Comparison

Smart Tales vs Learn to Read

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

Head to head
About

Smart Tales

This app offers over 2500 interactive educational games and stories for children aged 2-11. It covers reading, writing, STEM, and math, with a focus on personalized learning paths and inclusivity for all learners, including neurodivergent children. Parents can monitor progress and set limits.

Highlights
  • Interactive educational games
  • Award-winning stories
  • Math skills development
  • Reading and vocabulary building
  • STEM and science exploration
  • Logic and reasoning challenges
  • Personalized learning paths
Features
Read full description

Give your child the tools to thrive in school, at home, and beyond and make screen time productive with fun, educational and non addictive games and stories. With 2500+ interactive activities, award-winning stories, and science-backed games, Smart Tales® is the go-to learning app for kids aged 2 to 11. Whether you’re a parent, teacher, or caregiver, it’s built to support every learner—including neurodivergent children—with a focus on inclusivity and engagement. “Smart Tales has been a game-changer. My child now asks to practice multiplication tables!” “I love that I can track progress and feel confident it’s not just screen time—it’s real learning.” “As a busy single mom, it’s the only app I trust when I need 20 focused minutes.” What Smart Tales® Helps Your Child Achieve: -Master MATH SKILLS and go beyond with addition, subtraction, multiplication, division & time tables -Build a LOVE FOR READING with read-along stories and vocabulary-rich adventures -Practice real-world SCIENCE: human body, space, nature, and fun experiments -Strengthen LOGIC and REASONING through coding challenges and brain games -Develop BETTER BEHAVIOR and emotional regulation through STORIES rooted in values and kindness -Progress at their own pace with a personalized LEARNING PATH -Learn anywhere with OFFLINE ACCESS and multi-device support BUILT FOR ALL TYPES OF LEARNERS Smart Tales® was crafted with inclusivity at its core, certified for kids on the autism spectrum and built to support neurodivergent learning styles. Whether your child is ahead, behind, or simply learns differently, Smart Tales® adapts to their needs. AWARDS & RECOGNITION **Apple App Store: 2025 Essential App for Kids Mom’s Choice Award® National Parenting Product Award Academics’ Choice™ Brain Toy Award Parent and Teacher Choice Award™ Kids Safe Certified 5 Stars – Educational App Store** PROGRAMS THAT GROW WITH YOUR CHILD READING PROGRAM Nurture early literacy with phonics, read-alongs, sentence building, and story comprehension. Smart Tales® builds a love for reading by making every word part of an adventure. MATH PROGRAM From counting to multiplication and time tables, every activity is designed to strengthen core math skills through engaging, gamified lessons. SCIENCE PROGRAM Explore topics from animal facts and senses to geography, photosynthesis, and astronomy. Real-world learning, simplified and made fun. FOR PARENTS AND TEACHERS -Monitor learning with the Parent Area -Set time limits, track achievements, and adjust difficulty -Aligned to U.S. State Standards -Created by educators, backed by child development research Whether you’re prepping your preschooler for kindergarten, reinforcing classroom learning, or just looking for smarter screen time, Smart Tales® gives your child a solid educational foundation—and makes them love learning. Download Smart Tales® today—where every tap leads to growth. Let's keep in touch! hello@smarttales.app support@smart-tales.freshdesk.com Visit our website: smarttales.app Terms of Service: https://smarttales.app/terms-and-conditions/

About

Learn to Read

This app offers a guided, co-play experience for parents and children aged 3-8 to learn reading skills. It uses research-backed phonics lessons, interactive storybooks, videos, and games to build foundational reading abilities.

Highlights
  • 99 step-by-step phonics lessons
  • 67 interactive digital storybooks
  • 42 educational videos
  • 3 expert-designed reading games
  • Printable offline activities
  • Family subscription with 3 profiles
  • Ad-free experience
Features
Read full description

Teach your child how to read! Ages 3-8. Reading.com is a fun, co-play experience designed by education experts for you to teach your child to read — with the love, care, and joy only a parent and child can share. RESEARCH-BACKED No cape? No problem. Our program gives you supercharged superparent powers! Reading.com’s research-backed, phonics-based lessons are fully scripted so they don’t require any special training or knowledge for you to become the most powerful teacher your child will ever have. FROM LETTER RECOGNITION TO CONFIDENT READING As your child masters more letters, sounds, and words, they'll unlock a playful world of reading activities including interactive storybooks, videos, digital games, and printable activities. THE MOST MEANINGFUL (TEAM)WORK OF YOUR LIFE Each lesson takes just 15 - 20 minutes to complete and they’re designed for you and your child to go at your own pace. Lessons cover letters, letter blends, long vowel sounds, and digraphs, taking your child from basic alphabetic knowledge to reading at a late 1st grade level. This is the easiest head start you’ll ever give your child! KEY FEATURES - 120 step-by-step phonics lessons for a grownup & child to do together - 84 interactive, decodable, digital storybooks - 42 videos featuring letters, letter sounds, and an exclusive alphabet song - 5 expertly-designed reading games for independent play that practice skills in: letter recognition, letter-phoneme correlation, beginning sounds, vocabulary, letter-writing, spelling - Access to printable games & activities for fun offline reinforcement - One subscription for the whole family with up to 3 profiles - Ad-free Download the app today, help your child learn to read and join other parents raising readers! Privacy Policy: https://www.reading.com/privacy-policy/ Terms and Conditions: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Smart Tales4 screens
Learn to Read4 screens

Verdict

The call

Smart Tales and Learn to Read both sit at 4.6 stars, but that hides the real split: 81% of Learn to Read's written reviews are positive against 55% of Smart Tales's. Learn to Read also leads on update cadence (weekly vs every 3 weeks) and chart position (#19 vs #158). On price, rating, ads and in-app purchases 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. Smart Tales sells 17 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per 7 days and Learn to Read sells 9 in-app purchases, starting at $12.49 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.6 for Smart Tales against 4.7 for Learn to Read. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 18K and 79K respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 55% of Smart Tales's written reviews are positive against 81% of Learn to Read's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Smart Tales ships an update every 3 weeks, Learn to Read weekly. Both last shipped on October 31, 2026.

