Kids Apps Have a Problem

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The free apps are filled with ads. Moving, blinking, designed to be tapped. And of course a 3 year old is going to press them, then can't find their way back out. What's supposed to be a simple game turned into a stimulating machine.

Subscriptions for software that never changes

The paid apps all want a recurring subscription; yearly, monthly, sometimes even weekly. For a kids app that might only do a couple things. You're not buying it, you're renting it forever, and it's not like your kids are using it 24/7 to justify that.

Neither felt right

We have a 3 year old. We don't want him tapping ads, and we don't want to pay a fee for him to use it a couple times a week. The colours and motion in most apps wind him up enough as it is. We pulled back on screens so something simple and cost efficient is all we need. Almost nothing out there met a pretty low bar: safe, simple, no ads, no subscription.

Paid once, that's the whole deal

No ads, ever, and no subscription. You buy it once and it's yours. When we add new activities, they show up as free updates. A kids app that does a handful of things shouldn't cost you every month.

Calm on purpose

Soft shapes, soft pastel colours and very little motion. Nothing flashes for attention, and there are no timers, no scores and nothing to lose. If it's still too much, the colour intensity setting turns the whole app down to Soft or Calm, and it follows your device's Reduce Motion setting. We wanted something that settles him down, not something that winds him up.

Small on purpose

A phone with a rotary dial and pretend calls, Animal Sounds, Drawing, Match and a Calculator. That's it. A few simple activities that work beat a hundred things fighting for attention. It's the same idea behind every Just app: what if an app could just be an app?

Their own playground

Every child gets their own profile with their own name, avatar and colour, and you pick which activities they see. A 3 year old and a 6 year old aren't ready for the same things, so they don't get the same playground. You can even switch off an animal your child doesn't like.

You set the rules

Settings sit behind a parental gate, so little fingers can't change them. There's a lock on every screen, and we walk you through turning on Guided Access in six steps, so email, photos and the browser stay out of reach. Remember the ads they couldn't find their way back from? That's the other half of the fix. There's nowhere to tap out to.

Nothing to track

No analytics and no third party code inside the app. It works offline, and the only place your kids' profiles go is your own private iCloud, so your iPhone and iPad stay in sync. It's a kids app. There's nothing we need to know.