Comparison

ToyPen vs Turtles

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

Head to head
About

ToyPen

This is a straightforward digital painting application designed for quick sketches and notes. It offers an intuitive color selection system and allows for overlaying designs with sketches. Images can be resized for easy sharing.

Highlights
  • Simple painting software
  • Brief sketching and memo functionality
  • Easy color selection
  • Overlay design and sketch
  • Adjustable image size
  • Ten-level undo function
Features
Read full description

It is simple painting software. Convenient for brief sketching and memo. Color is displayed when you choose the 1st color and the 2nd color, it is very easy. You can overlay or separately display a design and sketch. Image size is change to small and am convenient to attach it to an email. The undo is to ten times.

About

Turtles

Embark on a programming journey with Turtle Graphics, designed for all ages to learn coding fundamentals. Create drawings, mini-games, and explore computer science concepts through interactive exercises. Ideal for both individual learning and classroom settings.

Highlights
  • Interactive Turtle Graphics for drawing
  • Learn programming concepts like variables and functions
  • Create mini-games
  • Explore recursion and fractal shapes
  • Beginner-friendly interface
  • Suitable for classroom use
Features
Read full description

Simple commands, deep thinking. Turtles is a turtle graphics programming app for elementary school students and beginners. Draw shapes while learning the basics of programming, including loops, variables, and functions. Give commands to the turtle on the screen to draw lines, create shapes and patterns, and build interactive projects. Before memorizing difficult syntax, learners can build a program, run it, see the result, and improve it step by step. Turtles can be used for children’s first programming experience, adult learning, school lessons, coding classes, and workshops. It also works on iPhone, but a larger screen such as iPad is recommended for creating projects. Sample projects and related information are available on our website. https://turtle360.net/ First Steps in Programming: Turtles is a programming app that helps learners think by combining simple commands. Starting with basic commands such as “move forward,” “turn right,” and “repeat,” even first-time programmers can quickly begin experimenting and learning by doing. Learn Programming Basics: By drawing shapes, learners can understand important programming concepts such as sequencing, loops, conditions, variables, and functions. Because the result appears immediately on the screen, it is easy to understand how a program works. Try More Advanced Expressions: After learning the basics, learners can try more complex shapes, patterns, and fractal drawings. They can also explore ideas connected to computer science, such as recursion, in a natural and visual way. Create Mini Games and Projects: Turtles is not only for moving a turtle. Learners can also create interactive projects and simple mini games based on their own ideas. By combining the commands they have learned, they can experience the joy of thinking and creating by themselves. About Turtle Graphics: Turtle graphics is a programming method where learners give commands to a turtle on the screen to draw shapes. It was developed in the 1960s for the LOGO programming language, and it is still used today in many programming learning environments. Turtles is designed based on this idea so that both children and adults can enjoy learning programming. Acknowledgments: Turtles was inspired by many programming languages and learning environments, including LOGO, Squeak Etoys, Scratch, Python, and Swift. We thank the developers around the world who created and nurtured these ideas.

Screenshots

Turtles4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Turtles at 4.7 against ToyPen's 3.0. Turtles also leads on update cadence (monthly vs every 10 months) and ratings volume (12 vs 2). ToyPen's advantage is iOS requirement (8.0 vs 12.0). 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

Turtles holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 3.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Turtles has 12 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

ToyPen ships an update every 10 months, Turtles monthly. The most recent releases landed on October 17, 2026 and October 21, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
ToyPen versus Turtles: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterToyPenTurtles
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.0 (2 ratings)4.7 (12 ratings) — better
Positive reviews—90.0% of reviews
Number of ratings212 — better
Update frequencyEvery 10 monthsMonthly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS8.0 — better12.0
Further details — not scored
Size8 MB11 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMasanori ShiomiToshio Miyasaka

Customer experience

ToyPen

All ratings2 ratings
Positive50.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative50.0%

Turtles

All ratings13 ratings
Positive92.3%
Neutral0.0%
Negative7.7%
Written reviews10 reviews
Positive90.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative10.0%

In-app purchases

None

ToyPen

No in-app purchases

None

Turtles

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is ToyPen free?
ToyPen is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Turtles free?
Turtles is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, ToyPen or Turtles?
Turtles is rated higher. ToyPen averages 3.0 out of 5 from 2 ratings, while Turtles averages 4.7 from 12 ratings.
Do ToyPen or Turtles have ads?
Neither ToyPen nor Turtles shows ads.
Which is updated more often, ToyPen or Turtles?
ToyPen ships an update every 10 months, and Turtles monthly. Most recently, ToyPen was updated on October 17, 2026 and Turtles on October 21, 2026.

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