Bottom Line: Is it possible to give an app more than five stars? The folks at Cupcake Digital have revamped Bugs & Buttons, making it prettier, faster, and (inconceivably) better. I wouldn't have thought there was any room for improvement, but they've given us something that makes most other kids' apps pale in comparison.
And, y’all, it’s not just Bugs & Buttons that has been re-mastered. Bugs & Buttons 2 and Bug Art have also gotten the royal treatment.
If you’d like to purchase Bugs & Buttons, Bugs & Buttons 2, or Bug Art from Cupcake Digital, please use the handy links below so they’ll know who sent you.
Bugs & Buttons ($2.99):
Bugs & Buttons 2 ($2.99):
Bug Art ($1.99):
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No ads, no in-app purchases; external links in protected parent area.
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Bugs & Buttons has been re-mastered. I know that you are asking yourself “What on earth could they have done to improve B & B? It was perfect, it was spectacular.” At least, that’s what I was asking myself. If you've read many of my reviews, you know that I am a huge fan of the Bugs & Buttons apps. I consider them to pretty much be the gold standard of kids’ apps. But somehow, they made things crisper and brighter. They added more scenes and made the animation more vibrant. They made the already beautiful artwork . . . well . . . more beautiful. They optimized everything for retina display (I don't have to understand the technology to know that whatever they did just made things . . . WOW).
So, what stayed the same? Well, Bugs & Buttons still offers 18 visually stimulating games covering a range of skills, including letters and numbers, colors and patterns, and sorting and matching. It’s a one-stop shop for all of those skills your little one is trying to master. But it’s so beautiful and bright and fun that your kids won’t even realize they are learning. That is all still true.
But every single bit of it is better. The buttons and jewels are more colorful. The backgrounds and graphics are just more vibrant. From each blade of grass to each piece of fabric, the details are incredibly life-like.
The same holds true for all the bugs. The dragonflies are the brightest jewel tones and the ants are intricately detailed. The bugs are so realistic that the faint-hearted might get a little bit squeamish at the cockroaches and the spiders. But guess what? The folks at Cupcake Digital have listened and now there is an option to turn off the roaches and the spiders. I love it when developers really pay attention to the requests of parents and kids.
My kids are crazy about the bug race. Their favorite thing is to set both of our iPads up next to each other and “race” each other along with the ants. Do they know they are working on hand-eye coordination? No, they do not, but I do and it makes me happy. I find joy on my own in playing each of the games, whether I’m counting or sorting or running a maze. There are so many things to enjoy that it’s hard to summarize it in one page.
So, what other improvements were made? The train now has lowercase letters. It doesn't seem like it ought to be a big deal, but as the mom of a preschooler I can tell you that it is definitely a big deal. There are also additional scenes in several of the games, which is really just more of a good thing, if you ask me. Voiceovers are now available in Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Swedish. To see more detail about all of the improvements, be sure to watch Ellie's video below.
I’d probably give this app a five-star rating based strictly on the spectacular graphics and the phenomenal performance. But it is also a top-notch learning app. I wonder if our editor will let me give it a five-plus. I hate to break this to all of the other app developers out there, but Bugs & Buttons has really raised the bar now.
And like I said, they've also re-mastered Bugs & Buttons 2 and Bug Art. I know what I’ll be doing this weekend . . .
*****
Kelli has worried in the past that the developers of Bugs and Buttons have ruined her for all other apps, but as long as they keep topping themselves that's okay.
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