If there’s anything kids enjoy more than hearing a story, it’s telling one themselves. And that’s a good thing — psychologists widely believe that imaginative activities like storytelling help children to acquire language and learn basic social cues.
In that spirit of creativity, on Thursday Google released Toontastic 3D, an app that teaches kids how to create animated storybooks using their device’s camera and microphone.
“With Toontastic 3D, kids can draw, animate, and narrate their own adventures, news stories, school reports, and anything else they might dream up,” Google stated in a blog post. “All they need to do is move characters around on the screen and tell their story. It’s like a digital puppet theater […] but with enormous interactive 3D worlds, dozens of customizeable characters, 3D drawing tools, and an idea lab with sample stories to inspire new creations.”
Toontastic isn’t exactly new; it’s the product of an acquisition. In 2015, Google bought Launchpad Toys, the company behind earlier Toontastic titles for iOS. But to be sure, the new Toontastic is an improvement in a number of ways. Characters and backgrounds are now in three dimensions. It’s now available for free on Android.
Toontastic provides presets for kids to choose from, but affords a level of freedom, too. First, they pick how many acts they want their story to have and choose from three predetermined story arcs. Then they select from one of eight pre-drawn scenes or create their own with drawing tools. Finally, they pick (or draw) characters and animate them by moving them around and recording voiceovers with a microphone.
Andy Russel, a Launchpad Toys co-founder and a Toontastic product manager, told TechCrunch the goal was to “[make] a tool that feels a little bit more like a toy and how kids create by play than your average video editing tool.” And they hoped that by making it free, they could get it in the hands of more kids.
Toontastic is a little barebones right now, but Google said that it’s looking at adding more templates for story arcs over time. Future updates and new features will be made available at no extra charge.
The app’s debut comes three years after Google announced plans to create specific versions of its most popular products for those 12 and younger. The California-based company rolled out YouTube Kids, a child-friendly version of the video sharing service shortly after, along with more robust parental controls across its existing catalog of apps. This also made it easier to find apps, books, music, movies, and other mobile content that’s age-appropriate kids and younger family members.
Toontastic 3D also dovetails with the release of TeleStory, an augmented reality video camera that allowed kids to record and share their own TV shows.
Toontastic 3D is available for Android and iOS starting today.
Are you tired of paying for streaming services you never watch just to get a phone plan feature you actually want? T-Mobile has good news for you! The carrier is rolling out new plans, called T-Mix, in early November to replace its old Experience lineup with a build-your-own perks system called Picks.
The benefits you choose vary from streaming and gaming to food delivery, AI, satellite service, and phone discounts. But if you are satisfied with your existing plan, you can keep it.
Merely days after the iPhone Duo hit the shelves, images of broken screens on the phone started popping up across social media. Until now, it’s been unclear what’s causing the line of defective pixels that appears vertically along the crease, as well as horizontally, on the phone’s inner display.
Apple has finally acknowledged the issue, which has shown up on iPhone Duo units owned by customers as well as demo units in stores. In a statement shared with Bloomberg, Apple says that not all iPhone Duo units are affected and that those that are tend to show the display fault early on. The company added that users who experience problems with their iPhone Duo display should contact AppleCare for a replacement.
Not long ago, Apple treated independent repair like an act of outright hostility. The Cupertino giant locked down parts with serial-number pairing, while repair tools remained firmly out of reach of anyone outside its authorized repair network. More importantly, the company waged a legal and lobbying battle against right-to-repair legislation.
I've covered enough of these fights over the years to know what a shift looks like. That's why what happened in October 2026 genuinely caught me off guard. The day the iPhone Duo went on sale, what may be the most mechanically complex iPhone to date, Apple pulled off a surprising about-face. It published teardown-style repair manuals for a handful of major components.