Pattern Shapes, by MLC vs Cubeling
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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
Cubeling
Design and construct cube-based structures with a 3D view and multiple projection options. Add or remove cubes by touch or code. Explore your creations by rotating the 3D model.
- 3D cube building
- Multiple projection views (plan, orthographic, isometric)
- Code view for cube creation (iPad)
- Interactive 3D model rotation
- Add/remove cubes by touch
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With this app you can build cube buildings. Simultaneously to a three dimensional view you can show a building plan, a multiview orthographic projection, a cavalier projection or an isometric projection view and even a code view (on iPad). You can add or remove cubes by touching them or creating them with the code view. Look at your buildings and rotate the three dimensional view. More teacher's material can be found on the support page.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Cubeling at every 3 months against Pattern Shapes, by MLC's every 26 months. Cubeling also leads on review sentiment (82% vs 70%) and device support (4 vs 1). Pattern Shapes, by MLC's advantage is ratings volume (17 vs 3). 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 — 4.2 for Pattern Shapes, by MLC against 4.3 for Cubeling. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Pattern Shapes, by MLC has 17 ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 70% of Pattern Shapes, by MLC's written reviews are positive against 82% of Cubeling's.
Pattern Shapes, by MLC ships an update every 26 months, Cubeling every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on June 2, 2026 and September 10, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Pattern Shapes, by MLC | Cubeling |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.2 (17 ratings) | 4.3 (3 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 70.0% of reviews | 81.8% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 17 — better | 3 |
| Update frequency | Every 26 months | Every 3 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better |
| Requires iOS | 14.7 | 12.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 5 MB | 21 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | The Math Learning Center | Heiko Etzold |
Customer experience
Pattern Shapes, by MLC
Cubeling
In-app purchases
Pattern Shapes, by MLC
No in-app purchases
Cubeling
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Pattern Shapes, by MLC free?
Is Cubeling free?
Which has better reviews, Pattern Shapes, by MLC or Cubeling?
Do Pattern Shapes, by MLC or Cubeling have ads?
Which is updated more often, Pattern Shapes, by MLC or Cubeling?
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