Sparky's Firehouse vs Osmo Numbers
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Sparky's Firehouse
This educational game teaches children aged 3-6 essential fire safety skills, pre-reading, and pre-math concepts through engaging activities. It features three distinct games designed to foster learning and imaginative play in a safe, interactive environment.
- Fire safety skills
- Pre-reading practice
- Pre-math skills
- Counting and sequencing
- Memory and listening games
- Imaginative play scenarios
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Sparky the Fire Dog's® newest app uses teacher-recommended early learning best practices to give kids essential fire safety skills, pre-reading practice, pre-math skills and much more. Choose from three different games created just for kids ages 3-6, including: Fix Up, Pick Up: Kids fix a fire truck with appropriately sized tires and then drive to pick up a team of Dalmatian helpers all while practicing counting, sequencing and sorting. Sparky's Make Believe: Kids explore a fire station while creating make believe scenarios and testing out all kinds of cool fire equipment. Hear That?: Test your kids' memory, sequencing and listening skills with a fun memory game. But when the fire alarm sounds, kids have to tap the door to get outside and safely find a safe outside meeting place. Use the app in the home or classroom on an individual basis or have the students work in small groups for extra practice and learning. Supplemental classroom resources including videos, more games, more apps and standards-aligned classroom lessons available at www.sparkyschoolhouse.org. Sparky's Firehouse was produced by the National Fire Protection Association. To view NFPA's privacy policy, please visit http://www.nfpa.org/standard_items/privacy-policy. © Copyright 2016 National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), Quincy, MA. All rights reserved. Sparky® and Sparky the Fire Dog® are registered trademarks of the National Fire Protection Association.
Osmo Numbers
Engage in hands-on math activities with physical tiles that interact with your device. Solve problems to collect virtual fish, learn geography, and explore marine biology in a fun, stress-free environment.
- Hands-on play with physical tiles
- Counting, addition, subtraction, multiplication
- Collect over 100 virtual fish
- Learn geography and marine biology
- Real-time feedback
- Stress-free learning environment
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Dive into an ocean of hands-on math fun! In Osmo Genius Numbers, play with physical Osmo Numbers Tiles, including dots and digits. When your results match the numbers on the screen, cartoon bubbles burst with a satisfying pop! Count, add, subtract, or multiply to collect over 100 fish across the world to learn about geography and marine biology! Real-time feedback lets kids learn math through experimentation in a stress-free environment. When kids get the idea that there are multiple good ways to solve a problem, math becomes creative and fun. Play your favorite Osmo Genius Numbers on both iPhone and iPad! Use your iPhone with the Osmo Base for iPad and Genius game hardware - each can be found at playosmo.com. * Requires the Osmo Base and Osmo Numbers Tiles. Each sold separately or as part of Osmo Genius Starter Kit or Osmo Genius Numbers. * Other Osmo Genius Starter Kit games Masterpiece and Newton are not available on iPhone today, they will be released in the next month or two, so keep your eyes peeled! * Please see our device compatibility list here: https://support.playosmo.com/hc/articles/115010156067 * Compatible iPhones: iPhone 12, 12 Pro, 12 Pro Max iPhone 13, 13 Pro, 13 Pro Max iPhone 14, 14 Plus * Not compatible: iPhone 14 Pro, 14 Pro Max iPhone 12 Mini,13 Mini iPhone SE (1-3) iPhone 11 Series and older “One of 2016’s most intuitive product designs.” - Fast Company Award "...once again, Osmo has built something wonderfully creative and interactive." - Venture Beat "Osmo Numbers takes the fear out of figures." - Forbes "…revamp the unimaginative worksheets educators use to teach math" - TechCrunch Winner of the toy industry's top awards: **Best Design** - Good Design, 2016 **Best Product Designs** - Fast Company Finalist, 2016 **Innovative Toy of the Year** - TOTY Finalist, 2015 **Best Inventions** - TIME, 2014 About Osmo Osmo is using the screen to create a new healthy, hands-on learning experience that promotes creativity, problem-solving and social interaction. We do this with our reflective artificial intelligent technology.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Sparky's Firehouse at every 6 days against Osmo Numbers's every 2 months. Sparky's Firehouse also leads on review sentiment (60% vs 33%) and monetization model (free vs free with in-app purchases). Osmo Numbers's advantage is ratings volume (146 vs 5). On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Sparky's Firehouse holds the better App Store score, 4.0 against 3.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Osmo Numbers has 146 ratings behind it against 5, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 60% of Sparky's Firehouse's written reviews are positive against 33% of Osmo Numbers's.
Sparky's Firehouse ships an update every 6 days, Osmo Numbers every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on November 2, 2026 and November 4, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Sparky's Firehouse | Osmo Numbers |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.0 (5 ratings) — better | 3.8 (146 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 60.0% of reviews — better | 33.3% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 5 | 146 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 6 days — better | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 8.0 — better | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 31 MB | 358 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | NFPA | Tangible Play |
Customer experience
Sparky's Firehouse
Osmo Numbers
Bugs and requests
Sparky's Firehouse
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
Osmo Numbers
Reported bugs
12 issues- App glitches
- App crashes
- Game will not register tiles
- Reflector not sensing tiles
- App won't open on old iPads
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- Unable to login or create new account
- Codes to create account not working
- Not compatible with iPad Pro 4th generation
- App crashes when trying to open
- Black screen when starting app
- Numbers go up to 35 then lay down for 14
- Update caused son to stop playing
Requested features
5 requests- Increase timer duration
- Add more drawing games
- Add voice reading for math problems
- Improve tile sensing accuracy
- Make game go slower
In-app purchases
Sparky's Firehouse
No in-app purchases
Osmo Numbers
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Sparky's Firehouse free?
Is Osmo Numbers free?
Which has better reviews, Sparky's Firehouse or Osmo Numbers?
Do Sparky's Firehouse or Osmo Numbers have ads?
Which is updated more often, Sparky's Firehouse or Osmo Numbers?
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