Freckle by Renaissance vs Pattern Shapes, by MLC
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Freckle by Renaissance
This app provides personalized math, ELA, science, and social studies lessons for students. It adapts to each student's learning level, offering engaging content and real-world applications. Teachers benefit from a dashboard to track student progress and identify learning gaps.
- Personalized math lessons
- ELA and science content
- Social studies lessons
- Adaptive learning engine
- Diagnostic pre-tests
- Teacher progress dashboard
- Collaborative learning features
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Freckle™ by Renaissance®: reach every student at their level. With Freckle, your students automatically work on the Math, ELA, Science and Social Studies lessons that are perfect for them. That way, they are always engaged and challenged, never facing material that is too difficult or easy for them. Freckle has: - Over 49,000 math questions aligned to Common Core and state standards, covering all of K-9 - Over 16,000 ELA questions aligned to Common Core and state standards, covering all of K-8 - Over 800 non-fiction articles that are written at 3 different levels, covering all of K-12 - A diagnostic pre-test so every student starts at the right level - An adaptive engine that automatically gives every student the perfect lesson - Collaborative features that encourage students to help each other - Motivating features to make sure students are engaged - Real-world questions that allow students to practice their math knowledge in exciting real-world settings - A powerful dashboard so teachers and administrators know exactly how students are performing across standards and skills. ==FEATURED BY== - The Wall Street Journal - CNN - EdWeek - EdSurge ==WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING== I would recommend the Freckle app because it is one which is user friendly, and it taps into the different modalities of learning, and it also aids a teacher in differentiation. It is so structured, to point them to assistance, independent of the teacher. And that is what we want to promote: student to student interaction using peer body talk, turn and talk, sharing, and all those things. ~ Dwight Barnes, 4th grade math teacher The dashboard is amazing. Insights are exactly the quick pieces of information a teacher would want at first glance. The grouping tab is really clean looking and is exactly what teachers and administrators want to see on a daily basis. Teachers could literally print that out and use it in their lesson plans when talking about flexible grouping. It does a great job of presenting the information in a simple way. ~ Josh Shaw, Tech Director The teacher dashboard is in a very clear format. I like that I can see in one place how each student in the class is progressing. The green/yellow/red color code is a great visual as well as the specific number within the box. It's helpful that I can hover over each concept and see the explanation of that standard. Overall great product! ~ Jennifer Auten, 2nd grade teacher Freckle - I love the videos! Instead of showing them just a paragraph write up, it's just like a teacher sitting there with them and going over it. I think Freckle is a great app for classes and for schools that have a time-sensitive schedule and it gives them instant feedback and data that can be used in class the next day. ~ Jabari Bush, 5th grade math teacher One of my students got a double digit + double digit problem and he had never done that before. He asked me and I quickly showed him. Next thing I knew he was asking me how to regroup and was doing 2 digit + 2 digit with regrouping, which was extremely impressive to me at this point. I did take a look at the dashboard. It is fantastic. I showed one of my administrators who is also our Math IST and she is beyond impressed. I've been telling a lot of people about it and will continue to do so! Thanks again for making what is now the most vital part of my math class. ~ Jane Alukonis, 1st grade math teacher Freckle is a good solution for our students and our teachers, especially working in an RTI model, teaching CCSS and addressing learning needs within a differentiated instructional model. ~ Emily Klug, 5th grade math ==QUESTIONS? TALK TO US== support@freckle.com @learnfreckle
Pattern Shapes, by MLC
This app allows students to explore geometry and fractions through interactive shape manipulation. Users can create designs, fill outlines, measure angles, and annotate their work. It's an open-ended educational tool for learning mathematical concepts.
- Explore geometry and fractions
- Create custom designs
- Measure angles with protractor
- Duplicate, resize, and recolor shapes
- Fill built-in outlines
- Annotate work with drawing tools
- Share creations via image or code
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Students use Pattern Shapes to explore geometry and fractions, creating their own designs, or filling in outlines. As they work with the shapes students explore geometric relationships, think about angles, investigate symmetry, and compose and decompose larger shapes. Many of these explorations lead naturally to thinking about fractions as parts of a whole. This virtual version of pattern blocks is an open-ended educational tool, ideal for elementary classrooms and other learning environments that use iPads. Pattern blocks are a key model used in Bridges in Mathematics, second edition. Online preview available at: www.mathlearningcenter.org/bridges FEATURES • Rotate shapes in increments of 15 degrees. • Measure angles with the protractor tool. • Duplicate and change the color and size of shapes. • Fill the built-in outlines with shapes or create your own to share with others. • Choose between a triangular or square grid, or a blank background. • Hide and reveal work with resizable covers to create your own problems and model strategies. • Use the drawing tools to annotate work and show understanding. • Add equations, expressions, and descriptions with the math text and writing tools. • Share your work by saving an image or providing a share code to others. ABOUT US This resource is brought to you by The Math Learning Center, a nonprofit organization dedicated to K-12 education since 1976. Our mission is to inspire and enable individuals to discover and develop their mathematical confidence and ability. www.mathlearningcenter.org This app was crafted by Clarity Innovations. We help improve teaching and learning by creating solutions that match promising technologies with the needs of education. Visit us: www.clarity-innovations.com
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Pattern Shapes, by MLC at 4.2 against Freckle by Renaissance's 3.3. Pattern Shapes, by MLC also leads on review sentiment (70% vs 40%). Freckle by Renaissance's advantage is update cadence (every 3 months vs every 26 months) and ratings volume (522 vs 18). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Pattern Shapes, by MLC holds the better App Store score, 4.2 against 3.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Freckle by Renaissance has 522 ratings behind it against 18, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 40% of Freckle by Renaissance's written reviews are positive against 70% of Pattern Shapes, by MLC's.
Freckle by Renaissance ships an update every 3 months, Pattern Shapes, by MLC every 26 months. The most recent releases landed on October 23, 2026 and October 26, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Freckle by Renaissance | Pattern Shapes, by MLC |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.3 (522 ratings) | 4.2 (18 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 39.8% of reviews | 70.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 522 — better | 18 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months — better | Every 26 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPad | iPad |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 — better | 14.7 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 1 MB | 5 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Freckle Education, Inc. | The Math Learning Center |
Customer experience
Freckle by Renaissance
Pattern Shapes, by MLC
Bugs and requests
Freckle by Renaissance
Reported bugs
4 issues- Incorrect answers marked wrong
- Freezing and crashing issues
- Keyboard and screen layout problems
- Inconsistent coin/progress tracking
Requested features
5 requests- Add more levels and content for each topic
- Allow placement tests for adaptive learning
- Improve save/login functionality to prevent data loss
- Optimize for mobile devices
- Hire human narrators for stories
Pattern Shapes, by MLC
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Freckle by Renaissance
No in-app purchases
Pattern Shapes, by MLC
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Freckle by Renaissance free?
Is Pattern Shapes, by MLC free?
Which has better reviews, Freckle by Renaissance or Pattern Shapes, by MLC?
Do Freckle by Renaissance or Pattern Shapes, by MLC have ads?
Which is updated more often, Freckle by Renaissance or Pattern Shapes, by MLC?
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