Mathtopia vs PBS KIDS ScratchJr
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Mathtopia
This educational puzzle game uses a tile-matching mechanic to help children practice math skills. Players solve equations by matching answer tiles, earning stars and trophies for speed and accuracy. It offers a fun and engaging way to reinforce addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division concepts.
- Tile-matching math puzzles
- Addition, subtraction, multiplication, division practice
- Earn stars and trophies
- Multi-touch swap for complex matching
- Game Center integration for competition
- Unlock secret levels
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Same game play as Mathtopia+ with the early levels of addition free. Smart Apps for Kids says of Mathtopia+: "...the first app I've reviewed that has been so addicting to me I couldn't stop playing long enough to write the review. It's also being played by all three of my children, in 6th grade, 3rd grade, and kindergarten, and I've even heard them fighting over the iPad for more Mathtopia+ time. I can guarantee no one in my house has ever fought over more time with flash cards." "Wickedly addictive!" Math Coach's Corner. "I found our 10-year-old 'sneaking' time on the iPad and playing it for fun." Apps for Homeschooling. Stamp math expressions with colorful answer tiles. Solve a tile-matching puzzle to advance. Earn stars and trophies as you get faster at recognizing equivalencies. The puzzle game play is similar to popular jewel swapping games but with multi-touch swap, enabling more complicated and challenging matching for addicts of tile-matching puzzlers. True addicts can match their skills against others on Game Center and unlock secret levels. Reduce stress while training the brain. What others are saying about Mathtopia and Mathopia+ ° Mathtopia+ won the Children's Technology Review Editor's Choice Award 2013 ° Fun Educational Apps Top Pick ° PadGadget - Ten iPad Apps We Love ° SmartAppsForKids - Five Stars ° Minds in Bloom - Best Math App Ever Mathtopia achievements are life-long skills. This app requires in app purchase to unlock some features. We hope you enjoy Mathtopia. Common Core and Grade Levels Alignments Addition and Subtraction: Kindergarten, First, and Second Grade CCSS.Math.Content.2.OA.B.2 Add and subtract within 20. By end of Grade 2, know from memory all sums of two one-digit numbers. Multiplication and Division: Third Grade CCSS.Math.Content.3.OA.C.7 Fluently multiply and divide within 100. By end of Grade 3, know from memory all products of two one-digit numbers. Multiplication and Division Modules. Mathtopia animations are powered by the Sparrow Framework. http://www.TopShelfLearning.com
PBS KIDS ScratchJr
This app allows children ages 5-8 to create their own interactive stories and games using simple programming blocks. Kids can make characters move, jump, and sing, while learning foundational coding concepts and problem-solving skills. It features beloved PBS KIDS characters and offers creative tools like painting and voice recording.
- Create interactive stories and games
- Learn basic coding concepts
- Use colorful programming blocks
- Incorporate PBS KIDS characters
- Paint and edit characters/backgrounds
- Record voice for projects
- Utilize story starters for inspiration
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With PBS KIDS ScratchJr, kids can create their own interactive stories and games through programming activities and lessons. Learn the basics of coding through fun games and activities featuring characters from Wild Kratts, Lyla in the Loops, Odd Squad, Work it Out Wombats, and more! The storytelling possibilities are endless with this creative coding app for children ages 5-8. Children can express their creativity and make characters move, jump, dance and sing by snapping together colorful programming blocks. This app helps kids learn the foundation of programming and coding concepts in a way that’s fun and easy to learn. As kids play, they’ll learn to solve problems, design projects and express themselves creatively. With PBS KIDS ScratchJr, young kids can play and practice early school concepts at home. Download this fun educational app to get started! PBS KIDS ScratchJr Features: Programming Games - Colorful Programming Blocks teach basic coding concepts - Play and learn by snapping together the color-coded motion, sound, look, trigger and control blocks - Use programming concepts to create sequences that cause characters to animate - Program characters to interact in fun and exciting ways - Learn problem solving techniques PBS KIDS Characters and Backgrounds - 150+ PBS KIDS characters to mix and match - Children can create projects based on their favorite shows, including: - Wild Kratts - Lyla in the Loop - Work It Out, Wombats - Molly of Denali - Odd Squad - Arthur - Nature Cat - Peg +Cat - Ready Jet Go - And more! Paint Editing - Create characters and backgrounds - Painting made simple on illustration grids - Paint characters from PBS KIDS shows - Express creativity