Friends Are Fun! App Review: Friendship Storybook Apps for Young Kids

Friends Are Fun! was a small interactive storybook app for the iPad, aimed at children roughly 2 to 8 years old. Its goal was simple and sweet: to show young kids how to make friends and how to be a good friend. It belonged to a wave of early iPad apps that turned picture books into something you could tap, hear and explore. The original app is no longer easy to find, but the questions it raised, what makes a good storybook app and how much screen reading is right for little kids, are still worth answering.

What Friends Are Fun! offered

The app told the story of a young character who sets out to meet new friends. A few features made it a good fit for its age group:

• Read-to-me or read-it-yourself. Kids could have the story narrated aloud, a parent could read it, or an early reader could try it alone.
• Choices. The main character could befriend one of several characters, so the story changed on a second or third read, which encouraged kids to come back.
• Touchable scenes. Tapping characters and background objects triggered sounds and small animations.
• A clear message. The lessons about sharing, kindness and introducing yourself were simple enough for preschoolers.

Its biggest weakness was common for the time: the interactive parts weren't always obvious, and young kids needed an adult to show them what they could tap.

What happened to it

We could not find Friends Are Fun! in the US App Store in 2026. That is not unusual. Many independent storybook apps from the early 2010s were removed over the years, either because their developers stopped updating them or because they no longer ran on newer versions of iOS. If an older device in your house still has it installed, it may still work, but you won't be able to download it fresh.

What to look for in a storybook app today

The good news is that there are now far more high-quality options for young kids, many of them free. When you are choosing one, these questions help:

1. Who made it? Apps from established children's educators and public media organizations are generally designed with child development experts and have clear privacy policies.
2. Is it free of ads and upsells? Ads and "buy more" buttons interrupt the story and push kids to tap things they shouldn't. Prefer apps that are fully free or a single upfront purchase.
3. Does the interaction support the story? Good apps keep the extras connected to the narrative. If every tap makes a random noise, the story gets lost.
4. Can you turn off narration and highlight words? Text highlighting while the narrator reads helps early readers connect spoken and written words.
5. Is it rated 4+ and free of chat? Check the App Store rating and make sure there is no social feature or link to the open web.

Good current options for friendship and social skills

These are well-established, free apps for young children that include social and emotional skills alongside early learning:

• Khan Academy Kids is free with no ads and no subscriptions. It covers reading, math and social-emotional skills for roughly ages 2 to 8, with a library of books kids can listen to or read.
• PBS KIDS Games and PBS KIDS Video are free apps from public television, with characters such as Daniel Tiger whose stories focus heavily on feelings, sharing and friendship.
• Sesame Street's official app brings together videos and games from Sesame Workshop, whose characters have been teaching kindness and getting along for decades.
• Libby connects to your public library card so you can borrow picture e-books and read-along titles for free.

For more ideas, our post on free educational apps for kids has a broader list, and Get the kids reading with KidsMomo looks at another approach to getting kids interested in books.

Making screen stories work for little kids

Storybook apps are at their best when an adult is part of the experience. A few simple habits help:

• Read together the first few times. Point out what to tap and ask questions about the characters' feelings.
• Connect it to real life. After a story about making friends, talk about a friend at daycare or school. What did they play together? How did they feel?
• Keep sessions short. For young children, a story or two is plenty. Then move on to play.
• Balance with print. Use apps as an extra, not a replacement for picture books and library visits.
• Lock the device. Use Guided Access on iPhone or iPad to keep a young child inside a single app; our guide on limiting your child to one app with Guided Access shows how.

How much screen time for little kids?

Pediatric guidance generally suggests that for children around 2 to 5, screen time should be limited and, ideally, shared with an adult who can talk about what they're seeing. For school-age kids, the focus shifts to making sure screens don't crowd out sleep, physical activity, homework and time with family. A storybook app read together on the couch is a very different experience from a child tapping alone through an endless stream of games, so the quality and the company matter as much as the minutes.

The bottom line

Friends Are Fun! was a charming early example of what storybook apps could do. If you are looking for something similar today:

• Choose apps from trusted children's educators.
• Prefer free, ad-free apps with no chat or web links.
• Read with your child, especially at first.
• Use stories as a springboard for real conversations about friendship.
• Keep printed books and library visits in the mix.