Comparison

Jolly Phonics Pro vs Alphablocks World

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

Head to head
About

Jolly Phonics Pro

This interactive app helps children develop reading and writing skills through a science-based phonics approach. It features engaging songs, actions, and games to make learning fun and effective for home or classroom use.

Highlights
  • Learn all 42 letter sounds
  • Animated letter formation for handwriting
  • Interactive flashcards and wordbanks
  • Progress tracking and assessments
  • Songs and actions for multisensory learning
Features
Read full description

Teach Your Child to Read and Write with Jolly Phonics! Unlock your child’s reading and writing potential with the literacy app trusted by parents and teachers worldwide. Aligned with the Science of Reading, this interactive app makes learning to read and write fun and engaging, and is ideal for home or classroom use! Jolly Phonics focuses on direct, explicit instruction of phonemic awareness and phonics for both reading (decoding) and writing (encoding). Scientific research has consistently shown phonemic awareness to be essential for building strong reading and writing skills. 
 Why Choose Jolly Phonics? • Proven Success: Used in schools globally for over 30 years – with proven literacy outcomes. • Science-Based Approach: Aligned with the Science of Reading to ensure kids build effective foundational reading skills. • Engaging & Multi-Sensory: Songs, actions and interactive games bring phonics learning to life! Key Features That Make Learning Easy and Fun: • Explore All 42 Letter Sounds: Free audio and songs to help kids learn every sound. • Animated Letter Formation: Develop strong handwriting skills with step-by-step visual animations. • Interactive Learning Tools: Flashcards, wordbanks and action images to enhance and support every lesson. • 7 Educational Games (paid version): Turn reading and writing practice into play with fun phonics games that reinforce kids’ learning. • Progress Tracking: Built-in assessments to monitor children’s progress and celebrate achievements. Who Is It For? This literacy app is ideal for parents, teachers and kids looking for a structured, fun and proven approach to learning to read and write. Start Your Kid’s Phonics Journey Today! Join the millions of families and educators who have embraced the Jolly Phonics programme of learning for confident readers and writers. Whether at home or in the classroom, this app makes literacy learning simple, effective and enjoyable! Download now and see how Jolly Phonics can transform your child’s literacy learning! 
 What's New in This Version?

About

Alphablocks World

This app uses videos, games, and interactive books featuring alphabet characters to teach children aged 3+ how to read. It focuses on phonics and builds reading confidence through engaging content.

Highlights
  • Phonics-based learning
  • Interactive reading books
  • Educational videos and songs
  • Letter and sound identification
  • Word spelling practice
  • Ad-free and safe environment
Features
Read full description

Alphablocks World is a fun, educational, KidSAFE certified app filled with videos, games, songs and unique interactive books to help kids aged 3+ learn to read. Who better to show you how words work than the letters of the alphabet themselves? Learning to read is easy when you're having fun and taking in key phonics ideas every minute. Alphablocks World is a fun with phonics video on demand and story app, brought to you by the BAFTA award-winning team at Alphablocks Ltd. and Blue Zoo Animations Studio. With the option to stream or download the videos you and your child can enjoy Alphablocks from home or out and about. How does Alphablocks World help your child? "Alphablocks World is a brilliant interactive companion to learning phonics, helping children to identify each letter and sound, building their confidence in a friendly careful way until they start to spell words." Professor Rhona Stainthorp, Early Years Phonics expert and advisor on Alphablocks 1. More than 80 episodes of fantastic characters, exciting escapades and singalong songs help children master their letters and sounds and conquer increasingly challenging words. 2. Alphablocks is the hit BBC TV show first aired on CBeebies that’s helped millions of children learn to read through adventures, songs and laughter. It’s a ton of fun with letters and words – all built on a firm foundation of key phonics skills. 3. Every episode has been carefully crafted with the help of literacy experts to ensure a best-practice approach to phonics, ensuring that Alphablocks is compatible with early years curricula − and lovingly brought to life by multi-award-winning Blue Zoo Animation Studio. 4. This app is fun, educational and safe, being COPPA and GDPR-K compliant and 100% ad-free. 5. All presented through a safe, 100% ad-free, digital world for your child to explore. N.B. Episode length might vary in different regions. Featuring… • Five easy to follow levels, which introduce your child to the letters of the alphabet, letter blends, letter teams (digraphs and trigraphs) and long vowels. 60 second clips from the full Alphablocks series • Enjoyable songs, to help increase your child's understanding of phonics • 30 unique, interactive books, designed to help your child grow in confidence as they practise reading. N.B. Episode length might vary in different regions. Alphablocks Subscription • Alphablocks World offers a free 7 day trial. • Subscription lengths vary from Monthly to Yearly. • The price of the subscription might differ depending on the plan you choose and the region you are in. • Payment will be charged to your iTunes account at the time of purchase. • You can cancel your subscription at any time through your App Store account settings and turn off auto renewal through your App Store account settings. • Any unused amount of a free trial period, when offered, will be forfeited at the point when a user purchases a subscription, where applicable. • Accounts will be charged for renewal within 24-hours prior to the end of the current period unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24-hours before the end of the current period. Privacy & Safety At Alphablocks your child’s privacy and safety is the first priority for us. There are no ads in the app and we will never share personal information with any 3rd parties or sell this on. You can find out more in our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service: Privacy Policy: https://www.learningblocks.tv/privacy-policy Terms of Service:https://www.learningblocks.tv/terms-of-service