by painting Voice Recording - Use the recording tool to add sounds and your voice to projects - Voice characters from PBS KIDS shows Story Starters - Looking for inspiration? Eight Story Starters in the app are a great place to start - Each Story Starter features a different set of characters from PBS KIDS shows - Kids can create the stories they want with Story Starters - Encourage children to edit and complete the story however they’d like Introduce children to the basics of coding while having fun with PBS KIDS characters. Start learning, programming, painting, drawing and creating interactive stories. Download PBS KIDS ScratchJr today! PBS KIDS ScratchJr is only available for iPad. ---------------------- For more PBS KIDS apps, visit http://www.pbskids.org/apps For more on ScratchJr, visit http://www.scratchjr.org Privacy Across all media platforms, PBS KIDS is committed to creating a safe and secure environment for children and families and being transparent about what information is collected from users. To learn more about PBS KIDS' privacy policy, visit pbskids.org/privacy PBS KIDS ScratchJr is a collaboration between PBS, Scratch Foundation and the DevTech Research Group at Boston College. The PBS KIDS logo & PBS KIDS® PBS. Used with permission. ScratchJr logo is used with permission. PBS is not affiliated with Scratch Foundation and Boston College.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: PBS KIDS ScratchJr at 4.0 against Mathtopia's 3.2. PBS KIDS ScratchJr also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 6) and ratings volume (356 vs 10). Mathtopia's advantage is update cadence (every 4 weeks vs every 12 months) and review sentiment (89% vs 62%). On price and ads 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. Mathtopia sells 6 one-off in-app purchases. PBS KIDS ScratchJr asks for nothing beyond the download.
PBS KIDS ScratchJr holds the better App Store score, 4.0 against 3.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: PBS KIDS ScratchJr has 356 ratings behind it against 10, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 89% of Mathtopia's written reviews are positive against 62% of PBS KIDS ScratchJr's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Mathtopia ships an update every 4 weeks, PBS KIDS ScratchJr every 12 months. The most recent releases landed on October 15, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Mathtopia | PBS KIDS ScratchJr |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.2 (10 ratings) | 4.0 (356 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 88.9% of reviews — better | 62.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 10 | 356 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 4 weeks — better | Every 12 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPad |
| Requires iOS | 5.1.1 — better | 11.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 21 MB | 138 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Omega Labs Inc. | PBS KIDS |
Customer experience
Mathtopia
PBS KIDS ScratchJr
Bugs and requests
Mathtopia
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
PBS KIDS ScratchJr
Reported bugs
13 issues- Home button causes character to revert to previous position
- Projects fail to load when creating or opening
- Voice recording feature not working or missing
- How-to tutorial videos don't play
- Drawing tool corrupts custom characters
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- Timer block doesn't function correctly
- Drag-and-drop programming blocks unresponsive
- App crashes when using certain blocks
- Dot character won't disappear from new slides
- Performance slowdown during projects
- Paint editor labels incorrectly aligned with icons
- Microphone feature doesn't show up or work
- Text rendering issues with fonts and handwriting
Requested features
13 requests- Add more PBS Kids shows (Let's Go Luna, Dinosaur Train, Elinor Wonders Why, Hero Elementary, Wordgirl, Rosie's Rules, Alma's Way)
- Unlimited pages/slides instead of 4-slide limit
- More coding blocks from original Scratch (text-to-speech, etc.)
- Custom character creation on blank canvas
- Level maker and world maker features
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- 2D and 3D options
- Editable PBS backgrounds
- Search bar for projects
- More sound effects (crashing, slipping, sliding)
- Page titles/naming system
- More characters for existing shows
- Offline functionality
- Bring back Kart Kingdom game
In-app purchases
Mathtopia
- Mathtopia Subtraction$0.99
- Mathtopia Division$0.99
- Mathtopia Addition$0.99
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- Mathtopia Multiplication$0.99
- Mathtopia Fractions$0.99
- Roman Numerals for Mathtopia$0.99
PBS KIDS ScratchJr
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Mathtopia free?
Is PBS KIDS ScratchJr free?
Which has better reviews, Mathtopia or PBS KIDS ScratchJr?
Do Mathtopia or PBS KIDS ScratchJr have ads?
Which is updated more often, Mathtopia or PBS KIDS ScratchJr?
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