Highlights™ Shapes vs Highlights Library Reading
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Highlights™ Shapes
This app helps young children learn and practice matching, sorting, and categorizing shapes and colors through engaging, story-driven puzzles. It features imaginative worlds and gradually increasing challenges to develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
- Shape and color matching
- Sorting and categorizing activities
- Color mixing lessons
- Progressive challenge levels
- Exploration of imaginative worlds
- Ad-free environment
- Multiple language options
Read full descriptionHide full description
Accompanied by a friendly fox - and other animal buddies along the way - young children will learn and practice matching, sorting, mixing and categorizing shapes and colors through imaginative activity-filled worlds. Visit an ancient jungle, the magical deep sea, mysterious outer space — even a wild savanna safari! The puzzle games are woven into engaging stories, and the games increase in challenge as your preschool-aged child plays. Kids will benefit from: • Development of critical thinking and problem-solving skills • Curiosity as they explore new worlds of shapes, colors, and color mixing • Learning to make predictions and understanding outcomes by discovering how primary colors mix together to form secondary colors • Confidence as they make decisions and advance to new levels • Learning key preschool and math skills like matching, sorting and classifying by shapes and colors • Identifying and naming 11 shapes from circles to octagons, 11 primary and secondary colors and color mixing • Development of fine motor skills • Security of an ad-free environment Features: • 6 progressing levels of challenge: o FREE Ancient Jungle Puzzle Pack – 4 shapes + 8 colors o Magical Underwater Puzzle Pack – 8 shapes + 11 colors o Mysterious Space Puzzle Pack – 11 shapes + 11 colors o NEW Jurassic Journey Puzzle Pack –Introduce color mixing! o NEW Savanna Safari Puzzle Pack – Expand on color mixing with even more colors! o FREE Sweet Arctic Puzzle Pack – 8 shapes + 11 colors •Hilarious surprises and delights to engage preschool children along the way •Track progress, skip and replay functions •3 language options (US English, UK English, Spanish) •A secure, ad-free experience (CARU COPPA Safe Harbor Certified) This app is fun, creative, confidence building and developmentally appropriate - brought to you by the early childhood experts at Highlights and Italian creative studio Colto. Highlights Shapes is an ideal first app for kids 3+, and easy for young children to play on their own. It’s playable in English (US + UK) and Spanish. PREPARES CHILDREN FOR SCHOOL As children progress through Highlights Shapes, they’ll develop creative thinking and essential problem-solving skills, both critical for the start of formal schooling. PROMOTES FUN, MEANINGFUL LEARNING Highlights Shapes combines geometric, sorting and matching skills that are crucial for preschool-aged children to grasp, with the fun of an engaging, age-appropriate game. Children will learn valuable math and vocabulary skills all while having a blast traveling through new and exciting worlds! PROMOTES CONFIDENCE AND CREATIVITY In this game, children will foster confidence, creativity and curiosity as they make decisions! They’ll build colorful geometric scenes, learn how colors mix to form other colors, and explore three exciting environments. DEVELOPS FINE MOTOR SKILLS As children touch and drag each colorful shape, they’ll develop their fine motor skills. INCREASES VOCABULARY As they correctly match and sort each object, children will hear their shapes and colors repeated aloud, helping them learn new words and increasing their existing vocabularies. ABOUT US Highlights for Children Founded by educators Dr. Garry and Caroline Myers in 1946, Highlights was built on the belief that “Children Are the World’s Most Important People™.” Today, 70 years later, every “Fun with a Purpose™” product is still designed to help children become their best selves: creative, curious, caring and confident. Colto Colto is creating imaginative and educational mobile play experiences for kids around the world based on original and branded properties. Our Team, made up of a Mum/Teachers and talented Game Designers, Developers and Marketers, strives to develop high quality educational Apps that kids love and parents trust. Our games are ethical, safe and designed to be non-addictive for kids. Required iOS 8.1 onwards
Highlights Library Reading
This digital library offers a vast collection of engaging stories for young learners, designed to build reading confidence and foster a love for books. It provides an interactive experience with audio, videos, and puzzles, supported by a learning management system for educators.
