Comparison

ScratchJr vs PBS KIDS ScratchJr

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

Head to head
About

ScratchJr

This app allows young children to create their own interactive stories and games by snapping together graphical programming blocks. It fosters problem-solving, creative expression, and develops early numeracy and literacy skills in a fun, motivating context.

Highlights
  • Program interactive stories
  • Create games
  • Snap-together programming blocks
  • Develop problem-solving skills
  • Foster creative expression
  • Learn coding fundamentals
Features
Read full description

With ScratchJr, young children (ages 5-7) learn important new skills as they program their own interactive stories and games. By snapping together graphical programming blocks, children can make characters move, jump, dance, and sing. In the process, children learn to solve problems, design projects, and express themselves creatively on the computer. They also use math and language in a meaningful and motivating context, supporting the development of early-childhood numeracy and literacy. With ScratchJr, children don’t just learn to code, they code to learn. ScratchJr was inspired by the popular Scratch programming language (http://scratch.mit.edu), used by millions of people (ages 8 and up) around the world. The ScratchJr interface and programming language were redesigned to make them appropriate for younger children’s cognitive, personal, social, and emotional development. ScratchJr is a collaboration between the Lifelong Kindergarten research group at the MIT Media Lab, the Developmental Technologies research group at Tufts University, and the Playful Invention Company. The ScratchJr project has received generous financial support from the National Science Foundation (NSF DRL-1118664), Scratch Foundation, LEGO Foundation, and British Telecommunications. If you enjoy using this free app, please consider making a donation to the Scratch Foundation (www.scratchfoundation.org), a nonprofit organization that provides ongoing support for ScratchJr. We appreciate donations of all sizes, large and small.

About

PBS KIDS ScratchJr

This app allows children aged 5-8 to create their own interactive stories and games using simple programming blocks. It features beloved PBS KIDS characters and encourages creativity, problem-solving, and early coding concepts in a fun, engaging way.

Highlights
  • Create interactive stories and games
  • Learn basic coding concepts with programming blocks
  • Use over 150 PBS KIDS characters
  • Paint and edit characters and backgrounds
  • Record voice and add sounds to projects
  • Utilize story starters for inspiration
Read full description

With PBS KIDS ScratchJr, kids can create their own interactive stories and games through programming activities and lessons. Learn the basics of coding through fun games and activities featuring characters from Wild Kratts, Lyla in the Loops, Odd Squad, Work it Out Wombats, and more! The storytelling possibilities are endless with this creative coding app for children ages 5-8. Children can express their creativity and make characters move, jump, dance and sing by snapping together colorful programming blocks. This app helps kids learn the foundation of programming and coding concepts in a way that’s fun and easy to learn. As kids play, they’ll learn to solve problems, design projects and express themselves creatively. With PBS KIDS ScratchJr, young kids can play and practice early school concepts at home. Download this fun educational app to get started! PBS KIDS ScratchJr Features: Programming Games - Colorful Programming Blocks teach basic coding concepts - Play and learn by snapping together the color-coded motion, sound, look, trigger and control blocks - Use programming concepts to create sequences that cause characters to animate - Program characters to interact in fun and exciting ways - Learn problem solving techniques PBS KIDS Characters and Backgrounds - 150+ PBS KIDS characters to mix and match - Children can create projects based on their favorite shows, including: - Wild Kratts - Lyla in the Loop - Work It Out, Wombats - Molly of Denali - Odd Squad - Arthur - Nature Cat - Peg +Cat - Ready Jet Go - And more! Paint Editing - Create characters and backgrounds - Painting made simple on illustration grids - Paint characters from PBS KIDS shows - Express creativity by painting Voice Recording - Use the recording tool to add sounds and your voice to projects - Voice characters from PBS KIDS shows Story Starters - Looking for inspiration? Eight Story Starters in the app are a great place to start - Each Story Starter features a different set of characters from PBS KIDS shows - Kids can create the stories they want with Story Starters - Encourage children to edit and complete the story however they’d like Introduce children to the basics of coding while having fun with PBS KIDS characters. Start learning, programming, painting, drawing and creating interactive stories. Download PBS KIDS ScratchJr today! PBS KIDS ScratchJr is only available for iPad. ---------------------- For more PBS KIDS apps, visit http://www.pbskids.org/apps For more on ScratchJr, visit http://www.scratchjr.org Privacy Across all media platforms, PBS KIDS is committed to creating a safe and secure environment for children and families and being transparent about what information is collected from users. To learn more about PBS KIDS' privacy policy, visit pbskids.org/privacy PBS KIDS ScratchJr is a collaboration between PBS, Scratch Foundation and the DevTech Research Group at Boston College. The PBS KIDS logo & PBS KIDS® PBS. Used with permission. ScratchJr logo is used with permission. PBS is not affiliated with Scratch Foundation and Boston College.

