ScratchJr vs Candy Coding
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- Program interactive stories
- Create games
- Snap-together programming blocks
- Develop problem-solving skills
- Foster creative expression
- Learn coding fundamentals
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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.
Candy Coding
This app offers hands-on coding lessons designed for young children aged 5-8. Developed by an award-winning team, it provides an engaging way to learn programming concepts. Currently, it is exclusively available in Simplified Chinese.
- Hands-on coding lessons
- Designed for ages 5-8
- Award-winning development team
- Simplified Chinese language support
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Candy Coding is the hands-on coding course made for kids aged 5-8. It is brought to you by the award-winning team Tinkamo. Currently only available in Simplified Chinese.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Candy Coding at 5.0 against ScratchJr's 3.9. Candy Coding also leads on review sentiment (100% vs 67%) and update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 6 months). ScratchJr's advantage is ratings volume (1.8K vs 2). 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.
Candy Coding holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.9. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: ScratchJr has 1.8K ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 67% of ScratchJr's written reviews are positive against 100% of Candy Coding's.
ScratchJr ships an update every 6 months, Candy Coding every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 10, 2026 and October 1, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | ScratchJr | Candy Coding |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.9 (1.8K ratings) | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 66.8% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 1.8K — better | 2 |
| Update frequency | Every 6 months | Every 3 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 11.0 — better | 12.3 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 51 MB | 84 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 17+ |
| Developer | Scratch Foundation, Inc. | Tinkamo Inc. |
Customer experience
ScratchJr
Candy Coding
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
Candy Coding
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
ScratchJr
No in-app purchases
Candy Coding
No in-app purchases
