Comparison

Starfall ABCs vs Glider Guide

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

Head to head
About

Starfall ABCs

This app offers a free introduction to foundational reading skills, featuring interactive activities that engage children through sight, sound, and play. It's designed to help young learners recognize letters and develop essential reading abilities, with special considerations for English language learners and children with disabilities.

Highlights
  • Interactive letter and sound activities
  • Positive reinforcement and play-based learning
  • Develops letter recognition
  • Builds foundational reading skills
  • Accessible for children with impairments
Features
Read full description

Starfall® ABCs is the first step of Starfall’s Learn to Read phonics sequence, which teaches the foundational skills for learning to read. Step 1: ABCs Step 2: Learn to Read Step 3: It’s Fun to Read Step 4: I’m Reading! Starfall ABCs helps children master letter recognition in a stress-free environment through exploration, positive reinforcement, and play. Children delight as they see, hear, and interact with colorful imagery carefully matched to letters and sounds. By mastering these letter-sound relationships, they develop the skills they need to become confident, independent readers. Travel-ready. No internet connection required. Find Starfall ABCs, along with 700+ additional activities and counting across reading, math, music, and more in the Starfall app. The Starfall website and applications are program services of Starfall Education Foundation, a 501(c)(3) publicly supported nonprofit organization. Starfall® and Starfall.com® are registered trademarks in the US, the European Union, and various other countries. Copyright © 2002–2026 by Starfall Education. All rights reserved. Starfall apps are inclusively designed to support all children, including English Language Learners (ELLs). Starfall also provides an Enhanced Accessible Index for children with visual, hearing, or mobility impairments. For more information, please contact Customer Service at (+1) 303-417-6414.

About

Glider Guide

Explore five real-world terrains in the US and learn about various land and water features. Test your knowledge with in-game assessments after each flight. Offers both first-person and top-down perspectives for immersive learning.

Highlights
  • Explore real-world US terrains
  • Learn about 11 land/water features
  • First-person and top-down views
  • In-game knowledge assessments
  • Educational simulation
Features
Read full description

Soar above five real world terrains in the United States while learning about different types of land and water features. Observe eleven different land and water features including: mountains, plains, lakes, oceans, and mesas. View terrain maps from first-person and top-down view. Test your knowledge of land and water features after every flight with an in-game assessment.

Screenshots

Starfall ABCs4 screens
Glider Guide3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Glider Guide at 5.0 against Starfall ABCs's 4.2. Glider Guide also leads on update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 7 months) and iOS requirement (7.0 vs 15.0). Starfall ABCs's advantage is ratings volume (478 vs 3). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Glider Guide holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Starfall ABCs has 478 ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Starfall ABCs ships an update every 7 months, Glider Guide every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 10, 2026 and November 3, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Starfall ABCs versus Glider Guide: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterStarfall ABCsGlider Guide
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.2 (478 ratings)5.0 (3 ratings) — better
Positive reviews62.1% of reviews—
Number of ratings478 — better3
Update frequencyEvery 7 monthsEvery 2 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.07.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size62 MB534 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperStarfall Education FoundationSmithsonian Institution

Customer experience

Starfall ABCs

All ratings476 ratings
Positive76.9%
Neutral7.8%
Negative15.3%
Written reviews203 reviews
Positive62.1%
Neutral6.4%
Negative31.5%

Glider Guide

All ratings3 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

Starfall ABCs

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Black screen issues
  • Repeated crashes and freezing
  • Incompatibility with latest iOS updates
  • Inability to exit app on certain devices

Requested features

5 requests
  • Expand app to include more Starfall website features
  • Add more advanced learning content beyond just ABCs
  • Improve compatibility and stability across devices
  • Integrate voice assistant and accessibility features
  • Address gender representation issues in content

Glider Guide

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Starfall ABCs

No in-app purchases

None

Glider Guide

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Starfall ABCs free?
Starfall ABCs is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Glider Guide free?
Glider Guide is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Starfall ABCs or Glider Guide?
Glider Guide is rated higher. Starfall ABCs averages 4.2 out of 5 from 478 ratings, while Glider Guide averages 5.0 from 3 ratings.
Do Starfall ABCs or Glider Guide have ads?
Neither Starfall ABCs nor Glider Guide shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Starfall ABCs or Glider Guide?
Starfall ABCs ships an update every 7 months, and Glider Guide every 2 weeks. Most recently, Starfall ABCs was updated on November 10, 2026 and Glider Guide on November 3, 2026.

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