Book Creator for iPad vs Pattern Shapes, by MLC
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Book Creator for iPad
Easily create and publish your own beautiful ebooks directly on your iPad. Add text, photos, videos, and drawings to make picture books, comics, journals, and more. Share your creations via email, cloud services, or even publish to the Apple Books Store.
- Add text with 50+ fonts
- Incorporate photos and images
- Resize, rotate, and position content
- Add video, music, and voice recordings
- Draw and annotate with pen tool
- Comic templates and stickers
- Publish to Apple Books Store
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Book Creator is the simplest way for students to show what they know. Make your own ebooks, comics, journals, and portfolios on iPad, then share them as an ePub, PDF, or video. Works fully offline. Book Creator is now part of the Kami family. Together, our products make learning visible, accessible, and meaningful. ** OVER 250 million books have been made in Book Creator since 2011 ** BUILT FOR CLASSROOMS WITHOUT WIFI The iPad app runs entirely on the device, with no account and no internet connection needed. That makes it a good fit for schools with limited connectivity, one-to-one iPad programs, and students working away from the classroom. Books stay on the device rather than in an account, so there's no login for students to remember. WHAT STUDENTS CAN MAKE Picture books, comics, poetry, science journals, how-to guides, reading portfolios, class newsletters, and anything else worth keeping. Book Creator works across every subject and every age group. * Write with over 50 fonts, in portrait, landscape, or square * Add photos from the camera or camera roll * Record voice, music, and video straight onto the page * Draw and annotate with the pen tool * Build comics with templates, panels, speech bubbles, and stickers * Resize, rotate, and position everything with snap guides WAYS TO SHARE * Read the finished book in Apple Books * Export as an ePub, a PDF, or a video file * Send by email, AirDrop, or a cloud service such as Google Drive or iCloud Drive * Print with AirPrint * Publish a book online to share with families MADE FOR EVERY LEARNER Students who find writing difficult can record their voice instead. Students learning a new language can pair images with words. Students who need more time can keep adding to a book across a whole term. Book Creator has always been built so that every learner can take part in the same task, in their own way. A NOTE ON FIXED LAYOUT BOOKS Book Creator uses the international ePub standard and supports fixed layout books, including double page spreads and soundtracks. Fixed layout isn't suited to long novels where text reflows from page to page, and you can't paste in large amounts of text from other documents. BOOK CREATOR FOR THE WHOLE CLASS Book Creator online is a separate product available for teachers who want live access to student work. Teachers set up class libraries, view every book as students write, give feedback in place, and choose from hundreds of ready-made templates. Student accounts are free. The two products work independently and don't sync with each other. See app.bookcreator.com to compare them. SUPPORT The app includes a Getting Started manual. For help articles and email support, see bookcreator.com/support.
Pattern Shapes, by MLC
This app allows students to explore geometry and fractions through interactive shape manipulation. Users can create designs, fill outlines, measure angles, and annotate their work. It's an open-ended educational tool for learning mathematical concepts.
- Explore geometry and fractions
- Create custom designs
- Measure angles with protractor
- Duplicate, resize, and recolor shapes
- Fill built-in outlines
- Annotate work with drawing tools
- Share creations via image or code
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Students use Pattern Shapes to explore geometry and fractions, creating their own designs, or filling in outlines. As they work with the shapes students explore geometric relationships, think about angles, investigate symmetry, and compose and decompose larger shapes. Many of these explorations lead naturally to thinking about fractions as parts of a whole. This virtual version of pattern blocks is an open-ended educational tool, ideal for elementary classrooms and other learning environments that use iPads. Pattern blocks are a key model used in Bridges in Mathematics, second edition. Online preview available at: www.mathlearningcenter.org/bridges FEATURES • Rotate shapes in increments of 15 degrees. • Measure angles with the protractor tool. • Duplicate and change the color and size of shapes. • Fill the built-in outlines with shapes or create your own to share with others. • Choose between a triangular or square grid, or a blank background. • Hide and reveal work with resizable covers to create your own problems and model strategies. • Use the drawing tools to annotate work and show understanding. • Add equations, expressions, and descriptions with the math text and writing tools. • Share your work by saving an image or providing a share code to others. ABOUT US This resource is brought to you by The Math Learning Center, a nonprofit organization dedicated to K-12 education since 1976. Our mission is to inspire and enable individuals to discover and develop their mathematical confidence and ability. www.mathlearningcenter.org This app was crafted by Clarity Innovations. We help improve teaching and learning by creating solutions that match promising technologies with the needs of education. Visit us: www.clarity-innovations.com
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Pattern Shapes, by MLC at Free against Book Creator for iPad's $3.99. Book Creator for iPad's advantage is update cadence (every 2 months vs every 26 months) and ratings volume (211 vs 17). On rating, review sentiment, 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
Pattern Shapes, by MLC is free to download; Book Creator for iPad costs $3.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.1 for Book Creator for iPad against 4.2 for Pattern Shapes, by MLC. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Book Creator for iPad has 211 ratings behind it against 17, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 74% of Book Creator for iPad's written reviews are positive against 70% of Pattern Shapes, by MLC's.
Book Creator for iPad ships an update every 2 months, Pattern Shapes, by MLC every 26 months. Both last shipped on October 13, 2026.
| Parameter | Book Creator for iPad | Pattern Shapes, by MLC |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $3.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 4.1 (211 ratings) | 4.2 (17 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 73.8% of reviews — better | 70.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 211 — better | 17 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months — better | Every 26 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPad | iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 14.7 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 179 MB | 5 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Tools for Schools Limited | The Math Learning Center |
Customer experience
Book Creator for iPad
Pattern Shapes, by MLC
Bugs and requests
Book Creator for iPad
Reported bugs
4 issues- Glitches with text input and formatting
- Issues with loading and saving books
- Compatibility problems with newer iOS versions
- Bugs with audio recording and playback
Requested features
7 requests- Ability to delete pages and books
- More font and formatting options
- Ability to import and edit images
- Improved text flow and layout controls
- Integration with cloud storage and sharing
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- Undo/redo functionality
- Ability to create table of contents
Pattern Shapes, by MLC
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Book Creator for iPad
No in-app purchases
Pattern Shapes, by MLC
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Book Creator for iPad free?
Is Pattern Shapes, by MLC free?
Which has better reviews, Book Creator for iPad or Pattern Shapes, by MLC?
Do Book Creator for iPad or Pattern Shapes, by MLC have ads?
Which is updated more often, Book Creator for iPad or Pattern Shapes, by MLC?
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