# Critical Friend — Critical thinking ages 7-14

> Critical thinking ages 7-14 (iPhone/iPad app by Matthew Phillips.)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/critical-friend/id6760961503 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [Matthew Phillips](https://appshunter.io/developer/1887048391)
- Category: Education
- Price: Free with in-app purchases
- Age rating: 4+
- Requires: iOS 26.2 · 15 MB
- Languages: American English
- Released: 2026-04-28
- Data updated: 2026-07-22
- User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/critical-friend/id6760961503/reviews.md

## What is Critical Friend?

Critical Friend is a thinking companion for ages 7–14. Powered by AI, it uses the Socratic method to ask the questions that help children think more deeply, about their homework, about the news, about the world around them.

A conversation that goes somewhere
Every pathway starts with a warm, curious question and builds into a genuine exchange of ideas. Critical Friend never lectures and never gives the answer. Instead, it listens, challenges, and helps your child find their own conclusions.

My Thinking documents
After a conversation, children can create a My Thinking document — a beautifully designed PDF that captures their thinking journey. Add a title, a cover photo, photos of completed work, and share it straight to a teacher or keep it as a record of learning. It's the kind of thing you'll want to stick on the fridge.

Seven pathways to deeper thinking
— Homework: talk through completed work and understand it more deeply
— News: make sense of the world and develop media literacy
— Experience: reflect on a trip, event or moment that mattered
— Activity: design a game or activity around something you love
— Reading: explore a book chapter by chapter
— Image explore: photograph something interesting and follow the ideas wherever they lead
— Daily challenge: a fresh thinking prompt every day

Built for children, trusted by parents, loved by teachers
Critical Friend is designed with child safety at the centre. There are no ads, no social features, and no data sharing. Parents have their own dashboard to review every conversation, manage profiles, and set limits.

Flexible pricing
Five free conversations per child per month — enough to explore. Upgrade to Premium for unlimited thinking across up to five children, or add a conversation top-up whenever you need it.

https://www.criticalfriend.app/terms
https://www.criticalfriend.app/privacy-policy

## Pricing and in-app purchases

Base price: Free.

**Subscriptions**

| Subscription | Price | Period |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Critical Friend Premium | $5.99 | per month |

**One-time purchases**

| Purchase | Price | Type |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 20 Extra Conversations | $2.99 | one-time |



## Version history (last 5 releases)

### 1.9.1 — 2026-07-21

Fixes an issue where audio explainers and focus music could play without sound through the device speaker. Audio now plays correctly whether or not headphones are connected.

### 1.9 — 2026-06-13

Parents can now tell Critical Friend whether the app is on their own device or their child's. On a child's device, the parent dashboard is kept private behind your account password. We've also made the parent dashboard easier to reach if Face ID isn't available.

### 1.8 — 2026-05-27

New pathways
Speech or Presentation — Got a speech to give? Critical Friend helps you think through what you want to say step by step, then generates a set of structured speaking notes to practise from. Your words, your voice.

Application Writing — Applying for a role, position, or opportunity? Critical Friend helps you find your genuine reasons, your real strengths, and your best examples — then hands you the building blocks to write it yourself.

Plan a Visit — Mission Builder
The visit pathway has been completely redesigned. Instead of guessing what's inside a specific place, Critical Friend now helps your child choose one of three universal missions — The Detective, The Collector, or The Storyteller — that work anywhere: museum, castle, nature reserve, gallery, or farm. The mission is saved to a new My Missions section on the home screen, ready to check before the visit. When they're back, My Missions connects straight to the post-visit reflection.

PDF improvements
The conversation document now always starts on a clean page, so cover images no longer overlap the conversation. Speech and application documents are formatted as single-page notes rather than full conversation transcripts.

Bug fixes and improvements
Various stability improvements and navigation fixes throughout the app.

### 1.7 — 2026-05-12

Here's the public App Store "What's New" for v1.7:

How this app works — a new page on the home screen explains Critical Friend to your child in plain English: what information we keep, who can see their conversations, and what to do if something worries them.

Cleaner home screen — the welcome screen is simpler and calmer. Badges live exclusively in My Progress.

Privacy policy updated — expanded guidance on your data rights as a parent or guardian, including exactly how to access, edit, or delete your child's data within the app.

### 1.6 — 2026-05-11

This update adds significant safety and ethical AI improvements:

Every conversation now begins with a clear screen telling the user they are about to talk to an AI
Every conversation ends with a screen encouraging the user to talk to a real person
All AI messages are labelled "AI" throughout the conversation
News article link now summarises articles cleanly using AI
Various conversation saving fixes

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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 2026-07-22.*