Comparison

Conversation Starters vs Inference Pics Lite

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

Head to head
About

Conversation Starters

This app helps children with autism practice initiating and maintaining conversations on various topics. It guides users through skill-building steps to foster genuine dialogue. Designed for children with special needs, it also benefits adults learning English or dealing with aphasia.

Highlights
  • 200+ conversation-starting questions
  • Skill development steps
  • Topic diversity
  • Suitable for special needs children
  • Beneficial for adults learning English
  • COPPA compliant
Features
Read full description

** Happy Frog Apps is a Mom’s Choice Award Winner! Also featured on FunEducationalApps.com, TeachersWithApps.com, and more! ** The “Conversation Starters” app helps children with autism initiate and maintain conversations on a variety of topics. What parents say about our awesome apps: *** 5 stars! Brilliant! An app that understands how kids actually learn. Thank you. *** 5 stars! Your social skill apps are excellent! “Conversation Starters” provides 200+ conversation-starting questions on a variety of topics. This broad diversity supports your learner in moving from their preferred topics. ** This free version contains 10 questions only ** You can use in-app purchase to upgrade. Build your learner's skills by stepping through the following skill development steps. 1. Get your learner to answer the conversation starter question. 2. Get your learner to ask the question then listen to your answer, then provide an on-topic follow-up question or comment. 3. Take turns starting a conversation and set a goal of 2, 3, or 4 turns each. Guess what... you are now having real conversations on a variety of topics! This app is perfect for learners who: - need support in initiating conversation - need support in continuing a conversation appropriately - need support in moving beyond their own special interest topics. Our apps are designed for and tested by typical and special needs children. Testers include children with Autism and other special needs. Our apps work for them! Our apps are also suitable for adults dealing with aphasia or learning English as a Second Language. To evaluate the app, download the free version, which has 10 conversation starters only. The remaining conversation starters can be accessed with an in-app purchase. If you prefer no in-app purchases, download the paid version of this app, which includes all conversation starters. We take customer service very seriously! If you ever have a problem or find that we've missed something, contact us at our website and we will do our best to fix the problem.  www.HappyFrogApps.com Our apps are safe for kids. We collect NO private information in our app. None! Our apps do not allow unrestricted web or social media access. We conform to the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act.

About

Inference Pics Lite

This app helps children and young adults develop social inferencing skills. It uses real-life photos and interactive questions to teach users how to understand situations, emotions, and thoughts based on contextual clues. Designed for use with a parent or speech therapist.

Highlights
  • Social inferencing skill development
  • Over 300 real-life photos
  • Interactive questions
  • Choice to show/hide answers
  • Results tracking and email
  • No Wi-Fi needed
Features
Read full description

Turn everyday scenes into meaningful social inferencing practice with Inference Pics Lite. Choose a photo and guide clients to notice important details, connect the clues and explain the thinking behind their inferences. Created by a speech-language pathologist (SLP), Inference Pics Lite includes 14 high-quality photos, with 2 from each activity, plus built-in questions and hints to support learning. The full version of Inference Pics expands the experience with 350+ photos and the ability to add your own photos, questions and hints. SOCIAL INFERENCING MADE SIMPLE We make social inferences every day. We use facial expressions, body language, surroundings, and context to work out how someone might be feeling, what they could be thinking, or what may have happened. For some children, teenagers, and adults, noticing these clues and putting them together can be challenging. Inference Pics Lite provides a simple, structured way for speech-language pathologists, teachers, parents, and caregivers to work on social understanding, expressive language, and reasoning skills in speech therapy, education, or at home. SEE WHAT INFERENCE PICS LITE CAN DO • Get learners explaining their thinking, not just giving an answer. • Save prep time with ready-made inference questions, answers, and hints. • Draw directly on photos to circle or highlight important clues. • Show or hide possible answers to adjust the level of support. • Target emotions, perspective-taking, expressive language, and social reasoning. • Practice interpreting facial expressions, body language, and context. • Work with photos of real-life situations, not cartoons. • Create user profiles and track results. • No subscription and no Wi-Fi needed. LOOK. THINK. EXPLAIN. Each inference picture in Inference Pics has two inference prompts/questions. The first question varies depending on the chosen inference activity. For example, in the Conversations activity the user is asked "What are they saying? while in the Seasons activity the inference prompt is "What time of year is it? The second question in each inference activity is always “How can you tell?”. This allows the user to practice verbal expression and giving explanations. It also prompts the child or adult to explain what clues they found to enable them to make an inference. TRY ALL 7 SOCIAL INFERENCING ACTIVITIES FEELINGS - Understand emotions from facial expressions, body language, and context. JOBS - Work out someone’s job from visual clues. PLACES - Infer where someone might be. SEASONS - Identify the season or occasion from contextual clues. WHAT HAS HAPPENED? - Piece together the evidence to work out what happened. CONVERSATIONS - Infer what people might be saying. THOUGHTS - Explore perspective-taking and what another person might be thinking. WHO IS INFERENCE PICS LITE FOR? Inference Pics Lite can support: • Children and teenagers developing language and inference skills. • Autistic children, teenagers, and adults. • People with social communication difficulties. • Learners working on emotions and perspective-taking. • Adults with communication difficulties after a stroke or traumatic brain injury. It can be used by speech-language pathologists (SLPs), teachers, parents, and caregivers in therapy, the classroom, or at home. TRY INFERENCE PICS FOR FREE Inference Pics Lite gives you a free way to try Inference Pics, with 14 photos covering all 7 social inferencing activities. Choose a photo. Find the clues. Make an inference. Explain how you know. Download Inference Pics Lite for free and start building social inferencing, social communication, and expressive language skills—one clue at a time. Ready for more? Upgrade to the full version of Inference Pics for 350+ photos across all 7 activities, plus the option to add your own photos.

Screenshots

Conversation Starters4 screens
Inference Pics Lite4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Inference Pics Lite at 3.0 against Conversation Starters's 1.0. Inference Pics Lite also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 1). Conversation Starters's advantage is iOS requirement (12.2 vs 15.0). 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Conversation Starters sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Inference Pics Lite asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Inference Pics Lite holds the better App Store score, 3.0 against 1.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1 and 2 respectively.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Conversation Starters ships an update every 15 months, Inference Pics Lite every 29 months. The most recent releases landed on September 19, 2026 and September 3, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 5 level
Conversation Starters versus Inference Pics Lite: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterConversation StartersInference Pics Lite
PriceFreeFree
Rating1.0 (1 ratings)3.0 (2 ratings) — better
Number of ratings12 — better
Update frequencyEvery 15 months — betterEvery 29 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS12.2 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size31 MB99 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperJanine TooleAptus Speech and Language Therapy Limited

Customer experience

Conversation Starters

All ratings1 ratings
Positive0.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative100.0%

Inference Pics Lite

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

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Conversation Starters

One-time1
  • All Conversation Starters$4.99
None

Inference Pics Lite

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Conversation Starters free?
Conversation Starters is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Inference Pics Lite free?
Inference Pics Lite is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Conversation Starters or Inference Pics Lite?
Inference Pics Lite is rated higher. Conversation Starters averages 1.0 out of 5 from 1 ratings, while Inference Pics Lite averages 3.0 from 2 ratings.
Do Conversation Starters or Inference Pics Lite have ads?
Neither Conversation Starters nor Inference Pics Lite shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Conversation Starters or Inference Pics Lite?
Conversation Starters ships an update every 15 months, and Inference Pics Lite every 29 months. Most recently, Conversation Starters was updated on September 19, 2026 and Inference Pics Lite on September 3, 2026.

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