ABC MAGIC PHONICS 2 vs Bluster!
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
ABC MAGIC PHONICS 2
This app teaches early readers the essential sounds of lowercase letters, a foundational skill for reading success. It uses science-backed phonics, engaging visuals, and multi-sensory learning to help children decode words and build a strong reading foundation.
- Master lowercase letter sounds
- Science of Reading based
- Engaging phonetic visuals
- Multi-sensory learning
- Repetition and rhythm
- Distraction-free environment
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ABC MAGIC PHONICS 2 - Learn Letter Sounds the Right Way! Science-Backed Phonics for Early Reading Success! Unlock your child's reading journey with ABC MAGIC PHONICS 2! Built on the foundational Science of Reading, this engaging app focuses on the crucial alphabetic principle, teaching your child the essential sounds of lowercase letters – the key to unlocking reading success. Give your child the fundamental tools they need to become a confident reader. Just as numbers form the basis of math, understanding letter sounds is the cornerstone of reading. By mastering these sounds, your child gains the power to decode words and build a strong reading foundation. ABC Magic Phonics 2 directly addresses the alphabetic principle – the understanding that letters represent sounds and that these sounds can be blended together to form words. Grounded in the Science of Reading, our app prioritizes teaching letter sounds, the most effective way to initiate reading skills. *Master Letter Sounds: Learn the primary sounds of all lowercase letters – the building blocks of 95% of printed text. *Scientifically Sound: Based on the Science of Reading, focusing on the proven method of teaching letter sounds first. *Engaging Visuals: Each letter is paired with four phonetic photo images that clearly represent its sound. *Multi-Sensory Learning: Combines visual (colored letters, photos), auditory (letter sounds, photo names), and kinesthetic (touching to hear) learning. *Repetition & Rhythm: The app's design incorporates repetition and rhythm to aid memorization of letter sounds. *Lowercase Focus: Smartly prioritizes lowercase letters, which make up the vast majority of written words. *Distraction-Free Learning: All unnecessary elements are removed, allowing your child to concentrate on letter-sound associations. *Builds on Prior Learning: A natural progression for children who may have used previous apps in the series. *Prepares for Future Reading: Lays a solid foundation for more advanced phonics skills and reading fluency. Give your child a smart start! Unlike traditional methods, ABC Magic Phonics 2 focuses on lowercase letters first. Why? Because 95% of the words in books and periodicals are in lowercase. By prioritizing these essential letters, you're maximizing your child's learning efficiency. Children actively engage by touching letters to hear their sounds and touching photos to hear their names. This auditory reinforcement, combined with clear visual associations, makes learning fun and effective. Young learners will enjoy repeating the sounds they hear, solidifying their understanding. Created by a team of experienced educators using accelerated learning techniques and Montessori principles, ABC Magic Phonics 2 has been rigorously tested and loved by preschool children. Help us make learning even better! Please share your feedback and suggestions as we continue to improve ABC Magic Phonics 2. Give your child the magic of phonics! Download ABC Magic Phonics 2 today and set them on the path to reading success!
Bluster!
This word matching game enhances vocabulary and word comprehension for school-aged children and adults. Engage in single-player practice, team collaboration, or competitive head-to-head battles with weather-themed attacks. It offers over 800 words and various skill-building activities.
- Vocabulary building
- Word matching
- Single-player mode
- Two-player collaboration
- Head-to-head versus mode
- Over 800 vocabulary words
- Grade-level appropriate content
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Breeze through vocabulary building with Bluster! This word matching game develops vocabulary and word understanding for school-aged children, or anyone brave enough to battle the elements. Shine bright in single-player mode as you learn and practice important word skills. Match rhyming words, prefixes and suffixes, synonyms, homophones, adjectives, and more. Collaborate with a friend in team mode. The multi-touch iPad screen allows both players to play simultaneously, so you can work together to weather the vocabulary storm. Switch to versus mode and play head-to-head for the ultimate test of your lightning quickness. Disrupt your opponent with weather attacks like tornadoes and blizzards - it’s thunderous fun and just might give you the edge you need to reign supreme! Bluster includes over 800 vocabulary words. Players choose a skill to practice and then try to make matches of three. Ten matches wins a round. Features: • Three different play modes - including two-player action. • A variety of grade level appropriate content. • Engaging animated gameplay with sound effects. • Head-to-head and High Scores tables. • Plays on the iPad in both landscape and portrait mode. • In app purchases for additional vocabulary. ***** Want to get all the vocabulary packs? Consider Bluster Deluxe! *****
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ratings volume: ABC MAGIC PHONICS 2 at 717 against Bluster!'s 8. ABC MAGIC PHONICS 2 also leads on device support (3 vs 1). Bluster!'s advantage is iOS requirement (8.0 vs 12.0). On price, rating, review sentiment and update cadence 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
Both are free to download. ABC MAGIC PHONICS 2 sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Bluster! sells 7 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Bluster! holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 4.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: ABC MAGIC PHONICS 2 has 717 ratings behind it against 8, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 72% and 73% positive.
ABC MAGIC PHONICS 2 ships an update every 12 months, Bluster! every 13 months. The most recent releases landed on November 10, 2026 and November 6, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | ABC MAGIC PHONICS 2 | Bluster! |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.3 (717 ratings) | 4.5 (8 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 72.2% of reviews | 72.7% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 717 — better | 8 |
| Update frequency | Every 12 months — better | Every 13 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPad |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 | 8.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 109 MB | 21 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | PRESCHOOL UNIVERSITY | McGraw-Hill School Education Group |
Customer experience
ABC MAGIC PHONICS 2
Bluster!
Bugs and requests
ABC MAGIC PHONICS 2
Reported bugs
2 issues- App crashes immediately when tapping on letters
- App crashes upon opening and selecting content
Requested features
3 requests- Display both uppercase and lowercase letters
- Correct the color of the letter 'h' to red
- Ensure letter pronunciation audio is clear and functional
Bluster!
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
ABC MAGIC PHONICS 2
- Full Version$1.99
Bluster!
- Base Words$0.99
- Extra Rhyming Words2 variants$0.99
- Extra Prefixes$0.99
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- Extra Synonyms$0.99
- Extra Words2 variants$0.99
- Extra Word Roots$0.99
- Extra Adjectives$0.99
Questions
Is ABC MAGIC PHONICS 2 free?
Is Bluster! free?
Which has better reviews, ABC MAGIC PHONICS 2 or Bluster!?
Do ABC MAGIC PHONICS 2 or Bluster! have ads?
Which is updated more often, ABC MAGIC PHONICS 2 or Bluster!?
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