4.3
Where to Buy

Missing Friend-Lite App Review

App Info

Price: Free

Overview

This ebook tells an engaging story of the kidnapped Mr. Mole and Mr. Rabbit’s daring rescue from Icky Mr. Fox. It features interactive pages, vocabulary-building labels, and narration for all text.

Features include:

  • Quirky scenes and characters
  • Narration of all pages
  • Interactive pages activated with taps and swipes
  • Tap objects to get their names

Quality

Missing Friend – Lite is a high quality ebook app that is designed for the very young. The app tells a fun and engaging story, and the illustrations are delightful. Each page has at least an interactive labeling system which allows children to tap pictures and see/hear their names. Some pages have other interactions as well.

Education

This ebook is great for prereaders-the story is entertaining and the interactions are not overwhelming. Developers did a good job of embedding items with unusual names that will be outside of most children’s working vocabulary, such as diamonds and shards buried in the ground. However, there are some things that seem to be somewhat gratuitous, such as aliens and spaceships that float through with no connection to the story. These could be more of a distraction than a help. It would also be nice if there was an option to turn the narration off for slightly older kids, or those attempting to read on their own.

Entertainment

This e-book is engaging and fun, and the illustrations are fabulous. They are whimsical, yet clear and appropriate for the very young. Though the story includes some misdeeds by the “Icky Mr. Fox,” there is no violence, just a healthy dose of humor and suspense.

Value

The Lite version of this app is free in the App Store, but parents should be aware that there are outside advertisements that show before the book starts. There is another version of the app (available at https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/missing-friend/id1236379583?mt=8) that costs $1.99 but is ad-free. Parents may well feel that the paid version of the app is worth the cost to upgrade.

Child Friendliness

This app includes protected but visible links to other apps, social media, and an in-app purchase. Ideally, these things should be behind a parent gate and not visible to the children. Furthermore, the Lite version of the app displays third-party advertisements with unprotected links to the advertiser’s page in an open web browser. These aspects make it difficult to recommend this app for child friendliness, and parents will want to supervise its use closely. Concerned parents do have the option of purchasing the ad-free version for a small fee.

  • YES more apps (protected, but visible)
  • YES Social Media (protected, but visible)
  • YES in-app purchase (protected, but visible)
  • YES 3rd party advertisements, unprotected links to the web
Missing Friend-Lite
Missing Friend
Missing Friend-Lite is a cute ebook that features the Icky Mr. Fox and his friends (who star in several other apps). The story is cute and engaging, the illustrations are fun, and the book has a nice level of interactivity.
Quality
Education
Entertainment
Value
Child Friendly
4.3
Where to Buy