Showbie vs Puppet Pals 2
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Showbie
This app facilitates paperless learning by allowing teachers to personalize assignments and provide detailed feedback on student work. It supports various feedback methods, including digital ink, text, and voice annotations, and enables the creation of digital portfolios for students. Parents can also be invited to view student progress.
- Personalize assignments and feedback
- Digital ink, text, and voice annotations
- Create digital student portfolios
- Share work from compatible apps
- Real-time class assessment
- Private student chat
- Parental access to student work
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Used by over 3 million teachers and students worldwide, Showbie is the easiest and most effective digital learning app to personalise assignments and feedback on iPad. DNA of Learning: Your Foundation for Student Success Showbie supports the improvement of everyday teaching and learning by elevating four essential strands of effective classroom practice - direct instruction, independent practice, personalised feedback and real-time assessment - all in one platform. Find out how easy it is to assign, collect and review student work from thousands of compatible iPad apps, or have your students complete assignments with Showbie’s built in tools. Provide rich feedback using digital ink, text and voice annotations right on images and PDFs, and then add your students’ best work to personalized digital portfolios that can be securely shared with parents. WHAT EDUCATORS ARE SAYING “Showbie is my number one can't live without app! It makes the iPad workflow process a breeze! I especially love how it works seamlessly with so many other apps.” — Kristen Paino, Lead Technology Integrator at Avenues: The World School “I don't need to convince my colleagues that they need to use this app — it sells itself. I like that it gives me the flexibility in how I choose to grade my student's work, especially with the voice notes feature. There is no single third party app that I would rather champion.” — Suzanne Lustenhouwer, Teacher and iPad Coordinator, Apple Distinguished Educator “I love that Showbie is so versatile that the youngest of students can use it independently, yet it is appropriate for older grades as well. The ease of use makes it a great workflow solution for classes with iPads.” — Kristi Meeuwse, Kindergarten Teacher, Apple Distinguished Educator KEY FEATURES FOR TEACHERS & STUDENTS • Share work from thousands of compatible iPad apps in a few taps • Use the pen tool and pin text notes directly on any PDF or image • Gauge class understanding in real-time with minute-by-minute assessment • Instantly differentiate assignments and materials to specific students • Quickly distribute instructions and materials to your whole class • Chat privately with individual students to provide timely feedback • Record voice notes for verbal feedback or language exercises • Quickly review and assess batches of student work and provide rich, valuable feedback • Add student work to individual digital portfolios, or enable students to curate their own portfolios • Invite parents to view their student’s work and keep them informed of classroom activity • Can be used with any classroom subject • Available in 18 languages ENHANCED SHOWBIE PRO FEATURES • Record and track grades as numeric scores or letter grades, along with qualitative feedback • Provide richer feedback with more pen colours and line thicknesses, by typing on the page, or by pinning voice notes directly to student work • Record longer voice notes and videos and upload larger files • Lock assignments to control student access to documents and feedback • Give parents complete access to assignments in the classes you choose
Puppet Pals 2
Unleash creativity by making animated cartoons with interactive puppets. Children and teachers can easily create high-quality animated stories, presentations, and educational content. Share finished projects via email, social media, or direct file transfer.
- Create animated cartoons
- Interactive puppet show
- Star in shows with built-in characters
- Share finished projects easily
- Engage students in learning
- Create instructional videos
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• “Puppet Pals is an amazing app that lets you create animated cartoons.” -David Pogue (NewYork Times) Children unlock creativity with this easy to use (but hard to put down) interactive puppet show! Even young children can create high quality cartoons from their imaginations. Kids can even star in the show along side the built-in characters! Teachers: Engage students by allowing them to act out historical events, practice language skills, or deliver a killer book report. The cartoons that kids are making have delighted thousands of teachers and parents around the world - let yours be next to experience this award-winning digital addition to your classroom. The finished projects are easily shared to be watched by others (share via email, Facebook, or simply copy the video file to your computer and distribute how you see fit - Hint: students love to see their work displayed on a classroom blog). • Create short instructional videos (in any learning area) • Storytelling, Reports, Historic Retells • Help reluctant public speakers present to the class • Help foreign language or ESL students practice their fluency & language skills • Brainstorming or storyboarding ideas and presentations Characters chosen from standard curriculum allow kids to fully engage with content - not even realizing they are actually learning valuable lessons that will stay with them for years to come!
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Puppet Pals 2 at 4.1 against Showbie's 3.7. Puppet Pals 2 also leads on review sentiment (63% vs 36%) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 18.0). Showbie's advantage is update cadence (every 10 days vs every 2 months). On price, 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
Both are free to download. Showbie sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Puppet Pals 2 sells 10 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Puppet Pals 2 holds the better App Store score, 4.1 against 3.7. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 237 and 123 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 36% of Showbie's written reviews are positive against 63% of Puppet Pals 2's.
Showbie ships an update every 10 days, Puppet Pals 2 every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on September 30, 2026 and August 23, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Showbie | Puppet Pals 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.7 (237 ratings) | 4.1 (123 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 36.4% of reviews | 63.4% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 237 — better | 123 |
| Update frequency | Every 10 days — better | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 | 12.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 296 MB | 359 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Showbie Inc. | Polished Play, LLC |
Customer experience
Showbie
Puppet Pals 2
User reviews
Showbie
From 237 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Easy to use
- 🚀 Efficient workflow
- 📚 Helpful for learning
- 🤝 Good for collaboration
Room to improve
- 🐛 Frequent crashes and glitches
- 💾 Unreliable file saving and syncing
- 🕰️ Slow performance and lag
- 🔍 Confusing navigation and UI
Puppet Pals 2
From 123 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Fun and creative
- 🤩 Nostalgic and brings back childhood memories
- 🎨 Allows for customization and personalization
- 🏫 Great for use in schools and classrooms
Room to improve
- 💰 Many features locked behind paywalls
- 🐛 Frequent crashes and glitches
- 🔍 Limited selection of characters and backgrounds
- 🤔 Confusing or unintuitive UI
Bugs and requests
Showbie
Reported bugs
4 issues- Text boxes disappearing or moving unexpectedly
- Notifications not working correctly
- Assignments not uploading or disappearing
- Compatibility issues on older devices
Requested features
4 requests- Calendar view for assignments
- More annotation tools and customization
- Offline mode for accessing content
- Better integration with other apps
Puppet Pals 2
Reported bugs
4 issues- Saving issues causing loss of progress
- Freezing and crashing when trying to access certain features
- Audio and visual glitches during playback
- Compatibility problems on newer devices
Requested features
5 requests- Add more free characters and backgrounds
- Implement better saving and autosave functionality
- Allow for custom character creation and customization
- Add more diverse themes and settings
- Improve overall stability and reduce crashes
In-app purchases
Showbie
- Showbie Pro$239.99
Puppet Pals 2
- North Pole Pack$0.99
- Royal Hall Pack$0.99
- Time & Tech Pack$0.99
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- Saddle Up Pack$0.99
- Vroom Vroom Pack$0.99
- Civil Rights$0.99
- Ptolemaic$0.99
- Under The Sea$0.99
- Custom Heads$1.99
- All Access Pass$5.99








