# First Words Sampler — user reviews > 153 indexed App Store user reviews of First Words Sampler by Learning Touch LLC, rated 4.10/5 from 140 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/first-words-sampler/id312571156/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/first-words-sampler/id312571156.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 97 · 4★ 8 · 3★ 8 · 2★ 10 · 1★ 17 ## What do users think of First Words Sampler? Overall sentiment: positive **Pros** - 👍 Easy to use - 🚀 Engaging for young children - 💡 Helps with letter recognition and spelling - 🚀 Responsive and interactive - 👍 Good for language-delayed and special needs children **Cons** - 🐛 Occasional crashes or freezing - 💡 Needs more words/levels - 💡 Should use letter sounds instead of letter names - 💡 Needs more difficulty options - 💡 Lacks UK English option **Commonly reported bugs** - Crashes or freezes on some devices - Letters not responsive enough when trying to move them **Most requested features** - Add phonics-based learning - Increase word/level variety - Add difficulty settings - Provide UK English version ## Newest reviews (12 of 153) ### 2/5 — Good idea but… *2023-08-03* Good idea but the phonics side needs work, as you have all the letters as separate graphemes, when within the word they form a digraph. For example the word ‘blue’ should be spelled b-l-ue…3 sounds, with the ue working together to make the long oooh sound, whereas in your app it sounds it out as “uh-eh” which is obviously not how it should be sounded out when spelling. Another example I found when sampling was the ‘sh’ digraph being sounded out as two separate sounds when they work together as a digraph. I was playing with the UK phonics setting. ### 4/5 — Love it *2021-02-26* * New word: Frog * New option to control word difficulty * New option to control spelling speed * Improved interface makes it harder to accidentally skip a word * New home screen with Tell a Friend, Get More Games, Options, and Play * Removed holiday season word: Presents ### 2/5 — Early childhood educator: *2020-11-05* Missed opportunity: this will be a great app when you replace the letter names with proper letter sounds. For now I don’t recommend it but it has potential! **Developer response:** First Words supports phonics! From the home screen tap Options -> Language/Phonics and choose "English - U.S. Phonics". We agree that letter sounds (phonics) provide the best early literacy activity. ### 4/5 — Good but Delovper read 𝚙𝚕𝚜 *2020-02-17* My cousin was struggling to read his book so I downloaded this and it helped him but when he started again it did the same words in the same order please 😫🙏🙏💓can you fix 🔨🔧this. **Developer response:** Thank you for writing. There is a user setting that controls the word order. Go to Options => Game Options => Word Order and select "Random". That will ensure that the words appear in a different order each time your cousin plays the game. The game will still use the same list of words. If you want more words, you can purchase one of our paid apps such as First Words Deluxe or First Words Professional. ### 5/5 — Game *2018-09-02* This app is so cool l am 9 andml love it l play everyday l would rather play it than fort nite lol rock game lol ### 5/5 — Nota 10 *2017-03-10* Exelente, pode baixar sem medo ! ### 4/5 — Limited but nice *2016-12-23* I like that I can set it to french ### 4/5 — Great app! *2016-09-09* Cannot fault a thing about this app except the steep price of the deluxe version compared to most kids apps. In saying that my 2.5 yr old son really loves it, he is learning new words and feels so proud of himself for getting them right so it was a good purchase. ### 5/5 — Awesome for young minds *2016-04-06, version 7.0* Our 2 young boys ages 2 and 3 really enjoyed this program. They enjoyed playing with the letters and turning the into words.excellent program for young minds ### 5/5 — My 2 year old loves it!! *2015-12-22, version 4.4* It's fun and now my two year old can zip through his alphabet flashcards! Love this app!! ### 2/5 — Ok *2015-04-17, version 4.4* It's ok but I Want it in British english ### 3/5 — Wish it Made Letter Sounds *2015-01-30, version 4.4* This app is good on a lot of levels. It has a large variety of words and kids have fun dragging the letters to the right place. I just wish the letters made their sounds instead of just saying their names when the kids touch the letter. That would go a long way in helping to teach early reading skills. ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — The most Boring App I’ve Ever Seen *2025-08-12* The content is too little and dull; my child threw it away within 3 seconds. ### 1/5 — Worst app *2025-07-14* There is just a few words and I want the words tree cake wagon and frog to be added ### 1/5 — Glitch *2023-06-16* Liked the settings to use English phonics etc but as soon as we wanted to play, it just closed App. Disappointing. Have deleted it now. ### 1/5 — No challenge *2022-12-22* The game was fun at start than you realize they give you the answer even tho you turn hints “off.” ### 1/5 — Not good *2019-03-06* Does not use phonics. Uses letter names, so useless for teaching kids to read. **Developer response:** Phonics is available as a user-selectable option. From the Home screen tap Options, then select Language/Phonics and choose English - U.K. - Phonics. If this meets your expectations I hope you'll consider raising your rating. ### 1/5 — Sadly pretty terrible... *2017-02-20* Pretty terrible I'm afraid - it doesn't teach children to read because it uses the letter names, NOT the letter sounds, so it's not phonetic and therefore the child cannot link the sounds together to create a word. Sad **Developer response:** Actually, First Words Sampler DOES support phonics! Go to the Options screen, and select the Language option. You'll have the choice of US English or British English with either Phonics or Letter Names. We agree with you Phonics are key to learning how to read. ### 1/5 — Sorry... *2016-03-20* But not a very good app... Children do not learn the letter names until after they know the letter sounds confidently... This app may help with spellings but not with sounds... ### 1/5 — Rubbish doesn't use phonic sounds at all *2016-01-05, version 4.4* Confuses children ### 1/5 — Confusing for kids *2014-10-01* As said by others the letters are not pronounced the way children are taught in school when they learn to read. You are better off not teaching your child letters than doing it this way as they will be very confused at school ### 1/5 — Reads letter name not sound. *2013-10-19, version 4.4* Simple error with the design. They read out the letter name instead of the 'sound'. Please fix. ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — So good at learning *2025-12-29* ThisApp is so good at learning that I want to rate it five stars because of how good it is ### 5/5 — Excellent *2025-06-24* * New word: Car * New option to control word difficulty * New option to control spelling speed * Improved interface makes it harder to accidentally skip a word * New Home Screen with Tell a Friend, Get More Games, Options, and Play * Removed holiday season word: Presents ### 5/5 — I *2023-08-02* K ### 5/5 — Word game rate *2022-07-07* It is realy good for my 2 year old triplets wich are girls. ### 5/5 — Best combination of learning *2020-12-20* Awesome learning for my toddler, letters, phonics, spelling with picture help - all in one! ### 5/5 — Super great *2020-11-18* This game is to boring it is for babies. ### 5/5 — Cool *2020-08-11* This is good for my 5 year old cousin that only name how to spell hi ### 5/5 — Gus boi *2020-07-16, version 7.1.2* Me likely Funny ### 5/5 — ❤️❤️❤️ *2019-05-07, version 7.1* ❤️❤️❤️ ### 5/5 — Great *2019-03-23, version 4.4* Great app --- *Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-08-21.*