Shadow Puppet lets you assemble narrated slide shows and share them with anyone

Shadow Puppet is a free, universal iOS app that lets you select photos on your iDevice, put them in any order you like, then narrate the slide show while you highlight something in the photo with an animated icon, or zoom and move the photo.

When you are done, you can share your work via email, SMS, Twitter or Facebook. No player is required. The slideshow is created on a private web page, so it can be viewed on any device.

I tried the app and found it very easy to use. You have to create an account if you want to share your photos (note: your email info is not sold to third parties). After your slideshows are uploaded they are instantly available, and the audio and video play back smoothly and in reasonable quality.

I could see many uses for this app, demonstrating how to do something or sharing vacation pictures while on your trip. It's easy enough for a child to use, and the app is complete with no in-app purchases required. The only things I'd like to see are the ability to add a background music track, and text labels would be a helpful added feature. One thing to remember is that you need to be reasonably sharp when making a narration. Your narration can't be edited, so if you mess up, you'll need to re-record it.

Another similar free app I reviewed is PixnTell, which has a five-photo limit unless you upgrade via a US$1.99 in-app purchase. Another good app for narrating slideshows is SonicPics, which is $2.99.

Shadow Puppet is good at what it does; a price of "free" is a positive; and I think you'll enjoy using it. If you have a use for narrated slideshows, Shadow Puppet is worthy of your consideration.

Shadow Puppet requires iOS 6 or greater, and is optimized for the iPhone 5.