Comparison

Video Call Santa vs Glance Studio

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

Head to head
About

Video Call Santa

Experience the magic of Christmas with a personalized video call from Santa Claus. Choose your Santa, schedule a call, and let him greet your child by name. Capture precious moments and discover wish lists through interactive conversations.

Highlights
  • Choose American or British Santa
  • Schedule calls or connect instantly
  • Incoming or outgoing calls
  • Personalized greetings by name
  • Santa asks about behavior and wish list
  • Record and save video conversations
  • Passcode-protected parent recordings
Features
Read full description

No 1 Overall in the US, UK, Ireland, and Australia The original Video Call Santa is back with our biggest update! “This Genius Video Call Santa app will keep the Christmas magic alive.” - GoodtoKnow “Get your child to behave over the festive period by scheduling an interactive video call from Father Christmas.” - The Sun “Video Call Santa is a free app that offers a ton of options for creating a personalized call from him.” - NBC News “Video Call Santa is a special app that will give you a direct line to Santa whenever you need it.” - ABC Action News “Santa? Is that you? Believe it or not Santa has gotten pretty tech-savvy over the years. He does it all and now he can video chat.” - WFAA-TV ABC “Santa asks your child their name, if they have been good and what’s on their wish list. This is a must-try as you watch your child’s face light up.” - News 6 at Nine, WKMG-TV CBS “Want to call Santa? There’s an app for that. Video Call Santa lets your kids chat with Santa on your iPhone, and you can save a video of the conversation.” - The Mac Observer “Wouldn’t it be great knowing what your children or grandchildren want for Christmas without having to ask them directly?” - Kim Komando “In the smartphone age, kids can now have a quick video chat with jolly old St. Nick with the Video Call Santa app.” - CNET “Instead of writing a letter to Santa your kids can actually talk to him through a video call through this new app called Video Call Santa” - Cambridgeshire Live “Do you want me to ring Santa about that? … He knows who I am. You can set it up for the kids!” - Today “Thank heavens this app popped up, and not only was it adorable, it worked like a charm. Thanks, Santa!” - Southshore Moms “iPhone users can get their own video call from Santa with the help of the Video Call Santa app.” - Good Housekeeping “A great tool to have in your back pocket when the little one begins to act up. Santa is always at your fingertips.” - Hot 107.9 “He wasn't listening to me so I asked him if he wanted me to call Santa. Now he's being an angel #ThankMeLater” - Julia, a makeup artist mom Check out how our app has been delivering happiness to our users: https://www.facebook.com/VideoCallSanta FEATURES • Choose your Santa: American or British • Connect with Santa right away or set up a time you want to start a video call • Choose to have your calls as incoming (Santa calls you) or outgoing (you call Santa) • Choose your Episode 46 Episodes to choose from • Let Santa greet your child by name Choose from 7,000+ popular names • Santa asks a series of questions including, “Have you been naughty or nice?” and “What do you want for Christmas?” • Each conversation is captured on video, allowing parents to save precious moments to their camera roll and easily share them on social media • Parents can check out video recordings protected by passcodes to find out what their kids want this Christmas • Use Face ID or Touch ID for Parents Only page • Siri Shortcuts Connect with Santa or check your call reservation status without even opening the app • Offers Apple Watch App for iPhone Check your reservations and recordings at a glance • Offers iMessage App for iOS Share your video recordings with just one click PLEASE NOTE Video Call Santa is free to download and use. Our app is entertaining enough to use without paying, however, some in-app items can be purchased to make your experience a little more personalized. You can disable in-app purchases in your device settings. Prices are in USD. Pricing in other countries may vary. ————————————————————— PHOTO LICENSE Kids by gemteck1 (CC BY-SA 2.0) PREVIEW CREDITS Shared by real users. For full versions, visit https://www.facebook.com/VideoCallSanta

About

Glance Studio

Features
Read full description

Glance Studio is a text message video maker and chat story creator for iPhone and iPad. Write a conversation, animate it with typing effects, and stage it on a 3D phone or a flat chat overlay. Export a vertical MP4 for short-form video. Create fictional conversations, comedy skits, short dramas, UGC-style ads and app or product demos told as a chat. WRITE THE CONVERSATION • Add incoming and outgoing messages from your own script • Create characters with names, avatars and colors • Adjust text size, message timing and typing effects CHOOSE THE LOOK • Four stylized chat layouts • A flat chat overlay, or a 3D phone stage with adjustable angle, motion, scale and materials • Photo or video backgrounds • Music with timing and volume controls ADD MEDIA AND VOICE • Attach photos and videos to messages, including fullscreen playback • Add optional on-device voiceover. This requires a separate model download and a compatible device. EXPORT YOUR STORY • Save projects and rendered videos on your device • Export a vertical MP4 for your next story, sketch or product presentation Glance Studio is free with ads. Optional monthly and lifetime purchases remove all ads. The monthly plan renews automatically until canceled; Lifetime is a one-time purchase. Prices are shown in the app for your App Store region. Without a purchase, an export may show an ad. If no ad is available or it fails to show, export continues without it. Closing an available ad early stops that export. Mac and iPhone/iPad plans are separate. Glance Studio animates scripts you write. It does not automatically write stories, read your real conversations or send messages to anyone. Privacy Policy: https://glance-studio.arte-soft.com/privacy/ Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Video Call Santa4 screens
Glance Studio4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: Glance Studio at none against Video Call Santa's shown. Glance Studio also leads on update cadence (weekly vs every 6 weeks). Video Call Santa's advantage is iOS requirement (12 vs 26.0). On price, in-app purchases and device support 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. Video Call Santa sells 10 one-off in-app purchases and Glance Studio sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Video Call Santa ships an update every 6 weeks, Glance Studio weekly. The most recent releases landed on November 7, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Video Call Santa versus Glance Studio: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterVideo Call SantaGlance Studio
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (161K ratings) — better—
Positive reviews62.3% of reviews—
Number of ratings161K — better—
Update frequencyEvery 6 weeksWeekly — better
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — betteriPhone, iPad, Mac
Requires iOS12 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size309 MB55 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperDualverse, Inc.Arte Soft Ltd

Bugs and requests

Video Call Santa

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Calls getting dropped or not connecting
  • Paid features not working as expected
  • Compatibility issues with certain devices

Requested features

4 requests
  • Ability to have longer/more interactive calls
  • More customization options for call content
  • Support for multiple children in one call
  • Improved audio/recording quality

Glance Studio

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

10 purchases

Video Call Santa

One-time10
  • Olivia$1.99
  • Nice Episode$2.99
  • Naughty Episode$2.99
Show 7 more
  • Sleep on Time Episode$2.99
  • Christmas Eve Episode$2.99
  • Premium$3.99
  • VIP Package from All Episodes$5.99
  • All Episodes$9.99
  • VIP Package from Premium$10.99
  • VIP Package$14.99
4 purchases

Glance Studio

Subscriptions2
  • No Ads — Monthly$1.991 Month
  • Mac Access — Monthly$1.991 Month
One-time2
  • No Ads — Lifetime$14.99
  • Mac Access — Lifetime$14.99

Questions

Is Video Call Santa free?
Video Call Santa is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Glance Studio free?
Glance Studio is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Video Call Santa or Glance Studio have ads?
Video Call Santa shows ads; Glance Studio does not.
Which is updated more often, Video Call Santa or Glance Studio?
Video Call Santa ships an update every 6 weeks, and Glance Studio weekly. Most recently, Video Call Santa was updated on November 7, 2026 and Glance Studio on October 31, 2026.

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