Comparison

Differ By Kind vs Osmo Words Explorers

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

Head to head
About

Differ By Kind

This educational game helps children aged 2.5 and up develop visual differentiation and cognitive skills through fun, simple activities. It focuses on categorization, matching, and sorting, making learning engaging.

Highlights
  • Develops visual differentiation skills
  • Enhances cognitive and perception skills
  • Teaches categorization, matching, and sorting
  • Progress tracking for teachers and therapists
  • Accessibility features for users with disabilities
  • Safe for children with no ads or external links
Features
Read full description

- Full version. - No in-app purchases. - No ads. - Safe for kids. Welcome to “Differ By Kind”. This educational app is designed for children aged 2.5 and above. Here children can learn to differentiate among items according to visual characteristics. It is fun, and it helps them develop visual differentiation skills, visual perception skills, and cognitive skills. STEP BY STEP is a professional EdTech studio that focuses on developing educational apps for children aged 1 to 5 years old. During these critical years, children enter a new learning stage every few months. Our apps support and strengthen the development of crucial skills for each learning stage. This way we guide your children, step by step, throughout this entire age range. Our key values are perfection and simplicity. We believe that small details make a big difference, so we give great attention to every detail — both in content and design. Most importantly, we keep our apps simple — simple to understand and simple to use. While playing our games, children will engage in simple activities, such as matching, pairing, ordering, grouping, and sorting. This allows them to practice essential skills, such as: categorization, conceptualization, generalization, abstraction, memory, language, math, visual perception, fine motor, accuracy, attention, and focus. They will learn about shapes, colors, animals, fruit, vegetables, clothing, tools, vehicles, furniture, professions, toys, etc., — all while playing. The levels are generally arranged by difficulty. The first levels are usually quite simple — their main objective is to teach players critical thinking and problem solving. However, the exercises become increasingly challenging as the child advances within the game. Our applications avoid distractions such as popups, unnecessary animation, and noisy feedback. We keep our applications safe for children — no advertisements, no unsafe links to external content, no popups, etc. Furthermore, our experience indicates that our apps can be very helpful for children with special-needs¹, and that they can function as useful tools in both speech-language therapy² and in occupational therapy³. In addition, our apps have been found useful for adults with disabilities or dementia⁴. For this reason, we added two important features: the first one was designed for teachers, therapists, and speech pathologists, which allows them to track the progress of their students; the second feature makes our apps also accessible for users with disabilities, and on this matter we would like to thank the Technology Consulting Center at “Beit Issie Shapiro”⁵ for their professional guidance and consultation regarding accessibility. ________ ¹ Special needs - Learning difficulties due to learning disabilities, communication disabilities, emotional or behavioural disorders, physical disabilities and/or developmental disabilities, which may be caused by Autism (Autistic Spectrum Disorders), Down Syndrome, Dyslexia, Tourette Syndrome, etc. ² Speech-language therapy - Treatment of communication disorders by speech-language pathologists (SLP). ³ Occupational therapy (OT) - Treatment meant to develop, recover, or maintain daily living and work skills for people with a physical, mental or developmental condition. ⁴ Dementia -  A condition caused by brain injury (BI), brain damage or brain diseases, such as Alzheimer’s, Lewy bodies (DLB), Vascular dementia, etc. ⁵ "Beit Issie Shapiro" is a leading non-profit organization that develops therapies for people with disabilities, and also acts as a ‘Special Consultant’ to the United Nations.

About

Osmo Words Explorers

This educational game immerses children in an ancient temple adventure where they build words to battle monsters and save historical artifacts. It's designed to teach literacy skills like spelling, word recognition, and vocabulary to young learners.

