• No shiny new features this time. This is a housekeeping release — brooms, screwdrivers, the works. • Everything under the hood got a once-over so future updates land smoothly. • If you notice absolutely nothing different, that's a ten out of ten from us.

• Big news: Sparks Studio is now a one-time unlock. Buy it once and every creative tool is yours forever — no subscription, no nagging. • Plus a little polish so everything runs a touch smoother.

We squashed a shy little bug that only showed up when nobody was looking. Also gave the app a quiet performance tune-up so everything feels a touch smoother. Thanks for creating with us!

• The Animate rig had been looking at every drawing upside-down since day one. It now sees your masterpiece the right way up. • The skeleton button is no longer an unmarked white mystery — it is a proper little figure you can actually find (and it lights up when it is on).

• Your kid's masterpiece no longer vanishes if the app blinks. We caught it. Everyone's fine. • Drawing while zoomed in now puts the line under the finger, not in the next postcode. • Songs quietly save themselves — the Back button is no longer a song shredder. • Stories always get their ending now, even when the storyteller-in-chief has an off day.

What's new in 1.2.3 • Fixed a crash that could strike right when a child's drawing was being turned into an animation. On some devices the pose detector occasionally returned nothing and the app reached for details that weren't there. It now shrugs and carries on instead of falling over. • The "ask a grown-up" check used the pop-up number keyboard, which on a sideways iPhone could sit right on top of the Submit button — leaving parents stuck outside their own settings. Replaced it with an on-screen keypad, so the question and the buttons share the screen. • Weekly creation limits and the daily time limit are now honoured even while a child is already inside a tool. They always get to finish and save what they're working on first — then it's a friendly "all done for now."

A little spit and polish for our tiny artists. • Fixed a drawing gremlin: perfectly straight-line doodles now render and animate properly instead of quietly vanishing into the void. • Tightened up the premium creative experience under the hood. • Assorted small fixes so the fun stays smooth. Keep making things.

What's new in 1.2.1 • Search-listing tidy: the keyword field had "drawing apps", "drawing app", AND "draw" — Apple's indexer stems all three to the same word, so two of those were wasted. Recovered the bytes for the actual long-tail kids-creative terms (coloring book, doodle, sketch, bedtime story maker, kids music) and added "no ads, offline" — which is what parents actually filter on for kids' apps. No change inside the app.

Sparks Studio learned a new trick: kids' drawings actually move now. • Tap "Animate" on any drawing — pick walk, jump, dance, wave, sleep, or 5 other actions. Stick figures actually walk. Bears actually dance. We're as surprised as you are. • Storybooks act themselves out. The AI reads each page and the kid's character does whatever the page says — runs, sits, falls, points. Or override per page in Storybook Studio if you've got strong opinions about a wave. • Drew two characters on one page? Both animate together. We tried three. Still works. Don't tell our test plan. • New "Real Sounds" pack in the music composer — claps, cookie tins, door slams, dropping coins, and a whale. Because no kid composition is complete until you slam a door on the beat. Behind the scenes: • Switched the writing brain to Apple Intelligence — the app is 2.9 GB lighter, story prompts arrive faster, and the kid's words still never leave the device. • Action selections actually save now. Last week the action picker reset every time the storybook reopened. We have apologised to Maya, whose bear we kept reverting from "dance" to "stand." • The stick figure's head used to stay still while its legs walked. We fixed the rig math. The head is reattached. Everything still runs on the device — no internet, no accounts, no waiting room.

What's new in 1.1.2 • A small "rate the app" prompt now appears after you've saved a few good compositions. We waited until you've actually made something you're proud of before asking — feels more honest that way. Won't pester.

Sparky took a deep breath. Drawing tools sharper, stories a touch longer, songs a touch sillier. Everything still runs on the device — no internet, no accounts, no waiting room.

Sparky learned three new jokes, the paintbrush stopped eating itself, and bedtime stories rhyme a little better now. Tantrums during cleanup not yet fixed.

Sparky learned three new jokes, the paintbrush stopped eating itself, and bedtime stories rhyme a little better now. Tantrums during cleanup not yet fixed.

Bug fixing

Bug fixing

Bug fixing.

The piano no longer sounds like a calculator having a breakdown. Drums actually drum now. The guitar stopped pretending to be a rubber band. Basically, the Music Composer went from "garage band practice" to "Garage Band" — you're welcome, ears everywhere.

Profile pictures are now round. Revolutionary, we know. Turns out squares don't fit in circles — who knew? Your avatar now looks the way it was always meant to: perfectly round, perfectly you. We also squashed a few bugs that were hiding behind the corners.

Performance improved.