Comparison

Thumsters vs School Morning Routine

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

Head to head
About

Thumsters

This app helps parents foster positive behavior and build stronger connections with their children through a reward-based tracking system. It offers tools for habit formation, emotional coaching, and consistent parenting across multiple caregivers, designed for children aged 4-12.

Highlights
  • Real-time behavior tracking (thumbs up/down)
  • Kid-friendly chore list and reward system
  • Emotional coaching and awareness tools
  • Multi-device syncing for caregivers
  • Customizable reward system
  • Designed for ages 4-12
Features
Read full description

You didn’t sign up for tantrums, power struggles, or endless nagging. You just want your kids to listen, without losing your cool. Meet Thumsters – the award-winning parenting app that helps you build better behavior, calmer routines, and deeper connection with your kids. Whether you’re dealing with defiance, meltdowns, or chore resistance, Thumsters gives you a proven, easy-to-use system based on positive reinforcement and emotional coaching—not yelling or punishment. WHY PARENTS LOVE THUMSTERS Track behavior in real-time – Log thumbs up/down and reasons to see patterns at a glance. Create better habits – Reinforce routines and tasks with a kid-friendly chore list and reward system. Coach, don’t correct – Build your child’s confidence and emotional awareness with our Emotions Tracker. Stay consistent – Sync across multiple devices for caregivers, co-parents and therapists. Backed by science – Built with child professionals and recommended by therapists worldwide. HOW IT WORKS Use Thumsters to log your child’s behavior choices—good or bad. Assign tasks or daily routines. Set goals and rewards. Thumsters builds a clear picture of their progress, helping you parent with purpose and coach your child toward better emotional regulation and decision-making. BUILT FOR REAL FAMILIES Works with multiple kids & carers Includes a customizable reward system Designed for ages 4–12 Used by families, teachers, and therapists Recognized by the US National Library of Medicine for behavior support Join thousands of families who’ve said goodbye to chaos and hello to calm and connection. Download Thumsters today and transform your home—one thumbs up at a time. Terms of Use: https://www.thumsters.com/legal/terms-of-use

About

School Morning Routine

This app transforms chaotic school mornings into peaceful, happy family routines. It uses a gamified to-do list to encourage independence and organizational skills in children, rewarding them for completing tasks.

Highlights
  • Gamified to-do list
  • Task rewards (cat videos)
  • Teaches independence
  • Improves organization
  • Reduces morning stress
  • Promotes calm mornings
Features
Read full description

