How to choose a maths app for your child

1. Does it explain before it tests? A child who meets a new topic should see what it means and a worked example first, and be able to get back to it mid-game.
2. Can your child see the maths? Pictures they can move — fraction bars, arrays, graphs — build understanding that rules alone do not. Look for more than coloured buttons around a sum.
3. Does it follow your syllabus? In India, check that it is organised around the NCERT chapters for your child’s class, so practice supports school rather than competing with it.
4. Does it start at the right level? A good app finds where your child is, rather than starting everyone at the beginning or at their age.
5. What happens after a wrong answer? Avoid apps that wipe out everything for one slip, or punish mistakes with sad faces and lost lives. Right work should stay right.
6. Is there time pressure? Timers, countdowns and leaderboards reward rushing, not understanding, and make anxious children more anxious.
7. Does practice come back? Skills should return days and weeks later, asked differently, so they are remembered and not just repeated.
8. Ads, purchases and accounts. Check for ads, in-app purchases and whether your child is asked to create an account or share data.
9. Will it run on your phone? Many families share one low-cost phone with a patchy connection. Offline use matters.
10. Does it speak your language? A parent who can read the menus and explanations in their own language can sit alongside and help.

How Tivumo answers the checklist

We built Tivumo around these questions: a short explanation and worked example open every topic; every game is a picture to move; Classes 3 to 12 follow the NCERT chapters; five placement questions find the starting class; right answers stay right; there are no timers or leaderboards; skills come back after a day, three days and a week; it is free with no ads, no purchases and no child account; it works offline; and menus and explanations are in English, हिंदी and मराठी. Some questions inside the games are still in English, and geometric constructions and written proofs are not in the app yet.

See what is inside Tivumo

Questions parents ask