- Extensive digital library of stories
- Audio support for all stories
- Engaging videos and puzzles
- Customizable learning management system
- Focus on building reading confidence
- Hidden Pictures puzzles
Read full descriptionHide full description
Highlights Library is a reading platform designed to delight and motivate young learners, helping them become confident and capable readers. Highlights Library provides an engaging reading experience to help build self-confidence and a lifelong love of reading! Highlights Library aims to Change the World Through Reading in 4 ways: 1. Time – Students can start reading quickly, and keep reading effortlessly! 2. Access – Highlights Library has nearly 3,120 high-quality, engaging Highlights stories, all with audio 3. Delight – Highlights Library makes reading fun, by allowing users to choose their favorite topics, watch videos and earn Hidden Pictures puzzles 4. Support – Our innovative learning management system allows teachers to customize the experience for their students Inspire joyful learning with Highlights Library! ***At this time, Highlights Library is only available as a school or library subscription. To learn more, contact international@highlights.com.***
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Highlights™ Shapes at 3.9 against Highlights Library Reading's 3.2. Highlights™ Shapes also leads on review sentiment (63% vs 32%) and ratings volume (342 vs 41). Highlights Library Reading's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 6). On price, update cadence, 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. Highlights™ Shapes sells 6 one-off in-app purchases. Highlights Library Reading asks for nothing beyond the download.
Highlights™ Shapes holds the better App Store score, 3.9 against 3.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Highlights™ Shapes has 342 ratings behind it against 41, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 63% of Highlights™ Shapes's written reviews are positive against 32% of Highlights Library Reading's.
Highlights™ Shapes ships an update every 6 weeks, Highlights Library Reading every 5 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 23, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Highlights™ Shapes | Highlights Library Reading |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.9 (342 ratings) — better | 3.2 (41 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 62.8% of reviews — better | 32.4% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 342 — better | 41 |
| Update frequency | Every 6 weeks | Every 5 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 10.0 — better | 11.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 96 MB | 62 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Highlights for Children, Inc. | Chungchy Dot Com Co., Ltd. |
Customer experience
Highlights™ Shapes
Highlights Library Reading
Bugs and requests
Highlights™ Shapes
Reported bugs
8 issues- Sound/audio not working despite system updates and reinstalls
- Notifications must be enabled for sound to function
- Purchased levels not transferring to new devices
- Language switching glitch preventing Spanish audio
- Home button not protected from accidental child taps
Show 3 moreShow fewer
- In-app purchase system not functioning on some devices
- Account creation issues preventing purchase completion
- App support/live chat not responsive
Requested features
9 requests- More levels and increased difficulty progression
- Additional shape types and more complex puzzles
- Alphabet/letter learning app similar to shapes version
- Language options including Spanish and Chinese audio
- Family sharing capability for purchases
Show 4 moreShow fewer
- Parental controls and screen time timer options
- More diverse themes (animals, fish instead of artifacts)
- Ability to transfer purchases between devices
- More challenging content for advanced learners
Highlights Library Reading
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Highlights™ Shapes
- Chapter Two$1.99
- Chapter Three$1.99
- Chapter Four$1.99
Show 3 moreShow fewer
- Chapter Five$1.99
- "Pack 2 + Pack 3"$2.99
- 25% Off Preschool Puzzle Fun!$5.99
Highlights Library Reading
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Highlights™ Shapes free?
Is Highlights Library Reading free?
Which has better reviews, Highlights™ Shapes or Highlights Library Reading?
Do Highlights™ Shapes or Highlights Library Reading have ads?
Which is updated more often, Highlights™ Shapes or Highlights Library Reading?
Other comparisons















