CardTalking vs Now and Next Lite
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
CardTalking
This app provides visual support tools for children with autism, offering customizable boards for schedules, instructions, and choices. Parents and educators can create tailored courseware with built-in and custom cards to aid in training and communication.
- Visual Schedule boards
- First-Then Boards
- PECS Board for language training
- Reinforcer Choice Boards
- Customizable courseware layouts
- User-created cards and classifications
- Card sharing functionality
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CardTalking(former name is Blossoming) is a visual support tool for autism children, include First-Then Board, Visual Schedule, Visual Instruction, Reinforcer Choice Board and PECS Board. Parents or teachers can design special courseware to support or train child based on theire own requirement. There are lots of cards and courseware examples built in the App. And users can expand them unlimitedly. User can share cards after simple register/login. More functions and user guide as below: 1. This App is only support iPad/iPhone. Author have no play to develop version for other platforms. 2. First page is for child. Only courseware in use will be listed. 3. Parents or teacher can enter settings by shake iPhone/iPad, or triple clicking the screen with 3 fingers. Before the settings, one simple question is needed to prevent child to use it by mistake. 4. Materials are orignal version for all cards. Courseware is for sepcial trainning purpose. And the cards in courseware are from materials. 5. There are 5 kinds of coureseware: PECS Board, First-Then Board, Visual Schedule, Visual Instruction and Reinforcer Choice Board. 1) PECS Board is for language training. Child's operation is draging (or pressing, depends on the settings) the card needed to the sentence strip above, and then clicking the check button in top-right. Please read PECS introduction in the end of this page before you use it to train child. 2) First-Then Board to tell child 'xxx firstly, then xxx'. eg: wash hands firstly, then have lunch. 3) Visual Schedule defines the schedules of one day, or steps of some action. eg: steps of washing hands. a) Open the tap; b) Make hands wet... 4) Visual Instruction shows one card and one command to child. 5) Reinforcer Choice Board let child to choose one reinforcer as award in DTT. 6. The times can be used for card in PECS is settable. 'No Limit' means the card will back to box after check button clicked. But cards in 'Daily' can be used only one time everyday. 'Daily' is used to control the quantity of snacks or games child wants. 7. Parents or teachers can set operation mode for PECS courseware . There are two options, 'Drag' and 'Press'. if 'Drag', child need to drag the card to sentence strip. if 'Press', child only need to press the card, and it will fly to sentence strip automatically. 8. The layout of some coursewares is customizable. It can be 1x1, 2x2, 3x3 or 3x5. You can put some blank card into courseware if needed. 9. Teachers can prepare different coursewares for different children. Click the Edit button in courseware list page,and then coursewares will be draggable. The coursewares in not used(hidden) section won't appear in first page. 10. The App has some built-in cards. Parents and teachers can add his own classifications and cards, or edit existing ones. 11. While editing card, click the existing picture can take photo to replace it. 12. Sharing card is appreciated. 13. The built-in cards are from Internet. If it infringe your copyright, please tell me. 14. The coureseware and cards added by you are stored in your device only. Please don't uninstall this App, or they will lost. 15. Please don't use this App for other purpose. More about PECS (Picture Exchange Communication System), please visit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picture_Exchange_Communication_System
Now and Next Lite
This app helps create visual schedules and communication aids using "First - Then" cards. It supports various ages and learning stages by articulating current and upcoming activities with customizable cards and a unique timeline feature.
- Create "First - Then" activity cards
- Over 60 pre-set activities
- Custom activity creation with own images
- Optional spoken activity names
- Activity grouping by custom categories
- Adjustable timeline for sequential activities
- Backup and restore functionality
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Show a child what is happening now, and what is happening next. Now and Next takes the part of the day that is hardest to explain and makes it something a child can see. Put the current activity on one side of a card and the one that comes after it on the other, and “we're leaving the playground after this” stops being an argument and becomes a picture to point at. Teachers and therapists usually call it a first-then board. It is the same idea, and the app does both. It was built by parents, and it is used at home, in preschool and elementary classrooms, and in therapy sessions: with autistic children, with children who have ADHD, with children whose speech and language is still developing, and with any young child whose day goes better when they can see it laid out. Now and Next Lite is free to use, with no ads, so you can find out whether it works for your child before you spend anything. WHAT LITE GIVES YOU • Two Now and Next cards • One choice card, offering two or three pictures to choose from • Three custom activities of your own • All 60+ built-in activities, the Time Line, spoken activities and your own wording • No ads NOW AND NEXT CARDS Pick two activities and the card is made. Tap a picture to hear the activity read aloud. If your family or your classroom says something other than “Now” and “Next,” change the wording to the words you already use. CHOICE CARDS, WITH TWO OR THREE PICTURES Ask with pictures instead of words. A choice card is a visual choice board: a question and two or three activities to choose from — milk or water, playground or backyard, which book at bedtime — so a child can pick one by pointing. TIME LINE Put your cards in order and the Time Line runs the routine for you. Each card stays up for as long as you set, then moves on by itself, with an optional friendly sound as it changes. 60+ ACTIVITIES, AND ROOM FOR YOUR OWN More than 60 illustrated activities come with the app, covering home and school from breakfast and brushing teeth to school, nap time and the dentist. Adding your own is just as easy: take a photo, choose one from your library, or create a picture with Image Playground on supported devices. IN YOUR LANGUAGE The app follows your device language in English, German, French, Spanish, Dutch and Italian, including the names of the built-in activities. Anything you typed yourself stays exactly as you wrote it. UNLOCKING THE FULL VERSION One in-app purchase, with no subscription, lifts every limit: as many cards and choice cards as you need, as many custom activities as you want to make, and backing up and restoring what you have built. You never need it to remove ads: there are none. Everything you have already created stays exactly where it is. NO ADS, AND YOUR PRIVACY Lite shows no ads, whether or not you unlock the full version, and it never asks to track you. Whatever you create stays on your device. Your photos, activities and cards are not collected or shared, and there is no account to create and no sign-in. If you unlock the full version, Apple takes the payment, and the app checks your purchase with RevenueCat, our purchase service, using an anonymous identifier rather than your name.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: CardTalking at none against Now and Next Lite's 1. CardTalking also leads on update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 2 months) and iOS requirement (9.0 vs 15.6). On price, review sentiment, ads and device support 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. Now and Next Lite sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. CardTalking asks for nothing beyond the download.
CardTalking ships an update every 2 weeks, Now and Next Lite every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on November 2, 2026 and November 3, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | CardTalking | Now and Next Lite |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 2.0 (5 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 0.0% of reviews | 0.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 5 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks — better | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 9.0 — better | 15.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 81 MB | 31 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | 章晟 潘 | Peter Stanley |
Customer experience
CardTalking
Now and Next Lite
In-app purchases
CardTalking
No in-app purchases
Now and Next Lite
- Unlock full version$6.99
Questions
Is CardTalking free?
Is Now and Next Lite free?
Do CardTalking or Now and Next Lite have ads?
Which is updated more often, CardTalking or Now and Next Lite?
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