🎮 Learning games and sites · 💻 Coding
Lightbot
By SpriteBox LLC (LightBot Inc.). Visit Lightbot
Desk research from the maker's own pages. Not yet tried by us. Checked 2026-10-24.
A puzzle game that teaches programming logic. Kids give a little robot a list of command icons to move it around a grid and light up blue tiles, and later levels need procedures, loops and conditions to fit in limited space. There is a free 20-level Code Hour version and a paid 50-level full game. It is a classic Hour of Code activity, but the app has not been updated in years.
Our take: A neat logic puzzle if it runs on your device; try the free Code Hour version first before paying.
| Ages it suits | about 6 and up |
|---|---|
| What its terms say about age | Not stated; no terms of service found. The privacy policy says it is aimed at people both under and over 13 and needs no personal information. (terms) |
| Price | Free, with paid extras. Lightbot: Code Hour free; Lightbot: Programming Puzzles $2.99 on the US App Store (Oct 2026), with no in-app purchases. |
| Works on | iPhone and iPad |
| Account | No account needed |
| Ads | None |
| In-app purchases | None |
| The AI in it | No AI |
What's good
- No account, no data collected
- Teaches procedures and loops cleanly
- Cheap, one-time price
- Free Code Hour version
Watch for
- Last app update listed in 2016
- Recent App Store reviews say it will not load on the newest iOS
- Android links on the site lead to Play pages that no longer load
- Short; ends after 50 levels
Data and privacy
The app says it collects no personal information and calls itself COPPA compliant; the website uses Google Analytics. The developer has not given Apple privacy label details. Read the privacy policy.
Does it work?
A small peer-reviewed study of 40 six- and seven-year-olds compared a Lightbot-style game with a ScratchJr-style one and found similar results overall.
In the Big Index
- On the list 19 best coding games for kids
- On the list 18 best learning games for preschoolers
- On the list 23 best free sites for kids to learn coding
- Lightbot
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Where these facts come from
- https://lightbot.com/
- https://lightbot.com/privacypolicy.html
- https://apps.apple.com/us/app/lightbot-programming-puzzles/id657638474
- https://apps.apple.com/us/app/lightbot-code-hour/id873943739
- https://shura.shu.ac.uk/16235/
Prices, terms and features change. Nobody paid to be listed, nothing here is an affiliate link, and Peabody never rates itself. Where we and the maker disagree, the maker's own pages are the ones to trust.