Comparison

MathTappers vs Inference Ace

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

Head to head
About

MathTappers

This game helps learners master addition and subtraction facts through engaging visual and symbolic models. It offers two modes to support both younger and older learners in building accuracy and speed with basic math concepts.

Highlights
  • Addition and subtraction fact mastery
  • Visual grid mode for younger learners
  • Symbolic part-part-whole model
  • Focus on sense-making and accuracy
  • Develops fluency and recall speed
  • Supports understanding of fact families
Features
Read full description

MathTappers: Find Sums – learn basic facts for addition and subtraction Version 2.0 Description MathTappers: Find Sums is a simple game designed to help learners to make sense of addition (and subtraction), and then to support them in developing accuracy and improving their speed. Please go to MathTappers.com for additional information on all of our apps. For Parents: There are two modes provided to support your child as they play the game. The first mode is designed for younger learners and uses a picture of a grid in which apples are placed and both apples and blank spaces can easily be counted. The goal is to choose a pair of numbers that cause all of the un-shaded spaces to be filled with apples. The second mode uses a symbolic part-part-whole model designed to help older learners to efficiently and accurately recognize addition and subtraction facts. In this mode the goal is to pick two numbers that when placed in the top spaces add together to equal the value in the bottom space. The focus should always be on sense-making and accuracy before speed. Ask your child to explain how they know what the other number should be and what strategies they are using. Remember that this game is not intended to replace instruction – but rather to supplement it with a self-paced activity to support mastery and fluency. Mastering the concepts of addition and subtraction and building fluency in recalling the basic associations presented in this game are essential to success in later mathematics. Fluency is an individual attribute – challenge yourself with the game to get a sense of what levels of fluency you might expect your child to achieve. For Educators: MathTappers: Find Sums is designed to help learners to master basic addition and subtraction facts with understanding and then to encourage them to continue playing to develop efficient strategies and eventually improve their recall speed (fluency). This app doesn’t rely on the ‘magic’ of flash cards but rather presents useful models to support learners as they make sense of addition and subtraction. Although the game appears to be focused only on addition – subtraction is an inherent part of their activity and learning. Learners using this app are developing a sense of the relationship between two addends and a sum - providing them with opportunities to master both addition and subtraction facts concurrently. You cannot really understand that 7+3=10 or 3+7=10 without also understanding the rest of the fact family – i.e., that 10-7=3 and 10-3=7. It is expected that working with groups of fact families that share a common sum (e.g., sum to 10) will help learners to make connections between these families and synergistically enhance their mastery process. About: Design: Tim Pelton & Leslee Francis Pelton Programming: Mike Anderson, Joshua E Smith, Chris Rail & Garrett Reimer The designers of the MathTappers Apps are math educators and researchers seeking to create simple games that will help learners to make sense of mathematics one concept at a time. In each App we try to present at least one useful visual model to support learners as they strive to master the challenges presented. The regular version of each app is provided to users for free and is designed to be useful as-is. In addition, most MathTappers Apps offer an option to expand the feature set for a minimal fee. Revenues received from these upgrades will be used to support research on the educational utility of MathTappers Apps and further refinement and expansion of the MathTappers App collection. Play, Explore and Understand! Tim Pelton Web Site MathTappers: Find Sums – a math game to help children learn basic facts for addition and subtraction Support

About

Inference Ace

This app helps children in grades 2-5 improve their reading comprehension by teaching inference skills step-by-step. It uses a game-like environment with over 450 examples and a reward center to keep kids engaged. Detailed reporting is available for up to 10 students.

Highlights
  • Step-by-step inference skill building
  • Game-like environment with reward center
  • Over 450 examples designed by teachers
  • Detailed reporting for multiple students
  • Incremental learning with unlocked levels
  • Guided learning for reduced frustration
Features
Read full description

