Comparison

Pictello Visual Stories vs ConversationBuilder™

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

Head to head
About

Pictello Visual Stories

Create engaging visual stories and social schedules with photos, videos, and text. Supports literacy development through features like word-by-word highlighting and text-to-speech. Easily share your creations with others or export them for wider distribution.

Highlights
  • Create visual stories with photos and videos
  • Text-to-speech and voice recording
  • Word-by-word text highlighting
  • Built-in word prediction
  • Import books from Tar Heel Reader
  • Share stories via server or Dropbox
  • Export to PDF or print
Read full description

Everyone loves to tell fun, engaging, and imaginative stories. Go ahead and make a social story or visual schedule for a child with autism or a slide show of holiday pictures for your friends - Pictello makes it a breeze to create and share! Whether you use the included natural-sounding Text to Speech voices, or record your own voice, Pictello is the perfect tool for visual storytelling. Each page in a Pictello story consists of a photo or video and some text, which can be read aloud by a Text to Speech voice or your own recorded audio. Develop literacy skills - Support reading with word-by-word text highlighting - Develop writing and spelling with built-in word prediction and Speak as You Type - Create stories to teach academic and social skills - Import free early literacy and adapted academic books from Tar Heel Reader Create and playback with ease - Let students use the wizard to create stories - Play stories page by page or as a slideshow - Use Text to Speech voices to read the story - Turn on switch access for story playback Integrate multimedia - Add your own photos - Include short video clips - Record your own voice or sound Share your stories - Share with other Pictello users through our free sharing server - Use Dropbox to exchange stories - Export to PDF or print to share with non-Pictello users Speak your language - Pick English, Spanish, German, French, Italian or Dutch for the user interface - Select from over 110 free Text to Speech voices in 29 languages - Use genuine American, British, Australian, American-Spanish, Swedish, French, Italian, German, Norwegian and Swedish children's voices - Create interest with fun character and specialty voices Customize to fit your needs - Pick between Wizard or Expert creation modes - Swipe or automatically turn pages - Adjust speech rate and pronunciations Read more at www.assistiveware.com/products/pictello Additional Note: Educational institutions can get a 50% discount if they purchase 20 or more licenses through Apple’s Volume Licensing Program for Education.

About

ConversationBuilder™

This app helps elementary-aged children learn multi-exchange conversations through a visual format. It teaches appropriate conversation skills like introducing oneself, asking questions, and changing subjects in various social settings.

Highlights
  • Visual conversation patterns
  • Record student's conversation half
  • Multiple conversation settings
  • 160 conversation choices
  • Personalized conversation content
  • Achievements and certificates
Features
Read full description

Own as an individual app or as part of our MES Speech Therapy Bundle. Winner - Top Ten SN apps of all time - Technology Horizons in Education Winner - Top Social Skills App of 2012 - Consonantly Speaking Winner - 2012 Top 10 Speech Therapy App - Mom's with Apps Winner - 2012 Top 10 Speech Therapy App - Let's Talk SLP Winner - 2012 Top 10 Speech Therapy App - Peachy Speech Winner - 2012 Top 10 Speech Therapy App - Speech2Me Winner - 2nd best Educational App by Smart Apps For Kids ConversationBuilder™ (Pat. Pend.) is designed to help elementary aged children learn how to have multi-exchange conversations with their peers in a variety of social settings.  The auditory pattern of conversation is presented in a visual format to help students recognize and master the flow of conversation. Students will learn when it is appropriate to introduce themselves, ask questions, make observations and change the subject of the conversation.   Being able to converse with peers is the cornerstone of developing relationships, and ConversationBuilder™ promotes development of this skill that so many elementary aged children struggle with in a fun and engaging way. FEATURES: -Simple interface to learn the pattern of conversation -Students record their half of the conversation -Two group and two one-on-one conversation settings -160 conversations to choose from -Student can initiate or respond to conversations -Use your own images for group conversations -Student name, age, primary interest and city of residence are used in conversations to personalize play -Achievements page with certificates of completion -Student recordings are interlaced with pre-recorded audio to create complete conversations -Conversations may be archived and emailed LANGUAGES - English REQUIREMENTS - Compatible with iPad - Requires 8.0 software update ConversationBuilder™ is part of "The Builder Series" of award winning education apps. Mobile Education Store has won over 40 app awards and has been named educational developer of the year in 2011 and 2012. Mobile Education Tools is a member of Moms with Apps, a collaborative group of family-friendly developers seeking to promote quality apps for kids and families. Recommended Ages: 6-10 Categories: Special Needs

Screenshots

Pictello Visual Stories4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: ConversationBuilder™ at 5.0 against Pictello Visual Stories's 4.1. ConversationBuilder™ also leads on review sentiment (96% vs 71%) and iOS requirement (11.0 vs 17.0). Pictello Visual Stories's advantage is price ($19.99 vs $24.99) and ratings volume (33 vs 2). On update cadence, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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

Pictello Visual Stories costs $19.99 and ConversationBuilder™ $24.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

ConversationBuilder™ holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.1. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Pictello Visual Stories has 33 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 71% of Pictello Visual Stories's written reviews are positive against 96% of ConversationBuilder™'s.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Pictello Visual Stories ships an update every 6 months, ConversationBuilder™ every 10 months. The most recent releases landed on October 11, 2026 and September 29, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Pictello Visual Stories versus ConversationBuilder™: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPictello Visual StoriesConversationBuilder™
Price$19.99 — better$24.99
Rating4.1 (33 ratings)5.0 (2 ratings) — better
Positive reviews71.4% of reviews95.9% of reviews — better
Number of ratings33 — better2
Update frequencyEvery 6 months — betterEvery 10 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPad — betteriPad
Requires iOS17.011.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size662 MB153 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAssistiveWareMobile Education Store LLC

Customer experience

Pictello Visual Stories

All ratings33 ratings
Positive78.8%
Neutral3.0%
Negative18.2%
Written reviews63 reviews
Positive71.4%
Neutral6.3%
Negative22.2%

ConversationBuilder™

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews73 reviews
Positive95.9%
Neutral2.7%
Negative1.4%

Bugs and requests

Pictello Visual Stories

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

ConversationBuilder™

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • App consistently crashes when playing back conversations
  • Difficulty backing out of group conversation setup

Requested features

13 requests
  • More multicultural representation in pictures
  • Easier level with 2 distinct answer choices
  • Explanation for incorrect answers
  • Answer choices read aloud for non-readers
  • Add more modules/conversations
Show 8 more
  • Option to record wrong responses
  • Ability to back out of group conversations easily
  • Add data tracking
  • Pre-recorded sentences for non-readers
  • Option to add own pictures
  • Version for older students
  • Audio prompts for non-readers
  • Modules for ordering food, making calls, asking directions

In-app purchases

None

Pictello Visual Stories

No in-app purchases

None

ConversationBuilder™

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Pictello Visual Stories free?
Pictello Visual Stories costs $19.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is ConversationBuilder™ free?
ConversationBuilder™ costs $24.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Pictello Visual Stories or ConversationBuilder™?
ConversationBuilder™ is rated higher. Pictello Visual Stories averages 4.1 out of 5 from 33 ratings, while ConversationBuilder™ averages 5.0 from 2 ratings.
Do Pictello Visual Stories or ConversationBuilder™ have ads?
Neither Pictello Visual Stories nor ConversationBuilder™ shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Pictello Visual Stories or ConversationBuilder™?
Pictello Visual Stories ships an update every 6 months, and ConversationBuilder™ every 10 months. Most recently, Pictello Visual Stories was updated on October 11, 2026 and ConversationBuilder™ on September 29, 2026.

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