Comparison

Twinkl Formation & Handwriting vs LUVBUG

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

Head to head
About

Twinkl Formation & Handwriting

This app helps young learners develop essential handwriting skills by practicing letter and number formation, and shapes. It offers a fun, engaging, and prep-free experience for children, with customizable word lists and offline functionality.

Highlights
  • Letter and number formation practice
  • Shape tracing
  • Fine motor skill development
  • Customizable word lists
  • Offline functionality
  • Multi-language support
Features
Read full description

Take the hassle out of handwriting lessons with the Twinkl Formation & Handwriting app! It’s a fun-filled, prep-free way to help your little learners form letters, numbers and shapes, and build those all-important fine motor skills. So, why will you love the Twinkl Formation & Handwriting app? Your weekend is safe. Just set them up and watch them practice. You get back the time you’d spend prepping tracing sheets for lowercase and uppercase letters, numbers 1-100, and simple shapes. No more begging to practice! The kids are actually asking to use it. That's a win-win. From the classroom to the car. It works on any device and keeps the learning consistent, no matter where they are. It's built by people who get it. The app has been developed by expert lead teachers and senior practitioners , so you can have total confidence in its standards. Phonics panic, solved. Phase 2/3 sounds and over 100 CVC words are ready-to-go, so you have exactly what you need for your next lesson. Cater to all your learners, wherever you are in the world. The app has specific fonts and professional audio in English for the US, UK, Australia and New Zealand, along with Welsh, Spanish, Arabic and Afrikaans. Stress-free screen time. The app works completely offline, so you can breathe easy knowing the kids are safe and the content is secure. Adaptable to your needs. Create your own custom word lists to personalize the experience for your learners. Full support for your teaching. The app is compatible with a great range of supporting printable resources from the Twinkl website. How to access the Twinkl Formation & Handwriting app: Twinkl Ultimate members get full access to the app and all of Twinkl’s other mobile and web apps as part of your membership. If you just want app access without the wider benefits of Twinkl, you can take out an in-app subscription. Or, if you want to see how it works, you can try some of the features of the app for free in Try! Mode. Got questions? You can contact our lovely Twinkl Cares team 24/7, and you can always speak to a real human - that’s the Twinkl difference. Our Privacy Policy: https://www.twinkl.com/legal#privacy-policy Our Terms and Conditions: https://www.twinkl.com/legal#terms-and-conditions Apple Standard Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Rated 3+ by the Indonesia Game Rating System (IGRS)

About

LUVBUG

This app helps children aged 4-10 understand and manage their emotions through interactive games and activities. Designed by learning scientists, it fosters emotional health, self-awareness, and academic success by providing proactive tools to navigate feelings and stress.

Highlights
  • Emotional regulation games
  • Interactive learning activities
  • Parent-child co-engagement
  • Age-specific difficulty levels
  • Audio and written support
  • Progress tracking for parents
Read full description

Welcome to the fastest growing emotional learning app, helping kids better understand & regulate their own emotions. This award-winning app, brings kids & parents together to learn about BIG feelings. Designed by learning scientists, LuvBug improves emotional health in children, helping to fortify against mental health issues, while boosting academic success. LuvBug is highly focused on being PROACTIVE; giving kids tools to work through thoughts and feelings, before becoming hard-wired in response to stress or anxiety.  With over a 1,000 activities, games, videos and themes; our immersive digital world uses self-esteem as the primary springboard towards exploration, creativity, and self-awareness. Comprised of 25 Levels, each level includes new video topics with age specific questions during videos and gameplay. All questions are designed to invite familiarity, create distinctions and scaffold earlier lessons, using ‘spiral curriculum’ as the gold standard for learning. Parents are notified each time their child advances to a new level rank. Celebrating their accomplishment, creates an opening for sharing and underpins the importance of co-engagement. There are nine ‘age-based’ levels of difficulty that can be easily adjusted in the dashboard settings (if the default level is too simplistic or advanced). As children grow and learn, the complexity of the questions increases. For children who are not strong readers, have hearing challenges or are new to a certain language, all questions and answers are both written and read aloud. LuvBug’s focus on co-engagement opens up communication pathway with parents at an early age, which becomes invaluable to kids as they learn and grow.  ****Subscription Details***** Your LuvBug subscription provides an option for a 3-Day Free Trial, or a direct Monthly, Annual or Lifetime Membership. You can cancel your subscription renewal at any time with specific instructions included both in your ‘Welcome Email’ and in the online dashboard and in the LuvBug App itself. Payment is charged at confirmation of purchase. The subscription automatically renews unless cancelled 24 hours before the end of the current subscription period, with the cost of the renewal to be provided. To opt out of auto-renewal, simply turn this off this feature in your device settings. You can manage and cancel subscriptions anytime in your account settings. Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok: @luvbuglearning Privacy Policy: LuvBug’s mission centred around Empowering Children to Empower Themselves includes doing so in a digital environment that puts first the safety of the children, parents, and educators using it. Visit: https://luvbuglearning.com/privacypolicy Terms of Use:  https://luvbuglearning.com/termsandconditions

