Is the Theo app the bedtime game-changer Christian families need?

There’s a Christian children’s app on the market and it’s been making huge waves! First published in April 2025, it’s attracted between half to a million downloads, been given 3,370 5-star reviews and received over $100k (USD) income last month alone. So, what is so great about this app and why do we need another Christian app for children? My eight-year-old and I took a deep dive to answer these questions and a few more.

What’s different about this app?

As I can see there are two things about this app that make it different from all the other amazing Christian kids’ apps in the App Stores.

First of all, the primary focus of the Theo app is to help you establish a bedtime routine that’s calm and prayerful. It’s audio and video based with a daily reading of scripture which you can follow up with a Bible story, an audio ‘affirmation’, an audio ‘meditation’ and/or a prayer. There’s also a joke of the day, performed by the donkey character called Theodore and a few other unique features too (see below).

this is the only children’s app I’ve found that has content that offers you a theological choice

Secondly, this Theo app tailors its content according to your theological preferences. In fact, this is the only children’s app I’ve found that has content that offers you a theological choice.

The creators of Theo are a couple called Francisco and Daniela Cornejo, from western Florida. They were motivated to create this app because no other children’s Christians app accommodated both her beliefs as a Catholic and her husband’s beliefs as a non-denominational Christian. So, if that’s your family, then this app might be just what you’re looking for!

How does it work?

When you first download the app, you create an account (personally, I don’t like creating accounts and handing over personal information before I’ve had the chance to explore an app but there you go). Then you can choose to curate the content according to your own faith tradition. You can choose from Catholic, Protestant/Evangelical, Non-denominational/Independent, Orthodox (Eastern / Oriental) or ‘Other’.

This is probably the most outstandingly professional app I’ve found in the Christian children’s app category

You can also choose to hide specific content if you want. For example, when I selected ‘Protestant/evangelical’ I still came across two prayers that were prayed to ‘my guardian angel’ (rather than to God or Jesus) so I could choose to hide them.

When I selected Catholic, I was offered such content as a ‘daily rosary’ and a ‘novena to the sacred heart of Jesus’. When I selected non-denominational, orthodox or ‘other’, the Catholic content was mostly gone and I was offered a variety of Bible stories, audio stories and some videos including some really beautiful reflections based on works of classical art such as Narcissus by Caravaggio, The Creation of Adam by Michelangelo and others. I thought these were really special.

Is it well made?

This is probably the most outstandingly professional app I’ve found in the Christian children’s app category. It’s so well thought through, easy to use, smooth and clever. It incorporates lots of features to help retain your commitment, such as a ‘daily streak’ flame and alarm to encourage daily use.

Read more:

Your kids will love this Bible adventure from Superbook

The Bible App for Kids is a great addition to a Christian family’s library of resources

The Serpent and The Seed: An online game that is a beautiful, generous gift to the world

Is it safe?

The App Store and Google Play Store have really tight regulations when it comes to apps in the kids category and as a parent, it’s really important you pay attention to the age rating of every app you allow your kids to engage with. This has a rating of 4+ which means there’s no way your child can access the internet or chat with strangers or be exposed to ‘objectionable’ content. Theo is not targeted directly to children - it’s up to the adult to create the account and to use this app as a tool in their family life. This isn’t really the kind of app to download and hand to your child - it’s to use together. So yes, it’s safe.

Is it free?

No, it’s not free. Some of the content is free so you can take a look around and see if you like it. But for the full experience, it’s a subscription-based model. Subscription charges are currently set at £14.99 for a month or £59.99 for a year but this could change so you’d have to check your region for the most up-to-date prices.

I adore the music and would love to play them as my child falls asleep each evening

Any other special features?

While this describes itself as a prayer and meditation app to aid bedtime routines, it also has a selection of videos. The creators must be friends with Minno (the Christian kids’ streaming app) as there’s a fair amount of Minno original content such as the animation series ’Young David’ and videos from the ‘Laugh and Grow Bible’. They also feature some of the Lego videos from GoChatter studios; it was nice to hear an English accent. You can choose favourites as well as hide your least favourite.

Best of all, there’s a wide selection of music. You can listen to Gregorian chants, white noise, worship, music for brain development, relaxing music and deep sleep music. The ‘Theo original’ songs are particularly well written and lovely, including a song for each day of Holy week.

Do I Like It?

I respect what it’s about and it’s obviously doing a really good job - especially in the USA - but it’s probably not something our family needs or will use. I prefer less screens at bedtime so will always choose a book over an audio story and there are other Christian apps I feel more comfortable using as part of our family’s faith formation. Having said that, I adore the music and would love to play them as my child falls asleep each evening.

What did the 8-year-old say?

She liked choosing an emoji reaction to Theodore the Donkey’s joke of the day! And since she’s learning a lot in school about wellbeing, she liked the idea of Christian meditations but wasn’t particularly engaged with the app. Her favourite Christian apps are more interactive such as Greatest Journey, The Journey of Grace and the SunScool app. This one is very video and audio based, which makes sense as it’s a calming bedtime app for parents to use as part of their family bedtime routine. It would have to be me leading the way, if we were to use this at bedtime.

Considering that over 3,370 other parents love this app - some even say it’s transformed their bedtimes - there are zero reviews of this app in the Google Play Store that are from the UK, which is a shame as it obviously meets a need. So how about being the first?