Our honest Furby 2023 review for UK parents: the five voice modes, 600+ responses, the noise, whether it's really 'AI', age suitability, pros, cons and verdict.
📊 Review Score Breakdown
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Furby 2023 Review UK 2026: Is the Reborn '90s Icon Actually Worth It?
Few toys carry as much baggage as Furby. The wide-eyed, fast-talking owl-hamster first landed in 1998, sold in its tens of millions, was briefly banned from a US intelligence agency over fears it might record secrets, and then vanished for the best part of a decade. In 2023 Hasbro brought it back — softer, fluffier and covered in colour-changing lights — and it has been a fixture on UK gift lists ever since. As a site that spends its days with genuinely clever AI companions, we wanted to answer the question parents keep asking: is the new Furby actually "smart", and is it worth your £23?
That tension runs through this whole review. Furby is sold in the same aisle as robots that hold real conversations, yet it is a fundamentally simpler thing — and, it turns out, all the better for it in some ways. Here is our honest, hands-on take on what the 2023 Furby does, where it falls short, and who should buy one.
👉 Short on time? Check the latest Furby price on Amazon UK →
Quick Verdict
The 2023 Furby earns a solid 4.0 out of 5. It is not clever, it is not quiet, and it will not teach your child to code — but it is a wonderfully made, screen-free interactive toy that delivers exactly the giggly, slightly chaotic personality kids want from it. For roughly £23 it is one of the safest gift bets you can make for a 6- to 9-year-old, provided you (and your ears) are ready for a fair amount of Furbish. Buy it for the charm and the imaginative play, not for any illusion of intelligence.
£22.99 (price correct as of July 2026) — Check the latest price on Amazon UK →
Is the Furby 2023 Actually "AI"?
Let us clear this up first, because it is the question that matters most on a site like ours. No — the 2023 Furby is not an AI toy in any meaningful sense. It does not learn, it does not remember your child, and it does not hold a conversation. What it does is listen for a small set of voice cues after you press the heart-shaped gem on its chest, then pick from a bank of more than 600 pre-recorded responses, songs and sound effects. It is a clever piece of interactive design, but the "intelligence" is an illusion — a well-judged one that young children happily fall for.
There is a genuine upside hidden in that simplicity, and it is printed right on the box: this Furby does not connect to the internet. There is no companion app, no account to set up and no microphone streaming audio to a server. For parents who are (reasonably) wary of always-listening connected toys, that is a real plus. Nothing your child says to Furby leaves the room, because Furby has no idea what your child is saying in the first place — it is reacting to sound and touch, not understanding language.
If you want a toy that genuinely converses, remembers and adapts, you are looking at a different category and a much bigger budget — the kind of AI companions we cover in our guide to the rise of AI pet robots. Furby is not trying to be one of those. Judge it as a charming interactive plush and it holds up well; judge it as a robot and it will disappoint.
What Furby Does: Voice, Touch and 600+ Responses
The interaction loop is simple enough for a five-year-old to master in minutes. Press the light-up heart gem on Furby's chest, say "Hey Furby!", and give it a command — or just tickle it, tip it over, cover its eyes or feed the little plastic pizza-shaped tongue sensor, and it reacts. Furby responds to being stroked, shaken, turned upside down and left in the dark, so a lot of the fun comes from children discovering what triggers what.
It speaks a mix of English and "Furbish", its own babble language, and Hasbro quotes over 600 responses across sounds, phrases and songs. That is far more variety than the original ever managed, and it is enough that the toy does not feel like it is repeating itself within the first hour — although, as we will come to, it does start to loop once the novelty settles. Everything is standalone: no phone, no pairing, no updates. Batteries in, and it works.
The Five Modes
The headline feature of the 2023 Furby is that the heart gem unlocks five different "modes", each with its own personality and set of activities:
- Dance Party — Furby plays music, flashes its ears and bops along, encouraging kids to dance with it.
- Copycat — it repeats and mimics, which younger children find endlessly funny.
- Tell My Fortune — a playful fortune-teller routine, all mock-mystical nonsense.
- Let's Chill — calmer sounds and lullaby-ish noises for winding down.
- Light Show — the colour-changing LEDs in its ears take centre stage.
None of these is deep — think of them as five flavours of the same silly, responsive character rather than five separate games — but they do give the toy a sense of variety, and children enjoy calling out a mode and seeing Furby switch gears. Pairing two Furbys together unlocks a bit of chatter between them, which is a nice touch if a sibling or friend also has one.
Build, Lights and Personality
This is where the 2023 model clearly earns its keep over the plasticky older versions. The fur is genuinely soft and pleasant to hold, the face is expressive, and the translucent ears glow and shift colour in a way that looks lovely in a dimly lit bedroom. Our review sample is the purple colourway; there is also a coral version, and both come with a small comb for taming the fur and a beaded accessory. It feels like a £30-plus toy that happens to cost rather less.
The personality is deliberately "sassy" — Furby demands attention, gets grumpy if ignored, giggles, burps and generally behaves like a small, needy pet. Children read that as character and bond with it quickly. It sleeps if you leave it alone for a while, which mercifully means it does not chatter through the night unprompted, and you reset it by pressing and holding the tongue sensor.
What We Like
For its price and its age group, there is a lot to like. It is beautifully tactile, it works straight out of the box with no setup, and it hits the imaginative-play sweet spot for infant and lower-junior-age children — the age at which a toy having opinions and moods is pure magic. Because it is entirely offline, it sidesteps every privacy worry that hangs over connected toys, and there is no subscription lurking behind it, unlike some of the AI robots we review. As a gift it is close to foolproof: almost every 6- to 9-year-old will be delighted to unwrap one, and the brand recognition does half the work.
