Comparison

Bugs and Buttons vs Busy Shapes

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

Head to head
About

Bugs and Buttons

Engage young children with a collection of 18 creative learning games designed for ages 3-5. Activities focus on developing essential skills like counting, critical thinking, and memory through interactive play with colorful graphics and sounds.

Highlights
  • 18 learning games and activities
  • Develops counting, critical thinking, sorting, patterns, memory, and motor skills
  • Designed for ages 3-5
  • Visual instructions and self-leveling activities
  • Over 40 achievements
  • Original graphics and engaging music
Read full description

CREATIVE LEARNING Play tic-tac-toe with a dragon fly. Carefully avoid bees while picking apples. Complete colorful patterns of buttons and beautiful yarn. Even sort bugs from Uncle Bob's button factory conveyer belt (better be fast). Did we mention 18 games and activities? INCLUDES: Counting, Critical Thinking, Sorting, Patterns, Memory, Hand-Eye Coordination, and more FEATURES: • Designed for ages (3-5), playable by everyone! • Motor Skills: tap, pinch, drag, and tilt • Visual instructions for each activity • Most activities are self leveling. • Over 40 achievements • Original, detailed, and visually intriguing graphics • Each of the 18 activities has its own beautiful, and engaging music. • Humorous interactions and sound effects. • NO In-Apps / NO third party advertising • Parental Gate Thank you for supporting an independent software studio! We want and appreciate your feedback! Email: support@littlebitstudio.com Instagram: @littlebitstudio Facebook: @littlebitstudio Twitter: @lilbitstudio

About

Busy Shapes

This app helps young children develop reasoning skills and intelligence through engaging puzzles. It adapts to each child's learning pace and offers a kid-friendly design with innovative controls.

Highlights
  • Shape matching puzzles
  • Real-time progress dashboard
  • Kid-friendly swipe control
  • Adaptive difficulty with AI
  • Guided Access for safety
  • Exploratory digital playground
Features
Read full description

Are you in search of an innovative way to sharpen your child’s reasoning skills and awaken their intelligence? Then you’ll love Busy Shapes designed for children from 2 years old! *** Featured in App Store Best of 2014 *** *** Featured worldwide by App Store as a Best New App *** *** Featured in the USA Today *** *** Recommended by The Good App Guide *** *** Common Sense Media Editors' Pick 2014 *** *** Parents‘ Choice Awards 2014 *** *** Children's Technology Review Awards 2014 *** > Inspired by the pioneering works of famed Swiss scientist and intelligence expert Jean Piaget (1896-1980) > Helps children improve their ability to handle simple objects through a series of engaging puzzles > Real-time dashboard to monitor progress > Includes an array of kid-friendly features, such as “passing” swipe control & more! ABOUT BUSY SHAPES Busy Shapes helps children improve their ability to handle simple objects through a series of puzzles, in which they must change simple shapes and place them in proper holes. Along the way, the app responds to each child’s actions with positive guidance and motivation. Plus, the app’s digital exploratory playground regularly refreshes with different objects, which keeps children interested and engaged. INSPIRED BY JEAN PIAGET Busy Shapes is inspired by the pioneering works of famed Swiss scientist and intelligence expert Jean Piaget (1896-1980), who believed that “children are little scientists”, and that a child's thoughts are built through experiences that encourage him or her to engage in the reasoning process. INNOVATIVE, SCALEABLE PLATFORM Busy Shapes’ innovative scaleable platform for evolving experimentation lets children take advantage of the time they spend on touch screens -- so they aren’t just having fun, but learning every second of the way. KID-FRIENDLY DESIGN Busy Shapes features a special “kid-friendly” design that compensates for the fact that when young children hold an iPad or iPhone, they often have a finger touching the screen. “PASSING” SWIPE CONTROL Busy Shapes features “passing” swipe control that is essential for young children's quick hands (i.e. even if a child's finger reaches an object after he or she was already touching the screen, the object is still grasped as intended). POWERFUL ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) Busy Shapes’ powerful AI supports each child’s unique learning journey. For example, the AI tracks the time it takes each child to complete a level, and increases or decreases difficulty accordingly. GUIDED ACCESS To prevent children from exiting the app by pressing the “home” button, Busy Shapes features a customizable Guided Access. This feature also disables selected parts of the screen for safety and protection. SEAMLESS INTERACTION Busy Shapes’ seamless interactive game area never blocks or limits children, and lets them freely access shapes. The menu is also neatly hidden away. AUTOMATIC MEMORY Sometimes the best learning is a combination of cognitive exercise and physical play. Busy Shapes’ automatic memory saves a child’s place in any particular game, which makes the app an ideal complement to physical play and for shorter games. MULTIPLE LANGUAGE SUPPORT The app is now available in: English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Italian, Greek, Dutch, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, Turkish, Russian, Korean, Indonesian, Malay, Vietnamese, Thai, Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese CONNECT WITH US! If you have any support request, please write at support@edokiacademy.com or visit the Edoki Academy Online Community at edokiacademy.com.