Screenshots

Twinkl Formation & Handwriting4 screens
LUVBUG4 screens

Verdict

The call

Twinkl Formation & Handwriting and LUVBUG both sit at 4.4 stars, but that hides the real split: 92% of LUVBUG's written reviews are positive against 41% of Twinkl Formation & Handwriting's. LUVBUG also leads on update cadence (every 10 days vs every 2 months). On price, rating, ratings volume and ads 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. Twinkl Formation & Handwriting sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $0.49 per month and LUVBUG sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

LUVBUG holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.4. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 64 and 28 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 41% of Twinkl Formation & Handwriting's written reviews are positive against 92% of LUVBUG's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Twinkl Formation & Handwriting ships an update every 2 months, LUVBUG every 10 days. The most recent releases landed on November 7, 2026 and November 3, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Twinkl Formation & Handwriting versus LUVBUG: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterTwinkl Formation & HandwritingLUVBUG
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.4 (64 ratings)4.6 (28 ratings) — better
Positive reviews41.2% of reviews91.5% of reviews — better
Number of ratings64 — better28
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 10 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS16.016.0
Further details — not scored
Size228 MB1.5 GB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperTwinkl LimitedBigFatBrainStorm Group Ltd.

Customer experience

Twinkl Formation & Handwriting

All ratings64 ratings
Positive85.9%
Neutral3.1%
Negative10.9%
Written reviews17 reviews
Positive41.2%
Neutral23.5%
Negative35.3%

LUVBUG

All ratings26 ratings
Positive92.3%
Neutral0.0%
Negative7.7%
Written reviews59 reviews
Positive91.5%
Neutral0.0%
Negative8.5%

Bugs and requests

Twinkl Formation & Handwriting

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

LUVBUG

Reported bugs

6 issues
  • App does not load
  • Blurry rendering
  • Questions interject at strange times
  • Video skips backward
  • Charged twice for free trial
Show 1 more
  • Cannot unlock new stuff/levels

Requested features

7 requests
  • Improve question variety and logic
  • Make games more relevant to emotions
  • Enhance game controls for better accuracy
  • Refine video content to better illustrate lessons
  • Ensure accurate trial period billing
Show 2 more
  • Improve app loading times
  • Unlock new content/levels more clearly

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Twinkl Formation & Handwriting

Subscriptions2
  • Twinkl Monthly Subscription$0.491 Month
  • Annual Subscription$2.991 Year
10 purchases

LUVBUG

Subscriptions8
  • One additional user$3.991 Month
  • Monthly Plan$9.991 Month
  • Five additional users$19.991 Month
Show 5 more
  • One Additional User$35.991 Year
  • Annual Plan 50% Off3 Days trial$59.991 Year
  • Mini Plan$62.996 Months
  • Mini Plan Trial3 Days trial$77.996 Months
  • Annual Plan3 Days trial$95.991 Year
One-time2
  • Additional Users-Lifetime Plan$89.00
  • LifeTime Plan$149.00

Questions

Is Twinkl Formation & Handwriting free?
Twinkl Formation & Handwriting is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is LUVBUG free?
LUVBUG is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Twinkl Formation & Handwriting or LUVBUG?
LUVBUG is rated higher. Twinkl Formation & Handwriting averages 4.4 out of 5 from 64 ratings, while LUVBUG averages 4.6 from 28 ratings.
Do Twinkl Formation & Handwriting or LUVBUG have ads?
Neither Twinkl Formation & Handwriting nor LUVBUG shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Twinkl Formation & Handwriting or LUVBUG?
Twinkl Formation & Handwriting ships an update every 2 months, and LUVBUG every 10 days. Most recently, Twinkl Formation & Handwriting was updated on November 7, 2026 and LUVBUG on November 3, 2026.

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