DroneBlocks vs Spike™ LEGO® Education
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
DroneBlocks
Program drones using a block-based interface. Create custom flight paths, control camera functions, and execute missions with virtual joysticks. Supports various drone models and offers pre-flight checks for compliance.
- Block programming interface
- Virtual joysticks for control
- Pre-flight compliance checks
- Camera and photo blocks
- Telemetry data display
- Offline mission storage
- Support for Tello and DJI drones
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What's New in 4.1.1 - We've made improvements and fixed bugs for a smoother flight. What's New in 4.1 - Pre-flight checks to ensure your flight commands are compliant with the drone specs. - The validations include: curve range, flight distance ranges, arc radius curve checks - User messages indicate which values are problematic in metric and imperial units. New in DroneBlocks 4.0 - Control your drone with virtual joysticks now included in the app New in DroneBlocks 3.6 - Tries to load blocks from the cache if your device is offline. New in DroneBlocks 3.5 - Bug fix for Tello Talent scrolling text and space characters - Simplify the connection process by setting focus to the SSID field and forcing capitalization New in DroneBlocks 3.4 - Support for Robomaster TT (aka Tello Talent) LED block coding! New in DroneBlocks 3.3 - Watch your blocks highlight as Tello executes its mission New in DroneBlocks 3.0 - Video feed for Tello & Tello EDU - Camera blocks that include "photo" and "photo interval" New in DroneBlocks 2.6 - Telemetry for Tello & Tello EDU (Altitude, ToF, Pitch, Roll, Yaw) New in DroneBlocks 2.5 - Offline storage. Users can access and save missions after logging in, accessing "My Missions", and going offline. New in DroneBlocks 2.4 - Improved Tello connection process - Added better handling of Tello network display - Fixed blank screen issue when switching between DJI and Tello blocks New in DroneBlocks 2.3 - Tello users can now set the default units to metric New in DroneBlocks 2.2.1 - DJI SDK 4.10 with improved support for Spark - Remember Tello blocks selection - Bug fix for switching back to Tello from DJI blocks New in DroneBlocks 2.1.0 - Tello EDU support - Improved command handling - Abort mission New in DroneBlocks 2.0.0 - Curve flight block for Tello New in DroneBlocks 1.2.7 - Bug fix for iPhone X and safe area conflict with menu New in DroneBlocks 1.2.6 - Spark Support!!!! - DJI SDK 4.6.1 New in DroneBlocks 1.2.5 - DJI SDK 4.5 New in DroneBlocks 1.2.4 - Improved Tello connection process New in DroneBlocks 1.2.4 - Fix for navigation mode not open error - Fix to improve the success of subsequent missions while in the air New in DroneBlocks 1.2.2 - Tello support: tap on hambuger icon and then tap "Connect to Tello" - Be sure to follow the Tello connection instructions - Free programming with Tello course at https://learn.droneblocks.io - DJI SDK 4.4.0 - Better land block handling - Don't require map preview for basic blocks like photo, yaw, gimbal New in DroneBlocks 1.2.1 - Fix for Google logins - Ability to switch between Google accounts New in DroneBlocks 1.2.0: - Users can now execute missions in mid air without needing takeoff and land blocks - Added speed to fly forward block - Added speed to yaw block - New photo interval block to take X number of photos at Y interval - New record video duration block DroneBlocks allows users to easily program fun and useful missions using block programming with the DJI Phantom 3, DJI Phantom 4, Mavic Pro and Inspire 1. Users can drag and drop blocks onto the canvas to command their drone to follow a basic flight plan. Coupled with the DroneBlocks curriculum, educators can teach students about all aspects of STEM. For example, lesson plan #2 is a "Dronie" mission that teaches students about geometry and determining the best angle to tilt the camera for the perfect dronie shot. Other lessons include learning how to use loops, fly in a star pattern, shoot a panorama, and much more. You can access our curriculum bundle online for free. Just go here and enroll in the course and you'll get access to eight fun programming lessons: http://learn.droneblocks.io DroneBlocks is currently being used in several classrooms around the country and we're looking forward to see what exciting and interesting missions our users will create!
Spike™ LEGO® Education
This app facilitates playful STEAM learning for students, designed to work with specific LEGO® Education kits. It helps develop computational thinking through coding, encourages building and experimentation, and supports programming for various projects and competitions.