Screenshots

Bugs and Buttons4 screens
Busy Shapes4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Bugs and Buttons at 4.5 against Busy Shapes's 4.0. Bugs and Buttons also leads on price ($0.99 vs $2.99). Busy Shapes's advantage is update cadence (every 2 months vs every 6 months) and ratings volume (410 vs 56). On review sentiment, 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

Bugs and Buttons costs $0.99 and Busy Shapes $2.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Bugs and Buttons holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 4.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Busy Shapes has 410 ratings behind it against 56, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 71% of Bugs and Buttons's written reviews are positive against 69% of Busy Shapes's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Bugs and Buttons ships an update every 6 months, Busy Shapes every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on November 10, 2026 and November 11, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Bugs and Buttons versus Busy Shapes: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBugs and ButtonsBusy Shapes
Price$0.99 — better$2.99
Rating4.5 (56 ratings) — better4.0 (410 ratings)
Positive reviews71.0% of reviews — better69.3% of reviews
Number of ratings56410 — better
Update frequencyEvery 6 monthsEvery 2 months — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS16.07.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size156 MB41 MB
Age rating+44+
DeveloperLittle Bit Studio, LLCEDOKI ACADEMY

Customer experience

Bugs and Buttons

All ratings56 ratings
Positive83.9%
Neutral7.1%
Negative8.9%
Written reviews293 reviews
Positive71.0%
Neutral5.8%
Negative23.2%

Busy Shapes

All ratings407 ratings
Positive73.2%
Neutral6.4%
Negative20.4%
Written reviews361 reviews
Positive69.3%
Neutral7.5%
Negative23.3%

User reviews

Bugs and Buttons

From 56 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🤩 Engaging and educational
  • 🎨 Beautiful graphics and music
  • 🧠 Helps develop cognitive skills
  • 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Great for all ages
  • 🕹️ Variety of fun mini-games

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Crashes or compatibility issues with newer iOS versions
  • 🕷️ Some games feature realistic bugs that may concern parents
  • 🔍 Lack of instructions for some games

Busy Shapes

From 410 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Engaging and challenging
  • 👍 Great for toddlers and young kids
  • 💡 Clever puzzle design
  • 🚀 Smooth gameplay
  • 👍 Helps develop problem-solving skills

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Crashes and freezes
  • 🐛 Loses progress
  • 🔋 Repetitive after a while
  • 🐛 Sound issues

Bugs and requests

Bugs and Buttons

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • App not working on iOS 11 and later
  • Games freezing or not loading properly

Requested features

3 requests
  • User profiles to track individual progress
  • Ability to select/disable certain games
  • More frequent updates to maintain compatibility

Busy Shapes

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • App doesn't open or load
  • Reset function doesn't work
  • Compatibility issues with newer iOS versions

Requested features

3 requests
  • Ability to save progress
  • More variety in levels and challenges
  • Parental controls and time limits

In-app purchases

None

Bugs and Buttons

No in-app purchases

None

Busy Shapes

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Bugs and Buttons free?
Bugs and Buttons costs $0.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Busy Shapes free?
Busy Shapes costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Bugs and Buttons or Busy Shapes?
Bugs and Buttons is rated higher. Bugs and Buttons averages 4.5 out of 5 from 56 ratings, while Busy Shapes averages 4.0 from 410 ratings.
Do Bugs and Buttons or Busy Shapes have ads?
Neither Bugs and Buttons nor Busy Shapes shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Bugs and Buttons or Busy Shapes?
Bugs and Buttons ships an update every 6 months, and Busy Shapes every 2 months. Most recently, Bugs and Buttons was updated on November 10, 2026 and Busy Shapes on November 11, 2026.

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