# Caribu by Mattel — Read, Draw, Play on Videocall

> Interactive video calls for families with books, games, and drawing activities. (iPhone/iPad app by Mattel, Inc..)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/caribu-by-mattel/id763451959 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [Mattel, Inc.](https://appshunter.io/developer/365039495)
- Category: Entertainment, Education
- Price: Free with in-app purchases
- Rating: 4.40/5 from 8,827 App Store ratings · 299 written reviews indexed
- Age rating: 4+
- Requires: iOS 15.1 · 114 MB
- Languages: American English
- Released: 2014-01-04
- Data updated: 2026-08-26
- Monetization: freemium
- User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/caribu-by-mattel/id763451959/reviews.md

## What is Caribu by Mattel?

Caribu (by Mattel) is the award-winning app that brings families together for interactive, educational, and entertaining virtual playdates! 

Caribu has created video calling for families with a library of thousands of books, activities, games, and coloring books that will keep children engaged for hours. On Caribu video calls, families can draw, read bedtime stories, solve puzzles, play memory and learning games, make recipes, use digital sticker packs to create new stories, and even view famous artwork together in a real-time video call, no matter how far apart you are. 

Families across 200+ countries and territories connect on Caribu for immersive and activity-rich kids & family video calls, encouraging fun and educational screen-time. 

Each Caribu Unlimited plan is a Family Plan - when you subscribe to Caribu Unlimited, access to all of our features (video calls, stickers, coloring books, learning games, storybooks, etc…) will be shared with your contacts. 

KEY FEATURES
• Video calling for kids & family
• Read books and draw in coloring books with your kids or grandkids in an engaging video call
• Thousands of great and award-winning children’s books and many more added weekly
• Paint, color, and draw together without the mess
• Use digital stickers to create new stories or dress up Barbie
• Play learning games such as tic-tac-toe, word search, and learning puzzles
• Cook together and enjoy child-friendly recipes
• A wide variety of coloring sheets including everything from wild animals to learn the alphabet
• Books available in multiple languages (in order of quantity): English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Creole, Chinese, Hebrew, and Hindi. 
• Search by Categories like Age Group, Grade Level, Fairy Tales, Animals, Art, Cooking, and many more 

THOUSANDS OF STORIES TO READ TOGETHER
Hear giggles and share smiles when your little one sees their favorite characters, like:
• Thomas & Friends
• Daniel Tiger
• Barbie
• Wheels on the Bus
• Goldilocks and the Three Bears
• Highlights
• Slumberkins
• Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star
• Peter Rabbit
• Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs
• The Wizard of Oz
• AND MANY MORE

TURN VIDEO CALLS INTO FAMILY ACTIVITY TIME
Enjoy Caribu’s constantly updated interactive activities section where you and the kids can color unicorns, dinosaurs, puppies, and draw on blank canvases to calm the kids and make memorable art together over video calls. Paint family masterpieces without the mess and cleanup.

PLAY GAMES TOGETHER WITH THE KIDS
Check out the activities section for coloring sheets or to solve interactive word puzzles and compete in word searches and tic-tac-toe to strengthen memory and attention for kids, grandparents, and the whole family. Check out our digital sticker packs and use them to dress up Barbie or create new worlds and stories! 

CELEBRITY READ ALOUD VIDEOS ON-DEMAND
When family and friends aren’t around for a virtual playdate, kids can watch celebrities read their favorite books in our Video section. The Read-Aloud videos are on-demand so kids can watch whenever they want. We have Kevin Jonas, LeVar Burton, former NFL Players, Television Actors, Puppets, and more. 

Web: mattel.com/caribu

Caribu - Bringing Families Together In Virtual Playdates

If you have any feedback, we’d love to hear from you: ask.caribu@mattel.com
————————————————————

Privacy Policy: https://shop.mattel.com/pages/privacy-statement
Terms of Service: https://shop.mattel.com/pages/terms-conditions

Caribu Unlimited: Subscription automatically renews unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24-hours before the end of the current period. Users will be charged for renewal within 24-hours prior to the end of the current period.

## Key features

- Interactive video calling
- Read books together
- Draw and color digitally
- Play learning games
- Use digital sticker packs
- Cook with child-friendly recipes
- Thousands of children's books

## Pricing and in-app purchases

Base price: Free.

