Kribbelbauch explains ten feelings to children with ten characters

Anger, fear, pride and seven more feelings to look at, listen to and join in with, with no ads, and it works offline

Neukirchen, 20 November 2026. Appolution releases Kribbelbauch, a free app for preschool children. Ten characters stand for ten feelings, explain them in their own voices and show a small exercise. The app runs on iPhone and iPad and works without an internet connection.

Children have big feelings but often no words for them yet. Kribbelbauch gives each feeling a face: Rumbly is anger, Teary is sadness, Shivvy is fear, Strutty is pride. On the start screen the child taps a feeling, and its character appears.

Behind the ear button the character explains its feeling and acts out what it says: Rumbly grows bigger when the anger gets hot, clenches its fists and stamps. Behind the arrow waits an exercise in three steps, for example three deep breaths until Rumbly is green again, hugging yourself with Cuddly, or feeling your feet on the floor with Shivvy. The explanation and the exercise are read aloud, so children who cannot read yet can join in. At the end there is confetti.

The characters are drawn in code and move freely: they breathe, blink, follow a finger with their eyes and wobble when the device is tilted. Children choose between four looks (soft, paper, crayon and clay), and the app icon changes to match.

Kribbelbauch shows no ads, needs no account and no internet connection, and collects no data. Help, feedback and rating sit in the "For parents" area, behind a quick multiplication question. VoiceOver reads each character with its mood, and with Reduce Motion the color and face still change while hops and confetti are left out. The app is a game for exploring and talking about feelings, not therapy and not a diagnosis.

"Our son often knew exactly how anger feels, but not what it is called. We wanted every feeling to get a friendly face, and something to do afterwards: breathe, hug, stand tall. A feeling is never wrong.," says Johannes Albers, co-founder of Appolution.

Kribbelbauch comes to the App Store on 20 November 2026, for iPhone and iPad, iOS 26 or later. The app is free and has no in-app purchases. Available in English, German, French, Dutch, Spanish, Italian, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish and Portuguese, with voices of their own for every character in each language.

Press materials, screenshots, video and the one-page fact sheet: https://www.appolution.de/apps/kribbelbauch/press/

About Appolution. Appolution is an independent iOS studio in Neukirchen, Germany, co-founded by Johannes Albers. The studio makes iPhone and iPad apps that get to the point. They include WunschIt, a wish list with price history, and Kribbelbauch, an app that explains feelings to children. The apps carry no advertising and no ad tracking. appolution.de

Press contact: Johannes Albers · hello@appolution.de · appolution.de
