- 81.6LEGITIMACY SCORE
- 85.1SAFETY SCORE
- 4+CONTENT RATING
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Caribu by Mattel App Complaints & User Negative Comments 2024
Caribu by Mattel app received 56 complaints, negative comments and reviews by users. Have you ever had a bad experience using Caribu by Mattel? Can you share your negative thoughts about caribu by mattel?
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Caribu by Mattel for Negative User Reviews
✓ Very unstable!Last year the app worked great no issues. This year, we tried on the phone, iPad and computer but every time they went to use an activity the screen froze and the call got dropped. It was extremely frustrating and ruined a birthday party..Version: 3.8.6
✓ Wonderful words time!!I am so happy and thankful that Caribou has made some quality time available for me and my granddaughters while we are miles apart! Though I am in NY and they are in CA this app makes reading together so easy and brings a wider variety of books right to us! And some of my other older grandchildren who live right near us now have enjoyed “practicing” their reading as they get to read to their younger cousins!! It’s wonderful to have a scheduled time to meet for the reading time and then even enjoy just a little regular “FaceTiming” when they’re done with books. Thanks again for creating this app for us!.Version: 3.8.3
✓ Blank pagesMy niece often saw blank pages in the app. I could see it just fine, but nothing on her end..Version: 3.8.5
✓ Signing inI have to sign in when I can’t..Version: 3.6.4
✓ Still frustrated by reduced size of screenFor anyone who wants to play games, colour on this App, it is very frustrating if you use an IPad. The developers have seriously shrunk the usable screen space so that now we can’t even fill in the words etc on many of the games. Also the colouring portion is no longer usable by young children - the pictures are just too small to colour and the paint by numbers is impossible for kids 5 and under. Also the blank screen, that we used all the time is not big enough for young children to draw good size pictures, doodle etc. I think the screen was re-configured so that it would be accessible on smaller devices but how about two screen sizes?? We used to use this App a lot but our use (other than for reading) has decreased dramatically since the change in screen size..Version: 3.9.1
✓ Subscription dint workI paid the months subscription and it only worked for 1 day and then I tried using it the next day and it wouldnt let me. Nothing I try works! Very frustrating.Version: 3.8.3
✓ Kicks outAs soons as I start a story when using my laptop, the call kicks out!!!! So frustrating!.Version: 3.8.5
✓ Very glitchyMy grandkids love to use this app to play and read but it often freezes, or doesn’t load the game, or we can’t hear each other. Todays Caribou time had to be cut short! I think I’ll look for another app..Version: 3.11.8
✓ Crashes constantlyIt crashes or freezes constantly, and half the time the video doesn’t work. It used to be great, but unusable now. Definitely not worth the price..Version: 3.8.2
✓ Great, but…Caribu is awesome, i got it for my little bro so that he didn’t get as board as quickly… and of course he loved it! He actually walked up to me after his first call and said, “Sissy, I love this app! It’s soo cool, right?” and obviously I said yes! But, there are some cons… first of all, the adds. I understand that you want money to help your lifestyle… but, what if some kid is trying to play games and they have a short attenion span, they are going to be going from game to book to coloring pad amd back to games. and there are going to be just about 100,000,000 adds. Plus, if they accidentally click on it then i’ll be going to some random site. And the other (and only other) thing is that just about half of the games are premium, my little brother has seen the sticker games or something and it just happens to be premium. Can you play please just at least try to dial down some of the premium games (including the sticker games). But other than those this is absolutely amazing. Period. I love it! So, please download this app because it will bring a lot of happiness to the user. Thanks you for reading!.Version: 3.11.8
✓ Bit basicFantastic concept but a bit limited. Tic tac toe is probably only interactive I can do with five year old grandson. He loves it and we do laugh together but I’m sure there are more share games than just that one. Doesn’t always show both parties the same thing and often “new” does nothing to create a new blank which is frustrating and kids can not understand when it doesn’t do what it did previously. However, it’s given me much wanted time and fun with my boy so thank you for that. Great concept just a bit limited and repetitive..Version: 3.6.4