** Winner of prestigious Mom's Choice Award! Featured on Appolicious.com, iHeartThisApp.com ** Inference Ace helps kids who have trouble with reading comprehension. The app builds inference skills step-by-step until mastery in a fun, game-like environment. ***** 5 Stars - Nice app for practicing inference. Tons of examples. ***** 5 Stars - My son struggles with comprehension and doesn't like reading long passages. This app teaches a high level of skill in a format he enjoys. Thanks! Inference Ace is targeted to children in Grades 2-5 who can read the words (decode), but don't understand what they read. With over 450 examples, a fun and engaging reward center to increase motivation, and content designed by professional teachers and researchers, this app is bound to capture the attention of your kids. Best of all, there is detailed reporting for up to 10 students to meet the needs of teachers, therapists and parents. Key Features: - Incremental learning. New levels are unlocked only when your child is ready. - Guided learning for less frustration. Your child will always be guided to the correct answer. - Fun and engaging Reward Center to increase motivation. - Contains over 450 examples, with content designed by professional teachers and researchers. - Inferences are taught from multiple perspectives: what inferences are possible, which are not possible, multiple inferences per sentence, etc. - Our own Smart Sentence technology is used to infinitely vary the examples to prevent learning by rote. - Advanced levels include timers to ensure fluency. Research shows fluency in the foundation skills is critical to reading comprehension. Our apps are designed for and tested by typical and special needs children. Testers include children with Autism and other special needs. Our apps work for them! The free version of this app has 4 free levels for a single player. Remaining levels are unlocked by a single in-app purchase. Additional players can be purchased separately through an in-app purchase. Check out 'Inference Ace School Edition' if you prefer no in-app purchases. We are a member of the Moms with Apps program. We collect NO private information in our app, and our apps do not allow unrestricted web access. Inferencing is a key component of reading comprehension. If you can't infer fluently, you can't understand the story. Help your child now by getting started with our Inference Ace app. While you're at it, check out our other apps that target WH questions, identifying inference clues and identifying the main idea of a sentence or paragraph. We take customer service very seriously! If you ever have a problem or find that we've missed something, contact us at our website and we will do our best to fix the problem. ** Note: Inference Ace and Inference Clues intentionally use similar data sets. However, different skills are targeted. Also, when working through this app, you will encounter different variants of the same examples many times as we teach our players to derive multiple inferences from a single sentence -- just like expert readers do. This is an intentional feature, not a bug :-)

Screenshots

MathTappers4 screens
Inference Ace4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: MathTappers at none against Inference Ace's 3. Inference Ace's advantage is update cadence (every 7 months vs every 18 months). On price, rating, review sentiment and ratings volume 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. Inference Ace sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. MathTappers asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 3.7 for MathTappers against 3.6 for Inference Ace. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 52 and 21 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 83% of MathTappers's written reviews are positive against 89% of Inference Ace's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

MathTappers ships an update every 18 months, Inference Ace every 7 months. The most recent releases landed on October 3, 2026 and October 15, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
MathTappers versus Inference Ace: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMathTappersInference Ace
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.7 (52 ratings) — better3.6 (21 ratings)
Positive reviews83.3% of reviews88.6% of reviews — better
Number of ratings52 — better21
Update frequencyEvery 18 monthsEvery 7 months — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS13.012.2 — better
Further details — not scored
Size26 MB22 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperJoshua SmithJanine Toole

Customer experience

MathTappers

All ratings52 ratings
Positive59.6%
Neutral19.2%
Negative21.2%
Written reviews12 reviews
Positive83.3%
Neutral0.0%
Negative16.7%

Inference Ace

All ratings21 ratings
Positive66.7%
Neutral4.8%
Negative28.6%
Written reviews35 reviews
Positive88.6%
Neutral5.7%
Negative5.7%

In-app purchases

None

MathTappers

No in-app purchases

3 purchases

Inference Ace

One-time3
  • Upgrade to 2 Players$1.99
  • Inference Ace: Buy All Levels$2.99
  • Upgrade to 10 Players$2.99

Questions

Is MathTappers free?
MathTappers is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Inference Ace free?
Inference Ace is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, MathTappers or Inference Ace?
MathTappers is rated higher. MathTappers averages 3.7 out of 5 from 52 ratings, while Inference Ace averages 3.6 from 21 ratings.
Do MathTappers or Inference Ace have ads?
Neither MathTappers nor Inference Ace shows ads.
Which is updated more often, MathTappers or Inference Ace?
MathTappers ships an update every 18 months, and Inference Ace every 7 months. Most recently, MathTappers was updated on October 3, 2026 and Inference Ace on October 15, 2026.

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