Nanaba

What we love about Nanaba

In an education system that has been marked by lockdowns, self-isolation and remote learning the prevalence of digital technologies in learning and teaching has come to the for. Screen time has been an integral part of our lives for some time now, and the last two years have only served to make this more apparent. As such, children can no longer reasonably be prohibited from using their smartphones and tablets. In this grey area, Nanaba offers an alternative to make better, more effective use of the time spent in front of the screens. Nanaba allows parents to block or pause for a few minutes, and on a recurring basis, those applications commonly used by children, for example Instagram, TikTok, Youtube, Fortnite, among others. The trick to unblocking them? Complete the educational quizzes on offer. During this ‘break’ from social media and gaming platforms, your child must answer an educational-based quizzes and/or questions, devised by national education teachers and based on the French National Curriculum.

Admittedly, there is a plethora of applications that this form of academic quizzing and to see progress tracked and reported to parents – some apps will arguably do it more effectively. However, these apps often fall down on the fact that to be most efficient they require high levels self-motivation and self-management on the part of the student. Engagement is often good to begin with, but then peters off over time. The approach by Nanaba is novel in how it address this issue: simply put, with Nanaba, children need to spend some focussed time in study before they can play.

From initial sign-up, the parent creates an account or logs in to an existing one, and purchases the content on a monthly subscription that suits their child(ren)’s needs. Subsequently, the parent creates a profile for their children and assigns the relevant curriculum, content and/or topics. Nanaba is a very well-presented app that is clear and effective in what it sets out to do, as it guides learners through the French curriculum up until Brevet – divided into sub-topics of French, Maths, and English. 5 Within these sub-topics, the quizzes, which can appear as a fifteen-question multiple choice series or as a three-question, against-the-clock ‘quick quiz’ have reportedly been devised and created by teachers with direct experience of the National Curriculum in France.

The standout feature of the Nanaba app is that it is completely customisable to the user. The parent can choose everything from the number of questions in the quiz, which apps are blocked until the child has answered their questions, to the recurrence of the quiz. All the aforementioned aims to realign your child’s approach to digital technologies. Unquestionably, social media and gaming are firmly cemented in our society, especially with certain generations, Nanaba accepts this but brings in the idea of encouraging “une pause de revision”. Potentially, doing away with the parent-child battles over screen time, leaving both parties feeling appeased.

Is Nanaba easy to use?

Nanaba is neatly and attractively presented and is easy to navigate to the various sections, be it parent / pupil platforms. Parents will initially sign in to the app and purchase the relevant subscription(s) for their child(ren)’s needs. Once activated they can add their children and assign the content suitable to their needs. Students, then, choose their sub-topic answer the quick quiz or detailed quiz questions that they wish to watch / their child to watch. Users will see that both the apps and website are intuitive and very easy-to-navigate.

What Nanaba can improve on

There are some minor areas for improvement as the visual elements are of very good quality and app navigation is mostly effective and intuitive, in my opinion. I did initially find it quite challenging to navigate from the parent section straight to the pupil area, where they could answer questions. I finally realised that the link to do so was via setting (3-line ellipsis) and the padlock icon with a switch arrow. The only content errors that I could find were to do with missing parts of some questions – namely in the translation elements of the English section – there would be questions to be translated and the audio would not be included or the text to be translated would not be visible; however, such errors are quite rare.

How much does the app cost?

Nanaba is available free on the App and Play Stores, as well as Huawei App Gallery. It also has a dedicated website, with in-App purchases on annual subscription ranging from €36.00 per primary curriculum module (currently €11.99), €72.00 per secondary curriculum module (currently €23.99), and €108.00 (currently €23.99), for the family bundle. The in-app purchases pertain to unlocking content. 

Is Nanaba safe to use?

Yes, Nanaba is extremely safe to use, with it being ad-free and options to amend settings, enable content, and make in-app purchases having basic parental controls. The fact that the app allows locking over social media platforms to restrict unlimited access, without the need to disclose log-in information to those apps in a real unique selling point. It aims to refocus how screen time in managed, advocating that it can be positive if used sensibly and efficiently.

Overall rating of the app

In conclusion, I have happily given Nanaba a rating of 5-stars, according to Educational App Store ranking system. It effectively coincides with English, French, and Maths elements from the French National Curriculum. It is not designed as an instructional app, rather us quizzing to let you and you children see their knowledge and progress as they progress through the French school system. The fact that it runs over popular digital apps, allowing parents to track and control their children’s screen time is an ingenious way to better educate children on how to prudently navigate these platforms. Nanaba has taken steps which allow parents to transform screens, often considered enemies, into educational allies. Chapeau, Nanaba!

You can download Nanaba on your iOS or Android devices from the app stores. Download the Nanaba app from the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store.