ShowMe Interactive Whiteboard
Common Sense says
Parents say
Kids say
Searching for streaming and purchasing options ...
Common Sense is a nonprofit organization. Your purchase helps us remain independent and ad-free.
Get it now on
Searching for streaming and purchasing options ...
A lot or a little?
The parents' guide to what's in this app.
What parents need to know
Parents need to know that ShowMe Interactive Whiteboard is a whiteboard app that anyone can use to create presentations using images, drawings, text, and audio voice-over recordings. There's a heavy focus on sharing work with the online community of users, but presentations can be kept private or shared with limited groups, if desired. Kids and teachers can use the app to create a ShowMe by writing and speaking their presentations (lessons and math problems, for example) in a step-by-step fashion and sharing them with others. ShowMes are categorized by topic, so users can explore other people's ShowMes to find unique lesson resources. Teachers can pay $4.99 for a monthly groups subscription to share ShowMes with a class. ShowMe Interactive Whiteboard is a collaborative tool for digital lesson-sharing that can work for parents, teachers, and kids. However, parents and teachers should take note of the significant privacy and safety concerns for younger users.
Wondering if ShowMe Interactive Whiteboard is OK for your kids?
Set preferences and get age-appropriate recommendations with Common Sense Media Plus. Join now
Stay up to date on new reviews.
User Reviews
- Parents say
- Kids say
Good, but not great
Who invented this?
What's it about?
Anyone can register for an account and select some interesting topics to follow. Tap "Create New ShowMe," and a blank creation page with a toolbar appears. From that point, you can add text, images, or drawings. By simply pressing the red record button you can narrate over the visual steps. When you're done, just press "Close" to save, and give your ShowMe a title. Press the play button to play or the cloud tab to label by topic and share. To view other users' ShowMes, tap "Explore" on the app's main page.
Is it any good?
ShowMe Interactive Whiteboard is a good tool for easily presenting and sharing step-by-step information through sound and images. Teachers are using this app with some great results, and kids and parents can use it, too. However, be aware of ShowMe's somewhat questionable privacy and safety issues for younger users. You can view Featured ShowMes on the developer's website and search by category or subcategory. From "Why Rivers Are Important" to "What Makes a Million," the audio/visual combination of a ShowMe can be quite engaging. It's a great way to share a lesson; kids can repeat it as many times as they want. One downside is that users can't create more than one page for a lesson. But the upside is that the app has many uses. Looking to give homework help to your kids? Parents who need to brush up on a topic can look for a brief ShowMe for review. Also, kids who want learn the process for solving a math problem can write it out and play it back to see if they're on track. If you're mindful of ShowMe's privacy and safety issues, it's a viable option as both a creation tool and a collaboration platform.
Talk to your kids about ...
Watch some of the public ShowMes to get a sense for how parents, kids, and teachers can use this resource.
Review ShowMe Interactive Whiteboard's community guidelines with kids to make sure they understand how to honor the collaborative community with appropriate content and feedback.
App details
- Device: iPad
- Subjects: Language & Reading: presenting to others, speaking
- Skills: Thinking & Reasoning: decision-making
Creativity: making new creations, producing new content
Self-Direction: academic development, self-assessment, self-reflection
Communication: multiple forms of expression
Collaboration: cooperation
Responsibility & Ethics: following codes of conduct, honoring the community
Tech Skills: digital creation - Price: Free to try
- Pricing structure: Free to try ($5.99/month)
- Release date: April 17, 2013
- Category: Education
- Size: 64.90 MB
- Version: 8.5.6
- Minimum software requirements: iOS 9.0 or later
- Last updated: June 22, 2019
For kids who love learning and sharing
Our editors recommend
Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.