DoodleConnect vs Active Defender
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
DoodleConnect
Monitor your child's educational development across multiple learning applications. Stay informed about their achievements, progress through the curriculum, and receive real-time updates on their learning journey.
- Instant progress notifications
- View latest achievements
- Track stars earned
- Follow curriculum progress
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Track your child's progress across all four Doodle apps with DoodleConnect! With the help of DoodleConnect, you can get involved with your child's learning journey like never before. ▶ Key features • Receive instant notifications about their progress • View their latest achievements and see how many stars they've earned • Follow their progress through the curriculum DoodleConnect is free for all Doodle users, whether you have a home or school subscription.
Active Defender
This app provides real-time emergency maps to reduce chaos and confusion during critical incidents. It offers instant visual guidance for students, staff, and first responders, ensuring everyone knows what to do and where to go. It facilitates communication and provides crucial information for swift and effective emergency response.
- Real-time emergency map
- Instant multistory mapping
- Emergency alerts
- Real-time chat communication
- Crisis location and nature
- Campus-wide information sharing
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Imagine there is an emergency at a school or a business. During emergencies, there can be a lot of chaos and confusion. Active Defender provides a real-time emergency map that removes the confusion. Everyone can know where to go and what to do regardless of the emergency. IMPORTANT! To use this app in your school or business, make sure they have a cooperate Active Defender account. You will get a login from your school or school district to fully login, connect, and participate with this app. Active Defender can INSTANTLY provide a multistory emergency map: To First Responders To Students To Staff To Vistors Everyone can know what to do and where to go! Active Defender’s purpose is to provide clarity and remove chaos while making sure everyone knows what the problem is and where the problem is relative to where they are located. WHY? Because you only make good decisions based on what you know and where you are. Focus on “safety and security is everyone’s responsibility.” Whether there is a fight, fire, active shooter, medical emergency, or extreme weather event, Active-Defender gives real-time, life-saving information to everyone that needs to know. Active-Defender allows you to: - Warn other staff members, school resource officers, and first responders with the touch of a button that an emergency is taking place. - Receive map alerts as to the exact nature and location of the crisis. - Use the chat window to engage in real-time communication with responders. - Provide details to others on your campus while simultaneously giving first responders the information they need to respond with speed and precision. Active-Defender: Saves Time - Provides Clarity - Saves Lives!
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Active Defender at 100% against DoodleConnect's 56%. Active Defender also leads on rating (4.9 vs 4.7). On price, ratings volume, update cadence and ads 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.
Active Defender holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.7. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 56 and 54 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 56% of DoodleConnect's written reviews are positive against 100% of Active Defender's.
DoodleConnect ships an update every 2 months, Active Defender every 5 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 21, 2026 and September 23, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | DoodleConnect | Active Defender |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (56 ratings) | 4.9 (54 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 56.0% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 56 — better | 54 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 5 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 15.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 37 MB | 214 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Discovery Education Inc. | MMOJ |
Customer experience
DoodleConnect
Active Defender
Bugs and requests
DoodleConnect
Reported bugs
33 issues- Losing streak
- No synching between apps on different devices
- Not synching with Doodle Connect app
- Latest update ruined the app
- Can't understand children's results anymore
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- Lots of annoying little glitches
- Doesn't work on most devices
- App keeps switching off
- Update is not working
- Can't see message and screen freeze on tapping message icon
- Can't go back to view another sibling's account
- Lack accuracy
- Difficult to collate the information needed
- App won't work
- Doesn't really work
- Can only see one or none of children's progress
- Says child is on 0 day streak when they are not
- Too many glitches in system
- Doesn't record all points when signing in across different devices
- Parent app no longer works
- Last version defective
- Parent dashboard cannot log on
- Misleading info, doesn't relate to child's DM app
- Doodle Stars on DM different to parent area and parent app
- Cannot delete and reinstall because info is stored in the cloud
- Delay between parent app and DoodleMaths app
- Today's or yesterday's stars not showing in metrics
- Missing lots of data
- No longer works since update
- Latest version crap, glitchy
- Have to enter credentials regularly
- Live View never shows anything
- App is full of fundamental design flaws
Requested features
35 requests- Bring back old version
- More comprehensive initial test
- More challenging levels
- Option to add extra material for all students
- Better graphing options
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- See everything that is on the website within the app
- Add more data feed options
- Improve user experience
- Improve design
- Option to create graphs of all students
- Option to select metrics for graphing
- Improve Live View functionality
- Real-time syncing between apps and devices
- Fix streak issues
- Fix synching issues with Doodle Connect
- Allow multiple accounts under one login
- Make app more engaging after all questions are done
- Improve accuracy of reports
- Simplify setup process
- Offer combined order discounts
- Improve customer service responsiveness and helpfulness
- Fix login issues
- Improve accuracy of streaks and progress tracking
- Improve message viewing and replying
- Allow switching between sibling accounts easily
- Make app more user-friendly
- Bring back old app features
- Make app more interactive
- Improve data visualization
- Add dark mode
- Improve reporting accuracy
- Fix app freezing issues
- Improve parent app functionality
- Make app more intuitive
- Improve accuracy of Doodle Age
Active Defender
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
DoodleConnect
No in-app purchases
Active Defender
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is DoodleConnect free?
Is Active Defender free?
Which has better reviews, DoodleConnect or Active Defender?
Do DoodleConnect or Active Defender have ads?
Which is updated more often, DoodleConnect or Active Defender?
Other comparisons
