TumbleBooks vs Learning Ally Audiobooks
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
TumbleBooks
This app provides access to a digital library of children's books, offering a safe and contained reading environment. It simplifies access for multiple users with a single sign-on and is available to all subscribers.
- Access TumbleBookLibrary subscription
- Single sign-on for multiple devices
- Self-contained reading environment
- Easy installation and use
- Offline access (implied by single sign-on for months)
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Access your school or library's TumbleBookLibrary subscription from your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch with the new TumbleBooksToGo app! TumbleBookLibrary subscribers can download and install the app on all of their devices! They'll be signed in for months with a single sign-on per device! All you need is a device and an internet connection. No more time wasted in helping a whole class of four-year-olds signs in! Now everyone can access it with a single tap! No more worry that your kids might navigate away from TumbleBookLibrary in the open internet browser! The TumbleBookLibrary app works like our mobile site and is entirely self-contained. It's simple to install, simple to use, and available to all subscribers! Please get in touch with your school/library for a username/password.
Learning Ally Audiobooks
Access a vast library of human-read audiobooks, including bestsellers, classics, and textbooks. This app offers interactive learning tools like synced text highlighting, speed control, and note-taking to support students with reading deficits or visual impairments.
- Human-read audiobook library
- Synced text highlighting
- Adjustable playback speed
- Bookmarking
- Note-taking
- Textbook access
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This app provides access to Learning Ally’s library of human-read audiobooks, offering an extensive selection of books students want and need to read, including bestsellers, classic literature and textbooks. Now students have interactive learning tools geared to help them succeed, including: highlighted text synced with the audio narration, speed control, bookmarking, highlighting, and note-taking. Learning Ally membership is required to use this app. Learning Ally is for students with dyslexia or other reading deficits who struggle with decoding, fluency or comprehension, who are blind or visually impaired, or who have a physical disability that prohibits them from reading standard print. If you need help getting started with the Learning Ally Audiobook App, please call our Customer Care team at 800-221-4792 or visit LearningAlly.org/Contact-Us to email us.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is monetization model: TumbleBooks at free against Learning Ally Audiobooks's subscription. TumbleBooks also leads on update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 4 months). Learning Ally Audiobooks's advantage is review sentiment (42% vs 18%) and ratings volume (757 vs 14). 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 — 3.4 for TumbleBooks against 3.4 for Learning Ally Audiobooks. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Learning Ally Audiobooks has 757 ratings behind it against 14, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 18% of TumbleBooks's written reviews are positive against 42% of Learning Ally Audiobooks's.
TumbleBooks ships an update every 2 weeks, Learning Ally Audiobooks every 4 months. The most recent releases landed on July 21, 2026 and September 26, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | TumbleBooks | Learning Ally Audiobooks |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.4 (14 ratings) — better | 3.4 (757 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 18.3% of reviews | 41.9% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 14 | 757 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks — better | Every 4 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free — better | Subscription |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 | 11.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 44 MB | 17 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | TumbleBooks Inc. | Learning Ally |
Customer experience
TumbleBooks
Learning Ally Audiobooks
User reviews
TumbleBooks
From 14 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 😊 Wonderful stories and playlists
- 👍 Great app for kids
- 👍 Amazing service
- 👍 Superb and convenient access
- 👍 Great content collection
Room to improve
- 🐛 Login problems
- 🐛 App crashes frequently
- 🐛 Books not loading
- 🐛 Poor user interface
- 🐛 Content removed
Learning Ally Audiobooks
From 757 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Amazing for people with dyslexia
- 🚀 Helps with reading and learning
- 💡 Allows customization of text and audio
- 👍 Useful for students and college readers
Room to improve
- 🐛 Frequent playback issues and app crashes
- 🐛 Loses user's place in books
- 🔋 Drains battery when screen is locked
- 🐛 Glitchy user interface and navigation
Bugs and requests
TumbleBooks
Reported bugs
163 issues- Unable to login with library card
- Login problem
- Did not let me sign in
- It does not work
- Tumble Mobile Is Broken
Show 158 moreShow fewer
- Can’t login
- App won’t accept username/password
- Just no
- Library list does not appear
- Can’t login!!
- Logging in please wait and it never really logged in
- Thanks for the meltdown
- Basically nothing worked
- You can’t read the full book
- Hard to get in
- Only read 1 page then it said thank you
- Issues trying to log on
- Crashes all the time
- Wont even open now
- Not letting me start the video or zoom in
- Who puts out crap like this
- Can’t get in
- Tarable
- Kicked me out
- Baaaaaaaaaaad
- Just no
- Nothing loads
- Page just stays blank
- Books never load
- Logging in is bugged
- Ceps on glitching me to da homescreen
- Can’t log in!!!
