Penguin Academy vs Penguin
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Penguin Academy
This app offers a playful learning environment for young children, focusing on reading, writing, and math. It features interactive storybooks, creative tools like a music maker and spirographs, and a virtual pet. Parents can also create real-world star charts to reward their children's achievements.
- Interactive storybooks
- Creative art and music tools
- Early literacy and math skills
- Customizable real-world star charts
- Progress tracking for handwriting
- Pet penguin care
- Earnable cosmetic items
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Penguin Academy is a learning world for children ages 2 to 6, made by one dad for his daughter. Children start by painting their own penguin — brushing color right onto a 3D character — then step into a world built for exploring. A school for reading, writing and math. Storybooks children play, not just page through. A music maker, spirographs, a pixel sandbox, physics blocks, fireworks to design, coloring pages to collect, and a pet penguin to feed and care for every day. There is no set path and no timer: children wander, discover, and choose what to do next. WHAT CHILDREN LEARN - Letters, sounds, and phonics - Reading, from first words to full sentences - Writing letters and numbers, traced and freehand - Writing their own name - Early math — counting, addition, subtraction, multiplication, division Everything unlocks gradually, so there is always something new and never too much at once. STAR CHARTS FOR REAL LIFE This is the part parents tend to like most. You make a star chart for something that happens in the real world — brushing teeth, cleaning up toys, being polite, getting dressed — and you grant the star yourself, when it happens. Then you choose what a full chart unlocks in the game: a coloring page, an arcade game, coins — or a real world reward promised by the parent. NAME WRITING, SAVED Every name-writing attempt is kept, from the very first wobbly try, so you can look back across weeks and months and watch handwriting take shape. Each month their best writing becomes a print-resolution alphabet poster in their own handwriting — worth framing, or sending to a grandparent. Artwork and coloring pages can be saved too, so the little masterpieces don't disappear. A WORLD TO EXPLORE - Interactive storybooks - Make music, draw spirographs, design fireworks shows - Pixel sandbox, stacking physics blocks, shape sorting - Coloring pages collected and displayed in your own art museum - Arcade games earned along the way - A pet penguin with daily care - Hat cosmetics earned through play BUILT FOR THE VERY YOUNG Navigation is entirely pictorial. No reading is required to move around the world, so a two-year-old can play without help — and there is enough depth and charm that a five- or six-year-old still wants to. MADE BY ONE PERSON I built this on nights and weekends for my own daughter, drawing on a career designing games. Every book, workshop, minigame and world came from something she was excited to learn. No cheap loops chasing your child's attention — just a world worth exploring, made with care. PRIVACY - No ads, ever - No third-party analytics, trackers, or SDKs - No accounts and no sign-in. I run no servers of my own and never see your child's work - Your child's paintings, writing and progress sync through your own private iCloud, so they are waiting on your other devices. They are stored in your iCloud account, not mine, and I cannot see them. Sync can be turned off, and you can delete everything from iCloud, in For Parents - Every purchase screen and every link out of the app sits behind a parental gate SUBSCRIPTION Penguin Academy is free to download with content you can play right away. Full Access unlocks everything. - Monthly Full Access — $9.99 per month - Yearly Full Access — $39.99 per year, starting with a 7-day free trial Payment is charged to your Apple Account at confirmation of purchase. If you start the free trial, your Apple Account is charged $39.99 when the 7-day trial ends unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before it ends. Subscriptions renew automatically unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Manage or cancel your subscription in your Apple Account settings. Privacy Policy: https://briggs3d.github.io/penguin-academy/ Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Penguin
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Penguin is an innovative language and vocabulary learning app that makes mastering new languages fun and effective through interactive games. Key Features: • Personalized Lessons & Words: Custom lessons and vocabulary sets tailored to your personal goals and learning pace. • Learning Through Games: Memorize words effortlessly by playing engaging games designed for active learning. • Audio Voiceovers & Pronunciation: Improve your speaking and listening skills with clear and accurate audio pronunciations for all words. • Scores & Progress Tracking: Aim for high scores in games and track your accomplishments in real-time. • Email Notifications: Stay motivated with daily study reminders and weekly progress reports sent straight to your inbox. Explore the world of words and learn new languages easily with Penguin! Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Penguin Academy at 5.0 against Penguin's 1.0. Penguin Academy also leads on ratings volume (9 vs 1). Penguin's advantage is iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.0). On price, ads, in-app purchases 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. Penguin Academy sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month and Penguin sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $5.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Penguin Academy holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 1.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Penguin Academy has 9 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.
| Parameter | Penguin Academy | Penguin |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (9 ratings) — better | 1.0 (1 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 9 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | — | Every 3 days |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 466 MB | 33 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Daniel Briggs | AYKUT ARSLANTAS |
In-app purchases
Penguin Academy
- Monthly Full Access$9.991 Month
- Yearly Full Access7 Days trial$39.991 Year
Penguin
- Penguin Premium Monthly3 Days trial$5.991 Month
Questions
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Is Penguin free?
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