Screenshots

Jolly Phonics Pro4 screens
Alphablocks World4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Alphablocks World at Free against Jolly Phonics Pro's $49.99. Alphablocks World also leads on update cadence (fortnightly vs every 3 months). Jolly Phonics Pro's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 2) and rating (4.5 vs 4.2). On review sentiment, ratings volume, ads 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Alphablocks World is free to download; Jolly Phonics Pro costs $49.99 up front. Alphablocks World sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Jolly Phonics Pro asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Jolly Phonics Pro holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 4.2. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 232 and 269 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 34% of Jolly Phonics Pro's written reviews are positive against 29% of Alphablocks World's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Jolly Phonics Pro ships an update every 3 months, Alphablocks World fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 29, 2026 and October 30, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Jolly Phonics Pro versus Alphablocks World: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterJolly Phonics ProAlphablocks World
Price$49.99Free — better
Rating4.5 (232 ratings) — better4.2 (269 ratings)
Positive reviews34.0% of reviews — better29.2% of reviews
Number of ratings232269 — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 monthsFortnightly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterSubscription
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.015.0
Further details — not scored
Size227 MB567 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperJolly LearningBlue-Zoo

Customer experience

Jolly Phonics Pro

All ratings232 ratings
Positive90.1%
Neutral3.0%
Negative6.9%
Written reviews50 reviews
Positive34.0%
Neutral14.0%
Negative52.0%

Alphablocks World

All ratings266 ratings
Positive77.1%
Neutral7.1%
Negative15.8%
Written reviews195 reviews
Positive29.2%
Neutral15.9%
Negative54.9%

User reviews

Jolly Phonics Pro

From 232 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Great for learning phonics
  • 👍 Helps children learn letters and words
  • 👍 Addictive yet educational
  • 👍 Good for non-native English speakers
  • 👍 Interactive and fun

Room to improve

  • 🐛 App crashes frequently
  • 🐛 No sound for some letters/words
  • 🐛 Paid version offers no added value over free
  • 🐛 Expensive for limited content
  • 🐛 Poor implementation and glitches

Alphablocks World

From 269 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Fun and engaging learning experience
  • 💡 Helpful for teaching reading with phonics
  • 🚀 Great episodes and content

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Frequent bugs and glitches
  • 🔍 Missing or incomplete features
  • 💰 Subscription model issues

Bugs and requests

Jolly Phonics Pro

Reported bugs

18 issues
  • App crashes after purchase
  • App shows blank page
  • App has no sound
  • Sounds stop working after a few games
  • Some sounds are missing (e.g., 'oa', 'ue', 'ow')
Show 13 more
  • App freezes when repeatedly playing a sound
  • Flashcards are not working
  • Letter sounds get stuck and screen freezes
  • Print letters not showing up correctly
  • Formation part shows cursive writing even when print is selected
  • Blending activities have issues with two-letter sounds
  • Finger tracing has multiple issues
  • App not working with some pronunciations (e.g., 'oa')
  • Sound clip for 'ee' in 'coffee' is the same as 'e' in 'egg'
  • No audible soft 'g' sound in 'ng' section
  • App not allowing restore after purchase
  • App not working with iOS version 11.0 or later
  • Mouse appears then app switches off

Requested features

8 requests
  • Add more phonic groups
  • Allow tapping stories to be read aloud
  • Option to choose different speaking speeds
  • Add interactive word bank
  • Support for family sharing
Show 3 more
  • Add more words to the app
  • Include sound for story and action parts
  • Ability to mix phonic songs and create own words

Alphablocks World

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Videos not loading
  • Levels and progress not working properly
  • Subscription not functioning as expected
  • Crashes and freezes on various features

Requested features

4 requests
  • Add more Alphablocks and letter teams
  • Improve video loading and stability
  • Allow offline content downloads
  • Fix subscription and unlock issues

In-app purchases

None

Jolly Phonics Pro

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

Alphablocks World

Subscriptions2
  • Monthly Subscription7 Days trial$4.991 Month
  • Yearly Subscription7 Days trial$30.991 Year

Questions

Is Jolly Phonics Pro free?
Jolly Phonics Pro costs $49.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Alphablocks World free?
Alphablocks World is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Jolly Phonics Pro or Alphablocks World?
Jolly Phonics Pro is rated higher. Jolly Phonics Pro averages 4.5 out of 5 from 232 ratings, while Alphablocks World averages 4.2 from 269 ratings.
Do Jolly Phonics Pro or Alphablocks World have ads?
Neither Jolly Phonics Pro nor Alphablocks World shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Jolly Phonics Pro or Alphablocks World?
Jolly Phonics Pro ships an update every 3 months, and Alphablocks World fortnightly. Most recently, Jolly Phonics Pro was updated on October 29, 2026 and Alphablocks World on October 30, 2026.

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