Yep. I think the names themselves are quite unambiguous to boot. A variable is something that varies in value, meaning it can be changed. A value is always that same value; 5 is never 6. Pretty straightforward if you ask me.
I'm guessing the parent is just complaining that if you are reading code very fast (particularly if you're browsing repositories on your phone) it is hard to distinguish between "val" and "var."
In many cases, you would get warnings when accessing a var that you don't get when accessing a val. Also, IntelliJ suggests converting to val if a var is never reassigned.