# Phonics Ninja > Interactive game for learning phonics, blends, and digraphs through slicing. (iPhone/iPad app by Innovative Investments Limited.) - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/phonics-ninja/id1156244787 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`) - Developer: [Innovative Investments Limited](https://appshunter.io/developer/414603477) - Category: Education, Games, Family - Price: $0.99 - Rating: 3.50/5 from 41 App Store ratings · 63 written reviews indexed - Age rating: 4+ - Requires: iOS 8.0 · 23 MB - Languages: American English - Released: 2016-09-23 - Data updated: 2026-08-31 - Monetization: free - User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/phonics-ninja/id1156244787/reviews.md ## What is Phonics Ninja? "Thank you for listening to our feedback and finally launching a phonics ninja app with blends and digraphs!" - Sonja, SLP and mom of four lovely kids. I have a confession to make. My son's favorite game was Fruit Ninja and I was getting increasingly frustrated with having my son waste a lot of time on a fun but mindless game while he was still struggling to master his phonics and learning to read. So I decided to create our very own phonics slicing game and to my and my son's delight, he now has a new favorite game where he is having fun and learning at the same time. My sons skills in recognizing letters, blends and digraphs have dramatically improved since he started playing phonics ninja and now I no longer have to feel guilty when I need a five minute break to take care of the laundry or prepare lunch for the kids. I know that they are having fun and that they are learning at the same time. Warning: Your child will keep begging for your iPhone or iPad after they try this app. Phonics Ninja is an exciting educational game that helps kids rapidly learn letter sounds, blends, and digraphs by sight, sound, and touch. The interface is so easy to use that even a 9 month old baby will delight in using this app. FEATURES: • Slice your way through all lowercase letters by sound • Slice your way through all phonic blends including bl, br, cl, cr, dr, fl, fr, gl, gr, pl, pr, sc, sk, sl, sm, sn, sp, st, sw & tr • Slice your way through all phonic digraphs including ch, ck, gh, gn, kn, ng, ph, qu, sh, th, wh, wr & tch (trigraph) • You decide what to focus on - turn individual categories ON or OFF from the settings page. Just press on the ON / OFF button. You can also turn individual letter and phonic sounds ON and OFF within each category. • Learn by sight, sound, and touch • Fun game play, sounds, and animations keep kids engaged • Dynamic game play adjusts difficulty (the number of sight words) automatically based on player skills to keep kids both challenged and entertained vs. getting bored • Supports 3 difficulty settings: EASY, MEDIUM, or HARD EASY MODE: - Max 1 phonic sound - letters move very slowly - Great for introducing phonic sounds one at a time MEDIUM MODE: - Starts with 1 phonic sound - Max of 3 phonic sounds on screen - Letters move 30% faster HARD MODE: - Starts with 2 phonic sounds - Max of 5 phonics on screen - Phonic letters move even faster - Letters rotate faster too Adjust difficulty from settings page. • Wrong answers do not interfere with gameplay, the child can immediately try again and slice the correct answer (most other games are too slow to keep kids interested by interrupting the gameplay and slowly repeating the desired question) • Play Phonics Ninja from A to Z or in random order (adjustable from settings page) • Multi-sensory learning tool - combining audio, voice, and touch • Want to work on just a few phonic sounds? No problem… head to the settings page to turn entire categories or individual phonic sounds on and off • Want to record your own audios? No problem. Just click on the category and record your own sounds for each item • Supports three levels of difficulty HEROIC SUPPORT Heroic Support is not just what we do. It's really what makes us, well, us. It's that drive to make a difference in your life - no matter how big or small. Really, it's our way of life because we want you to be our customer for a lifetime of fun and learning. Have questions? We are here to help. Email us at support@grasshopperapps.com ## Key features - Slice lowercase letters by sound - Slice phonic blends - Slice phonic digraphs - Customizable sound categories - Adjustable difficulty levels - Multi-sensory learning ## What do users think of Phonics Ninja? Overall sentiment: mixed **Pros** - 👍 Fun and engaging for kids - 💡 Great for learning phonics - 🚀 Helps with spelling tests - ✨ Customizable lists for practice - 🎯 Good for sight word practice - 💯 Effective for beginners - 🌟 Makes learning fun - 📚 Useful for literacy centers - 🎯 Good for drilling - 🎉 Kids love it - 💡 Great for auditory discrimination - 🚀 Helps with fluency - 🌈 Colorful and fast-paced - ✅ Positive feedback loop - 💡 Errorless learning approach - 🥳 Kids have a blast - 🚀 Great for RTI students - 💡 Good for combining sounds/letters - 🎯 Targets fluency in sound-letter associations - 🥳 Fun way to review sounds - 💡 Focuses on sounds for beginning readers - 🚀 Makes drill work fun - 💡 Increases phonemic awareness - 🎯 Great for practicing blends and digraphs - ✅ Sounds are mostly spot on - 💡 Customizable settings for learning - 🚀 Motivating for reading students - 💯 Great for special needs students - 💡 Good for introducing phonics - 👍 Easy to use - ✅ Good for warm-ups - 💡 Great twist on a favorite game - 💯 Great job! **Cons** - 🐛 Sound not working - ❌ No sound at all - 🐛 Sounds not clipped correctly - 🐛 Incorrect pronunciation of blends - 🐛 "uh" sound added to consonant sounds - 🐛 "q" pronounced as "kw" - 🐛 Some syllables odd - 🐛 Pace too much for some children - 🐛 No penalty for random guesses - 🐛 App gives no direction/introductory lesson - 🐛 Many sounds not articulated accurately/clearly - 🐛 Not enough feedback - 🐛 Some errors in digraph pronunciation - 🐛 Vowel sound added to end of phonemes - 🐛 "fl" sounds like "fla" - 🐛 "p" sounds like "pa" - 🐛 Incorrect markings on some sounds - 🐛 Some blends pronounced with short "a" sound at the end - 🐛 Needs more features like combining sounds - 🐛 Could use specific words for articulation - 🐛 Not perfectly accurate - 🐛 Some blends pronounced with an added vowel sound **Commonly reported bugs** - Sounds are not working - No sound at all - Some sounds are not clipped - Incorrect pronunciation of blends - Incorrect pronunciation of digraphs - Incorrect pronunciation of "q" - Added "uh" sound to consonant sounds - Added vowel sound to end of phonemes - Incorrect markings on some sounds - Some blends pronounced with short "a" sound at the end **Most requested features** - Make it more similar to Fruit Ninja with a penalty for errors - Add more features like combining sounds to create words - Include specific words that target articulation sounds - Fix how letters are presented (e.g., only 'c' or 'k' for /k/ sound) - Count both letters correct if presented together - Add dark mode option - Improve pronunciation of blends - Remove the added "uh" sound after consonant sounds - Fix pronunciation of "q" - Allow shutting down all in each category for beginners - Add more levels or content ## Recent user reviews (10 of 63) All indexed reviews: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/phonics-ninja/id1156244787/reviews.md ### 1/5 — Sounds aren’t working *2025-03-29* The sounds are not working. There are absolutely zero sounds upon opening the app, and playing the game. That makes this app useless. VERY dissatisfied. ### 2/5 — Sounds aren’t working *2025-01-29* The sounds are not working ### 1/5 — Sound not working *2023-09-04* Why isn’t the sound working for phonic or abc ninja? ### 2/5 — Sounds are not clipped! *2022-11-12* Some sounds are pronounced correctly but many…especially the blends are not clipped. BL is not pronounced /bluh/. It should be just /bl/. I won’t be using this or recommending it until this is changed. ### 2/5 — Not enough feedback *2022-06-26* My students enjoy this game but there is no penalty for random guesses please make it more similar to Fruit Ninja … only allow a few errors before game over. We have to teach them to recognize accurate connections of sound/symbol relationships, not random guessing! ### 5/5 — Great app! *2020-12-04* It helps me very much with my spelling tests and it’s a fun way to help kids like me with spelling. big five stars! thank you for making this app and make more apps like this one. thank you for reading and bye ### 4/5 — It is engaging but there are issues *2020-08-13* When the app asks for the /k/ sound it throws up both the c and the k. The k is right but the c is wrong. Either fix how you throw the letters up and only have the 1 letter or count both letters correct. I am sure this is true for some of the sounds for vowels. ### 1/5 — There’s no point to this game *2020-05-01* Should be a free app ### 1/5 — Don’t buy this app *2020-04-21* The app gives no direction, introductory lesson, and many of the sounds are not articulated accurately and clearly. This would be fine if it were a free app for your kid to kill time using but not useful for learning phonics or to supplement phonics lessons at home/school ### 5/5 — Tremendous *2020-01-08* This is a great app for parents to use as an easy sight word practice. Tends to make the word practice painless. Also love the customizable lists you can create as your child adds new words. ## Frequently asked questions about Phonics Ninja ### What does Phonics Ninja do? Phonics Ninja is an educational game designed to help children learn letter sounds, blends, and digraphs. It uses an engaging slicing mechanic, similar to popular action games, to make learning fun and effective. The app focuses on multi-sensory learning through sight, sound, and touch. ### What specific phonics skills does the app teach? The app teaches lowercase letter sounds, a variety of phonic blends (e.g., bl, br, cl), and phonic digraphs (e.g., ch, sh, th). Users can customize which categories of sounds are active in the game. ### Is Phonics Ninja free to use? Yes, the application is free to use. It does not contain in-app purchases or advertisements, providing an uninterrupted learning experience for children. ### What age is Phonics Ninja suitable for? The app is designed to be very easy to use, with a description suggesting even a 9-month-old baby could delight in using it. It's particularly beneficial for children who are learning to read and mastering phonics. ### How does the app adjust difficulty? The game features dynamic difficulty adjustment based on the player's skills. It offers three settings: EASY (one sound, slow letters), MEDIUM (up to three sounds, faster letters), and HARD (up to five sounds, faster and rotating letters). Users can also manually adjust settings for individual letter and phonic sounds. ## Version history (last 3 releases) ### 2.0 — 2017-03-22 This update from Apple will improve the functionality of this app. No new features are included. ● Minor bug fixes and improvements ### 1.1 — 2016-09-30 - Fixed bug that was preventing some users from customizing the content ### 1.0 — 2016-09-22 No release notes. ## Apps similar to Phonics Ninja | App | Rating | Price | Category | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | [READING MAGIC 2](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/reading-magic-2/id432526055) | 4.8 (21) | Free | Education | | [Sight Words Phonics Superhero](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/sight-words-phonics-superhero/id1493091265) | 4.3 (10) | Free | Education | | [Duck Duck Moose Reading HD](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/duck-duck-moose-reading-hd/id573698255) | 4.1 (30) | Free | Education | | [Secret Stories Phonics Reading](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/secret-stories-phonics-reading/id1526893160) | 4.4 (621) | Free | Education | | [Kahoot! 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User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-08-31.*