Parents' Guide to Dollify

The app's instructions aren't too detailed, but kids should be able to figure out the logistics involved in the avatar creation process fairly quickly. With Dollify, they essentially choose a female or male character, then customize its skin and eye color, eyelashes, eyebrows, hair style and color, outfit, and mouth shape. They can choose a background from the ones the app offers or upload an image to appear behind their avatar. They can also add glasses, a beauty mark, jewelry, freckles, and things like a flowered headband, cat ears, or hearts that appear to be floating around the avatar's head. It's worth noting that characters do have the tendency to be exaggerated, large eyed figures that aren't remotely realistic by any stretch of the imagination.

The app doesn't offer an unlimited amount of customizable features -- kids have a number of options for some aspects, such as the avatar's hair color and style, but there are only five freckle patterns, for example, to choose from. Other elements, like the app's outerwear options, include noticeably more premium options than free selections. Generally, though, the app doesn't really provide a ton of premium items -- not enough to justify paying $6.99 to access them. More free and paid options may be added in the future -- but as of now, the current customization choices aren't really enough to encourage kids to make dozens of avatars. They may enjoy creating a few versions of themselves and friends and family members, but they should be able to find plenty of free elements on Dollify they can use.