Comparison

GLEN Books vs PlayPower Math

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

Head to head
About

GLEN Books

This app offers a collection of illustrated children's storybooks in English and Spanish, featuring synchronized text highlighting and narration. It's designed to support language learning and early reading skills for children, with flexible narration options.

Highlights
  • Children's stories in English and Spanish
  • Illustrated with warm narration
  • Audio-synced text highlighting
  • Flexible auto-narration options
  • Adapted classics and original stories
Features
Read full description

Being read to is a magical experience for kids, and is a crucial stepping stone for language learning. GLEN Books provides a collection of illustrated children’s story books in English and Spanish, narrated with synchronized text-highlight and the book pages being “turned” on the screen. The stories include popular children's classics, including adaptations of Aesop's fables and Indian folk tales, as well as original stories. Kids don’t need to know how to read in order to enjoy these beautifully illustrated stories by our expert narrators, but the audio-synced text highlighting provides a constant invitation to step into reading. Beginning readers can practice and develop their skills by turning off the narration, or by playing audio for selected phrases in the text. GLEN Books can be used to strengthen language skills for children at homes or in informal preschool environments, as well as a complement to in-class activities in Kindergarten-1st grade school settings. The auto-narration feature allows parents and caregivers to enjoy story-time with their kids regardless of their own level of literacy. Skilled teachers can craft a rich set of reading, comprehension and bilingual activities around GLEN Books. KEY FEATURES * Children’s stories in English and Spanish * Designed to engage kids of all ages with rich illustrations and warm narration * Audio-synced text highlighting is an invitation to reading * Flexible auto-narration: on, off, and phrase-by-phrase * Adapted children’s classics as well as original stories GLEN Books is developed by GLEN World, a nonprofit organization developing research-based learning apps to scale early English literacy. In line with GLEN World’s mission, GLEN Books is available free of cost, with no ads and other distractions, and no in-app purchases. GLEN Books does not require user registration and does not collect any personal information from our learners. ABOUT GLEN WORLD GLEN World is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization on a mission to scale early English literacy so that every child has access to the educational and economic opportunities it unlocks. GLEN Books is also included in GLEN Learn, a research-based personalized learning app for early English literacy, designed to help children develop reading skills via a series of guided exercises, engaging stories and rhymes. Our content design is based on Instructed Second Language Acquisition research, targeting the fundamental skills required for literacy: vocabulary knowledge, recognition of sounds, and recognition of spelling. Our learning modules reinforce each other as they target these fundamental skills. Our team includes seasoned educators, authors, animators, established graphic artists, and engineers. A unique strength is our connection with two premier research universities, University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) and Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), with the close involvement of faculty with expertise spanning second language acquisition, education, cognition, engineering, and machine learning. Visit www.glenworld.org for more information. Join us in our mission by making a donation today!

About

PlayPower Math

Read full description

Math just got a whole lot more fun! PlayPower Math turns everyday math practice into an exciting adventure with 55+ interactive games built for students in Kindergarten through Grade 8. Whether your child is just learning to count or tackling fractions and geometry, there's a game waiting for them. Jump into Alien Shooter to practice multiplication, explore Fraction Frenzy to master parts of a whole, or blast off with Space Party to conquer place value every game is a new challenge! Kids won't even realize they're learning. Each game is crafted by educators to align with what students are actually studying in school. Addition, subtraction, decimals, money, time, rational numbers it's all here, wrapped in gameplay that keeps them coming back for more. And because we know learning doesn't stop when the Wi-Fi does, every game downloads automatically to play offline. On a road trip? Waiting at the doctor's office? No problem. Math practice goes wherever your child goes. Hablas español? So does PlayPower Math! Switch between English and Spanish with a single tap, so every student can learn in the language they're most comfortable with. WHAT PARENTS AND TEACHERS LOVE: No ads. No in-app purchases. No accounts. No data collection. Just 55+ games and a whole lot of learning. We built PlayPower Math to be the app you actually feel good about handing to your kid. Teachers use it as a go-to classroom tool — one app that covers K through 8, aligned to the curriculum, ready to go. Parents love that screen time finally means something productive. HIGHLIGHTS: • 55+ math games spanning Kindergarten through Grade 8 • Covers addition, subtraction, fractions, geometry, place value, money, time and beyond • Bilingual — full English and Spanish support • Works offline — games download automatically for learning anywhere • Immersive full-screen gameplay • Filter by grade, search by topic • 100% free — forever • Zero ads, hassle free onboarding PRIVACY & SAFETY: Your child's safety comes first. PlayPower Math collects no personal data whatsoever. No accounts, no tracking, no third-party services. The app is fully compliant with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). To learn more, visit https://playpowerlabs.com/privacy Built with love by PlayPower Labs, because every kid deserves to love math.

Screenshots

GLEN Books4 screens
PlayPower Math4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: GLEN Books at daily against PlayPower Math's every 9 days. GLEN Books also leads on iOS requirement (11.0 vs 15.0). 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

GLEN Books ships an update daily, PlayPower Math every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on October 22, 2026 and October 14, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 7 level
GLEN Books versus PlayPower Math: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterGLEN BooksPlayPower Math
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (3 ratings) — better—
Number of ratings3 — better—
Update frequencyDaily — betterEvery 9 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS11.0 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size146 MB74 MB
Age rating4+9+
DeveloperGLEN WORLDPlaypower Labs, LLC

In-app purchases

None

GLEN Books

No in-app purchases

None

PlayPower Math

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is GLEN Books free?
GLEN Books is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is PlayPower Math free?
PlayPower Math is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do GLEN Books or PlayPower Math have ads?
Neither GLEN Books nor PlayPower Math shows ads.
Which is updated more often, GLEN Books or PlayPower Math?
GLEN Books ships an update daily, and PlayPower Math every 9 days. Most recently, GLEN Books was updated on October 22, 2026 and PlayPower Math on October 14, 2026.

Other comparisons