Comparison

Learn to Read vs Sommer Learning

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

Head to head
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/

About

Sommer Learning

This platform offers engaging K-3 education in phonics, math, and writing. It features interactive lessons, games, and stories designed to build reading fluency, mathematical understanding, and handwriting skills.

Highlights
  • Phonics instruction with stories
  • Math lessons from addition to trigonometry
  • Handwriting practice for letters and numbers
  • Interactive games and quizzes
  • Award-winning author's books included
  • Printable worksheets
Read full description

Sommer Learning is a digital platform for K-3 kids covering Phonics, Numbers/Math and Writing. PHONICS ADVENTURE Phonics Adventure aspires to motivate students to read fluently. It combines systematic, explicit phonics instruction with interesting stories that promote character traits and social skills. Authentic, action-packed stories, coupled with interactive and engaging activities, increase motivation and reading achievement. In addition included and available for FREE in this program are books by Carl Sommer, author of the stories which have won over *100 prestigious National Awards* for his 42 Sommer-Time Stories. To keep users engaged and the learning interesting, activities include lessons, interactivities, games, videos/songs, quizzes and eBooks. NUMBER SUCCESS Topics from *Addition to Trigonometry* explained in video lessons by instructors who are Winners of the Prestigious Presidential Award for Excellence In Mathematics And, to motivate Students With Practical and Real-Life Applications of Mathematics there are On-Location videos with Instructor *Carl Sommer*: Award-Winning Author, Educator, and Successful Businessman. WRITING SUCCESS Buzzie, the writing bee, will teach you to write the letters(uppercase and lowercase) and numbers in Manuscript and Cursive form. The user can also practice writing on the screen.or print worksheets to practice with pen and pencil. TYPING This program is only available on laptops and desktops at https://sommerlearning.com/typing/courses/

Screenshots

Learn to Read4 screens
Sommer Learning4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Sommer Learning at none against Learn to Read's 18. Sommer Learning also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.7). Learn to Read's advantage is update cadence (every 5 days vs every 6 weeks) and ratings volume (71K vs 2). On price, ads, device support and iOS requirement 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. Learn to Read sells 9 in-app purchases, starting at $12.49 per month. Sommer Learning asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Sommer Learning holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Learn to Read has 71K ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Learn to Read ships an update every 5 days, Sommer Learning every 6 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 28, 2026 and June 12, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
Learn to Read versus Sommer Learning: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterLearn to ReadSommer Learning
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (71K ratings)5.0 (2 ratings) — better
Positive reviews81.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings71K — better2
Update frequencyEvery 5 days — betterEvery 6 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
Best chart rank#11 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.015.0
Further details — not scored
Size252 MB11 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperTeaching.comReliable EDM, LTD.

Customer experience

Learn to Read

All ratings70,642 ratings
Positive92.7%
Neutral3.3%
Negative4.1%
Written reviews704 reviews
Positive81.0%
Neutral3.7%
Negative15.3%

Sommer Learning

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

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

Sommer Learning

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

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
None

Sommer Learning

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Learn to Read free?
Learn to Read is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Sommer Learning free?
Sommer Learning is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Learn to Read or Sommer Learning?
Sommer Learning is rated higher. Learn to Read averages 4.7 out of 5 from 71K ratings, while Sommer Learning averages 5.0 from 2 ratings.
Do Learn to Read or Sommer Learning have ads?
Neither Learn to Read nor Sommer Learning shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Learn to Read or Sommer Learning?
Learn to Read ships an update every 5 days, and Sommer Learning every 6 weeks. Most recently, Learn to Read was updated on September 28, 2026 and Sommer Learning on June 12, 2026.

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