✓ Does not work! Don’t waste your money :(We used this app in 2019 and it was fairly stable the first two weeks...after that it was all downhill from there. We spend over an hour each time we try to use it just trying to connect. Pages never turn or stay white, there’s a 20+ second lag. Coloring is entirely a mess. It crashes all the time. In one hour, we probably had to reconnect over 10 times!! Then each time we connected we would have to ring each other about 7 times before the app would connect. On the other hand, FaceTime and WhatsApp video work flawlessly with no issues. This was so exciting for our family. The kids get so sad and bored when it doesn’t work :( please make a stable app. This is absolutely awful..Version: 3.6.0
✓ Fix your app!The app is laggy to the point where it’s almost unusable. It takes forever to connect to call. Notifications for incoming calls only appear half the time. Please don’t pay for this app until they fix it!.Version: 3.8.3
✓ Sync is totally off! Crashes! Not usableSuch a great idea and I would be happy to pay for the subscription (currently being waved due to Corona virus) but it’s totally unusable. We ran into lots of little bugs in the beginning that we were willing to overlook but every time my 3 year old uses it the pages are off sync with our family member so it totally defeats the purpose when they’re reading 1 page behind. Same thing is happening when they try the coloring - my sister and I even shared screenshots to show each other because I was laughing at her for not being able to color in the lines lol. It looked totally different on her screen! The worst is that it crashes a ton too. I can overlook a lot because my daughter loves this but it simply doesn’t work :(.Version: 3.5.5
✓ Great app with one minor flaw which makes it unuseable.I love the idea of this app, especially during the pandemic. Grandparents can enjoy time with the kids while the parents get a break. But... both the kids and the grandparents can control what activity to do. And our four year old can’t commit to anything for more than 30 seconds. She is constantly changing the book, the picture and the game. The whole thing turns into a scribble session while grandma can’t get her bearings. If they added a small feature to prevent the child from controlling the activity... this app would be priceless. I’d pay double for just this feature. Until then- all I can do is wait for her to grow up. :(.Version: 3.6.1
✓ Only working on newer devices :(Just got this app and really enjoying using it with our granddaughter. Problems arise when using even year-old devices...books won’t load on both ends of the call. May be able to figure this out over time but for now it is quite frustrating to deal with..Version: 3.8.3
✓ Should be better for the moneyNice idea but the cons make me think I will be canceling our subscription after the month. Our 6 year old loves tic tac toe and the scavenger hunts. That being said....here are the negatives which make me happy I didn’t sign up for a whole year: 1. While trying it for free things moved fine but now that I’ve paid for a month there’s a significant lag between selecting something and getting it to open. 2. There’s no way to remove my picture. Since the pictures take up space, often needing to be moved so I can read the story, I would like the option of not seeing myself. It seems this should have been addressed long before now. 3. Some of the stories are too long, too detailed, or contain some content we would not want to explore while reading a story from a distance so we try and prescreen the stories and put them in our favorites. The kids can’t see those favorites on their screen however. It would be nice if we could just pull that screen up so they could choose what book they want to hear..Version: 3.8.1
✓ Great idea Terrible executionWe loved the idea of this app, especially during lock downs but it’s so buggy and delayed that it makes it almost impossible to use. The lag in page turning and game loading is intolerable.Version: 3.9.7
✓ Ipad camera not workingMy ipad camera does not work in the caribu app. It Works with other apps so i know its not the ipad that has the issue. In settings caribu does not show up under camera permission requests. The app works fine and the audio works fine but its pretty dull for the kids with no video connection. Please fix the bug for ipads..Version: 3.5.5
✓ Crashes Every timeThis app is a good concept but is let down by poor quality books and technical problems from day 1. There is no age range shown for books so you just have to scroll and read through everything to find what you’re looking for and they are all terrible quality. The app keeps automatically ringing family members all day without my knowledge and then when family actually do try to call through it doesn’t come through my end at all. Complete waste of time and very frustrating app..Version: 3.6.0
✓ BuggySo buggy. Could not use for call at all and app kept crashing. Such a shame as I love the concept..Version: 3.11.3
✓ High Number of Users = GlitchesSince the pandemic there’s been a high number of users and the app can’t cope with the numbers users. It either doesn’t work at all, doesn’t connect calls, fails to ring the other person but the caller can still hear the ringtone at their end We know this bcos we sometimes dial when we’re on google hangouts. It’s a great app but doesn’t have the bandwidth.Version: 3.6.0
