Comparison

The Bedtime Express vs GULANGYU

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

The Bedtime Express

Embark on a nightly adventure with animated bedtime stories featuring unique characters and interactive elements. Help passengers on their journey home and tuck them into bed with calming activities. Discover new stories and locations each night for a relaxing end to the day.

Highlights
  • Animated bedtime stories
  • Interactive passenger journeys
  • Calming narration and illustrations
  • Nightly changing stories
  • Variety of characters and locations
  • Interactive bedtime routines
Features
Read full description

"The Bedtime Express by Unit11 is a stunning and delightful app for your kids at bedtime! The perfect app to create a relaxing time and help your kids to go to bed!" 5/5 funeducationalapps.com "This app has delightful illustrations, animation and calming narration. Beautifully done!" 5/5 Reading Buddies Board the "Bedtime Express" for the perfect animated bedtime story. Meet the unusual passengers on their way home at the end of the day and visit them in their homes to say goodnight. Each night, the train stops at different locations and picks up different passengers. One night you could be making Badger a hot chocolate and playing "I-Spy" with the fox family. The next night, you could be helping the Mouse family find their lost tickets and waking a sleeping Polar Bear! Once you have stamped all the passengers' tickets, the train pulls into the last station and you are taken to each of the passengers' homes to put them to bed. To send them off to sleep, you'll need to do things like switching off lights, closing curtains or lighting a log fire. Children will love meeting the adorable characters and helping them on their journey. There are 6 different groups of passengers, from meerkats to polar bears, and 5 different locations to visit, from the city to the arctic. The story is packed with highly detailed illustration and animation and the gentle pace of the story provides a calm atmosphere at bedtime. Climb aboard the Bedtime Express and discover who has boarded the train tonight! www.unit11apps.com | facebook.com/unit11apps

About

GULANGYU

Embark on a musical adventure to learn about conservation and saving the planet. This interactive story follows a young heroine as she travels the world to understand and combat global warming. Features original songs and beautiful artwork to engage young learners.

Highlights
  • Interactive storybook
  • Original songs
  • Bilingual (English/Chinese)
  • Conservation education
  • Climate change awareness
  • Beautiful artwork
Features
Read full description

Download Gulangyu and join our heroine, Xiao Rui, and her friends Na Na the parrot and Henry the baby dragon on a magical, musical adventure to learn about conservation and save the planet. The eight chapter book tells the story of how children can make a difference in the quest to save the planet through reducing, reusing, and recycling. This is the seventh educational app from the award-winning company Happy Diamond Music Studio. The app aims to teach children ages 4+ about conservation while providing them the tools to make a difference in the real world. The story features six original songs by renowned composer, Shirley Choi. When Xiao Rui discovers that her home, Gulangyu (an island off the coast of southeastern China and a UNESCO Heritage Site) is in danger from a gigantic wave that has been caused by global climate change, she is tasked by Riyanshi, the Earth Fairy to undertake an epic journey to stop the wave and learn how she and other children can stop global warming from destroying the planet. In the 80-minute story, Xiao Rui and her companions travel to the Amazon rainforest, icebergs in Greenland, solar farms floating in the lake that used to be a coal mine, and landfills where scientists perform research where they see the effects of climate change up-close and personal. Featuring beautiful original artwork, music your kids will want to sing along to, and a bilingual story (English and Chinese) - Gulangyu is a great opportunity for parents and teachers to start a conversation with even their youngest learners about their own carbon footprint and how they can impact stopping climate change. Conservation has never been as important as it is now, so download Gulangyu today and help kids understand how they can start saving the planet.

Screenshots

The Bedtime Express4 screens
GULANGYU4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: GULANGYU at Free against The Bedtime Express's $1.99. GULANGYU also leads on update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 11 months) and iOS requirement (11.0 vs 13.0). The Bedtime Express's advantage is ratings volume (24 vs 8). On rating, review sentiment, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

GULANGYU is free to download; The Bedtime Express costs $1.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

The Bedtime Express holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.6. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 24 and 8 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 87% of The Bedtime Express's written reviews are positive against 83% of GULANGYU's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

The Bedtime Express ships an update every 11 months, GULANGYU every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and November 2, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
The Bedtime Express versus GULANGYU: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterThe Bedtime ExpressGULANGYU
Price$1.99Free — better
Rating4.8 (24 ratings) — better4.6 (8 ratings)
Positive reviews86.7% of reviews — better83.3% of reviews
Number of ratings24 — better8
Update frequencyEvery 11 monthsEvery 2 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS13.011.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size125 MB788 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperUnit11Siu lui shirley Choi

Customer experience

The Bedtime Express

All ratings24 ratings
Positive95.8%
Neutral0.0%
Negative4.2%
Written reviews30 reviews
Positive86.7%
Neutral3.3%
Negative10.0%

GULANGYU

All ratings8 ratings
Positive87.5%
Neutral0.0%
Negative12.5%
Written reviews6 reviews
Positive83.3%
Neutral0.0%
Negative16.7%

In-app purchases

None

The Bedtime Express

No in-app purchases

None

GULANGYU

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is The Bedtime Express free?
The Bedtime Express costs $1.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is GULANGYU free?
GULANGYU is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, The Bedtime Express or GULANGYU?
The Bedtime Express is rated higher. The Bedtime Express averages 4.8 out of 5 from 24 ratings, while GULANGYU averages 4.6 from 8 ratings.
Do The Bedtime Express or GULANGYU have ads?
Neither The Bedtime Express nor GULANGYU shows ads.
Which is updated more often, The Bedtime Express or GULANGYU?
The Bedtime Express ships an update every 11 months, and GULANGYU every 2 weeks. Most recently, The Bedtime Express was updated on November 1, 2026 and GULANGYU on November 2, 2026.

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