Making Change USD vs Making Cents
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Making Change USD
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This program teaches the student about changing (converting) larger denominations of currency into smaller ones, such as breaking a dollar bill into four quarters or ten dimes or any other collections of coins that add up to the dollar. The screen has a top box showing the coin or bill for which change is needed. To the right of the top box is a counter giving the value of the currency in the top box. Under the top box are more boxes in the middle of the screen with spaces for the coins or bills that the student is using to make change for the money in the top box. To the right of the middle boxes is a counter giving the value of the change in the middle boxes. At the bottom is another set of boxes with a coin or bill in each box. The student clicks on these coins or bills to make change for the coin or bill in the top box. Change Made The student clicks this button when he/she thinks the correct change has been placed in the boxes in the middle. Settings Mode Test Select this option to measure the student’s progress. The “Report” button under “Test” mode is enabled. Report This displays results of the “Test”. The report Holds Only 20 Records. Grade On/Off: If it is on, app will monitor correct and wrong responses by the student Correct Answer: When a student response to a question with correct answer Wrong Answer: When a student response to a question with wrong answer Number of Total Attempt: Number of times a student tried to answer questions in the app. Bar Chart: Represents the student's performance graphically. View Records: If there are old test results, they will be shown on this screen. The current test result is always on top. Print: This will print the grade or data on the screen. Clear Data: This button erase all the data that was stored and free up the memory that data was occupying. Display the Value of the Coins or Bills is on This is the default setting. The value of the coin or bill (such as "10¢" under a dime) appears under the coin or bill. Display the Value of the Coins or Bills is off The value of the coin or bill (such as "10¢" under a dime) will not appear under the coin or bill. Command Text This option is selected by default. When this is checked, text appears at the bottom of the screen instructing the student to (for instance) “Here is five dollars. Please make change with 4 one-dollar bills and the rest in quarters.” If not checked, the command text does not appear. Congratulatory Animation This is selected by default. When the student makes the correct change and clicks on the "Change Made" button, there will be a congratulatory animation. Click anywhere on the screen or press the space bar to stop the congratulatory animation. When not checked, the animation will not appear. Selection Here the teacher/therapist can select the coins and/or bills that the student can use to make change. By default "Select All" is checked. Select All This selects all coins and bills.
Making Cents
This app simplifies money calculations for purchases, including sales tax. It's designed for students learning life skills and about money, offering visual and audio feedback to help users determine if they can afford an item.
- Purchase cost calculation with tax
- Visual feedback (thumbs-up/down)
- Auditory feedback for buttons and results
- Customizable tax rate
- Large, easy-to-tap buttons
- Supports iPhone and iPad
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Making Cents is a simplified money/purchase calculator with life skills applications. It was designed for students with special needs in mind, but it is also good for kids learning about money and sales tax. Input how much money you have, add together the prices of what you're purchasing, apply tax, and view the result! Lets you see if you have enough money for a purchase when tax is added to what you want to buy. It has large visual buttons: Start Over, Erase (separately erases the Have or Buy), Have, Buy, Tax, +, -, and =. Simply Enter * How much money you have * Cost of what you want to buy * Press Tax * Get your results — Can you afford the purchase or not? Visual, audio, kinesthetic, and tactile features * Visual — Vibrant colors, green thumbs-up & red thumbs-down * Audio — When tapped, talking buttons tells you how much money you have, how much you want to buy, green thumbs-up says “you have enough money” and red thumbs-down says “you don’t have enough money.” * Kinesthetic & Tactile — Touch screen activated, touch buttons or words. Settings * Easily set or change the tax rate for your city or county * Turn on/off voice (defaults to on) * Remembers last settings * Can reset tax to default 8%
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Making Cents at every 3 months against Making Change USD's every 17 months. Making Change USD's advantage is iOS requirement (11 vs 16.1). 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
Both are free to download. Making Change USD sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Making Cents sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Making Change USD ships an update every 17 months, Making Cents every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on October 26, 2026 and September 23, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Making Change USD | Making Cents |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | — | 4.8 (9 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | — | 66.7% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | — | 9 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 17 months | Every 3 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | — | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPad | iPhone, iPad — better |
| Requires iOS | 11 — better | 16.1 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 75 MB | 1 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Blooming Kids Software LLC | Michael Patini |
In-app purchases
Making Change USD
- Making Change USD$3.99
Making Cents
- Tip a Chocolate$2.00
- Tip a Coffee$5.00
- Tip a Burrito$12.00
Questions
Is Making Change USD free?
Is Making Cents free?
Do Making Change USD or Making Cents have ads?
Which is updated more often, Making Change USD or Making Cents?
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