**Subscriptions**

| Subscription | Price | Period |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Caribu All Access (Legacy) | $6.99 | per month |
| Caribu All Access Yr (Legacy) | $67.99 | per year |
| Caribu All Access (Legacy) | $6.99 | per month |
| Caribu Unlimited (Monthly) | $9.99 | per month |
| Caribu Unlimited (Yearly) | $79.99 | per year |

**One-time purchases**

| Purchase | Price | Type |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Caribu Unlimited Day Pas | $2.99 | one-time |


## What do users think of Caribu by Mattel?

Overall sentiment: positive

**Pros**

- 🤗 Great way to stay connected with family
- 👍 Fun and engaging activities for kids
- 📚 Wide selection of books and stories
- 🎨 Collaborative drawing and coloring
- 🕹️ Interactive games like tic-tac-toe
- 🤝 Enables quality time between grandparents and grandchildren

**Cons**

- 🐛 Frequent crashes and freezes
- 🔌 Connectivity issues and sync problems
- 💰 Expensive subscription model
- 📱 Compatibility issues with older devices
- 🕰️ Slow performance and lagging
- 🤯 Disruptive in-app rating prompts

**Commonly reported bugs**

- Video call functionality not working
- Pages not loading or displaying correctly
- Inability to sign in or reset password
- Unexpected app crashes during use
- Drawings and activities not syncing properly
- Incompatibility with certain device models

**Most requested features**

- Add more books and content variety
- Improve syncing and page turning between users
- Introduce a free tier with limited features
- Develop a web-based version for desktop use
- Allow users to disable in-app rating prompts
- Enhance the drawing/coloring experience

## Recent user reviews (10 of 299)

All indexed reviews: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/caribu-by-mattel/id763451959/reviews.md

### 4/5 — Question

*2026-08-10, version 4.1.6*

I use this with my kid when she’s at her Dads and we love it. She loves the barbie and princess stories. Can you guys add a call log?

I switched to Caribu after using Kinzoo Together app. The coloring pages, mazes, and sticker scenes are way better. However, Kinzoo allowed you to easily scan in your own books and had a better selection of two player games like: chutes & latters or, guess who… Id def keep my subscription longer if you guys added these things.

### 2/5 — Major errors with certain features

*2026-08-04, version 4.1.6*

There are some big oversights in how this was made. First of all, the Barbie sticker dress up doesn’t function like it should. Some of the sleeve arms are in the wrong place and don’t match Barbie’s pose. And all bottoms hide her hands. Most of the pants match a different pose, so it doesn’t fit. It’s like you took many assets and assumed it would fit on one paper doll. They don’t. Some are made for other doll images of Barbie. One pair of jeans won’t even get big enough for her to wear!  The plus size doll, Harper, cannot fit in the pants as they just put Barbie sized stickers. This dress up is the main thing I was interested in. Also a second complaint is why can’t you write in the workbook? Why is there a Barbie writing the alphabet workbook that you can’t use. It tells you to trace the letters… no pen is available in this mode. I’ll edit with other problems. Okay, new problem. In coloring, you can’t stay in lines but that’s okay especially if your intent is to teach motor skills for kids. But a bad problem is there are no skin tones. There are two browns, but if you use brown hair and brown skin on a character you may be forced to use the hair color for the skin? No peach or tan skin tones. How can you color Barbie then? And no pale pink, blue or green for the monster high characters like Frankie and Draculaura. It’s impossible to color them. And I’d like some monster high books or videos, it’s only coloring pages. But you could also add more characters like Twyla, Cleo, Lagoona, Toralei, etc. But would I reccomend this? Kinda. I didn’t try video chat so I’m reccomending a single player perspective. If your kid likes to read it’d be a great book subscription. It has many Barbie Books, many American Girl ones and all from wellie wishers. Literally all the chapter books. Overall Good if the kid likes Barbie, Polly Pocket, Monster High, He-man, etc. anything from Mattel. Even has the retired enchantimals. But bad for dress up and little artists

### 2/5 — Major errors with certain features

*2026-07-30*

There are some big oversights in how this was made. First of all, the Barbie sticker dress up doesn’t function like it should. Some of the sleeve arms are in the wrong place and don’t match Barbie’s pose. And all bottoms hide her hands. Most of the pants match a different pose, so it doesn’t fit. It’s like you took many assets and assumed it would fit on one paper doll. They don’t. Some are made for other doll images of Barbie. One pair of jeans won’t even get big enough for her to wear!  The plus size doll, Harper, cannot fit in the pants as they just put Barbie sized stickers. This dress up is the main thing I was interested in. Also a second complaint is why can’t you write in the workbook? Why is there a Barbie writing the alphabet workbook that you can’t use. It tells you to trace the letters… no pen is available in this mode. I’ll edit with other problems. Okay, new problem. In coloring, you can’t stay in lines but that’s okay especially if your intent is to teach motor skills for kids. But a bad problem is there are no skin tones. There are two browns, but if you use brown hair and brown skin on a character you may be forced to use the hair color for the skin? No peach or tan skin tones. How can you color Barbie then? And no pale pink, blue or green for the monster high characters like Frankie and Draculaura. It’s impossible to color them. And I’d like some monster high books or videos, it’s only coloring pages. But you could also add more characters like Twyla, Cleo, Lagoona, Toralei, etc. But would I reccomend this? Kinda. I didn’t try video chat so I’m reccomending a single player perspective. If your kid likes to read it’d be a great book subscription. Good if the kid likes Barbie, Polly Pocket, Monster High, He-man, etc. anything from Mattel. Even has the retired enchantimals.

