Comparison

P21 vs Sunshine Phonics

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

Head to head
About

P21

This educational app supports a four-level phonics series for young learners. It offers audio tracks, videos, flashcards, and games to help children build foundational skills in phonological awareness, reading, and spelling.

Highlights
  • Audio tracks from student books
  • Educational videos
  • Keyword flashcards
  • Phonics games
  • Progress tracking
Features
Read full description

P21 is a four-level phonics series for young learners. With the P21 App, you can listen to audio tracks from the P21 student books, watch videos in each unit, review keywords with flashcards, and play interesting phonics games. It contains all of the resources you need when learning phonics using the P21 series. Through the P21 series, children are able to build solid foundations in phonological awareness, oral language, phonics, reading, and spelling. The Alphabet, Short Vowels and Special Letters, Long Vowels and Blends, and Controlled Vowels and Digraphs are covered in the series. With P21 and the P21 App, your 21st century kids will become experts in the sounds of English.

About

Sunshine Phonics

Features
Read full description

Sunshine Phonics is a digital phonics package which teaches children phonics skills in a sequential and systematic way. Children learn sounds (phonemes) and the letters than represent them (graphemes) and then apply this knowledge by reading an enjoyable story. Children listen to sounds, words and the book read aloud, and then record themselves so that their teacher can check on their progress. • 100 enjoyable stories, all read aloud • Decodable vocabulary with some high-frequency words • Voice over support, sounding out and blending decodable words • Read and record feature for children to practice • Systematic progression for learning sounds (phonemes) • Full-colour illustrations to support meaning • Assessment feature • Teacher administration area • British English and American English voice over available

Screenshots

P214 screens
Sunshine Phonics4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: P21 at every 6 weeks against Sunshine Phonics's every 4 months. P21 also leads on iOS requirement (11.0 vs 13.0). 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

P21 ships an update every 6 weeks, Sunshine Phonics every 4 months. The most recent releases landed on November 2, 2026 and October 6, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 7 level
P21 versus Sunshine Phonics: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterP21Sunshine Phonics
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better—
Number of ratings1 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 6 weeks — betterEvery 4 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS11.0 — better13.0
Further details — not scored
Size226 MB102 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperCAVES BOOKS LTD.WENDY PYE PUBLISHING LIMITED

In-app purchases

None

P21

No in-app purchases

None

Sunshine Phonics

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is P21 free?
P21 is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Sunshine Phonics free?
Sunshine Phonics is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do P21 or Sunshine Phonics have ads?
Neither P21 nor Sunshine Phonics shows ads.
Which is updated more often, P21 or Sunshine Phonics?
P21 ships an update every 6 weeks, and Sunshine Phonics every 4 months. Most recently, P21 was updated on November 2, 2026 and Sunshine Phonics on October 6, 2026.

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