Pottle vs. Potty Time with Elmo: A Parent's Method vs. a Kid's Reward Game
By Pottle · · 4 min read
Potty Time with Elmo is a $2.99 app from Sesame Workshop: Elmo helps his toy, Baby David, learn to use the potty, through songs, games, and a sticker book. It’s built to hold a toddler’s attention, not to tell a parent what to do. Pottle is the opposite shape: it’s built for you, the parent, with a phase-by-phase method and a plan for when things go sideways. They’re not really aimed at the same person, so here’s an honest look at where each one fits.
The short version
Potty Time with Elmo is a one-time purchase your child plays: three games, five songs, a sticker reward book, and a simple progress chart with four steps (Go, Wipe, Flush, Wash). It reached No. 1 in Education in the App Store. Pottle is a subscription app you use: a readiness quiz, a guided phase method, progress tracking, and a Regression Protocol for when a trained child starts having accidents again. One motivates your child to want to go. The other tells you what to do at each stage of getting there.
What Potty Time with Elmo does well
The character draw is real. A toddler who already loves Elmo is more willing to sit through a bathroom-habits song than a lecture from you, and the sticker book gives a small, immediate reward loop that’s genuinely engaging for a 2 to 3 year old. At $2.99 with no subscription, it’s a low-cost way to make the idea of the potty feel familiar and fun before you start training in earnest.
If what you want is a way to get your child excited about the potty, this does that job well.
Where parents note friction
The most common complaint is that Elmo himself barely speaks in the app. Story narration is handled by a voice actress instead, and several parents note their child loses interest once they realize it’s not really Elmo’s voice carrying the story. Beyond that, it’s a game, not a plan: there’s no readiness assessment, no phase structure, and nothing that tells a parent what to actually do this week. The progress chart tracks four steps per bathroom trip, not the multi-week arc of training, so it doesn’t help once you’re a week in and things stall.
None of that makes it a bad app for what it is. It just isn’t trying to guide the parent, which is the job Pottle is built for.
How Pottle is different
Potty Time with Elmo and Pottle barely overlap, because they’re built for different people in the household:
- Built for the parent, not the child. Pottle’s phases — bare bottom, commando, undies, out-and-about, naps, nights — give you a plan to follow. Elmo’s app gives your child something to play.
- A real readiness read. Pottle’s quiz checks the signs that actually indicate readiness before you start. Elmo’s app assumes you’ve already decided to begin.
- A Regression Protocol. When a trained child starts having accidents again, Pottle walks you through the likely causes and what to do next. A song-and-sticker app has no answer for that moment.
- Ongoing tracking, not a single session’s chart. Pottle logs accidents, dry stretches, and progress over the whole arc of training. Elmo’s chart resets with each bathroom trip.
They can coexist. Some families use Elmo’s app as the fun, kid-facing warm-up, and Pottle as the parent’s plan running underneath it.
Who should choose which
Choose Potty Time with Elmo if your child already loves Elmo and you want a low-cost, low-pressure way to make bathroom habits feel familiar before you start training for real. It’s a $2.99 one-time purchase, so the bar is low.
Choose Pottle if you’re the one who needs a plan: a readiness read before you start, a phase-by-phase method while you’re in it, and real help if training stalls or a regression hits. It’s built for the parent holding this together, not the toddler being entertained.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Potty Time with Elmo app?
It's a $2.99 app from Sesame Workshop where Elmo helps his toy, Baby David, learn to use the potty. It includes three games, five songs, a sticker reward book, and a simple four-step progress chart (Go, Wipe, Flush, Wash). It reached No. 1 in Education in the App Store.
Does Potty Time with Elmo actually help with potty training?
It can help make the idea of the potty feel familiar and fun for a toddler who loves Elmo, through songs and a sticker reward loop. It doesn't include a readiness assessment, a training method, or help for regressions — it's aimed at the child, not at guiding the parent through training.
What's a good alternative to Potty Time with Elmo for parents who need a plan?
Pottle. It's built for the parent rather than the child: a readiness quiz, a phase-by-phase method, progress tracking, and a Regression Protocol for when accidents come back after training. The two can be used together — Elmo's app for your child's motivation, Pottle for your plan.
How Pottle helps
Pottle starts with a free readiness quiz, then walks you through each phase with daily check-ins that explain what’s normal and what to do next. If training stalls or a regression hits, the Regression Protocol asks a few root-cause questions and gives you a specific plan instead of a generic “every child is different.”
Potty Time with Elmo can make the potty feel like less of a big deal to your child. It won’t tell you what to do when the week-one wall hits, though, because that was never its job. If you’re the one who needs the plan, that’s what Pottle is for.