Screenshots

ScratchJr1 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: ScratchJr at every 6 months against PBS KIDS ScratchJr's every 14 months. ScratchJr also leads on ratings volume (1.9K vs 359) and device support (3 vs 1). On price, rating, review sentiment and ads 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

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 3.9 for ScratchJr against 4.0 for PBS KIDS ScratchJr. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: ScratchJr has 1.9K ratings behind it against 359, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 67% of ScratchJr's written reviews are positive against 63% of PBS KIDS ScratchJr's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

ScratchJr ships an update every 6 months, PBS KIDS ScratchJr every 14 months. Both last shipped on November 11, 2026.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
ScratchJr versus PBS KIDS ScratchJr: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterScratchJrPBS KIDS ScratchJr
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.9 (1.9K ratings)4.0 (359 ratings) — better
Positive reviews66.9% of reviews — better62.8% of reviews
Number of ratings1.9K — better359
Update frequencyEvery 6 months — betterEvery 14 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPad
Requires iOS11.0 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size51 MB137 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperScratch Foundation, Inc.PBS KIDS

Customer experience

ScratchJr

All ratings1,812 ratings
Positive72.5%
Neutral7.1%
Negative20.4%
Written reviews598 reviews
Positive66.9%
Neutral10.9%
Negative22.2%

PBS KIDS ScratchJr

All ratings357 ratings
Positive72.3%
Neutral6.2%
Negative21.6%
Written reviews94 reviews
Positive62.8%
Neutral9.6%
Negative27.7%

User reviews

ScratchJr

From 1.9K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Easy to use for kids
  • 🚀 Great for coding and creating animations
  • 💡 Allows customization of characters and backgrounds
  • ⭐ Fun and engaging for young users

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Glitchy drawing/editing tools
  • 🔧 Limited number of frames/scenes per project
  • 🎨 Lack of color options and customization
  • 🔊 Poor audio quality and limited sound options

PBS KIDS ScratchJr

From 359 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👨‍👧‍👦 Great for teaching kids to code
  • 🎨 Fun creative storytelling and animation features
  • 🎭 PBS Kids characters and themed content
  • 💰 Free app with no paywall
  • 📚 Educational value for young learners

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Frequent bugs and glitches
  • ❌ Limited coding blocks compared to original ScratchJr
  • 🎭 Character roster hasn't been updated in years
  • ⚠️ Drawing/text tools produce poor quality output
  • 🔊 Sound and voice recording features broken or missing

Bugs and requests

ScratchJr

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Freezing and crashing issues
  • Incorrect character movements and positioning
  • Saving and loading problems
  • Microphone and recording bugs

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add more frames/scenes per project
  • Improve drawing/editing tools
  • Expand color and customization options
  • Enhance audio features and sound library
  • Integrate with the full Scratch platform

PBS KIDS ScratchJr

Reported bugs

13 issues
  • Home button causes character to revert to previous position
  • Projects fail to load when creating or opening
  • Voice recording feature not working or missing
  • How-to tutorial videos don't play
  • Drawing tool corrupts custom characters
Show 8 more
  • Timer block doesn't function correctly
  • Drag-and-drop programming blocks unresponsive
  • App crashes when using certain blocks
  • Dot character won't disappear from new slides
  • Performance slowdown during projects
  • Paint editor labels incorrectly aligned with icons
  • Microphone feature doesn't show up or work
  • Text rendering issues with fonts and handwriting

Requested features

13 requests
  • Add more PBS Kids shows (Let's Go Luna, Dinosaur Train, Elinor Wonders Why, Hero Elementary, Wordgirl, Rosie's Rules, Alma's Way)
  • Unlimited pages/slides instead of 4-slide limit
  • More coding blocks from original Scratch (text-to-speech, etc.)
  • Custom character creation on blank canvas
  • Level maker and world maker features
Show 8 more
  • 2D and 3D options
  • Editable PBS backgrounds
  • Search bar for projects
  • More sound effects (crashing, slipping, sliding)
  • Page titles/naming system
  • More characters for existing shows
  • Offline functionality
  • Bring back Kart Kingdom game

In-app purchases

None

ScratchJr

No in-app purchases

None

PBS KIDS ScratchJr

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is ScratchJr free?
ScratchJr is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is PBS KIDS ScratchJr free?
PBS KIDS ScratchJr is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, ScratchJr or PBS KIDS ScratchJr?
PBS KIDS ScratchJr is rated higher. ScratchJr averages 3.9 out of 5 from 1.9K ratings, while PBS KIDS ScratchJr averages 4.0 from 359 ratings.
Do ScratchJr or PBS KIDS ScratchJr have ads?
Neither ScratchJr nor PBS KIDS ScratchJr shows ads.
Which is updated more often, ScratchJr or PBS KIDS ScratchJr?
ScratchJr ships an update every 6 months, and PBS KIDS ScratchJr every 14 months. Most recently, ScratchJr was updated on November 11, 2026 and PBS KIDS ScratchJr on November 11, 2026.

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