✓ Had to cancelUpdate: response time on a public forum seems much faster than actual tech support. I sent an email the same day of this review and still haven’t heard pack. Meanwhile, my subscription shouldn’t end until July 6th and yet all of our iPads have been knocked down to the free version! This is a wonderful concept but needs developing. First, the reading levels. While content is categorized well in terms of interest, it’s extremely difficult to find an appropriate book for each reading level. With all the covid interruptions with schooling, it has been a relief to know we can continue to practice reading skills at home and remotely with relatives. However, in order to find an appropriate book for my child’s reading level, we have to open and shut 5-6 books until we are successful. Choosing a standard levelled reading system and providing that categorization shouldn’t too difficult for Caribu. Second, the app is simply full of bugs. Despite really loving the routine of nightly calls to grandpa to practice reading, we’ve decided to cancel our subscription because the screen sharing never works initially. My son first picks a book, then I have to verbally guide grandpa to the book to open it because he cannot see what we’re doing (ie, the screen is NOT sharing). This happens each time for over a week now. We’ve both updated the app a few times as well as our operating systems on each device. It makes it impossible for my child to be independent with the app. So we have cancelled and will be seeking an alternative..Version: 3.9.5
✓ Poor connectionMy kids have started using the app with their grandmother during the COVID-19 isolation. It has some great activities but often the video cal function fails or the synching of the screen doesn’t work so they can’t see the same screen or some of the images ate not the same. This is a little frustrating so would be great if this can be looked at ASAP so kids can keep playing with their grandparents.Version: 3.5.5
✓ Sound not workingV difficult.Version: 3.11.10
✓ Can’t load the appI paid for a one month subscription but the app won’t load past the “Thank you” screen..Version: 3.8.6
✓ I pay and it crashes regularlyGood idea. Huge bummer when my 4y.o. Wants to connect with his grandmother and the app freezes, crashes, and fails to boot. And this happens far too often..Version: 3.8.6
✓ This used to be a good app......... but closes repeatedly at certain times of the (busy) day and needs to be on a more robust platform. Piece of junk now..Version: 3.8.2
✓ Too expensiveGreat idea but books are too expensive for a 2 minute read!!!.Version: 2.8
✓ Great idea but too basic and slow with glitchesWe’ve barely had one call now and we’ve tried this a huge number of times. Really frustrating for little ones. Great concept as the screen is shared for stories, drawing, colouring etc but it’s really slow to load, and half the time the screen goes blank so you can’t se either yourself or the other caller. Either it can’t cope with lockdown usage or it’s such really basically made but we are giving up. Certainly wouldn’t pay for this quality.Version: 3.6.1
✓ Not PleasedUnknowingly used up 13 of 15 free opens just browsing through the books to see which ones would be suitable for my grandson. I have not even called him yet. Now that I have two left I must subscribe to try the app out??? This does not seem reasonable to me. I will not subscribe and commit to a payment before actually testing the app out. At this point I can only give one star as there was no option to choose zero..Version: 3.8.3
✓ Took my money but didn’t give me unlimitedI paid for a one month subscription for this app to see if it was worth getting for a year. Yesterday I had the use of unlimited after paying and today its back to the free version. This is an expensive app to have so many issues. Such as laggy video, pages turning slow, and the app crashes quite a bit. I’ve now payed for something my daughter can’t even use. I’m surprised this app has such high ratings..Version: 3.8.3
✓ Costs moneyI thought this would just have a subscription that gives you better games but you have to watch an add or pay to call someone but it’s okay I fab you willing on to pay.Version: 3.11.3
✓ Good conceptMy kids spend lots of time on this app with their grandparents. They love having their grandparents read them stories. I do find the app a bit slow sometimes though, which is why I have given it 3 stars. Please add more books in French!.Version: 3.6.4
✓ DisappointedNot used it for awhile but now notice that to watch for free you need credits and gain more with adverts. Doesn’t say how much the credits use up. Obviously want you to pay a monthly subscription now. Disappointed as it was something I could drop into with my grandson..Version: 3.11.1
