Comparison

Mood Toolbox vs CogniStar

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

Head to head
About

Mood Toolbox

This app offers games and tips to help children understand and manage their emotions. It features interactive characters, social stories, and mood tracking to support emotional intelligence development, particularly for children with ASD and special needs.

Highlights
  • Interactive Moodzies for mood recognition
  • Strategies for mood management
  • Social stories for emotional regulation
  • Focusing games for calming
  • Achievement system for motivation
  • Daily mood tracking
Features
Read full description

Do you know a child that is moody and needs help with regulating their emotions? Mood Tool Box provides games and tips for emotional intelligence. Created by a mom of son with ASD and Special Education teacher with over 30 years experience, this app particularly helps parents, teachers and practitioners to manage moods in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Aspergers and Special Needs. MOOD TOOLBOX has the following features: *FUN CHARACTER affectionately called Moodzies in this mood app helps to encourage children to recognize their own moods. Each Moodzie has a color that represents different moods, such as anger, sadness etc. *LEARN ABOUT STRATEGIES FOR MOOD MANAGEMENT- Moodzie can change moods and in this mood app, children can learn techniques to help understand and balance their moods in a healthy way to find happiness again. BASED on strategies that were utilised by the designer to help her son Ben with emotional regulation and students taught in Elementary, Middle schools and Special Schools. There is also the opportunity to unlock the Mood Tool Box program with a printable posters. *SOCIAL STORIES that show children visually how Moodzie can emotionally regulate. There are three Moodzie Adventure Stories included: Moodzie Chooses Happy, Moodzie Gets Agro and Moodzie Blues. *INCLUDES GAMES that help focus the mind on something different, allowing the child to become calm enough to think about his or her moods through the various strategies included. *ACHIEVEMENTS LIST encourages children to succeed by rewarding them with the unlocking the opportunity for additional games and other features once they have achieved their goals by working with the mood app. *MOOD TRACKING- Unlike most apps for emotional intelligence, this app allows you to track - the different moods your child or student may be feeling on a daily basis so you can take note of what strategies worked. It’s also an excellent choice of ADHD tools for children with ADHD and similar challenges. This App can be used at home, at school or during services such as speech therapy to help children learn to communicate their emotions. Download Mood Toolbox, the free app with in-app purchases and introduce your child or your student to emotional intelligence today! Additional App Features: * Mood themed App with vivid, beautiful graphics and posters available * Customise your Moodzie, balls, sky and path with one simple in-app purchase * Simple tap-to-play interface allows children to begin calming right away * Add music to the game by choosing from a selection of tracks that aim at calming the child * Compatible with Facebook, Twitter and World Leaderboards to post scores * Teaches tips about emotional regulation and intelligence in a fun, engaging way * Developed by a mom of a child with ASD and a Special Education Teacher with over 30 years experience.

About

CogniStar

This app offers engaging cognitive games for children aged 6-10, focusing on attention, memory, logic, and spatial reasoning. It features adaptive learning, progress tracking, and printable worksheets in a safe, ad-free environment.

Highlights
  • 144+ dynamic game modes
  • Adaptive learning engine
  • Parent dashboard and stats
  • Custom PDF worksheet generator
  • Offline mode
Features
Read full description

CogniStar is an innovative brain training and cognitive development application designed for children aged 6-10. Developed with pedagogical experts, it helps children strengthen their attention, working memory, logic, and spatial reasoning skills through play. KEY FEATURES: • 144+ Dynamic Game Modes: Pattern completion, visual search, n-back, shadow match, logic puzzles, and more. • Adaptive Learning Engine: Automatically adjusts puzzle difficulty to match your child's learning pace. • Parent Dashboard & Stats: Track cognitive growth, view strengths and areas for improvement with detailed graphs. • Custom PDF Worksheet Generator: Instantly generate and print personalized physical worksheets from topics where your child needs extra practice. • Safe & Ad-Free: Zero third-party advertisements. A safe, clean learning environment for kids. • 100% Offline Mode: Play anywhere, anytime without requiring an active internet connection. Give your child a head start in visual thinking, critical problem-solving, and cognitive ability. Download CogniStar today! CogniStar Premium is an auto-renewable subscription. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Mood Toolbox4 screens
CogniStar4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: CogniStar at 5.0 against Mood Toolbox's 2.7. Mood Toolbox's advantage is ratings volume (3 vs 1) and iOS requirement (8.0 vs 15.0). On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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. Mood Toolbox sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and CogniStar sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

CogniStar holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 2.7. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 3 and 1 respectively.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Mood Toolbox ships an update fortnightly, CogniStar every 11 days. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 28, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Mood Toolbox versus CogniStar: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMood ToolboxCogniStar
PriceFreeFree
Rating2.7 (3 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews0.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings3 — better1
Update frequencyFortnightlyEvery 11 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFreemium
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS8.0 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size113 MB113 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperNatalie Clarkesuleyman kardas

Customer experience

Mood Toolbox

All ratings2 ratings
Positive50.0%
Neutral50.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive0.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative100.0%

CogniStar

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Mood Toolbox

One-time1
  • Mood Toolbox$2.99
3 purchases

CogniStar

Subscriptions3
  • CogniStar Premium Monthly$4.991 Month
  • CogniStar Premium 6 Months$19.996 Months
  • CogniStar Premium Annual$29.991 Year

Questions

Is Mood Toolbox free?
Mood Toolbox is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is CogniStar free?
CogniStar is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Mood Toolbox or CogniStar?
CogniStar is rated higher. Mood Toolbox averages 2.7 out of 5 from 3 ratings, while CogniStar averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Mood Toolbox or CogniStar have ads?
Neither Mood Toolbox nor CogniStar shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Mood Toolbox or CogniStar?
Mood Toolbox ships an update fortnightly, and CogniStar every 11 days. Most recently, Mood Toolbox was updated on October 24, 2026 and CogniStar on October 28, 2026.

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