# Montessorium: Intro to Letters — English ABC’s with Montessori

> Montessori-based English ABC app for tracing, reading, and writing letters. (iPhone/iPad app by Higher Ground Education Inc.)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/montessorium-intro-to-letters/id387232375 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [Higher Ground Education Inc](https://appshunter.io/developer/1454529841)
- Category: Education, Games
- Price: Free
- Rating: 3.72/5 from 25 App Store ratings · 97 written reviews indexed
- Age rating: 4+
- Requires: iOS 8.0 · 40 MB
- Languages: Arabic, Basque, Bulgarian, Catalan, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian and 35 more
- Released: 2010-08-21
- Data updated: 2026-06-10
- Monetization: paid
- User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/montessorium-intro-to-letters/id387232375/reviews.md

## What is Montessorium?

Intro to Letters will help your child learn to trace, read, write, and record letter sounds, names, and phonograms in English! Based on the proven methodology of Montessori.

"Minimalist yet engaging, the sleekly designed app makes self-directed learning what it should be: Fun, simple, yet effective." - Maria Popova

—— 

YOUR CHILD WILL LEARN: 

• Basic foundations of language 
• To read, write and understand English letters from A-Z 
• Lowercase letter symbols and their sounds (phonics) 
• Capital letters - letter names, writing and pronunciation 
• Phonograms - writing and pronunciation 
• Consonants and vowels 
• Fine motor skills 

Intro to Letters includes the following activities: 

• LETTER SOUNDS (Lowercase Letters) 
The first activity places an emphasis on phonetics instead of letter sounds. Your child will learn the sounds of the letters through a series of guided, interactive exercises.

• PHONOGRAMS 
Similar to the letter sounds, your child will work through the sounds of phonograms and unite them with their symbols.

• FLASHCARDS 
Connect the sounds of the lowercase letters with their uppercase counterparts.

• LETTER NAMES (Capital Letters) 
The objective of this activity is to acquire a knowledge of the names and symbols of the capital letters. 

• SOUNDCARDS 
A special recording section to help your child learn sounds, phonograms and names. 

• PRACTICE MODE 
- This section allows kids to practice specific letters or phonograms. A new toggle feature allows the user to isolate their tracing paths.

• ADDITIONAL FEATURES:

Recording Studio: Adults can record their own pronunciations of letter sounds and names to use throughout the app so children learn from a voice they love. Follow the instructions in the Parent Portal to get started. 

Integrated Kids Library: Swiping the home screen will reveal all Montessorium apps on the user’s device. Tap an app icon to switch to a different activity.
 
Integrated Parent Portal: We’ve added several tools to help adults access information.  With “Journal”, adults can stay up to date with Montessorium news and read posts on education, design, and technology. 
  
Intro to Letters is a universal app for use on the iPad and iPhone. Please note, the Recording Studio functionality will not work on the iPod Touch.

—— 
 
Concept and design by Montessorium. Development of Intro to Letters 3.0 by Ymedia Labs. 


 
We would love to hear from you. 


Find us on Twitter & Facebook! 

http://twitter.com/montessorium
http://facebook.com/montessorium

## Key features

- Learn letter sounds and phonics
- Practice tracing and writing letters
- Identify uppercase and lowercase letters
- Record custom pronunciations
- Develop fine motor skills
- Integrated kids library

## What do users think of Montessorium?

Overall sentiment: mixed

**Pros**

- ✨ Beautiful design and interface
- 🧠 Good for learning letters and phonics
- 🗣️ Clear voiceovers and audio feedback
- 👍 Simple and non-distracting
- 💡 Recording feature is great
- 📚 Complements Montessori learning
- 🌍 Multilingual support (English, French)
- 🎨 Clean and focused design
- 💯 High-quality app
- 🌟 Engaging for young children
- 🚀 Smooth tracing experience (for some)
- 👍 Good for recognizing letters
- 💡 Option to record own voice

**Cons**

- 🤏 Touch sensitivity issues
- ❌ Incorrect letter sounds (phonics)
- ✍️ Tracing is too strict/finicky
- ❓ Lack of clear instructions
- 📉 Unresponsive or delayed tracing
- 💰 Overpriced for features
- 🚫 No cursive option
- 😵 Confusing for young children
- 🐌 Slow to reset after mistakes
- 🎛️ Clunky and restrictive use
- 😴 Boring and dry content
- 🎚️ Volume levels unbalanced
- 🤷 Inconsistent letter formation
- 🚫 Mandatory background app refresh
- ❌ Poorly chosen letter shapes
- 🤔 Bizarre menu
- 🔠 Not alphabetical in random selection
- 👎 Not ideal for left-handed kids
- 🎛️ Control for recording could be streamlined
- 🎚️ Tracing sounds can be overbearing
- 😵 Frustrating for children
- 🤷 Inconsistent tracing recognition
- ❌ Poorly executed
- 🤔 Not intuitive
- ❌ No encouragement or rewards

**Commonly reported bugs**

- Touch sensitivity issues
- Letter sounds incorrect
- Tracing is too strict/finicky
- App crashes
- Sound only worked for 2 mins
- Mandatory background app refresh
- Tracing doesn't work
- Software is unstable
- Tracing hangs at edges of letters
- App does not recognize correct tracing
- Voice over feature not working
- Tracing algorithm is bad
- Volume set to max and doesn't turn down
- Recording game needs work
- Instructions are written, not spoken
- Phonetic sounds are a whisper compared to tracing sound
- Tracing facility is very poor
- Tracing function needs to ignore extra touches
- App is almost completely unresponsive and achingly slow
- Tracing can be unresponsive or delayed
- Letter formation for 'y' is incorrect
- Letter 't' has a tail
- Lowercase 'q' drawing activity has issues
- Letter pairs have incorrect associations
- No 'complete my bundle' support
- Background app refresh is mandatory
- Tracing requires strokes to be pushed past the end

