Pictello Visual Stories vs GoTalk® NOW PLUS
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- 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 descriptionHide 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.
GoTalk® NOW PLUS
This powerful app provides a flexible and user-friendly platform for individuals with speech difficulties. It offers customizable page layouts, text-to-speech, and extensive image libraries to create personalized communication books. Users can also share and back up their creations.
- Adjustable page layouts
- Recorded and text-to-speech capabilities
- Over 15,000 images from SymbolStix and GoTalk Image Library
- Ready-Set-Communicate pre-made book for children
- Three communication page styles: Standard, Express, and Scenes
- Create and share unlimited communication books
- Full-feature scanning app
Read full descriptionHide full description
Attainment has been making augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) tools for 25 years. Our experience is front and center in GoTalk NOW PLUS, a flexible, easy-to-use, yet powerful app for people who have difficulty speaking. GoTalk NOW PLUS shares the same foundation as GoTalk NOW, and has all the essentials of an effective AAC app; adjustable page layouts, recorded and text-to-speech capabilities, and customizable navigation are all featured. So what differentiates PLUS from NOW? PLUS comes bundled with a wealth of extra content to help you get more out of the app. Between both SymbolStix and The GoTalk Image Library you have access to over 15,000 images! Also featured is Ready-Set-Communicate, a pre-made communication book for children ages 3-10. PLUS also contains 7 English text-to-speech voices, including 2 children’s voices. Please note an internet connection is required to download the additional content. GoTalk NOW PLUS offers three styles of communication pages: Standard, Express, and Scenes. In Standard pages, the action occurs when the location is pressed. In Express pages, recorded or text-to-speech messages build in a speech bar and play in sequence when the bar is pressed. Scene pages are built around a single photo or image. When you arrange invisible hotspots over people or objects in the photo, the hotspots play speech, music, or videos! Feel free to mix and match pages within a communication book. Create as many communication books as you need, each with unique settings and unlimited pages. Then share these books with other users via WiFi, and back them up for safekeeping via Dropbox or any Mac/PC. Envision the impact of blending video, music, and jump to actions among your pages. How cool is it to have your own private online galley to store and save your templates (up to five communication pages) for free, and to email these templates to parents and colleagues! Furthermore, GoTalk NOW PLUS is a full-feature scanning app! Features: • Choose 1, 2, 4, 9, 16, or 25 locations per page. • Use images from your iPad camera, photo library, GoTalk Image Library, or SymbolStix symbols. • Search the Internet in-app for the perfect image or icon. • Includes free download for Ready-Set-Communicate, a pre-made communication book for children ages 3-10. • Purchase additional pre-made communication books in-app. • Combine multiple images in a single communication location. • Color pages, borders, and text with any hue. • Move and size text with your fingers so it feels just right. • Record your voice or use our free text-to-speech voice. • Utilize 7 American English text-to-speech voices, available as free download • Buy additional voices for only 99 cents each, available in over 20 languages. • Add spoken labels (auditory cues) to any button. Great for scanning, guiding visually impaired users, and identifying any new or difficult vocabulary. • Trim videos in-app, and play them from any communication location. • Select our alternate video interface to pause or exit the video easily. • Link songs from your playlist to any communication location and control them with Pause/Play, Next, and Previous. • Include a core vocabulary button for extra quick access to important messages. • Share complete communication books via WiFi with any iPad user who has NOW or PLUS. • Back up communication books via Dropbox or to any Mac or PC for safekeeping. • Store and share interactive templates (each including speech, video, text, and jump to links) on our online gallery for free. • Download and edit pre-made templates from Attainment’s collection on the public gallery, also free. • Email links to your templates to parents and colleagues, who can open the template on their iPad by tapping on the link. • Print and save communication book layouts via PDFs. • Access PLUS with single or two-switch scanning. GoTalk NOW PLUS participates in Apple's Volume Purchasing Program for Education in the United States.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Pictello Visual Stories at $19.99 against GoTalk® NOW PLUS's $189.99. Pictello Visual Stories also leads on rating (4.1 vs 3.0) and in-app purchases (none vs 10). GoTalk® NOW PLUS's advantage is update cadence (every 5 weeks vs every 7 months) and iOS requirement (15.6 vs 17.0). On ads, monetization model 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
Pictello Visual Stories costs $19.99 and GoTalk® NOW PLUS $189.99 up front. GoTalk® NOW PLUS sells 10 one-off in-app purchases. Pictello Visual Stories asks for nothing beyond the download.
Pictello Visual Stories holds the better App Store score, 4.1 against 3.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Pictello Visual Stories has 33 ratings behind it against 4, 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 40% of GoTalk® NOW PLUS's.
Pictello Visual Stories ships an update every 7 months, GoTalk® NOW PLUS every 5 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 10, 2026 and November 6, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Pictello Visual Stories | GoTalk® NOW PLUS |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $19.99 — better | $189.99 |
| Rating | 4.1 (33 ratings) — better | 3.0 (4 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 71.4% of reviews — better | 40.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 33 — better | 4 |
| Update frequency | Every 7 months | Every 5 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Paid | Paid |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad — better | iPad |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 15.6 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 660 MB | 235 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | AssistiveWare | Attainment Company |
Customer experience
Pictello Visual Stories
GoTalk® NOW PLUS
In-app purchases
Pictello Visual Stories
No in-app purchases
GoTalk® NOW PLUS
- Ella$11.99
- Josh$11.99
- Emilio - English$11.99
Show 7 moreShow fewer
- Emilio - Spanish$11.99
- Talk All Day$19.99
- PCS High Contrast$29.99
- Participate NOW$49.99
- English (US) Keywords$59.99
- AAC2go (Girl 3-10)$79.99
- AAC2go (Boy 3-10)$79.99
Questions
Is Pictello Visual Stories free?
Is GoTalk® NOW PLUS free?
Which has better reviews, Pictello Visual Stories or GoTalk® NOW PLUS?
Do Pictello Visual Stories or GoTalk® NOW PLUS have ads?
Which is updated more often, Pictello Visual Stories or GoTalk® NOW PLUS?
Other comparisons















