Alphablocks, How to Write vs Nookly
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Alphablocks, How to Write
This app uses animated characters to teach children how to write letters and numbers. It features a guided learning path with pre-writing exercises, letter families, and tracing practice with rhymes. The app is designed by educational experts and is ad-free.
- Pre-writing line practice
- Letter families based on shape
- Scaffolded learning trajectory
- Letter and numeral tracing
- Writing rhymes for memorization
- Adventure-based learning
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Alphablocks and Numberblocks, How to Write is a hands-on, fun way for children to learn to write, packed with brand new Writing Magic. Imagine if the letters of the alphabet and numbers came to life to teach your child how to write... This is exactly what happens in How to Write! Join your favourite characters from the hit CBeebies shows, Alphablocks and Numberblocks, as they find their way home, helping children practice fine motor skills and letter formation accompanied by catchy rhymes along the way. This app is brought to you by top educators and experts in play from the BAFTA award-winning creators of Numberblocks and Blue Zoo animation studios. How does Alphablocks and Numberblocks, How to Write help your child? "Alphablocks and Numberblocks, How to Write helps children build confidence as they practice fine motor skills covering the foundational line shapes that they will need to form letters. The journey is carefully scaffolded, taking children through generic practice lines, pre-letter lines and letter formation. A brilliant app!" Professor Kate Ruttle, Early Years Writing expert and advisor to Alphablocks Ltd. 1. Carefully scaffolded learning trajectory, designed by top literacy educators and experts in play. 2. This app is fun, educational and safe, being COPPA and GDPR-K compliant and 100% ad-free. 3. All presented through a safe, 100% ad-free, digital game for your child to explore. Featuring… - Pre-writing lines to help children practice fine motor skills. - Letters are carefully broken down into four letter families, based on similarities of shape: Bouncy, Straight Line, Curly and Zigzag letter families. - Within each letter family, letters are introduced with the simplest first, so children can build up their skills confidently. - Pre-letter lines help children to repeat the key movement in each letter and numeral, as carefully specified by our literacy experts. - Letter and numeral tracing practice, accompanied by special writing rhymes for each letter of the alphabet and numbers 0-9 help children to remember the movements! - A fun adventure, helping each Alphablock and Numberblock find their way home... and ultimately customising their home with a fun surprise! Privacy & Safety At Blue Zoo Productions Ltd. and Alphablocks Ltd., your child’s privacy and safety is the first priority for us. There are no ads in the app and we will never share personal information with any 3rd parties or sell this on. You can find out more in our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service: Privacy Policy: https://www.learningblocks.tv/privacy-policy Terms of Service: https://www.learningblocks.tv/terms-of-service
Nookly
This app offers personalized learning experiences for children aged 2-12, creating custom stories, songs, and tools based on specific learning goals. It helps with emotional development, reading skills, social interaction, and daily routines.
- Personalized stories starring the child
- Custom songs and lullabies
- Emotion and picture cards
- Visual schedules for routines
- Content creation tool
- Weekly resource delivery
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PUT YOUR CHILD AT THE HEART OF THEIR LEARNING Nookly is an AI-powered personalized learning platform for children, typically ages 2–11. It turns your child's goals, interests, questions, family, routines, and real-life moments into personalized learning plans and experiences created around them. THEY'RE NOT JUST WATCHING. THEY'RE PART OF IT. Your child can become the main character in a personalized story, hear songs shaped around what they love, and explore games, activities, printables, and visual resources that reflect their world. Bring in the people, pets, places, interests, and moments that matter to them. Nookly's personalization goes beyond adding a name to a template—it uses the context you choose to provide to make learning feel relevant to your child. TURN ONE GOAL INTO A WORLD OF LEARNING Tell Nookly what you want to help your child learn, practice, understand, or feel more confident doing. Nookly's AI planning and creation engine, called the Imagineer, can turn that Goal into a finite, personalized learning plan—a Blueprint—with connected experiences designed around the same outcome. A Goal could be: • Build confidence reading aloud • Managing big feelings • Understand a solar eclipse • Practice saving and spending • Make tooth brushing easier • Feel more confident before soccer practice Instead of one disconnected activity, your child gets a world of stories, songs, games, activities, and ideas built around where they are going. MAKE SOMETHING FOR THE MOMENT YOU'RE IN Not every need requires a longer plan. Start with one sentence, question, topic, or real-life moment, and create one personalized experience on demand. "Make tooth brushing easier for Leo, who loves astronauts." "Help Maya build confidence reading aloud." "Show Noah why the sun disappears during a solar eclipse." Start with almost nothing, or add more detail when you want more control. LEARNING AS UNIQUE AS THEIR WORLD From reading, math, and science to routines, life skills, creativity, confidence, and emotional growth, Nookly helps families make learning personal. A child's Nook is their personalized, adult-configured library of Nookly experiences—made around who they are, what they love, and what you want to help them work toward. PURPOSEFUL SCREEN TIME, GUIDED BY YOU Nookly replaces the logic of an endless entertainment feed with a purpose chosen by you. Experiences are personalized, finite, free of child-facing ads and autoplay, and designed to connect the screen to reading together, conversation, practice, routines, experiments, and imaginative play. The screen is a bridge to learning and real life, not the destination. You know your child—the questions they ask, the characters they love, the routines they are building, and the person they are becoming. Start with one sentence. Build a world of learning around them. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://nookly.com/privacy-policy
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Nookly at Free against Alphablocks, How to Write's $3.99. Nookly also leads on rating (5.0 vs 3.8) and update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 5 months). Alphablocks, How to Write's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 4) and ratings volume (22 vs 1). On ads 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
Nookly is free to download; Alphablocks, How to Write costs $3.99 up front. Nookly sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $8.99 per month. Alphablocks, How to Write asks for nothing beyond the download.
Nookly holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Alphablocks, How to Write has 22 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.
Alphablocks, How to Write ships an update every 5 months, Nookly every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 23, 2026 and September 9, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Alphablocks, How to Write | Nookly |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $3.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 3.8 (22 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 55.6% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 22 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 5 months | Every 2 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Paid | Freemium — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 — better | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 323 MB | 440 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Blue-Zoo | Nookly, Inc. |
Customer experience
Alphablocks, How to Write
Nookly
In-app purchases
Alphablocks, How to Write
No in-app purchases
Nookly
- Starter$8.991 Month
- Champion$14.991 Month
- Starter$89.991 Year
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- Champion$99.991 Year
Questions
Is Alphablocks, How to Write free?
Is Nookly free?
Which has better reviews, Alphablocks, How to Write or Nookly?
Do Alphablocks, How to Write or Nookly have ads?
Which is updated more often, Alphablocks, How to Write or Nookly?
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