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Version
1.3.0
Size
5.71 Mb
Updated
4 days ago
Released
18 Aug 2026
Description
Tortoise Blocks is a visual programming app for children. Snap a few blocks together, press play, and a tortoise draws the picture on the canvas — one line at a time, with the block it is drawing lit up in the program.
BLOCKS THAT SNAP TOGETHER
Move and turn. Put the pen down, pick a color, fill a shape. Drag a block into place or tap to add it, change a number where it sits, and undo anything you like. One tap on the trash can clears the whole program when you want to start over.
REPEAT, IF, AND BOXES
Run a group of blocks again and again. Ask a question and take one path or the other. Keep a number in a box and add to it as the program runs. These are the ideas real programs are made of, in words a child already knows.
BLOCKS YOU MAKE YOURSELF
Give a block a name, put whatever you like inside it, and call it by that name from anywhere in the program. A block can call itself, too — and one that calls itself twice, a little smaller each time, draws a tree. There is a ready-made tree to look at before you build your own.
ROLL THE DICE
Any number — and any color — can be a dice roll instead. The same program then draws a different picture every time it runs, which turns "do it again" into a game of its own.
WATCH IT DRAW
Play, pause, step forward one command at a time, scrub back and forth, change the speed while it runs. The block being drawn stays highlighted, so it is never a mystery which block made which line.
BLOCKS BECOME SWIFT
A second pane shows the very same program as real Swift code, colored like an editor and ready to copy. It is waiting there for the day blocks stop being enough.
KEEP IT AND SHARE IT
Drawings are ordinary documents in Files and Finder, and each one shows its own picture as its icon — so a folder of them reads as a gallery rather than a row of identical squares. Export a drawing as SVG or PNG, or send it through the share sheet.
FOR PARENTS AND TEACHERS
There is no sign-in and no account. There is nothing to type but numbers. There is no advertising, no analytics, no third-party SDK, and no network connection of any kind — the app contains no networking code at all. Drawings stay on the device and in whatever location you choose to save them.
Tortoise Blocks runs on iPad, Mac and Apple Vision Pro — blocks are built on iPad and Mac, and on Vision Pro a finished drawing goes on the table in front of you. It speaks English and Japanese, and is free and open source under the MIT license.
Estimates
Availability
Devices
iPhone5s
iPadAir
iPadAirCellular
iPadMiniRetina
iPadMiniRetinaCellular
iPhone6
iPhone6Plus
iPadAir2
iPadAir2Cellular
iPadMini3
iPadMini3Cellular
iPodTouchSixthGen
iPhone6s
iPhone6sPlus
iPadMini4
iPadMini4Cellular
iPadPro
iPadProCellular
iPadPro97
iPadPro97Cellular
iPhoneSE
iPhone7
iPhone7Plus
iPad611
iPad612
iPad71
iPad72
iPad73
iPad74
iPhone8
iPhone8Plus
iPhoneX
iPad75
iPad76
iPhoneXS
iPhoneXSMax
iPhoneXR
iPad812
iPad834
iPad856
iPad878
iPadMini5
iPadMini5Cellular
iPadAir3
iPadAir3Cellular
iPodTouchSeventhGen
iPhone11
iPhone11Pro
iPadSeventhGen
iPadSeventhGenCellular
iPhone11ProMax
iPhoneSESecondGen
iPadProSecondGen
iPadProSecondGenCellular
iPadProFourthGen
iPadProFourthGenCellular
iPhone12Mini
iPhone12
iPhone12Pro
iPhone12ProMax
iPadAir4
iPadAir4Cellular
iPadEighthGen
iPadEighthGenCellular
iPadProThirdGen
iPadProThirdGenCellular
iPadProFifthGen
iPadProFifthGenCellular
iPhone13Pro
iPhone13ProMax
iPhone13Mini
iPhone13
iPadMiniSixthGen
iPadMiniSixthGenCellular
iPadNinthGen
iPadNinthGenCellular
iPhoneSEThirdGen
iPadAirFifthGen
iPadAirFifthGenCellular
iPhone14
iPhone14Plus
iPhone14Pro
iPhone14ProMax
iPadTenthGen
iPadTenthGenCellular
iPadPro11FourthGen
iPadPro11FourthGenCellular
iPadProSixthGen
iPadProSixthGenCellular
Pricing by country
| Country | Price |
|---|---|
| Canada | free |
| China | free |
| France | free |
| Germany | free |
| Italy | free |
| Netherlands | free |
| Portugal | free |
| Spain | free |
| UK | free |
| India | free |
| Japan | free |
| Korea, Republic Of | free |
| Poland | free |
| Russia | free |
| Turkey | free |
| USA | free |
| Ukraine | free |
