# Simplex Spelling HD — user reviews > 30 indexed App Store user reviews of Simplex Spelling HD by Pyxwise Software Inc., rated 3.20/5 from 5 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/simplex-spelling-hd/id456744012/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/simplex-spelling-hd/id456744012.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 1 · 4★ 1 · 3★ 2 · 2★ 0 · 1★ 1 ## Newest reviews (10 of 30) ### 5/5 — My son loves this. *2012-01-22* My son has dyslexia, and the "reverse" phonics is fun for him. It is different than reading, yet it essentially teaches the same skills. We tried out the lite version, and he liked it so much, we bought the HD iPad version. ### 5/5 — Great app *2012-01-10* Easy to use. Needs more words, though. ### 5/5 — Fun way to work on dreaded task. *2011-12-13* Our daughter has mild auditory processing issues. Since several letter pairs sound the same to her, she's not a big fan of spelling. This app and the Simplex Sight Words make her practice time much more fun and productive, which makes us both happy. Can't wait to see how she progresses! ### 5/5 — Great app *2011-12-12* My six yearold daughter loves using this app to practice her spelling. Highly recommended. ### 5/5 — wonderful app *2011-11-21, version 1.3.0* reminds me of a toy i had as a child. Love this app.My 2 children both use the app easily with no frustration. I highly recommend this app to learn spelling the Dolch sight words. Great for ALL children. ### 5/5 — perfect *2011-11-19* my 8 yo daughter loves this app! ### 5/5 — Wonderful App *2011-10-29* This app is a great tool for kids to play while learning. Our kids loved it! We look forward to updates with more levels (more difficult words). Interface is easy to use and background/colors are easy on the eyes; not too distracting. Just great over all!!! Developer support is also fabulous. Developer listens to questions/comments and answers in a timely manner. We also look forward to the ability to add our own words (without having to record them). Love it! ### 5/5 — Uses Phonics! *2011-09-09* What We Liked: As a homeschooling mom I absolutely adore developers who build in multiple user functions, tracking, and the ability to start up again where you’ve left off after a session. Simplex Spelling not only has all of these built in but it also makes it easy to review missed words without having to re-start a spelling list. The use of phonics is both intuitive and a bit playful – it is fun for my daughter to be able to explore the different potential options for a certain sound using the hints feature. Even though the design is heavy on functionality (and functional it is) and low on ‘splash’ my daughter does enjoy using this app for her spelling lessons as we’ve been testing it out together. The method used – dictation followed by tapping and dragging of letters into the correct order within a word – is incredibly effective at teaching spelling and the combination of the easily accessed phonics hints makes Simplex Spelling a very powerful tool for direct instruction. It is very easy for children to learn directly from the app without parental input beyond assigning a spelling list for each session or asking them to review a certain list. The detailed statistics make it very easy for me to determine the work my daughter should be doing each day. Among the many useful settings options (upper case, lower case – use words in a sentence or only alone etc.) there is an option to choose Canadian and American spelling! We are Canadians so I truly appreciate that option. What We Didn’t Like: Nothing. Overall: I am used to having phonetic spelling programs tackle groups of similar words at one time (all cvce words at once for example – ride, like, hide etc.) Simplex Spelling uses a different approach and scatters these words throughout their lists. I have to admit that the approach we’ve been using IS a slower approach to learning to spell and I have often found our progress somewhat tedious. I have been longing for something we could use as a supplement to teach high frequency words, but everything else seems to be sight-based. Because Simplex focuses on learning high frequency words quickly in order to attain fluency, I think a pairing of this app with a more regularly phonetically grouped spelling program gives the best of both worlds – that’s what we’ll be doing! Simplex Spelling HD uses incredibly rich, educationally sound, and powerful tools to teach high frequency words. With 220 words included and the wealth of tracking tools it provides, it is well worth the price. I hope that we can look forward to additional releases with words of more complexity provided for older students! Disclosure: I received a promo code of this app to review - all opinions are my own. ### 5/5 — Awesome spelling app *2011-09-03* This is a great spelling app. It's very engaging and my son is thrilled when he masters a word. It was definitely money well spent. ### 5/5 — Spoken instruction *2011-08-24* This app uses lots of speech so that even kids who are just starting to read can follow the instructions. ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — Update broken *2013-04-14* I think this would be a good program but after the update it always breaks when we get to the word "don't". And by breaks I mean stops entirely. This should be fixed ASAP. ### 1/5 — Words just too basic *2011-12-09, version 1.4.4* Should my be used by anyone past 1st grade. Would be great if they hard a longer list of words all the words were 3 to 5 letters. Not worth the 5 dollars ### 3/5 — Problems in paradise 😔 *2013-05-02* Device: iPhone 4S, 64GB, iOS 6.1.2, AT&T, latest app version: The app now begins to open, opens the title page, where all seems ok, and is visible, and then only goes to a black screen! Can you please fix dev? I've tried it on multiple iPhones of different iOS versions as well, all with the same result. The others I tried are iPhone 3GS, iOS 4.3, and iPod Touch (not the newest iPod, but the previous version?), iOS 6.1.3, on wifi. All give same results. Looking forward to a new and usable update! Thanks for the app! ### 4/5 — great spelling app *2013-04-09* 260 high