It's a todo list crossed with a game to help your family get ready for school without all the chaos. Enjoy your family mornings. Peaceful, happy and calm. THE PROBLEM Getting kids ready for school is the worst part of the day. Why do you feel like you've run a marathon by 9AM? Kids want to do the right thing (well, most of the time). But they forget easily and get distracted. So to push them out the door on time you have to nag, scold and argue. Until the whole morning is just a crazy-making mess. BENEFITS OF SCHOOL MORNING ROUTINE - You won’t have to remind them to get ready over and over (and over) - You’ll teach your kids independence and organisational skills. - They’ll get ready much more quickly - You won’t be late and you’ll give your kids more time for homework and play. - It takes away the stress and negativity - You’ll start your day happy and calm. HOW IT WORKS It’s like a to-do list combined with a game. Kids love it. And when they finish their jobs, the app rewards them with a short cat video. Because kids love cat videos. Everyone does. Don’t waste your mornings nagging. Start the day with calm and energy, knowing you’ve done the best for your family. Enjoy these golden days. OUR STORY My name is Chris Nielsen and I live in Perth Australia with my gorgeous wife Meg and our three beautiful kids. I got the idea for the app one day after a particularly chaotic morning getting all three kids off to school. As I arrived at work and walked through the front door of my office I thought: “I’m honestly as tired as if I’d just run a marathon.” The more I thought about it, the more it didn’t seem right that mornings should be so hard. Kids want to do the right thing (well, most of the time). But the problem is that they forget easily and get distracted. So to push them out the door on time you have to nag, scold and argue. I didn’t want to waste these golden days with our kids. So Meg and I started trying different ways to help our kids get ready for school. We scoured the internet and parenting books for ideas and tried everything. Some things worked and some didn't. The more we learned, the more we realized that nothing existed that got it quite right. So we started this app. We’ve spent a lot of time tweaking and improving the user experience and we think it’s amazing. Now our mornings are relaxed and peaceful. In a small, but very real way, this app has changed our lives. I hope it will help you and your family as well. If you have any thoughts about the app or parenting in general, email us at hello@bitstate.com.au and let us know. We'd love to hear from you. SUBSCRIPTION TERMS • $3.49 USD/month • *price may vary by location* TERMS • Subscription automatically renews unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24-hours before the end of the current period • Account will be charged for renewal within 24-hours prior to the end of the current period, and identify the cost of the renewal • Subscriptions may be managed by the user and auto-renewal may be turned off by going to the user's Account Settings after purchase • Any unused portion of a free trial period, if offered, will be forfeited when the user purchases a subscription to that publication, where applicable Read the Terms of Service at https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Thumsters4 screens
School Morning Routine4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Thumsters at 4.7 against School Morning Routine's 3.8. Thumsters also leads on monetization model (free with in-app purchases vs subscription) and review sentiment (69% vs 50%). School Morning Routine's advantage is update cadence (weekly vs fortnightly) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 15.1). On price, ads, in-app purchases 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Thumsters sells 7 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per 7 days and School Morning Routine sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $3.49 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Thumsters holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 3.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Thumsters has 874 ratings behind it against 69, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 69% of Thumsters's written reviews are positive against 50% of School Morning Routine's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Thumsters ships an update fortnightly, School Morning Routine weekly. Both last shipped on November 3, 2026.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Thumsters versus School Morning Routine: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterThumstersSchool Morning Routine
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (874 ratings) — better3.8 (69 ratings)
Positive reviews68.7% of reviews — better50.0% of reviews
Number of ratings874 — better69
Update frequencyFortnightlyWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases — betterSubscription
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — betteriPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.112.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size92 MB124 MB
Age rating+44+
DeveloperKØBEN digitalBit State Pty Ltd

Customer experience

Thumsters

All ratings873 ratings
Positive91.3%
Neutral5.0%
Negative3.7%
Written reviews134 reviews
Positive68.7%
Neutral14.9%
Negative16.4%

School Morning Routine

All ratings68 ratings
Positive73.5%
Neutral1.5%
Negative25.0%
Written reviews30 reviews
Positive50.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative50.0%

Bugs and requests

Thumsters

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Crashes when adding child profiles
  • Sync issues between devices
  • Thumbs up/down disappearing or not registering properly
  • Inconsistent behavior after app updates

Requested features

5 requests
  • Allow kids to track their own progress
  • Add more customization options for goals and rewards
  • Implement better reporting and analytics
  • Improve Apple Watch integration
  • Simplify the process of giving thumbs up/down

School Morning Routine

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

7 purchases

Thumsters

Subscriptions7
  • Weekly Premium Subscription$1.997 Days
  • Monthly Premium Subscription3 Days trial$7.991 Month
  • Monthly Premium Subscription14 Days trial$12.991 Month
Show 4 more
  • 6 Month Premium Subscription3 Days trial$39.996 Months
  • Yearly Premium Subscription7 Days trial$47.991 Year
  • 6 month premium subscription14 Days trial$59.996 Months
  • ThumbsUp full account - 1 year14 Days trial$79.991 Year
1 purchases

School Morning Routine

Subscriptions1
  • Subscription7 Days trial$3.491 Month

Questions

Is Thumsters free?
Thumsters is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is School Morning Routine free?
School Morning Routine is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Thumsters or School Morning Routine?
Thumsters is rated higher. Thumsters averages 4.7 out of 5 from 874 ratings, while School Morning Routine averages 3.8 from 69 ratings.
Do Thumsters or School Morning Routine have ads?
Neither Thumsters nor School Morning Routine shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Thumsters or School Morning Routine?
Thumsters ships an update fortnightly, and School Morning Routine weekly. Most recently, Thumsters was updated on November 3, 2026 and School Morning Routine on November 3, 2026.

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