✓ Love it but lots of connection issuesI love this app and read a lot with my niece who’s in 5th grade. We’ve found lots of books that are like mini science books and I’ve enjoyed helping her increase her vocabulary and learning. The only reason for the 3 stars is that the connectivity seems to have lots of bugs. It will freeze often and we have to call each other back to restore it. It may be just an internet issue however we have fast speed internet and I’ve seen in other reviews that this is a common problem. If you can deal with that frustration I recommend it.Version: 3.8.3
✓ Price different than advertisedThis app is great for reading and coloring with my grandchildren. However I ended up paying quite a bit more for the monthly subscription than it tells you. In the terms and conditions it says it’s $6.99/month. When I actually went to subscribe it said $9.99. When I got my bill it was $13.49 plus tax for a total of $15.11. Edit: I sent an email asking about the pricing and they replied right away. That’s great service! It’s in US $ and then of course we Canadians get to pay tax on top of that..Version: 3.8.2
✓ High pricesHave to wait 3 weeks before I can interact with my grandchildren..Version: 3.8.2
✓ Great idea but it crashes and has glitchesThe kids like using the app with Grandparents even though when they use it between the app on an iPad to the grandparent’s computer the coloring or circling of items didn’t show up correctly on both platforms. This afternoon my daughter used it with a friend who is on quarantine from school. It was great for the first 20-30 min but then the calls kept dropping (four times)and they ended up frustrated so they just ended the call. This also happened when we were using the free version so we thought the free version may have had a time limit, but now we have the paid version and the same thing happened. So now I don’t have an explanation. Love the concept but so far with the glitches we aren’t sure if we will continue paying for the app..Version: 3.8.2
✓ Difficult to useI downloaded the app on my phone and found it too small to read easily. I tried to download onto my iPad but it wouldn’t allow me to complete the sign in process because it said my email was already in use. I guess you can’t use it on more than 1 device ?!.Version: 3.8.3
✓ Too slowVideo was far too slow and delayed to be usable.Version: 3.2.6
✓ Things don’t line up between my screen and the other persons screen.When playing a game like dots or tic tac toe with a family member over voice call, lines we draw don’t match with those on the other persons screen. I am probably not describing that clearly but it was impossible to play together. We had to use the blank draw space to do anything that was synced up. Even reading a book together, the pages we saw did not match the page viewed on the other persons screen. They were a page ahead. When they tried swiping to the previous page, it turned our page too. Very frustrating. If this didn’t happen, this app would be incredible..Version: 3.6.0
✓ Cool concept but money grabberMy mother-in-law told us about this because she wanted a creative way to FaceTime our kids. It has some books to read with kids (nothing good) and while the games and colouring sheets are pretty cheesy, it appeals to young kids (3-5). It is ad free. It’s not super user friendly but we clumsily figured it out over the course of the call (I’m a millennial who also games so I consider myself pretty adept when it comes to tech). We never have problems with FaceTime or internet, but on this app our calls froze, we had to hang up and try again, which seemed to eat into the free trial. We literally used it twice (but each call was 3-4 attempts as the calls quality was garbage), and then my mother-in-law started receiving notifications to buy the subscription for - get this- 20.99 PER MONTH. Netflix is cheaper. Using FaceTime for free and having a physical book to read on the other end is free. While I can appreciate that there are no ads, surely you could get money from developers and makers who want exposure (as far as I could tell Thomas the Train is the only thing they had recognizable). This is a swindle for desperate grandparents trying to connect with their grandkids during the pandemic. Don’t waste your money..Version: 3.8.3
✓ Used to be greatI just got back into Caribou and it has changed from before. There are now ads that are forced upon you, which makes me uncomfortable because the ads may have content I don’t want my child seeing. But more importantly, there is a whole pride section now and this no longer makes me comfortable to allow my daughter freedom on the app. I can no longer recommend it to like minded friend’s parents when our kids want to have a virtual playdate, and as far as I know there’s not choice of the parent to disable certain kind of content. I, the parent, want to be in control of what my child sees and now I am trying to be forced to let her explore things that are beyond her age. Please fix this..Version: 3.11.11
