Comparison

PuppetMaster vs Cranium CoRE Remote

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

Head to head
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/

About

Cranium CoRE Remote

This companion app functions as a controller for an educational gameshow experience. Users enter a game code to connect and answer questions, fostering discussion and independent thinking. It's designed to enhance comprehension skills for students.

Highlights
  • Game controller functionality
  • Connects to gameshows
  • Answers questions
  • Fosters discussion
  • Enhances comprehension
  • Cross-curricular learning
Features
Read full description

Download this Cranium CoRE Remote to play our educational game called Cranium CoRE. This remote acts as a control to answer questions in our gameshow format. Simply enter in the Game Code that appears when you setup a new game to play. Click connect and your Cranium CoRE remote will automatically connect to the game and allow you to play. To use this remote, you must first create an account at http://craniumcore.com and then click Play on any of our thousands of games. This remote works best using WiFi network, but will function over 3G/4G. Cranium CoRE is a cross-curricular solution to the challenge at both the elementary & secondary level. The focus of this process is discussion. The higher order thinking questions used in this method are a springboard for thematic conversation leading to improved comprehension skills. The goal is to have our students think independently at times. It is also a goal to show them how to be interdependent, collaborative learners.

Screenshots

PuppetMaster4 screens
Cranium CoRE Remote4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Cranium CoRE Remote at 5.0 against PuppetMaster's 4.0. Cranium CoRE Remote also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 6) and review sentiment (50% vs 39%). PuppetMaster's advantage is update cadence (monthly vs every 37 months) and ratings volume (52 vs 1). On price, ads 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. PuppetMaster sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Cranium CoRE Remote asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Cranium CoRE Remote holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: PuppetMaster has 52 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 39% of PuppetMaster's written reviews are positive against 50% of Cranium CoRE Remote's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

PuppetMaster ships an update monthly, Cranium CoRE Remote every 37 months. The most recent releases landed on September 20, 2026 and June 5, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
PuppetMaster versus Cranium CoRE Remote: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPuppetMasterCranium CoRE Remote
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.0 (52 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews39.5% of reviews50.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings52 — better1
Update frequencyMonthly — betterEvery 37 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS13.08.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size415 MB2 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperShmonster LLCThinkersize, LLC.

Customer experience

PuppetMaster

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

Cranium CoRE Remote

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive50.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative50.0%

In-app purchases

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
None

Cranium CoRE Remote

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is PuppetMaster free?
PuppetMaster is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Cranium CoRE Remote free?
Cranium CoRE Remote is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, PuppetMaster or Cranium CoRE Remote?
Cranium CoRE Remote is rated higher. PuppetMaster averages 4.0 out of 5 from 52 ratings, while Cranium CoRE Remote averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do PuppetMaster or Cranium CoRE Remote have ads?
Neither PuppetMaster nor Cranium CoRE Remote shows ads.
Which is updated more often, PuppetMaster or Cranium CoRE Remote?
PuppetMaster ships an update monthly, and Cranium CoRE Remote every 37 months. Most recently, PuppetMaster was updated on September 20, 2026 and Cranium CoRE Remote on June 5, 2026.

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