Comparison

Alphablocks vs Interactive Handwriting

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Alphablocks

This app uses interactive games and songs to teach preschoolers letter sounds and names through phonics. Children can engage with characters from a popular TV show to develop early reading skills in a fun, multisensory way.

Highlights
  • Phonics mini-games
  • Singalong letter song
  • Letter sound and name learning
  • Progress tracking with stars
  • Interactive character learning
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

From the BAFTA nominated pre-school learning TV shows Alphablocks and Numberblocks, we bring you Alphablocks Letter Fun! Your little ones are going to LOVE interacting with the Alphablocks in this amazing App. It’s hugely entertaining to play and makes a real difference to their reading through fun, multisensory learning. Alphablocks has been on TV for nearly a decade, helping millions of children learn to read the fun way. Now your little ones can meet all the Alphablocks from A to Z, learning letters and sounds with four great phonics mini-games and a fantastic singalong song. "Alphablock A says a! when an apple lands on her head! " Every Alphablock is designed to make their letter and sound easy to learn, encouraging kids to interact with the characters and really get to know the alphabet. They’ll have great fun getting hands-on with letters and sounds. * No in-app purchases * ▸ MINIGAMES There are four minigames per Alphablock — that’s over 100 great activities for kids to enjoy! ◆ Bubble pop! — match letters to sounds by popping the bubbles that match the sounds you hear. ◆ Paint me — listen to letter sounds as you paint each Alphablock with your finger. ◆ Favourite things — listen out for words that begin with each letter sound and add them to the Alphablock’s collection of favourite things. ◆ Hide and seek — listen carefully to tell letter sounds apart, and see if you can spot where the Alphablock is hiding. ▸ ALPHABLOCKS LETTER SONG Sing along with the Alphablocks as they all get together to sing their letter sounds in a mnemonic song that kids will love and remember! ▸ LETTER SOUNDS AND NAMES When your child has mastered their letters and sounds, change to Letter Name mode and have fun learning all the letter names too. ▸ EARN STARS Every minigame earns a star. Collect all four stars to watch the Alphablock sing their line from the Alphablocks letter song. Can you light up all the stars for all your Alphablocks? (The app keeps your progress between visits. You can reset it if you want to start again or to let a friend or sibling play.) ▸ FULL OF FABULOUS PHONICS Alphablocks is made by teachers and reading experts. It’s built around systematic synthetic phonics, as taught in UK schools. Alphablocks is a step-by-step reading system with episodes, books and more that has helped over a million children learn to read the fun way. Alphablocks Letter Fun was created by Blue Zoo Animation, the multi-award winning studio who are passionate about creating fantastic content for kids tv and games. Blue Zoo has produced many hit pre-school shows including Go Jetters, Digby Dragon, Miffy, Tree Fu Tom, Mac & Izzy, and more. www.blue-zoo.co.uk

About

Interactive Handwriting

This app helps children develop good handwriting habits through interactive lessons and visual clues for letter formation. It offers animations and games for each letter of the alphabet, making learning engaging on mobile devices.

Highlights
  • Interactive letter formation lessons
  • In-built clues for remembering shapes
  • Movement pathway guidance
  • 52 handwriting animations
  • Alphabet letter games
Features
Read full description

Good handwriting habits come from a good foundation. With Letterland there are in-built clues to help your child remember how to form letter shapes; where each letter starts and the ‘movement pathway’. Use this free app on your mobile or tablet for an interactive experience. Unlock 52 handwriting animations and a game for each letter of the alphabet.

Screenshots

Alphablocks4 screens
Interactive Handwriting4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Alphablocks at 60% against Interactive Handwriting's 14%. Alphablocks also leads on rating (4.4 vs 2.6) and ratings volume (90 vs 8). Interactive Handwriting's advantage is price (Free vs $2.99) and iOS requirement (9.0 vs 13.0). On update cadence, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Interactive Handwriting is free to download; Alphablocks costs $2.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Alphablocks holds the better App Store score, 4.4 against 2.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Alphablocks has 90 ratings behind it against 8, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 60% of Alphablocks's written reviews are positive against 14% of Interactive Handwriting's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Alphablocks ships an update every 2 months, Interactive Handwriting every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on October 18, 2026 and October 16, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
Alphablocks versus Interactive Handwriting: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterAlphablocksInteractive Handwriting
Price$2.99Free — better
Rating4.4 (90 ratings) — better2.6 (8 ratings)
Positive reviews59.7% of reviews — better14.3% of reviews
Number of ratings90 — better8
Update frequencyEvery 2 months — betterEvery 3 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
Best chart rank#67 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS13.09.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size208 MB254 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperBlue-ZooLetterland

Customer experience

Alphablocks

All ratings90 ratings
Positive82.2%
Neutral6.7%
Negative11.1%
Written reviews72 reviews
Positive59.7%
Neutral9.7%
Negative30.6%

Interactive Handwriting

All ratings8 ratings
Positive25.0%
Neutral12.5%
Negative62.5%
Written reviews7 reviews
Positive14.3%
Neutral0.0%
Negative85.7%

Bugs and requests

Alphablocks

Reported bugs

11 issues
  • Games not appearing for several letters
  • App crashes on launch
  • App gets stuck on loading screen
  • Letters after 'M' or 'L' do not work
  • App won't load, shuts down
Show 6 more
  • Ad pop-up from invisible button
  • Blank pop-up to download another game
  • T always has one eyebrow
  • U has eyelashes
  • Repetitive letter sound in coloring
  • Invisible button triggers ad/download pop-up

Requested features

12 requests
  • Fix graphical glitches (eyelashes on 'U', eyebrows on 'T')
  • Unlock all letters/games
  • Add uppercase letters
  • Include word blending/reading
  • Add more content/games
Show 7 more
  • Make parent security questions harder
  • Add phonics for Phase 2 and 3 sounds
  • Incorporate both letter sounds and names
  • Improve navigation
  • Add word building games
  • Make coloring game a letter writing exercise
  • Add a password for parent section

Interactive Handwriting

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Alphablocks

No in-app purchases

None

Interactive Handwriting

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Alphablocks free?
Alphablocks costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Interactive Handwriting free?
Interactive Handwriting is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Alphablocks or Interactive Handwriting?
Alphablocks is rated higher. Alphablocks averages 4.4 out of 5 from 90 ratings, while Interactive Handwriting averages 2.6 from 8 ratings.
Do Alphablocks or Interactive Handwriting have ads?
Neither Alphablocks nor Interactive Handwriting shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Alphablocks or Interactive Handwriting?
Alphablocks ships an update every 2 months, and Interactive Handwriting every 3 months. Most recently, Alphablocks was updated on October 18, 2026 and Interactive Handwriting on October 16, 2026.

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