CrosswordMaker vs Uncle Bear
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
CrosswordMaker
Design custom crossword puzzles with a flexible grid and cell coloring options. Edit clues in a dedicated view and share your creations with friends via email.
- Create crossword puzzles
- Random grid generation
- Cell coloring customization
- Dedicated clue editor
- Share puzzles via email
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You can create crossword puzzles freely. Place characters after the app makes grid randomly. If you can not come up with good word, you can change the color of cells. Clues are edited on another dedicated view. If you finish up a puzzle, you can send it to your friends by e-mail.
Uncle Bear
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Uncle Bear tells stories about the world in Chinese and English — helping kids aged 3-8 discover the world while picking up everyday English, one bedtime at a time. ◆ Stories that open up the world - Topics range from Taiwanese folklore and everyday science to world classics: the zodiac animals, the Nian beast, day and night, rainbows, seeds, caterpillars becoming butterflies... - Kids get to know the world through stories, not flashcard drills - The library keeps growing; the format stays the same ◆ Bilingual, with Chinese as the scaffold - Cultural ideas (the zodiac, Chang'e, Sun Moon Lake...) are explained clearly in Chinese - Each episode teaches 4-6 high-frequency everyday English sentences, each followed by a plain-Chinese recap the first time it appears - Understandable and usable — not a curriculum, no pronunciation scoring ◆ Screen-free English exposure - Made for listening — no need to stare at a screen - Each episode runs 3-5 minutes, opening with "Story time!" and closing with "Good night!" to build a daily ritual - Every episode ends with a recall question and a pause, inviting kids to speak up before the answer plays ◆ Plays on the lock screen - Background playback with lock-screen controls, perfect for bedtime and car rides ◆ Every episode ends on its own - No autoplay into the next episode — parents decide whether to play one more ◆ Word cards for reading together - Tap a word card to hear the word read aloud — a light interaction for parents reading along with their kids ◆ Offline and private - Free stories come bundled; purchased story packs play offline once downloaded - No account, no sign-up, Data Not Collected, no analytics SDKs
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: CrosswordMaker at none against Uncle Bear's 6. Uncle Bear's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 5 months). On price and iOS requirement 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. Uncle Bear sells 6 one-off in-app purchases. CrosswordMaker asks for nothing beyond the download.
CrosswordMaker ships an update every 5 months, Uncle Bear every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 5, 2026 and October 7, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | CrosswordMaker | Uncle Bear |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 1.3 (11 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 20.8% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 11 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 5 months | Every 3 weeks — better |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.6 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 8 MB | 41 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Satoshi Horiguchi | Lin Ping Cheng |
In-app purchases
CrosswordMaker
No in-app purchases
Uncle Bear
- 小杯咖啡$0.99
- 經典故事包$0.99
- 科學探索包$0.99
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- 台灣節慶包$0.99
- 中杯咖啡$1.99
- 大杯咖啡$2.99