frequency spelling words for your child to practice. Words are spoken and used in a sentence LOVE this. Your child can even use hints to help them spell a word. Graphics are colorful and entertaining for child to focus on the app. This is a very easy app to figure out and use my 6 yr old autistic son had no issues using this app. ### 4/5 — Good app *2013-03-08* Great for reinforcing sight words, phonics and spelling! It would be cool if you also load in words to practice as well, for instance my 1st graders spelling words, for extra practice each week before her test. ### 4/5 — Need more words *2012-08-16* This is a great way for my home schooled daughter to practice spelling, we would benefit from harder word lists being added! Thanks for straight forward practice! ### 4/5 — Nice! *2012-06-06, version 1.7.2* My twin girls can't put it down. ### 4/5 — Liz *2012-03-26* Great app it's a shame you cannot impute you own words on it bat it's veery good for beginners! pleas update in a way that I can impute words! ### 4/5 — Like the approach *2012-02-03* Spelling is a challenge for my son who does not sound out words to spell. I appreciate the systematic nature of this app and it seems to be helping. I've never heard of reverse phonics but it makes sense and might help with reading as well. Any app requested more than once is a winner at our house. ### 4/5 — Good start, but would benefit from some improvements *2011-12-15* I teach 2nd grade & my younger child is a struggling reader/speller, so I was very excited to get this. My philosophy is that, for the most part, sight words cannot/should not be sounded out & kids need to learn to read them "in a snap". Spelling is different & as much practice in a variety of ways is good. That said, the app could use some adjustments. First, the pronunciation of the words is not always clear. Second, just because a word is spelled on the first try doesn't mean it is mastered. Students should spell each word correctly a few times for this. ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — An amazing app *2013-04-18* Wish I could've had this when I was younger. It's very fun I think. I always test run my daughters apps. And although she is two this will be the app she will be using to learn how to spell!!!!! ### 5/5 — A perfect balance *2013-04-10* I love all the Simplex apps. While I love that the words are sorted by phonetic pattern in the other apps (great for teaching principles of how spelling works), the beauty of this one is that it teaches the phonetic basis of the sight words young readers and writers need every day. Oddly, the other thing I love about this one is actually the lack of sorting by phonetic pattern. Some children simply memorize the particular pattern they need to use for a list, but don't generalize well to their daily work since they need a variety of patterns all at once. This app forces them to think about and apply a variety of phonetic patterns all within one list. I delightedly use both types of Simplex apps in my classroom. Different kids need different approaches at different times. Simplex provides awesome tools to help meet those diverse needs. ### 5/5 — Simplex Spelling HD - Dolch Sight Words With Reverse Phonics is simply fantastic! *2013-04-09* This app has over 200 high frequency Dolch words which students will be able to practice spelling through typing via an alphabetical or keyboard style letter grid. Mastery limits for each word may be set within the settings option and various students can be maintained at any given time. Consonants and vowels are differentiated via colour-coding, phonetic hints are offered, spelling words are given in sentence context, and statistical data is saved as the child progresses. There is a wonderful introduction provided within the app which offers hands on experience and I recommend using that section immediately after purchasing this app. It is fantastic and will no doubt help your child progress in their reading, spelling, and writing abilities! I told you it was fantastic! ~LSAppleby ### 5/5 — Awesome *2013-03-16* Best sight word app out there. Worth the price. Was hesitant at first but well worth it. Design is great, sleek. The best feature is the retention of words that have yet to be mastered. So it makes your kid go back to them again and again until they get it right. Would love a feature that locks you into particular lists, forcing a repeat until they are mastered. So I could choose say, the first 5 and then it would stop after those and go back to revise/review. ### 5/5 — Awesome *2013-03-10* This is my favorite sight word app. I do not teach sight words with the look-say method. I teach all sight words phonetically. This app reinforces the phonics. ### 5/5 — Super excited *2013-01-23* Super excited to use this app with my son. It has everything I was looking for to help him learn to spell without frustrating him. Have been using this app now for several months with my 12 year old son who has autism. I had no success in teaching him to spell until now. This app is absolutely perfect. I hope Pyxwise continues to develop apps like these. ### 5/5 — OMG!,,,, *2012-11-03* I finally have something to HELP my daughter that has autism......really a wonderful app...this meets her needs when sometimes a teacher just don't. ### 5/5 — Great tool for learning *2012-06-04* I really like this app because it help student not only learn the word, but how to spell it. Since most of my students learn through to read using a sight word method, it helps them build up fluency in common words in an engaging manner. ### 5/5 — Great App *2012-05-25* This is a great app! I use it with my 10yo son with Autism, and he is doing really well. Very easy to use. ### 5/5 — Amazing! *2012-05-07* Hands down one of the best spelling apps that's have ever used with my students. I work with students with Autism and this has helped bring their sight words up to near grade level. They love to work and spell out their words. They are happy to use the program, they never feel of it as hard work and ask for it by name. I would recommend this app to everyone! --- *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 2026-09-02.*