Comparison

Pictello Visual Stories vs Counting Bear

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

Counting Bear

This educational game helps young children learn to count from 1 to 20 through interactive sight, sound, and touch. It allows for personalization with custom voices and items, offering a multi-sensory learning experience for ages 0 to 6.

Highlights
  • Learn numbers 1-20
  • Count objects by sight
  • Count by touch with audio feedback
  • Add custom voice recordings
  • Personalize with own photos
  • Adjustable difficulty
  • Multi-sensory learning
Features
Read full description

Endorsed by parents, teachers, and toddlers. Grasshopper Apps = Top Educational Apps for Kids :-) Warning: Your child will keep begging for your iPhone or iPad after they try this app. Counting Bear is an exciting educational game that helps your child rapidly learn how to count by sight, sound, and touch. The interface is so easy to use that even a 6 month old baby will delight in using this app. Ideal for ages 0 to 6. FEATURES: ● Learn how to count from 1 to 20 - you decide exactly what numbers to teach ● Learn how to recognize numbers by counting objects ● Learn how to count by touch - each time an item is counted the child will hear the number ● Add your own voice - now your toddler can learn everything in mommy's or daddy's voice ● Add your own items - take pictures of your child's favorite items to make the game more fun and personal ● Uses real, crisp photographs that are carefully hand picked and selected vs. cartoonish illustrations ● Fun & engaging voice artist keeps kids engaged ● Dynamic game play adjust difficulty (the number of objects per page) progressively or randomly based on user preferences ● Wrong answers do not interfere with gameplay, the child can immediately try again and touch the correct answer (most other games are too slow to keep kids interested by slowly repeating the desired question). ● Multi-sensory learning tool - combining audio, voice, and written words ● Don't like some of the existing items... no problem, just delete any item your kids does not enjoy ● Multi-language support - since you can edit existing items and add new items, you can record everything in your native tongue HEROIC SUPPORT Heroic Support is not just what we do.  It's really what makes us, well, us.  It's that drive to make a difference in your life - no matter how big or small.  Really, it's our way of life because we want you to be our customer for a lifetime of fun and learning. Have questions?  We are here to help.  Email us at support@grasshopperapps.com

Screenshots

Pictello Visual Stories4 screens
Counting Bear4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Counting Bear at $0.99 against Pictello Visual Stories's $19.99. Counting Bear also leads on update cadence (monthly vs every 7 months) and rating (4.5 vs 4.1). On review sentiment, ratings volume, 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

Pictello Visual Stories costs $19.99 and Counting Bear $0.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Counting Bear holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 4.1. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 33 and 86 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 71% of Pictello Visual Stories's written reviews are positive against 76% of Counting Bear's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Pictello Visual Stories ships an update every 7 months, Counting Bear monthly. Both last shipped on November 1, 2026.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Pictello Visual Stories versus Counting Bear: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPictello Visual StoriesCounting Bear
Price$19.99$0.99 — better
Rating4.1 (33 ratings)4.5 (86 ratings) — better
Positive reviews71.4% of reviews76.1% of reviews — better
Number of ratings3386 — better
Update frequencyEvery 7 monthsMonthly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS17.08.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size660 MB15 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAssistiveWareInnovative Investments Limited

Customer experience

Pictello Visual Stories

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

Counting Bear

All ratings85 ratings
Positive85.9%
Neutral5.9%
Negative8.2%
Written reviews92 reviews
Positive76.1%
Neutral5.4%
Negative18.5%

Bugs and requests

Pictello Visual Stories

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Counting Bear

Reported bugs

13 issues
  • App crashes when adding own pictures
  • Photo loader doesn't work
  • App crashes when the bear in the corner is touched
  • App freezes and doesn't progress
  • App crashes on launch after update
Show 8 more
  • App opens and closes immediately
  • App crashes on iPad
  • App closes when bear at the bottom is touched
  • App automatically closes when child touches the bear
  • Keeps saying '4' in the background
  • App crashes more often than others
  • Fails to display image on screen occasionally
  • No sound with the app

Requested features

11 requests
  • Allow counting past 20
  • Option to delay voice prompts
  • Landscape view option
  • Confirmation at the end of counting
  • Option to create an endpoint or 'play again'
Show 6 more
  • Customizable upper limit for counting
  • Hear corresponding number when previously counted object is clicked
  • Counting pattern from left to right, top to bottom
  • Fix the issue with the bear in the corner causing crashes
  • Fix the issue with the orange picture showing 1.5 oranges
  • Option to delay voice from saying each number

In-app purchases

None

Pictello Visual Stories

No in-app purchases

None

Counting Bear

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Pictello Visual Stories free?
Pictello Visual Stories costs $19.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Counting Bear free?
Counting Bear costs $0.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Pictello Visual Stories or Counting Bear?
Counting Bear is rated higher. Pictello Visual Stories averages 4.1 out of 5 from 33 ratings, while Counting Bear averages 4.5 from 86 ratings.
Do Pictello Visual Stories or Counting Bear have ads?
Neither Pictello Visual Stories nor Counting Bear shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Pictello Visual Stories or Counting Bear?
Pictello Visual Stories ships an update every 7 months, and Counting Bear monthly. Most recently, Pictello Visual Stories was updated on November 1, 2026 and Counting Bear on November 1, 2026.

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