What Could Be Better
The honest caveats are mostly about living with it. First, the noise. There is no volume control, Furby is loud, and the Furbish loops and catchphrases become grating for adults far sooner than for children. Worse, there is no proper off switch: it dozes off if left alone, but the only way to guarantee total silence — in the car, at bedtime, when you have simply had enough — is to open the battery door, which is secured with a screw for child-safety reasons. Keep a small screwdriver handy.
Second, power. It runs on four AAA batteries rather than a rechargeable pack, and an animated, light-up, music-playing toy gets through them; a set of rechargeable AAAs pays for itself quickly. Third, the long fur looks wonderful but tangles and traps crumbs, so the little comb earns its place. And finally, the intelligence ceiling is real: once a child has heard the main responses and cycled the five modes a few times, the magic can fade, and confident over-nines may decide it is a bit babyish. This is a toy with an enthusiastic first few weeks rather than one that grows with a child for years.
Who It's For
Furby is officially aged 6 and up, and that feels right. The sweet spot is roughly 6 to 9 — old enough to enjoy the modes and the make-believe, young enough that the pre-programmed responses still feel like a real personality. Younger fours and fives will love it too, with the caveat that it is not designed for under-threes: it contains small parts (the comb and beaded accessory) and is not a baby toy.
On safety, the picture is reassuring. The battery compartment is screwed shut so children cannot access the AAA cells, there is nothing sharp, and — the big one for many parents — it is completely offline, with no camera, no internet link and no data collection. The only real "watch-outs" are the volume, which can be a lot for noise-sensitive children, and the fact that, like any plush, the fur needs an occasional brush and should be kept away from water and the youngest siblings' mouths.
If you are weighing Furby against other screen-free options, it sits alongside toys like the Yoto Mini audio player and the Toniebox 2 as a no-screen, no-app gift — though those are calm, content-led devices and Furby is the boisterous, attention-seeking opposite. For more ideas at this age, our roundup of the best AI toys for 6- to 8-year-olds covers the wider field.
Furby vs a Real AI Companion
Because this is AIToys, it is worth being clear about what you are and are not buying. If your child specifically wants a companion that talks back properly, remembers them and genuinely responds to what they say, Furby is the wrong toy and you will both be frustrated. That job belongs to a different, pricier class of product — robots such as the conversational Miko 4 or the desk-friendly Anki Vector, which use real voice recognition and cloud AI (and, in Vector's case, a subscription). Those are the toys doing the clever bit that Furby only pretends to.
Furby's advantage over all of them is that it costs a fraction as much, needs no Wi-Fi, and carries none of the privacy or subscription strings attached. It is the difference between a puppet that charms you and a robot that understands you. For a lot of six-year-olds, honestly, the puppet is more fun — and it is certainly less to worry about.
Price and Value
At around £22.99, the standard 2023 Furby is priced squarely as a mid-range gift, and on the charm-per-pound measure it is good value: a well-made, instantly recognisable, screen-free toy for the price of a couple of paperbacks and a coffee. Prices on Amazon move around, especially near Christmas and Prime Day, so tap through for the current figure rather than trusting any fixed number — we never claim to show the lowest price.
If you want more toy for your money, Hasbro also sells the larger DJ Furby, a snugglier version with over 1,000 light, music and sound combinations and swappable "vibe" glasses, at around £43 — you can check the DJ Furby price on Amazon UK here. For most families, though, the standard Furby does the job for half the outlay.
£22.99 (price correct as of July 2026) — Check the latest Furby price on Amazon UK →
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the 2023 Furby need an app or the internet? No. Unlike the 2016 Furby Connect, the 2023 model is completely standalone — no app, no account and no internet connection. You put the batteries in and it works, and nothing it hears leaves the room.
What batteries does it take, and are they included? It runs on four AAA batteries. Because it lights up, plays music and moves, it works through them fairly quickly, so a set of rechargeable AAAs is a sensible buy. Check the specific listing for whether a trial set is supplied.
Can you turn the volume down or switch it off? There is no volume control, and no simple power switch. Left alone, Furby falls asleep, and holding its tongue resets it — but to guarantee complete silence you need to open the battery compartment, which is held shut with a small screw.
What age is Furby best for? Hasbro rates it 6+. In practice the happiest owners are around 6 to 9. It is not suitable for under-threes as it has small parts.
Is Furby actually a "smart" or AI toy? Not really. It reacts to voice cues, touch and light using a bank of pre-set responses, which feels interactive but is not true artificial intelligence. If you want a toy that genuinely converses and learns, look at dedicated AI companion robots instead.
The Verdict
The 2023 Furby is a triumph of personality over technology, and that is meant as a compliment. It is not clever, it is not quiet, and it will not survive contact with a child who was hoping for a talking robot. But as a soft, glowing, gigglingly interactive plush for a 6- to 9-year-old, it is superbly made, refreshingly offline, and about as reliable a gift as exists. Go in with clear eyes — expect charm, not intelligence, and pack a screwdriver and some rechargeable batteries — and the new Furby is an easy toy to recommend. We rate it 4.0 out of 5.
Related reviews and guides
- 🤖 Miko 4 review — a genuine conversational AI robot, if that is what your child really wants
- 🐾 Anki Vector review — the little desk robot that does the clever bit Furby only imitates
- 🎧 Yoto Mini review — a calmer, screen-free alternative gift
- 📻 Toniebox 2 review — another no-screen favourite for this age
- 📚 Best AI toys for 6–8 year olds — where Furby fits in the wider picture
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