### 5/5 — Amazing!!

*2025-12-17, version 4.1.6*

Great app

### 5/5 — Amazing

*2025-07-22, version 4.1.6*

I don’t have this app anymore cause I’m older now but I still wanted to write a review so I got this app when it was COVID and I loved it you can call your freinds and play games and read books! You can also call your freinds while playing games! It’s great for kids

### 1/5 — you need to pay for literally everything. not free.

*2025-06-02, version 4.1.5*

Every single thing I try to do in Caribu needs to be payed for. You guys are greedy. I know you’d say to contact you guys but I’m not allowed to I’m only a kid!! Now make at least some stuff free but please tone down the paid stuff. I hate Caribu.

### 5/5 — We play together

*2025-03-15, version 4.1.5*

My work often takes me away from home and trying to stay connected with my 5 year old is tough. I’m grateful this app allows us to play things together while we video call! Play dates have become a staple of our days. I worry we will exhaust all the content soon!

### 1/5 — Update

*2025-02-16, version 4.1.5*

I try to use this app but every time I do it says update now but when I go to AppStore it crashes

### 1/5 — Not Grandparent Friendly Sign-up

*2024-12-05*

The invitation to family prompts that people make an account and pay money. It’s been confusing for all of the grandparents. This email invitation is super dishonest. It could be  easier so that Mattel doesn’t  “accidentally”get some sign ups from old people. For shame, Mattel. You could do a much better job. The product itself might be fine, but confusing grandparents to make money is so unacceptable.

**Developer response:** Sorry for the delay, our reply didn't post. We definitely don't want to cause any confusion or unnecessary subscriptions. If this happened by accident, please email ask.caribu@mattel.com and we'll take care of that right away. We'd also love to hear some more specifics as to what steps caused confusion so we can work on resolving that so it doesn't happen again. Thank you and we look forward to hearing from you.

### 1/5 — Pay to play only

*2024-11-09, version 4.1.5*

I wish this app had been more upfront about the fact that you have to pay for a subscription to use any of the games or calling/messaging features. How disappointing it was to discover that.

## Frequently asked questions about Caribu by Mattel

### What is Caribu by Mattel?

Caribu is an award-winning app designed to bring families together through interactive video calls. It offers a library of thousands of books, activities, games, and coloring pages that children can engage with in real-time during video calls with loved ones.

### What are the key features of Caribu?

Key features include video calling for kids and family, the ability to read books and draw in coloring books together during calls, a vast collection of children's books, digital painting and drawing tools, sticker packs for creative storytelling, learning games like tic-tac-toe and word search, and child-friendly recipes.

### How much does Caribu cost?

Caribu offers a freemium model. While some features may be accessible for free, full access to all features, including unlimited video calls, stickers, coloring books, learning games, and storybooks, is available through a Caribu Unlimited subscription plan.

### What devices is Caribu compatible with?

The app is designed for families across over 200 countries and territories, suggesting broad compatibility with mobile devices that support video calling and app installations. Specific operating system requirements are typically found in the app store listing.

### What are some common use cases for Caribu?

Common use cases include reading bedtime stories to grandchildren, drawing and coloring with faraway family members, playing educational games together to strengthen memory and attention, and using sticker packs to create new stories or dress up characters during video calls.

## Version history (last 5 releases)

### 4.1.6 — 2025-06-12

Thank you for using Caribu! We strive to update Caribu regularly with bug fixes and performance improvements so you can always have the best Caribu experience.

### 4.1.5 — 2024-10-07

Thank you for using Caribu! We strive to update Caribu regularly with bug fixes and performance improvements so you can always have the best Caribu experience.

### 4.1.4 — 2024-09-04

Thank you for using Caribu! We strive to update Caribu regularly with bug fixes and performance improvements so you can always have the best Caribu experience. This update squashes a bug where activities were not opening correctly for some users.

### 4.1.3 — 2024-08-28

Thank you for using Caribu! We strive to update Caribu regularly with bug fixes and performance improvements so you can always have the best Caribu experience.

### 4.1.2 — 2024-04-26

Thank you for using Caribu! We strive to update Caribu regularly with bug fixes and performance improvements so you can always have the best Caribu experience. This update includes improvements to calls across devices.

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*Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-08-26.*