App Friday: Is It Working?

App promotions involving price changes on iTunes were problematic last week. In some countries, and for some apps, a price change blocked the ability to download with: “this app is being modified – please try again later”. The situation seems to be systematic, and not by any means intended by the developer. We’ll move forward with this App Friday, but please be aware of potential glitches with downloading apps. 

Make up session from last week

• Magic Sorter – scheduled to be FREE again this App Friday.
• Funny Alphabet – scheduled to be $.99 again this App Friday.
• Enchanted Dictionary – scheduled to be FREE again this App Friday.

Be Aware of Social Media Buttons Within Apps

Many apps have buttons for “info” or “about” or “more apps” or links to “Facebook” or “Twitter” or “email” that take the user outside of the app. Please be aware of this, and guide your child accordingly. Some buttons pop up a warning before you leave the app, but not all.

Featured Apps

Click the image to read the descriptions in iTunes. Promotional pricing lasts until 8pm US PST Friday, unless extended by the developer.

Phonics Vowels, scheduled to be FREE this App Friday. Each of the Abitalk apps has a specific learning goal, in this case, sounding out vowels. In this game you can drag the letter into place to complete the word. Emmy’s apps are gaining visibility and I’m eager to watch what else is coming in 2012.

Scribble Press, FREE always. For budding authors and book creators, Scribble Press has templates and themes for constructing your own story. You can also use the “blank page” feature in the app, and have fun picking out markers and stamps from the shelves, like I did. When you pick out a marker you like, you can drag it down into your pencil case.

ABC Spy, $.99 was the planned promotional price, but looks like they decided to go FREE? Go figure! This is the iPhone version, an iPad version is in the works. With ABC Spy you pick your favorite letter from the alphabet, and then match an image that starts with that letter (either from your photo library or from the app’s library) to put in a frame and build a film. I would use this by having my kids take photos from the phone of all of the items in the house following the alphabet to build a custom photo library. This gets them up, thinking and moving. Then, the next part of the exercise is to match the words with letters, frame them, and generate their slideshow.

Baby Learns Colors, scheduled to be FREE for App Friday. Pick a color, test your colors, or fill your colors. These friendly splotches are quite pleasing even for the LITE version, which is what I tested. I plan to download the full version myself this App Friday. Per the developer, also look for “Voiceover Recorder where kids or parents can record a unique voiceover and share with our community; Prize World where kids can play with Bebekas (prizes that are given for the 10 correct answers in the Play mode).”

Lil Painter – Creative Coloring Book, scheduled to be FREE for App Friday. Lil Painter gives you different choices for how to fill the color on the picture. You can brush it on, pour it on, or spray it on. The rainbow pencil is pretty cool – just tap and see a surprise color.

Cars in the Sandbox, scheduled to be $.99 this App Friday. I obviously need to spend more time in the sandbox, because my first few tries left me determined to figure out how to move the trucks and accomplish the challenge. Pay attention to the posted papers on the back wall – those are the visual instructions. You get a star if you complete the task. This screenshot is of me, trying to get the elephant head on top of the blocks to get my star.

House Party on Facebook

This week, I’m bringing the party back home to the Moms With Apps Facebook page to keep tabs on the download situation. So join me at 10:00am PST / 1:00pm EST on Friday February 10th to celebrate App Friday. All developers and app enthusiasts are welcome!

NEW on the Banner

Great to see Kyle of Mobile Education Store on the Moms With Apps banner with his new app, Rainbow Sentences. Read about the Banner Program, and Kyle’s write-up, here: https://blog.momswithapps.com/banner-program/

The Link Exchange

Add links to your favorite apps, blog posts, Facebook pages – or any link that covers family-friendly apps. Please include the app name (or page name) in the Link Title, your email, and a URL. Thanks for participating!