Comparison

PBS KIDS ScratchJr vs Candy Coding

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

PBS KIDS ScratchJr

This app allows children ages 5-8 to create their own interactive stories and games using simple programming blocks. Kids can make characters move, jump, and sing, while learning foundational coding concepts and problem-solving skills. It features beloved PBS KIDS characters and offers creative tools like painting and voice recording.

Highlights
  • Create interactive stories and games
  • Learn basic coding concepts
  • Use colorful programming blocks
  • Incorporate PBS KIDS characters
  • Paint and edit characters/backgrounds
  • Record voice for projects
  • Utilize story starters for inspiration
Read full description

With PBS KIDS ScratchJr, kids can create their own interactive stories and games through programming activities and lessons. Learn the basics of coding through fun games and activities featuring characters from Wild Kratts, Lyla in the Loops, Odd Squad, Work it Out Wombats, and more! The storytelling possibilities are endless with this creative coding app for children ages 5-8. Children can express their creativity and make characters move, jump, dance and sing by snapping together colorful programming blocks. This app helps kids learn the foundation of programming and coding concepts in a way that’s fun and easy to learn. As kids play, they’ll learn to solve problems, design projects and express themselves creatively. With PBS KIDS ScratchJr, young kids can play and practice early school concepts at home. Download this fun educational app to get started! PBS KIDS ScratchJr Features: Programming Games - Colorful Programming Blocks teach basic coding concepts - Play and learn by snapping together the color-coded motion, sound, look, trigger and control blocks - Use programming concepts to create sequences that cause characters to animate - Program characters to interact in fun and exciting ways - Learn problem solving techniques PBS KIDS Characters and Backgrounds - 150+ PBS KIDS characters to mix and match - Children can create projects based on their favorite shows, including: - Wild Kratts - Lyla in the Loop - Work It Out, Wombats - Molly of Denali - Odd Squad - Arthur - Nature Cat - Peg +Cat - Ready Jet Go - And more! Paint Editing - Create characters and backgrounds - Painting made simple on illustration grids - Paint characters from PBS KIDS shows - Express creativity by painting Voice Recording - Use the recording tool to add sounds and your voice to projects - Voice characters from PBS KIDS shows Story Starters - Looking for inspiration? Eight Story Starters in the app are a great place to start - Each Story Starter features a different set of characters from PBS KIDS shows - Kids can create the stories they want with Story Starters - Encourage children to edit and complete the story however they’d like Introduce children to the basics of coding while having fun with PBS KIDS characters. Start learning, programming, painting, drawing and creating interactive stories. Download PBS KIDS ScratchJr today! PBS KIDS ScratchJr is only available for iPad. ---------------------- For more PBS KIDS apps, visit http://www.pbskids.org/apps For more on ScratchJr, visit http://www.scratchjr.org Privacy Across all media platforms, PBS KIDS is committed to creating a safe and secure environment for children and families and being transparent about what information is collected from users. To learn more about PBS KIDS' privacy policy, visit pbskids.org/privacy PBS KIDS ScratchJr is a collaboration between PBS, Scratch Foundation and the DevTech Research Group at Boston College. The PBS KIDS logo & PBS KIDS® PBS. Used with permission. ScratchJr logo is used with permission. PBS is not affiliated with Scratch Foundation and Boston College.

About

Candy Coding

This app offers hands-on coding lessons designed for young children aged 5-8. Developed by an award-winning team, it provides an engaging way to learn programming concepts. Currently, it is exclusively available in Simplified Chinese.

Highlights
  • Hands-on coding lessons
  • Designed for ages 5-8
  • Award-winning development team
  • Simplified Chinese language support
Features
Read full description

Candy Coding is the hands-on coding course made for kids aged 5-8. It is brought to you by the award-winning team Tinkamo. Currently only available in Simplified Chinese.

Screenshots

Candy Coding3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Candy Coding at 5.0 against PBS KIDS ScratchJr's 4.0. Candy Coding also leads on review sentiment (100% vs 62%) and update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 12 months). PBS KIDS ScratchJr's advantage is ratings volume (289 vs 2). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Candy Coding holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: PBS KIDS ScratchJr has 289 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 62% of PBS KIDS ScratchJr's written reviews are positive against 100% of Candy Coding's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

PBS KIDS ScratchJr ships an update every 12 months, Candy Coding every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 14, 2026 and October 1, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
PBS KIDS ScratchJr versus Candy Coding: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPBS KIDS ScratchJrCandy Coding
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.0 (289 ratings)5.0 (2 ratings) — better
Positive reviews62.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings289 — better2
Update frequencyEvery 12 monthsEvery 3 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS11.0 — better12.3
Further details — not scored
Size138 MB84 MB
Age rating4+17+
DeveloperPBS KIDSTinkamo Inc.

Customer experience

PBS KIDS ScratchJr

All ratings289 ratings
Positive72.3%
Neutral5.5%
Negative22.1%
Written reviews92 reviews
Positive62.0%
Neutral9.8%
Negative28.3%

Candy Coding

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

PBS KIDS ScratchJr

Reported bugs

13 issues
  • Home button causes character to revert to previous position
  • Projects fail to load when creating or opening
  • Voice recording feature not working or missing
  • How-to tutorial videos don't play
  • Drawing tool corrupts custom characters
Show 8 more
  • Timer block doesn't function correctly
  • Drag-and-drop programming blocks unresponsive
  • App crashes when using certain blocks
  • Dot character won't disappear from new slides
  • Performance slowdown during projects
  • Paint editor labels incorrectly aligned with icons
  • Microphone feature doesn't show up or work
  • Text rendering issues with fonts and handwriting

Requested features

13 requests
  • Add more PBS Kids shows (Let's Go Luna, Dinosaur Train, Elinor Wonders Why, Hero Elementary, Wordgirl, Rosie's Rules, Alma's Way)
  • Unlimited pages/slides instead of 4-slide limit
  • More coding blocks from original Scratch (text-to-speech, etc.)
  • Custom character creation on blank canvas
  • Level maker and world maker features
Show 8 more
  • 2D and 3D options
  • Editable PBS backgrounds
  • Search bar for projects
  • More sound effects (crashing, slipping, sliding)
  • Page titles/naming system
  • More characters for existing shows
  • Offline functionality
  • Bring back Kart Kingdom game

Candy Coding

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

PBS KIDS ScratchJr

No in-app purchases

None

Candy Coding

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is PBS KIDS ScratchJr free?
PBS KIDS ScratchJr is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Candy Coding free?
Candy Coding is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, PBS KIDS ScratchJr or Candy Coding?
Candy Coding is rated higher. PBS KIDS ScratchJr averages 4.0 out of 5 from 289 ratings, while Candy Coding averages 5.0 from 2 ratings.
Do PBS KIDS ScratchJr or Candy Coding have ads?
Neither PBS KIDS ScratchJr nor Candy Coding shows ads.
Which is updated more often, PBS KIDS ScratchJr or Candy Coding?
PBS KIDS ScratchJr ships an update every 12 months, and Candy Coding every 3 weeks. Most recently, PBS KIDS ScratchJr was updated on October 14, 2026 and Candy Coding on October 1, 2026.

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