Pickatale vs PictoBlox
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Pickatale
This app offers unlimited access to thousands of narrated and illustrated books for children aged 4-11, designed to improve reading confidence. It features curated reading stages, comprehension quizzes, and an AI-powered book creator for educators.
- Unlimited narrated books
- Illustrated children's books
- Reading stages categorization
- Reading comprehension quizzes
- AI-powered book creator
- Teacher dashboard
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Discover the joy of reading with Pickatale. A reading platform designed to encourage children to become better, more confident readers. We have 1000’s of narrated and beautifully illustrated books for children aged 4 to 11. Including popular titles by Oxford University Press, Cricket and Arcturus, and many non-fiction books with engaging topics such as dinosaurs, space and dangerous animals! All books are categorised into Pickatale Reading Stages, and we also have quizzes to aid reading comprehension. FAMILIES 30 days free for all our premium content (£5.99 a month thereafter) SCHOOLS Thousands of brilliant books and quizzes to inspire a love for reading. Pickatale Create: AI-powered book creator that helps teachers craft custom books tailored to their curriculum and student interests. Teacher dashboard, empowering teachers with actionable insights on their students’ reading progress. Join us and discover the exciting world of Pickatale! Terms and conditions https://pickatale.com/terms-conditions Once your 30-day free family trial is complete, a monthly subscription is only £5.99, with no additional costs and no contract, so you’re free to cancel at any time through your ‘Subscriptions’ page in the App Store. By downloading from the App Store you will be charged monthly through your iTunes account using your chosen payment method. The service renews automatically at the end of each month. Need to speak to us? https://pickatale.co.uk/contact-us/
PictoBlox
Learn to code with a block-based platform that integrates robotics, AI, and machine learning. Create games, animations, and control hardware using intuitive drag-and-drop Scratch blocks. Ideal for beginners to develop 21st-century skills.
- Block-based coding
- Robotics control
- AI and Machine Learning
- IoT projects
- Game and animation creation
- Hardware interaction
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PictoBlox is a block based coding app for students with enhanced hardware-interaction capabilities and emerging technologies such as robotics, AI and machine learning that make learning to code fun and engaging. Just drag and drop the Scratch coding blocks and make cool games, animations, interactive projects, and even control robots the way you want! ● 21st-Century Skills PictoBlox opens doors for beginners to learn creative and physical computing in an engaging way and thus helps in developing must-have skills of today’s technology-driven world such as: - Creativity - Logical reasoning - Critical thinking - Problem-solving ● Coding Skills With PictoBlox and its courses, beginners will learn important coding concepts such as: - Logic - Algorithms - Sequencing - Loops - Conditional statements ● AI and ML for beginners Beginners can learn Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning concepts such as: - Face and text recognition - Speech Recognition and virtual assistant - Training ML models like image, pose, and audio - AI based games ● Extensions for Making Countless DIY Projects PictoBlox has dedicated extensions for making projects based on the Internet of Things (IoT), controlling Scratch projects using a mobile app via Bluetooth, programming actuators, sensors, display modules, NeoPixel RGB lights, robotic arm, humanoid robots, and much more. Boards Compatible with PictoBlox App: - evive - Quarky - Arduino Uno - Arduino Mega - Arduino Nano - ESP32 - T Watch - Boffin - TecBits Bluetooth Modules Compatible with PictoBlox: - HC-05 BT 2.0 - HC-06 BT 2.0 - HM-10 BT 4.0 BLE (or AT-09) Want to know more about PictoBlox? Visit: https://thestempedia.com/product/pictoblox Getting Started with PictoBlox: Projects that you can make:https://thestempedia.com/project/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Pickatale at 4.0 against PictoBlox's 3.4. Pickatale also leads on update cadence (monthly vs every 14 months). PictoBlox's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 7) and ratings volume (59 vs 6). On price, review sentiment, ads and device support 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. Pickatale sells 7 in-app purchases, starting at $8.99 per month. PictoBlox asks for nothing beyond the download.
Pickatale holds the better App Store score, 4.0 against 3.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: PictoBlox has 59 ratings behind it against 6, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 42% of Pickatale's written reviews are positive against 48% of PictoBlox's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Pickatale ships an update monthly, PictoBlox every 14 months. The most recent releases landed on October 17, 2026 and October 21, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Pickatale | PictoBlox |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.0 (6 ratings) — better | 3.4 (59 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 42.3% of reviews | 48.1% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 6 | 59 — better |
| Update frequency | Monthly — better | Every 14 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Subscription | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 | 14.3 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 122 MB | 178 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Pickatale AS | STEMpedia |
Customer experience
Pickatale
PictoBlox
Bugs and requests
Pickatale
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
PictoBlox
Reported bugs
9 issues- Birthday date not appearing during account creation
- Purple screen and reset when saving project
- Microphone activated unexpectedly
- Space instead of left arrow in hat block
- Projects not saving on iPad and laptops
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- Arduino not connecting
- Character and code deleted after saving and reopening project
- App freezes and project disappears on refresh
- Camera access concerns
Requested features
10 requests- Zoom in feature for drawing
- Pixelated text option
- Custom controls (thumbsticks, levers)
- Move variables with finger
- Drag code to other sprites
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- Bigger window for code/stage
- Add more extensions
- Cloud variables for multiplayer
- Dark mode
- Full screen option
In-app purchases
Pickatale
- Monthly subscription7 Days trial$8.991 Month
- Pickatale Monthly Subscription1 Month trial$8.991 Month
- Pickatale Pro Monthly Subscription7 Days trial$17.991 Month
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- Pickatale Yearly subscription7 Days trial$43.991 Year
- Teacher Monthly7 Days trial$69.001 Month
- Pickatale Pro Yearly Subscription7 Days trial$87.991 Year
- Teacher Yearly7 Days trial$690.001 Year
PictoBlox
No in-app purchases