- Doesn’t have the List of Libraries to select from
- Gives me an error message
- Ceps crashing
- It’s the WORST
- Login failure
- App consistently fails to login
- It worked at one point and never worked again
- Not working app
- The books don’t load
- Not downloading!
- Can’t login
- It freezes
- Website and app don’t work on iPad
- Books won’t load
- Can’t get passed the login
- Keep getting an error
- App fails to deliver
- Cannot get into the app
- Kicked me back to my home screen
- Clunky
- Typing is so teeny
- Doesn’t seem like it was developed to work on phones
- Hard to navigate
- Difficult to get back to the homepage
- Can’t login!!
- No way to enter my library name
- Terrible for iPad
- Failed to log in
- Doesn’t work
- Unable to log in- app is worthless
- Every time I would turn it on it would not work
- Can’t even open app
- Hangs up all the time
- Does not work, at all
- I NEVER CAN LOGIN
- AWFUL DONT GET
- Shuts Down
- As soon as I open the app it shuts down
- Flickers
- Goes dark
- Back to my home screen
- Unable to login
- Can’t use it
- Doesn’t show Charlotte Mecklenburg library in the drop down
- Login screen itself does not work
- Worked 3min then nonresponding
- Crashed every time
- Not able to remember the login
- Error message for login
- App is great...when it lets you log in
- Cool
- Can’t sign in to read
- Can you fix it ?
- lol
- Can’t play videos any more
- No longer can read
- App gets hung up
- Never plays
- Cannot log on
- Constantly crashing
- Can’t log in
- Login simply fails every time
- Can’t login
- Barcodes squares to scan to login but no where is that an option
- How do I login ?
- Error couldn't sign in
- Never able to sign in
- Kept getting an error
- Hi
- Username baythorn and the password is Books
- Unable to login. Error message
- Can’t log in, tried two different library cards
- App just crashes now
- See the splash screen and then the app crashes
- Horrible
- Huge mistake
- You have to have your school or library subscribe to it
- Can’t get in
- Cannot log in
- With my library card number!
- Several others have had the same issue
- Please fix it!
- Doesn’t work!
- Will not let me log in
- After I select my library and enter library barcode!
- Very very frustrating!
- The app keeps logging out
- Can’t put in Library name
- Unable to pull up the list of libraries
- Unable to login
- Keeps giving me an error
- Log in error
- Can’t log in!
- Keeps saying log in error
- Very annoying!
- Can’t login
- List will not pop up for entering the library
- Therefore I cannot login
- Unable to log in
- Selected my library and entered my library card
- Can’t log in
- Why???!!!
- Awful
- Unable to login
- Unable to select local library
- Unable to read books
- Crashing at log in
- Worked great for a while
- Now it's crashing when trying to log in
- Ridiculously Inept
- Takes so long to download
- Doesn't work
- Doesn't accept login
- Needs work
- Doesn't accept my login even though it works fine in a web browser
- Please fix it
- Can't log in
- Family
- Great when it works
- Can no longer login since June bug fix!
- Doesn't work
- Trying to login but keep having error msg !
- Doesn't work
- Won't recognize my password
- Needs lots work
- Issue flipping pages
- Going to the next page
- Couldn't get to the next page
- No next page arrow or button
- Disappointing
- Please fix it quickly
Requested features
7 requests- Offline reading feature
- Filter for age-appropriate books
- Adjustable speed for audio read-alongs
- Option to not require sign-in
- Improve usability
Show 2 moreShow fewer
- Order books by grade level
- Fix page flipping and navigation
Learning Ally Audiobooks
Reported bugs
4 issues- Inability to log in or access account
- Books fail to download or disappear from library
- Inconsistent performance across different devices
- Syncing issues between mobile and desktop apps
Requested features
4 requests- Add more recent and popular book titles
- Improve audio playback controls and options
- Implement a sleep timer or auto-off feature
- Better integration with other devices and platforms
In-app purchases
TumbleBooks
No in-app purchases
Learning Ally Audiobooks
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is TumbleBooks free?
Is Learning Ally Audiobooks free?
Which has better reviews, TumbleBooks or Learning Ally Audiobooks?
Do TumbleBooks or Learning Ally Audiobooks have ads?
Which is updated more often, TumbleBooks or Learning Ally Audiobooks?
Other comparisons