Highlights
  • Word recognition
  • Spelling practice
  • Vocabulary building
  • Critical thinking
  • Historical facts
  • Monster battles
Read full description

Osmo Words Explorers & The Tunnel of Treasures Build words, battle monsters, and save the ancient treasures! In Words Explorers, kids go on a temple adventure. To progress, they must master increasingly more challenging word constructions. Along the way they’ll confront monsters, battle the boss, have a blast and -- if their skills are sharp -- save real artifacts! Osmo Words Explorers is a word-building and spelling adventure designed to teach literacy skills for kids in grades 1-3. Using your existing Osmo Base for iPad and Words tiles, this digital-only extension is a great add-on to your Osmo system. Includes: - Word recognition - Spelling practice - Word patterns - Vocabulary building - Sight words - Critical thinking - Creative problem-solving - History & social studies EXPLORE AN ANCIENT TEMPLE Two adventurous Agoutis need your help to save ancient artifacts! Tunnel through a crumbling temple, using words skills to pass through barriers and battle monsters. With each level completed, save a real Mesoamerican artifact! BUILD LITERACY SKILLS Get creative with Osmo Words tiles by replacing one letter at a time to form new words! Every time you spell a word correctly, the blocks fall and you get closer to battling the boss and saving an artifact. This word pattern, spelling and vocabulary game is perfect for kids ages 6-9. Challenges get harder as kids progress. LEARN HISTORICAL FACTS With every level completed, you save an ancient Aztec artifact! Learn about the double-headed serpent, Moctezuma’s Headdress, the Stone of Tizoc, and more. THINK FAST, GET CREATIVE The final step to recovering each artifact is to battle a new monster with the power of words. In this challenge, you’ll need to get creative to make new words out of just a few letter tiles. Think fast to get to the artifact before the monster can! *Play your favourite Osmo Words Explorers on both iPhone and iPad! Use your iPhone with the Osmo Base for iPad and Words tiles - each can be found at playosmo.com. * 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 *Requires use of Osmo iPad Base and Words tiles. Visit www.playosmo.com to learn more. Features: - Easy-to-use interface for children - Simple verbal instructions - Warm, colorful character animations About Osmo: Osmo is using the screen to create a new healthy, hands-on learning experience that promotes creativity, problem solving and social interaction.

Screenshots

Osmo Words Explorers4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Differ By Kind at 100% against Osmo Words Explorers's 17%. Differ By Kind also leads on rating (5.0 vs 3.3) and in-app purchases (none vs 2). Osmo Words Explorers's advantage is ratings volume (59 vs 3) and device support (3 vs 1). On price, update cadence and ads 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

Both are free to download. Osmo Words Explorers sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. Differ By Kind asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Differ By Kind holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Osmo Words Explorers has 59 ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 100% of Differ By Kind's written reviews are positive against 17% of Osmo Words Explorers's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Differ By Kind ships an update every 6 weeks, Osmo Words Explorers every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on November 2, 2026 and November 6, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
Differ By Kind versus Osmo Words Explorers: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterDiffer By KindOsmo Words Explorers
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (3 ratings) — better3.3 (59 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews — better17.4% of reviews
Number of ratings359 — better
Update frequencyEvery 6 weeks — betterEvery 3 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS7.0 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size76 MB263 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperSTEP BY STEPTangible Play

Customer experience

Differ By Kind

All ratings3 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews4 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Osmo Words Explorers

All ratings59 ratings
Positive54.2%
Neutral5.1%
Negative40.7%
Written reviews23 reviews
Positive17.4%
Neutral8.7%
Negative73.9%

In-app purchases

None

Differ By Kind

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

Osmo Words Explorers

One-time2
  • 3-day trial of Words ExplorerFree
  • Unlock Words Explorers$9.99

Questions

Is Differ By Kind free?
Differ By Kind is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Osmo Words Explorers free?
Osmo Words Explorers is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Differ By Kind or Osmo Words Explorers?
Differ By Kind is rated higher. Differ By Kind averages 5.0 out of 5 from 3 ratings, while Osmo Words Explorers averages 3.3 from 59 ratings.
Do Differ By Kind or Osmo Words Explorers have ads?
Neither Differ By Kind nor Osmo Words Explorers shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Differ By Kind or Osmo Words Explorers?
Differ By Kind ships an update every 6 weeks, and Osmo Words Explorers every 3 months. Most recently, Differ By Kind was updated on November 2, 2026 and Osmo Words Explorers on November 6, 2026.

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