker's own pages are the ones to trust.