Scorecard4 real differences · 7 level
Smart Tales versus Learn to Read: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSmart TalesLearn to Read
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (18K ratings)4.7 (79K ratings) — better
Positive reviews54.8% of reviews81.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings18K79K — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank#158#19 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Apple TViPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS16.015.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size289 MB264 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMarshmallow Games SRLTeaching.com

Customer experience

Smart Tales

All ratings18,327 ratings
Positive88.9%
Neutral5.0%
Negative6.0%
Written reviews374 reviews
Positive54.8%
Neutral3.2%
Negative42.0%

Learn to Read

All ratings78,071 ratings
Positive92.4%
Neutral3.3%
Negative4.3%
Written reviews754 reviews
Positive81.0%
Neutral3.6%
Negative15.4%

User reviews

Smart Tales

From 18K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Improved school performance
  • 👍 Engaging and fun for kids
  • 🤩 Positive impact on child's mood
  • 🎉 Great content and creativity
  • 💯 Effective learning tool

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Errors and bugs in the app
  • 💰 Expensive subscription
  • 🔒 Lack of family sharing
  • ⚠️ Inappropriate content for kids
  • 🤯 Confusing and frustrating user experience

Learn to Read

From 79K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Engaging and fun for kids
  • 🚀 Effective at teaching reading skills
  • 💡 Structured, step-by-step approach
  • 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Promotes parent-child bonding
  • 🎨 Colorful and visually appealing

Room to improve

  • 🤑 Expensive subscription model
  • 🐢 Slow progression for more advanced learners
  • 🤖 Lack of flexibility to customize or skip lessons
  • 🤔 Placement assessment not accurate for all levels
  • 🤯 Frustrating when app crashes or logs out

Bugs and requests

Smart Tales

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • App crashes and freezes
  • Incorrect shape identification
  • Subscription issues and double charges
  • Content not loading properly
  • Accessibility features not working as expected

Requested features

5 requests
  • More writing and grade-level options
  • Improved voice-text synchronization
  • Better customization for child's level
  • Easier unsubscription process
  • Compatibility with family sharing

Learn to Read

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Occasional app crashes or freezes
  • User data loss after app updates
  • Inability to redeem promo codes

Requested features

5 requests
  • Option to learn cursive writing
  • More independent practice games and activities
  • Ability to jump to appropriate lesson level
  • Support for multiple languages or accents
  • Printable resources like flashcards or worksheets

In-app purchases

17 purchases

Smart Tales

Subscriptions16
  • Premium Weekly$3.997 Days
  • Premium Weekly$4.997 Days
  • Premium Monthly7 Days trial$5.491 Month
Show 13 more
  • Welcome Monthly2 Months trial$6.991 Month
  • Monthly Learning Plan for Kids$11.991 Month
  • Monthly Learning Plan for Kids7 Days trial$14.991 Month
  • Premium Monthly$14.991 Month
  • Smart Tales Semi Annual$29.996 Months
  • Smart Tales Quarterly$34.993 Months
  • Smart Family Promo$39.991 Year
  • Yearly Promo Subscription$54.991 Year
  • SmartTales Yearly Offer Plus$59.991 Year
  • Yearly Subscription7 Days trial$71.991 Year
  • Yearly Learning Plan for Kids7 Days trial$89.991 Year
  • Yearly Subscription14 Days trial$89.991 Year
  • Yearly Subscription7 Days trial$99.991 Year
One-time1
  • Printables unlock$7.99
9 purchases

Learn to Read

Subscriptions9
  • Learn to Read (Monthly)7 Days trial5 variants$12.491 Month
  • Learn to Read (Monthly)2 variants$12.491 Month
  • Monthly (With Free Trial)$12.491 Month
Show 6 more
  • Monthly Subscription$12.491 Month
  • Learn to Read (Monthly)7 Days trial$12.991 Month
  • Learn to Read (Monthly)7 Days trial$14.991 Month
  • Learn to Read (Monthly)7 Days trial$17.991 Month
  • Learn to Read (Yearly)7 Days trial$66.991 Year
  • Learn to Read (Yearly)7 Days trial2 variants$74.991 Year

Questions

Is Smart Tales free?
Smart Tales is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Learn to Read free?
Learn to Read is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Smart Tales or Learn to Read?
Learn to Read is rated higher. Smart Tales averages 4.6 out of 5 from 18K ratings, while Learn to Read averages 4.7 from 79K ratings.
Do Smart Tales or Learn to Read have ads?
Neither Smart Tales nor Learn to Read shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Smart Tales or Learn to Read?
Smart Tales ships an update every 3 weeks, and Learn to Read weekly. Most recently, Smart Tales was updated on October 31, 2026 and Learn to Read on October 31, 2026.
Which is more popular, Smart Tales or Learn to Read?
Smart Tales currently peaks at #158 in the App Store charts, and Learn to Read at #19. Chart position reflects recent download velocity rather than total install base.

Other comparisons