Comparison

Puppet Pals vs PuppetMaster

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

Head to head
About

Puppet Pals

Bring your stories to life by creating animated shows in real time. Choose actors and backdrops, then record your movements and voice to produce unique performances. Unleash your creativity with endless storytelling possibilities.

Highlights
  • Real-time animation recording
  • Create actors from photos
  • Use photos as backdrops
  • Zoom and rotate characters
  • Downloadable creative characters
  • Director's Pass for all content
Read full description

Create your own animated shows in real time! Pick your actors and backdrops, drag them onto the stage, and tap record. Your movements and voice are captured live, ready to play back, save, and watch again. Act out a pirate adventure on the high seas, a spooky monster showdown, or a Wild West escape — and mix any characters and scenes however you like. Your shows are only limited by your imagination. FREE FEATURES - A stage full of characters and backdrops to perform with - Turn a photo into a character or a backdrop - Record shows with live animation and audio - Zoom, rotate, and flip characters as you perform - Save shows and watch them anytime CREATIVE CLUB (optional subscription) Join the Creative Club to unlock the full show: - Imagine any character or backdrop, describe it, and watch AI bring it to life - Every character and scene pack included - Record shows up to 10 minutes long - Draw your own characters and backdrops - Export your shows as videos - Widescreen stage and full control over the end-of-show outro Choose your plan, monthly or annual: - Essentials — includes 40 AI creations per month - Unlimited — includes up to 1,000 AI creations per month SUBSCRIPTION DETAILS Payment is charged to your Apple Account at confirmation of purchase. Subscriptions renew automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. You can manage or cancel your subscription anytime in your App Store account settings. Any unused portion of a free trial is forfeited when you purchase a subscription. Privacy Policy: https://www.polishedplay.com/puppetpals1/privacy Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Puppet Pals is fully usable without a subscription — the Creative Club just adds more magic.

About

PuppetMaster

Create animated videos by acting out scenes or touching the screen. Record your voice to bring characters to life in real-time. Features motion capture, multi-touch control, and the ability to use custom puppets and backgrounds.

Highlights
  • Real-time animation
  • Motion capture
  • Multi-touch animation
  • Create custom puppets
  • Create custom backgrounds
  • Export and share videos
Read full description

PuppetMaster: Animate. Literally. Anything. This animation app lets you instantly bring to life anything you want, just by acting things out in front of the camera or touching the screen. Your voice is recorded as well. The result is your own animated video you can save and share! The app even has fun guided activities that kids can follow along and do, making arts and crafts and then animating them. Features include: * Real-time animation - you animate in the moment, while you talk, and your puppet comes to life in front of your eyes. * Motion capture - intuitively animate characters just by moving your body in front of the device camera. Use front or back camera. (Best results are usually with back camera of newer devices.) * Multi-touch - animate by touching and dragging the puppet and its body parts on the screen, even using both hands or working together with a friend. * Animate one or two puppets - you can have one puppet on its own, or two puppets where both can move and you can control which one is talking at any time. * Create your own puppets - bring to life your physical artwork, your favorite toys, a person or animal, random stuff like your snacks arranged as a character, really anything you like! * Create your own backgrounds - use a painting you made, a diorama, some interesting place, or anything else you want as your background. * Choose from our designs - the app comes with a bunch of cool puppets and backgrounds already in it, in a cute hand drawn style that you can mix and match with your own creations. * Export and share videos with audio - save a video of your puppet show, complete with the audio of your performance, locally and also to social media, cloud storage, or any other typical sharing method. * In-app streaming tutorials and activities - guiding kids through using the app for visual storytelling, and teaching them how to create various physical art pieces and animate them. On our website and social media you'll find more project ideas, educational support, and lesson plans for teachers and homeschooling parents. PuppetMaster was named one of the Best Apps for Teaching and Learning by the American Association of School Librarians. It's a great open ended creative activity for children, supports ISTE standards, and is a great way to integrate the arts into any academic subject for a more engaging class. (Teachers say they prefer it to stop motion animation because it's so much easier and faster.) See our privacy and terms here: https://www.shmonster.com/privacyterms/

Screenshots

Puppet Pals4 screens
PuppetMaster4 screens

Verdict

The call

Puppet Pals and PuppetMaster both sit at 3.8 stars, but that hides the real split: 71% of Puppet Pals's written reviews are positive against 39% of PuppetMaster's. PuppetMaster's advantage is update cadence (monthly vs every 6 months) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 17.0). On price, rating, ratings volume 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. Puppet Pals sells 10 one-off in-app purchases and PuppetMaster sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

PuppetMaster holds the better App Store score, 4.0 against 3.8. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 50 and 52 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 71% of Puppet Pals's written reviews are positive against 39% of PuppetMaster's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Puppet Pals ships an update every 6 months, PuppetMaster monthly. The most recent releases landed on August 27, 2026 and September 20, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Puppet Pals versus PuppetMaster: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPuppet PalsPuppetMaster
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.8 (50 ratings)4.0 (52 ratings) — better
Positive reviews71.0% of reviews — better39.5% of reviews
Number of ratings5052 — better
Update frequencyEvery 6 monthsMonthly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS17.013.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size77 MB415 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperPolished Play, LLCShmonster LLC

Customer experience

Puppet Pals

All ratings50 ratings
Positive68.0%
Neutral8.0%
Negative24.0%
Written reviews210 reviews
Positive71.0%
Neutral7.6%
Negative21.4%

PuppetMaster

All ratings50 ratings
Positive70.0%
Neutral8.0%
Negative22.0%
Written reviews38 reviews
Positive39.5%
Neutral13.2%
Negative47.4%

Bugs and requests

Puppet Pals

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Crashes when trying to export videos
  • Saved videos not playing back properly
  • Issues with using own photos and characters

Requested features

4 requests
  • Add more characters, backgrounds, and themes
  • Allow exporting and sharing of videos
  • Improve video editing and recording features
  • Add sound effects and background music options

PuppetMaster

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

10 purchases

Puppet Pals

One-time10
  • Wild West$0.99
  • Political Par-tay$0.99
  • Monsters$0.99
Show 7 more
  • Talk Shows$0.99
  • Pirates$0.99
  • Fairytale$0.99
  • Zombie Attack$0.99
  • On the Farm$0.99
  • Christmas$0.99
  • Director's Pass$3.99
6 purchases

PuppetMaster

Subscriptions4
  • Creative Kids' Activities7 Days trial$2.991 Month
  • Animation7 Days trial$2.991 Month
  • Creative Kids' Activities7 Days trial$24.991 Year
Show 1 more
  • Animation7 Days trial$24.991 Year
One-time2
  • Animation$2.99
  • Animation$24.99

Questions

Is Puppet Pals free?
Puppet Pals is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is PuppetMaster free?
PuppetMaster is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Puppet Pals or PuppetMaster?
PuppetMaster is rated higher. Puppet Pals averages 3.8 out of 5 from 50 ratings, while PuppetMaster averages 4.0 from 52 ratings.
Do Puppet Pals or PuppetMaster have ads?
Neither Puppet Pals nor PuppetMaster shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Puppet Pals or PuppetMaster?
Puppet Pals ships an update every 6 months, and PuppetMaster monthly. Most recently, Puppet Pals was updated on August 27, 2026 and PuppetMaster on September 20, 2026.

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