**Most requested features**

- Support for left-handed children
- Option to shut off 'pencil' sound effect
- Option to practice letters in sequence without returning to main menu
- Support for iPhone 5
- Sounding letters when tapped in upper/lower case transition
- Ability to add child's name to learn/recognize
- Option for cursive writing
- More advanced activities like word building
- User-controlled tracing instruction level
- More engaging content
- Option to select specific letters or pre-determine words
- Include both letter names and phonics
- Improve recording feature controls
- Add dark mode option
- Include Spanish version

## Recent user reviews (10 of 97)

All indexed reviews: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/montessorium-intro-to-letters/id387232375/reviews.md

### 3/5 — I want to love these apps...

*2023-05-27*

It would be a 5 star review if the touch wasn’t quite so finicky!! I love the content of the apps, but I’m scared to download it for my students because I can see them getting easily frustrated.

### 1/5 — Letter Sounds Incorrect

*2022-03-12*

I gave this app a 1 star because the letter sounds are not being said correctly. The sound for g is not /ga/ it’s /g/ you should not add an a on the end of the sounds. 
This app would be perfect otherwise and the other apps from this company are great! Bummed I can’t recommend this app to my students families.

### 2/5 — Not accurate

*2021-10-08*

I tried this app out to suggest to parents at home, but I got as far as the sounds of the letters and was sorely disappointed. The sounds of consonants should not have vowels attached; that makes it hard for children to move from writing to reading. It’s not “buh”, “cuh” and “duh” but just the one SOUND. Disappointed that I can’t recommend this…

### 2/5 — Needs more testing

*2020-07-30*

Mandatory background app refresh - foolish. 
Preschool fingers have to be exact or app won’t let kid move on to next letter.

### 4/5 — Something weird happend on the lowercase q in the drawing activity

*2020-05-22*

Well the circle was out of the q then weirdly the dot was going fast up the q and I’m like BTW how did that dot do that?!?! that’s weird

### 3/5 — Very good for working in letters.  Sounds are not technically correct

*2020-03-18*

Drawing letters is pretty good, but has some minor issues it you don’t complete the line fully. 

Sounds such as ‘g’ add an ‘uh’ sound which is incorrect.  Many people teach letters this way, but it makes it harder to teach correct spelling later.

### 5/5 — Love it!

*2020-03-17, version 3.1.1*

I agree that the tracing could be a little smoother, but the concepts and layout are clear and useful. It is so helpful for recognizing letters and pairing them with sounds.

### 1/5 — Hardly works, poor choice for learning

*2020-03-14*

Too many issues

### 1/5 — Instructions?

*2019-01-08*

There are no visable instructions here. Did I miss something? How does a child use this?

### 1/5 — Useless

*2018-05-30, version 3.1.1*

Sound only worked for 2mins, crashed and cannot get it to work properly now. Would be beneficial to include the actual alphabet as well as phonics, confusing as heck for a small child. Enormous waste of $7 considering the app was only useable for 2 minutes 😒

## Frequently asked questions about Montessorium

### What does Montessorium: Intro to Letters do?

This app helps children learn the English alphabet, including tracing, reading, writing, and recording letter sounds and names. It is based on the Montessori methodology to provide a fun, simple, and effective learning experience for foundational language skills.

### What are the key learning activities in this app?

The app includes activities for learning letter sounds (phonetics), phonograms, flashcards to connect sounds and symbols, learning capital letter names, a recording studio for custom pronunciations, and a practice mode for specific letters or phonograms.

### How much does Montessorium: Intro to Letters cost?

The provided information indicates that this is a paid application. There are no mentions of in-app purchases or advertisements, suggesting a one-time purchase model.

### What devices is Montessorium: Intro to Letters compatible with?

This is a universal app designed for use on both iPad and iPhone. However, the Recording Studio functionality is noted as not working on the iPod Touch.

### How does the app help with fine motor skills?

The app incorporates tracing activities for letters and phonograms, which directly helps children develop and refine their fine motor skills. The practice mode also allows for focused tracing paths.

## Version history (last 5 releases)

### 3.1.1 — 2018-04-12

This app has been updated by Apple to display the Apple Watch app icon.

Updated for iPhoneX.

### 3.1 — 2017-11-17

Updated for iOS 11.

### 3.0.1 — 2017-06-06

Bug fixes and new icon!

### 3.0 — 2017-05-25

Introduce the English alphabet to your child, letters A-Z!

### 2.5.2 — 2017-02-26

Bug fixes.

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## More apps by Higher Ground Education Inc

- [Montessorium: Intro to Math](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/montessorium-intro-to-math/id381064973)
- [Montessorium: Intro to Words](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/montessorium-intro-to-words/id394038232)
- [Montessorium: Intro to Colors](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/montessorium-intro-to-colors/id630682398)
- [Montessorium: Intro to Cursive](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/montessorium-intro-to-cursive/id687552892)
- [Montessorium: Intro to US](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/montessorium-intro-to-us/id999666267)

All apps by Higher Ground Education Inc: https://appshunter.io/developer/1454529841

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*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 2026-06-10.*