Comparison

Square Panda vs Osmo Counting Town

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

Head to head
About

Square Panda

This app offers a multi-sensory, game-based learning experience for children aged 2 and up to develop reading skills. It adapts to a child's progress, covering phonics, phonological awareness, spelling, word reading, and reading comprehension through interactive games and stories.

Highlights
  • Phonics games for letter sounds
  • Phonological awareness activities
  • Letter tracing and spelling challenges
  • CVC word reading practice
  • Interactive storybooks with SwipePhonics™
  • Parent and teacher progress portal
Features
Read full description

*FROM THE CREATORS OF THE AWARD-WINNING SQUARE PANDA PHONICS PLAYSET* For early readers ages 2 and up, the award-winning Square Panda app features a multi-sensory, fun learning experience to help children learn to read. Featuring personalized gaming and learning that adapts to where children are in developing reading skills. Feeling ready for an adventure? Explore the island of Square Panda - engaging and fun learning for kids. Phonics Area - Pop bubbles, do a fun dance, and play hide-and-seek in an assortment of mini-games to learn letters and their sounds. Phonological Awareness Area - Go coconuts for learning sounds! Explore rhyming, initial and ending sounds of spoken words, blending, and more. Spelling and Writing Area - Zip! Zap! Learn how to trace uppercase and lowercase letters, complete spelling challenges, and manipulate letters to create new CVC words! Word Reading Area - Ready to hop on the word train? Practice blending and reading words at the CVC level with a fun set of mini-games. Lagoon Area - Let’s go to the Lagoon! Explore letter-sound correspondences and spell any word up to 8 letters long! Supports vocabulary development by revealing pictures for many common words. SquareTales Area - SquareTales stories with our patent-pending SwipePhonics™ technology bridges the gap between sounding out individual letters and blending them into words. Carefully crafted text in each story enables emergent readers to start connecting words and sentences to read fun stories. With 40+ eBooks and new content being released on an ongoing basis, these stories help your child learn how to read so they can say, “I read a book all by myself!” The Square Panda Literacy System is designed to keep children engaged and having fun when developing important reading skills: - Provides simple, highly controlled text to support beginning readers - Builds knowledge of word families and common spelling patterns - Introduces CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words and sight words - Supports ELA state standards in foundational reading skills - Supports reading fluency through guided practice and repeated readings of text And much more! Square Panda's learning games have had more than 400,000 words spelled and more than 2 million letters played! PARENT & TEACHER PORTAL - With the Square Panda cloud-based parent and teacher portals, parents can follow their child’s progress as they learn letters and words and teachers can manage student profiles, monitor progress, and identify instructional opportunities. “This is the first time that I've seen him able to actually make that connection and put those sounds together to make words. I am so excited and he is so excited as well to be reading.” “This is making a huge impact on my students and their reading ability. To me, that’s amazing!” "Seeing my daughter advance in her class with letters definitely made me feel good and confident that I'm helping pick products and choices that are making her advance in reading and writing.” Follow us on social! Facebook: @playsquarepanda Instagram: @squarepanda Twitter: @squarepanda Twitter (Education): @squarepandaedu *The Square Panda Phonics Playset is compatible for some learning games to extend the learning and fun! Playset sold separately. Privacy Policy: https://squarepanda.com/pages/application-privacy-policy Terms of Use: https://squarepanda.com/pages/terms-conditions

About

Osmo Counting Town

This app helps preschoolers develop number sense and counting skills through interactive town building. It transforms a tablet into a hands-on learning system, fostering a love for learning and problem-solving in young children.

Highlights
  • Practice counting
  • Develop number sense
  • Build an enchanting town
  • Number recognition
  • Observation skills
  • Problem solving
Read full description

Practice counting and develop number sense while creating an enchanting town full of buildings and friendly animals! Gain confidence in number recognition, observation, comparing, and problem solving. LEARN HOW TO COUNT Develop early math skills such as number sense and learn how to count! INSPIRE THE LOVE OF LEARNING Designed for children ages 3-5 to inspire their love of learning through hands on play. TURN SCREEN TIME INTO LEARNING TIME Osmo’s unique technology transforms your tablet into a hands-on learning system! *Play your favourite Osmo Counting Town on both iPhone and iPad! Use your iPhone with the Osmo Base for iPad and Silicone Sticks & Rings - each can be found at playosmo.com. * Please see our device compatibility list here: https://support.playosmo.com/hc/articles/115010156067 *Requires the Osmo Base for iPad and Silicone Sticks & Rings. Each sold separately or as part of Osmo Little Genius Starter Kit. Learn more by visiting www.playosmo.com. ABOUT OSMO -- 21ST CENTURY PLAY AND LEARNING Osmo uses 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 intelligence technology.

Screenshots

Square Panda4 screens
Osmo Counting Town4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Square Panda at none against Osmo Counting Town's 2. Square Panda also leads on iOS requirement (10.0 vs 15.0). Osmo Counting Town's advantage is rating (3.4 vs 2.9). On price, review sentiment, ratings volume and update cadence 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 Counting Town sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. Square Panda asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Osmo Counting Town holds the better App Store score, 3.4 against 2.9. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 30 and 68 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 15% of Square Panda's written reviews are positive against 18% of Osmo Counting Town's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Square Panda ships an update every 6 weeks, Osmo Counting Town every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on September 13, 2026 and September 25, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Square Panda versus Osmo Counting Town: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSquare PandaOsmo Counting Town
PriceFreeFree
Rating2.9 (30 ratings)3.4 (68 ratings) — better
Positive reviews14.5% of reviews18.2% of reviews — better
Number of ratings3068 — better
Update frequencyEvery 6 weeks — betterEvery 2 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS10.0 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size420 MB301 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperSquare Panda Inc.Tangible Play

Customer experience

Square Panda

All ratings28 ratings
Positive46.4%
Neutral0.0%
Negative53.6%
Written reviews55 reviews
Positive14.5%
Neutral5.5%
Negative80.0%

Osmo Counting Town

All ratings68 ratings
Positive55.9%
Neutral11.8%
Negative32.4%
Written reviews22 reviews
Positive18.2%
Neutral9.1%
Negative72.7%

In-app purchases

None

Square Panda

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

Osmo Counting Town

One-time2
  • 3-day trial of Counting TownFree
  • Unlock Counting Town$24.99

Questions

Is Square Panda free?
Square Panda is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Osmo Counting Town free?
Osmo Counting Town is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Square Panda or Osmo Counting Town?
Osmo Counting Town is rated higher. Square Panda averages 2.9 out of 5 from 30 ratings, while Osmo Counting Town averages 3.4 from 68 ratings.
Do Square Panda or Osmo Counting Town have ads?
Neither Square Panda nor Osmo Counting Town shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Square Panda or Osmo Counting Town?
Square Panda ships an update every 6 weeks, and Osmo Counting Town every 2 months. Most recently, Square Panda was updated on September 13, 2026 and Osmo Counting Town on September 25, 2026.

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