App needed for iPad!
I love Sparkle Stories and so do my kids! When I finally decided that it was well worth the money and we could squeeze it into our budget, I found out it's not made to be run on an iPad. They only have an iPhone app. I had to download the phone app onto my iPad and it is a decidedly imperfect interface. Sparkle stories are a five star idea with a 2 or 3 star implementation. The only way I can get my money's worth would be to use my laptop, but the point to audiostories is to disconnect from screen time (for us at least). We read aplenty, but sometimes it's nice to let someone else do the reading! And the content is stellar! Pleeeeease make an app for tablets!
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So hard to sign up
It’s so hard to sign up that you guys lost a customer.. good bye
Love the stories, but the app keeps crashing
We’ve been listening to the stories for years and love being able to support this small business. I can’t even get the app open anymore :( I may unsubscribe from the service now bc it’s been several months without any resolution.
Incredible stories, worth the effort
Sparkle Stories are my favourite source of stories for my children and have been since they were little. The stories mesmerize ages 4 and continue to hold the interest of my 11-year old.
I recommend starting with the Martin and Sylvia series for most children. Then as attention spans develop moving to some of the other stories, including Saturday Sparkle (a great alternative to cartoons! or a foundation for a main lesson if you homeschool). My 11-year-pld engjoys the Violet Crown series and still enjoys some Martin and Sylvia. My favourite, favourite are the By Thistle By Thimble which read like modern-day fairytales with lots of powerful female characters and adventure without violence. You are always safe to know that the Sparkle Stories world will take care of your children: never violent, aggressive, or exploitive, the characters find their way through real-life and bigger-than-life adventure to satisfying endings. At the end your children will be calmer and happier and nicer from listening.
The app leaves a few things to be desired: Searching and sorting are the big ones. It's hard to find and set-it-up so that series (particularly the older kids series) are searchable and then play, in order. The connectivity isn't great (but where I live it's never great) and it's impossible to download most of the stories too.
It's worth it though because once the kinks are worked out, you are left with thousands of the best, riches, and most enjoyable stories you could every want for a family.
I recommend starting with the Martin and Sylvia series for most children. Then as attention spans develop moving to some of the other stories, including Saturday Sparkle (a great alternative to cartoons! or a foundation for a main lesson if you homeschool). My 11-year-pld engjoys the Violet Crown series and still enjoys some Martin and Sylvia. My favourite, favourite are the By Thistle By Thimble which read like modern-day fairytales with lots of powerful female characters and adventure without violence. You are always safe to know that the Sparkle Stories world will take care of your children: never violent, aggressive, or exploitive, the characters find their way through real-life and bigger-than-life adventure to satisfying endings. At the end your children will be calmer and happier and nicer from listening.
The app leaves a few things to be desired: Searching and sorting are the big ones. It's hard to find and set-it-up so that series (particularly the older kids series) are searchable and then play, in order. The connectivity isn't great (but where I live it's never great) and it's impossible to download most of the stories too.
It's worth it though because once the kinks are worked out, you are left with thousands of the best, riches, and most enjoyable stories you could every want for a family.
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Decent app for fantastic stories.
I’m a huge fan of Sparkle Stories and so is my 5-year-old. We use this app daily on my iPhone 6 with very few issues.
Navigation, once you get the hang of it, is ok. We listen exclusively almost exclusively to Martin and Sylvia right now, so I wish there were an easy way to browse ALL of those series under a main M&S heading. But! I know where to find things when I need them, now that I’ve been using it for awhile. I can adapt. :)
My main issue is with the “offline” / storybox mode, which, with an upcoming car trip, is bugging me. For example: if we are at home, with wifi, stories load right away and stream with no problem. But if I put a story in our storybox and try to play it in the car, it takes just as long to load as if I were streaming from the car - several minutes. Which, when you think of what was possible just 10 or 15 years ago or even 25, when I was a child? It’s amazing. But what’s not amazing is waiting and waiting for something you’ve supposedly synced (or is it synced? I’m not clear on the logistics) to load. My biggest hope is for an improvement in this area.
We’ve never had an issue with the app crashing or starting stories over or anything else. They play beautifully once loaded. Thank you for all the work you’ve put into this app!!
Navigation, once you get the hang of it, is ok. We listen exclusively almost exclusively to Martin and Sylvia right now, so I wish there were an easy way to browse ALL of those series under a main M&S heading. But! I know where to find things when I need them, now that I’ve been using it for awhile. I can adapt. :)
My main issue is with the “offline” / storybox mode, which, with an upcoming car trip, is bugging me. For example: if we are at home, with wifi, stories load right away and stream with no problem. But if I put a story in our storybox and try to play it in the car, it takes just as long to load as if I were streaming from the car - several minutes. Which, when you think of what was possible just 10 or 15 years ago or even 25, when I was a child? It’s amazing. But what’s not amazing is waiting and waiting for something you’ve supposedly synced (or is it synced? I’m not clear on the logistics) to load. My biggest hope is for an improvement in this area.
We’ve never had an issue with the app crashing or starting stories over or anything else. They play beautifully once loaded. Thank you for all the work you’ve put into this app!!
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Amazing stories HORRIBLE app
I have been buying apps for many years and never written a review, that is how terrible the app is. The stories are truly amazing, sweet and gentle. The first issue is the app constantly crashes. Instead of being able to open the app and begin where you left off, like most apps, you must start all over by opening up the app and then searching for the story, which can be very difficult to find. Simply hitting pause can cause the app to freeze and need to close the app and start over. This also happens if you need to slide the back or forward bar to hear a part of the story again or skip a part of the story. We use this in the car and rely solely on the app. Although we love the stories I am not sure if I will continue using sparkle stories. The app hasn't been updated in 11 months, it's time to completely redo the app. Please!
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Love the stories, app is terrible
App crashes immediately on load. Hot garbage.
App needs work
The stories are awesome, but once you close the app, you lose your place; it doesn’t remember where you left off. SUPER ANNOYING!
❤️ Sparkle Stories
More Martin & Sylvia stories, we love them. And more Junkyard Tales, we love them, too!
Great app for kids
Positive, engaging and entertaining stories that my 5.5 year old daughter absolutely loves!!!