✓ Surprisingly unreliable appThe app is full of bugs, I’ve used it four or five times now and always hit them. - Sometimes I get a call from someone whilst I’m actually calling them and then can’t dismiss their call so the ringing remains once we’re connected. Sometimes the buttons to accept or decline a call disappear but the ringing remains - Often there’s no audio or video to a call. I'm going to try switching to an ebook app alongside some screen sharing software..Version: 3.6.0
✓ Not easy.This was not an easy app for us old grandparents to set up. But once setup it looks like we will be able to read and visit with our grandkids far away. We are looking forward to using it. Unfortunately it used up 3 free books for us to set it up together..Version: 3.8.6
✓ Very Disappointed.Functionality is quite poor with limited options. When I tried to cancel my subscription, there were multiple steps required despite a confirmation that it was canceled. Only to then be charged another month. Unacceptable!.Version: 3.8.6
✓ Good but could improveA good App for keeping in touch with our grandchildren in another country during the pandemic, but needs improving. Frustrations arise when connections drop unexpectedly. As both sides have excellent internet connections, think this must be the server. Books are generally good but short. Some things shown on iPad are not on computer e.g. memory games, but I believe this will be fixed. Hopefully all the glitches will be ironed out soon and everyone will enjoy the App fully..Version: 3.8.5
✓ Potentially greatThis is potentially a great app, but it has shortcomings. My major complaint is the difficulty of navigating the library to look for suitable books to share. Every time I check out a book, and want get back to where I was in the library to check the next one, I can only do so by clicking the back button, which takes me back to the BEGINNING of the library! This makes the process slow and frustrating. A less fundamental problem is the shortage of British English books. I have nothing against American authors, but a lot of the books would make little sense to a very young child. Also, when my grandson wants a book he is familiar with, we are limited to Thomas, the Usborne books, and Beatrix Potter. It would be great to see more British authors. I also agree with other comments that the games don’t work well..Version: 3.8.3
✓ ConnectivotyFacebook is way better I dont know why caribou is so slow Please let me know.Version: 3.8.6
✓ GlitchyGot the subscription to unlock more content, but there’s not a huge range of books. As for games, about 20% work. Can’t see anything listed under a bunch of categories so it’s pretty frustrating.Version: 3.8.3
✓ Super glitchy, way too expensiveMy mother was excited to use this as a way to connect with my daughter. They tried a few colouring games but had to keep opening and closing to get them to work, and there was a big time lag between them as they tried to colour together. In an attempt to make it work they ended up using 6 of the 15 free items you get in a month. I was prepared to purchase the premium but it costs more than Amazon Prime! Sadly this will not be a useful tool for our family..Version: 3.8.3
✓ TerribleDoesn’t work..Version: 3.8.3
✓ Great idea to keep in touch with the kidsThe idea of this app is fantastic, however the execution is rather shaky. The app crashes and lags all the time, even if I’m just exploring the app by myself. Also sometimes the app does not sync correctly between both parties, my screen showed a completely different coloring page than what the other party had on their screen. Lastly, when I finish a book/coloring page and back out of it, I notice I am brought back to the start page. I wish I was brought back to the exact position I was at before I clicked on the coloring page/book because I have to re-scroll to get to where I was. I found this especially irksome as I was exploring the app and was clicking on stories to ‘heart’ them and when backing out, I was brought back to the start page and instead of where I left off and had to keep re-scrolling through everything to get back to where I was. I hope the developers will be able to fix these hiccups to reach the potential I know this app has. Stay safe everyone!.Version: 3.6.0
✓ Poor quality appThe video does not work. The app freezes frequently..Version: 3.9.4
✓ Beware of free trial shamWe have been going back and forth with the support team from Caribu for weeks now. We cancelled prior to the free trial expiration. But were still charged for the app. Nothing but the run around since. They even said due to Covid there would be an indefinite free trial. Still waiting for our $ back. Stay away. Update- support has been very responsive through this ordeal. There have been many excuses provided and finally they said the bit about payment info and that we need to work through Apple. A refund was requested and granted through Apple and all is good on the money side. To say that we never responded and that we selected the wrong app subscription is just not true..Version: 3.6.0
🙂 Caribu by Mattel Positive Reviews
Caribu by Mattel works most of the time. If it is not working for you, we recommend you excersise some patience and retry later or contact Caribu by Mattel.
⛔ Caribu by Mattel Problems