- Icon-block, word-block, and text-based coding
- Develop computational thinking
- Build, tinker, and experiment with LEGO® creations
- Program and debug designs
- Create stories with LEGO® Minifigures
- Prepare for FIRST® LEGO® League competitions
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Engage every student in playful STEAM learning with the LEGO® Education SPIKE™ App. Designed for use with the LEGO® Education SPIKE™ Portfolio, the SPIKE App is a powerful tool that helps teachers facilitate engaging, hands-on STEAM learning. When combined with SPIKE Essential or SPIKE Prime, the SPIKE App allows students to: - Develop computational thinking skills using a progression of icon-block, word-block, and text-based coding. - Build, tinker, and experiment - progressing from simple creations to complex structures. - Learn to program, test and tweak designs, debug and optimize, create stories with LEGO® Minifigures, prepare for FIRST® LEGO® League competitions, and more! *** IMPORTANT*** This is not a standalone educational app. This app is used to program LEGO® Education SPIKE™ Essential and LEGO® Education SPIKE™ Prime, which are sold separately. Please contact your local LEGO Education reseller for further information. LEARN MORE: LEGOeducation.com/Teacher-resources For app support, contact LEGO® Education at https://support.legoeducation.com. LEGO, the LEGO logo and the SPIKE logo are trademarks and/or copyrights of the LEGO Group. FIRST® LEGO® League is a jointly held trademark of FIRST® and the LEGO Group. ©2026 The LEGO Group. All rights reserved.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Spike™ LEGO® Education at 4.7 against DroneBlocks's 3.4. Spike™ LEGO® Education also leads on ratings volume (3.7K vs 58) and review sentiment (68% vs 49%). On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Spike™ LEGO® Education holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 3.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Spike™ LEGO® Education has 3.7K ratings behind it against 58, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 49% of DroneBlocks's written reviews are positive against 68% of Spike™ LEGO® Education's.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and November 12, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | DroneBlocks | Spike™ LEGO® Education |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.4 (58 ratings) | 4.7 (3.7K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 48.9% of reviews | 68.2% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 58 | 3.7K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPad, Mac |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 — better | 14.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 85 MB | 227 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | DroneBlocks, LLC | LEGO Education |
Customer experience
DroneBlocks
Spike™ LEGO® Education
User reviews
DroneBlocks
From 58 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Easy to code drone
- 👍 Great for educators
- 👍 Fun and engaging learning
- 👍 Potential for STEM programs
- 👍 Good for basic programming understanding
Room to improve
- 🐛 Inconsistent performance
- 🐛 Frequent disconnections
- 🐛 Difficult to save/change missions
- 🐛 UI issues on small phones
- 🐛 App crashes frequently
Spike™ LEGO® Education
From 3.7K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Awesome
- 🚀 Super good
- 🚀 Great app
- 👍 User friendly and easy to use
- 👍 Engineering Excitement in Kindergarten
Room to improve
- 🐛 Restricted features due to LEGO's focus on profits
- 🐛 Missing basic quality of life functionality
- 🐛 Doesn't work on iPad
- 🐛 Slow loading and issues with connectivity
- 🐛 Tutorials have limitations
Bugs and requests
DroneBlocks
Reported bugs
16 issues- App keeps crashing
- App breaks when trying to flip
- Drone blew up and smashed window
- App doesn't execute code
- App crashes after app crash
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- UI mushes together on small phones
- Screen remains completely blank
- App is blank
- Doesn't size screen properly on iPhone SE
- App hangs after connecting
- Camera and 'Land at Home' features inactive
- Internal error when connecting to Tello
- App glitches so much
- Barely connects
- Move blocks don't work
- UI unstable, sometimes shows nothing connected
Requested features
7 requests- Add camera controls for Tello
- Allow local saving of missions
- Improve UI for smaller phones
- Add more login options for Chinese users
- Support for metric units
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- Longer distance control
- iPhone support
Spike™ LEGO® Education
Reported bugs
3 issues- Bluetooth connection issues
- Unable to flash hub or connect
- Incompatibility with programs written in previous version
Requested features
5 requests- Hub-to-hub control
- RC features
- Merge Inventor app into one
- Add more color options for color sensor
- Bring back Python coding support
In-app purchases
DroneBlocks
No in-app purchases
Spike™ LEGO® Education
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is DroneBlocks free?
Is Spike™ LEGO® Education free?
Which has better reviews, DroneBlocks or Spike™ LEGO® Education?
Do DroneBlocks or Spike™ LEGO® Education have ads?
Which is updated more often, DroneBlocks or Spike™ LEGO® Education?
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