Have you heard the news? Scratch 3.0 is here!

Both the online version and the downloadable offline editor for the newest version of Scratch were released on 2 January 2019. With the release of Scratch 3.0, however, a number of people are wondering what kinds of cards the latest version will bring to the table.

 

What does Scratch 3.0 mean for us?

Here are some of the changes with Scratch 3.0:

 

Fully functional on tablets (and phones… sort of)!

Yes, that’s right! Scratch 3.0 no longer uses Flash, devices such as tablets and phones will now be able to view and create Scratch projects via browsers!

While this is huge for tablet users, phone users might be a tad bit more disappointed. Although you can definitely now create Scratch projects with a mobile device, the interface isn’t so friendly to such small screens!

Scratch will be fully functional on tablets (and phones — sort of!)

 

New features, new hardware

The release sees a bunch of new characters, backdrops and sounds in the relevant libraries. 

Scratch 3.0 also comes will a bunch of cool new extensions, such as the:

  • Google Translation extension, which allows you to translate words into other languages.
    • This is made all the more exciting by Scratch’s new text-to-speech functionality, which allows characters to speak words instead of just speech bubbles!
  • micro:bit extension, which will allow students to use micro:bit in conjunction with Scratch (via Bluetooth only!)
  • Lego Mindstorm and Lego WeDo extensions, to increase Scratch’s Lego capabilities (also via Bluetooth only)

Move over Makey Makey, you’re no longer the only physical device in this house anymore!

 

The new Google Translate module in Scratch 3.0!

 

Speaking of Makey Makey, Scratch 3.0 saw to an update in input blocks for Makey Makey: there are now special input blocks specifically for them! You can check out these blocks by going to Add Extension in the bottom left corner of the screen > Makey Makey.

 

R.I.P Internet Explorer (and other honourable mentions)

As Scratch moves towards the future, it leaves things behind as well. Scratch 3.0 will no longer work on Internet Explorer, so if you use IE, it may be time to move on to a new browser.

PicoBoard and LEGO WeDo 1.0 will also no longer be supported. If you were planning on using either of these two hardware sets with Scratch 3.0, you may want to consider alternative options.

 

Internet Explorer will no longer be supported in Scratch 3.0…

Hang on a minute! What about…

 

Using old versions of Scratch?

If you still prefer using the older versions of Scratch, have no fear! Scratch offers downloads of offline editors for all previous versions of Scratch. So if you prefer the Scratch 2.0 offline editor (or even the 1.4 offline editor), you can go on over to the Offline Editor download page here and scroll down to the bottom!

 

Breathe easy — older versions of the offline editor are still available for download!

 

Further reading

If you’re interested in reading more about what Scratch 3.0 means for you, here are a few links that you can check out for further reading:

 

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