Press kit

About Solve To Play

Solve To Play is an iPhone and iPad app that locks games and other apps until a kid solves a few math tasks. Parents choose the apps, the tasks and how long the apps stay open; Apple’s Screen Time does the blocking.

It is made by a small developer in Germany. When the first kids tried it, some of them kept solving after their apps were already open, “because it’s fun”. So the app got extra rounds: kids can keep going for stars, and parents decide how many extra rounds a day are allowed.

Quick facts

Descriptions to copy

One line:

Solve To Play locks games and other apps on a kid’s iPhone or iPad until they solve a few math tasks.

Two lines:

Solve To Play locks games and other apps on a kid’s iPhone or iPad until they solve a few math tasks. Parents choose the apps, the tasks and how long the apps stay open; Apple’s Screen Time does the blocking.

One paragraph:

Solve To Play is an iPhone and iPad app that puts a short round of math in front of games and other apps. Parents choose which apps, categories and websites stay locked. When the kid opens one, they solve a few tasks and the apps open for a set time, then lock again. The lock uses Apple’s Screen Time, so iOS does the blocking. At setup the parent picks the school grade, and the app turns on the task types that fit, from counting and plus and minus to times tables, fractions, unit conversion and the clock. There is no timer: a wrong answer stays on screen for another try, and a picture of dots helps the kid count. Every solved task earns a star for the character shop; stars never buy playtime and can’t be bought with money. There’s no account and no ads, and settings and progress stay on the device.

What it does

• Math before games: the parent picks which apps stay locked; a short round of tasks (3 to 20) opens them for a set time (5 minutes to 3 hours), then they lock again.
• 26 task types: counting, plus and minus up to 1000, times tables, division, missing numbers, number walls, fractions of an amount, unit conversion, the clock and more, each with its own number range.
• Grade presets: the parent picks the school grade at setup and the app turns on the tasks that fit.
• No pressure: no timer, a dot picture as a hint, and missed tasks come back in later rounds.
• For kids who find numbers hard: an “Extra help” switch and number sense tasks such as the number line, the ten-frame and quick look.
• Stars and a shop: solved tasks earn stars for hats, glasses and toys for the kid’s character; stars never buy playtime.
• Parent controls behind a PIN: daily unlock limit, extra rounds per day, a bonus unlock that doesn’t count toward the limit.
• Privacy: no account, no ads, no tracking; anonymous crash reports and usage statistics that parents can turn off.

Downloads

• App icon (PNG, 512 × 512)
• App Store screenshots, English (ZIP, iPhone and iPad)
• App Store screenshots, German (ZIP, iPhone and iPad)

You may use the icon, the screenshots and the texts on this page in articles about Solve To Play.