KineScribe vs ShapeShift
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
KineScribe
This application allows users to create, edit, and read dance notation scores using Laban movement principles. It offers a comprehensive symbol palette and tools for customization, enabling easy sharing and integration with other notation software.
- Create and edit structured notation scores
- Support for Motif and Language of Dance scores
- Import and read LabanWriter scores
- Extensive symbol palette for movement notation
- Customizable tools with multiple colors and backgrounds
- Save and share scores as PDFs
- Multi-page score creation
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KineScribe reimagines LabanWriter for iOS and MacOS, allowing you to write dances in Laban movement notation and quickly edit scores and symbols. Development of this app was supported by Reed College and the National Endowment for the Humanities, with the cooperation and continued support of The Ohio State University. Make Scores: KineScribe creates and edits structured notation scores on the staff, Motif scores, and scores using Language of Dance. Read Scores: KineScribe reads all scores imported from LabanWriter. Edit Scores: KineScribe edits scores created in-app or with LabanWriter. Symbol Palette: Includes directions, levels, paths, rotations, bows, staff, floor plan, text input, and more. App updates will increase the number of available symbols and modifications. Tools: Choose graph paper or plain background. Make multiple-page scores. Choose from 20 colors for each symbol. Save and Share: Email KineScribe files as PDFs from in-app command. Read, edit, and print saved KineScribe files in LabanWriter through iTunes sync. For more information: https://u.osu.edu/kinescribe/
ShapeShift
This game challenges players to transform into various polygons to solve puzzles and defeat enemies. It's a fun way to learn about shapes, with customizable characters and a progressively challenging pace for all ages.
- Polygon morphing mechanic
- Shape-based puzzles
- Enemy combat challenges
- Character customization
- Progressive difficulty
- Educational content
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ShapeShift is a captivating and engaging free-to-play educational sidescrolling platformer. The game's core mechanic revolves around the player's ability to morph into various polygons, ranging from triangles to octagons. As you progress throughout the game, you will encounter two types of challenges: shift boxes and enemies. Shift boxes present intriguing puzzles, requiring you to transform into specific shapes based on criteria such as physical shape, name, and number of sides. Successfully clearing shift boxes rewards you with tokens that can be spent in the in-game shop to customize your character with a variety of vibrant colors. You will also encounter enemies with distinct shapes. To overcome them and earn score-boosting bonuses, you must morph into the corresponding shape that matches the enemy's shape as well as the number of sides shown on its face. While ShapeShift is designed to educate and entertain younger audiences by teaching them about shapes, it offers a progressively faster pace as you play, ensuring an enjoyable challenge for players of all ages. ShapeShift is more than just a game; it's an exciting and educational adventure that integrates exhilarating gameplay with the introduction of basic shapes.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: KineScribe at every 11 months against ShapeShift's every 28 months. ShapeShift's advantage is ratings volume (5 vs 1) and iOS requirement (11.0 vs 15). On price, rating, ads and in-app purchases 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.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for KineScribe against 5.0 for ShapeShift. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: ShapeShift has 5 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.
KineScribe ships an update every 11 months, ShapeShift every 28 months. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and November 3, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | KineScribe | ShapeShift |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (1 ratings) | 5.0 (5 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | — | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 1 | 5 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 11 months — better | Every 28 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPad, Mac | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 15 | 11.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 4 MB | 61 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | David Ralley | Saper Solutions LLC |
Customer experience
KineScribe
ShapeShift
In-app purchases
KineScribe
No in-app purchases
ShapeShift
No in-app purchases









