Comparison

Counting Bear vs Writing Wizard

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

Head to head
About

Counting Bear

This educational game helps young children learn to count from 1 to 20 through interactive sight, sound, and touch. It allows for personalization with custom voices and items, offering a multi-sensory learning experience for ages 0 to 6.

Highlights
  • Learn numbers 1-20
  • Count objects by sight
  • Count by touch with audio feedback
  • Add custom voice recordings
  • Personalize with own photos
  • Adjustable difficulty
  • Multi-sensory learning
Features
Read full description

Endorsed by parents, teachers, and toddlers. Grasshopper Apps = Top Educational Apps for Kids :-) Warning: Your child will keep begging for your iPhone or iPad after they try this app. Counting Bear is an exciting educational game that helps your child rapidly learn how to count by sight, sound, and touch. The interface is so easy to use that even a 6 month old baby will delight in using this app. Ideal for ages 0 to 6. FEATURES: ● Learn how to count from 1 to 20 - you decide exactly what numbers to teach ● Learn how to recognize numbers by counting objects ● Learn how to count by touch - each time an item is counted the child will hear the number ● Add your own voice - now your toddler can learn everything in mommy's or daddy's voice ● Add your own items - take pictures of your child's favorite items to make the game more fun and personal ● Uses real, crisp photographs that are carefully hand picked and selected vs. cartoonish illustrations ● Fun & engaging voice artist keeps kids engaged ● Dynamic game play adjust difficulty (the number of objects per page) progressively or randomly based on user preferences ● Wrong answers do not interfere with gameplay, the child can immediately try again and touch the correct answer (most other games are too slow to keep kids interested by slowly repeating the desired question). ● Multi-sensory learning tool - combining audio, voice, and written words ● Don't like some of the existing items... no problem, just delete any item your kids does not enjoy ● Multi-language support - since you can edit existing items and add new items, you can record everything in your native tongue HEROIC SUPPORT Heroic Support is not just what we do.  It's really what makes us, well, us.  It's that drive to make a difference in your life - no matter how big or small.  Really, it's our way of life because we want you to be our customer for a lifetime of fun and learning. Have questions?  We are here to help.  Email us at support@grasshopperapps.com

About

Writing Wizard

This app helps children learn to trace letters, numbers, and words with a fun, motivating system. It offers customizable tracing, interactive games, and progress reports for parents and educators.

Highlights
  • Customizable tracing practice
  • Interactive games and rewards
  • Letter names and phonics
  • Create custom word lists
  • Progress reports
  • Printable worksheets
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

"Fantastic, customizable tracing practice with fun rewards." 5 Stars - Common Sense Media 470,000+ units sold (including 260,000 to schools) ! Writing Wizard is designed to help every child learn how to trace letters, numbers, and words through a fun system carefully designed to maintain motivation. • Show and enforce how to trace letters correctly • 16 Fonts available (including 3 most popular USA fonts) • Fun tracing using 50+ animated stickers, sound effects and interactive games that animate letters at the end of tracing • Letter names and phonics • Uppercase & lowercase letters, numbers and words • Ability to create your own word lists (and record audio for each word) • Fully customizable to suit every child’s needs (letter size, difficulty,...) • Check progress thanks to reports that display what the child has traced • Shapes tracing activity for toddlers • Create PDF Worksheets and print them to help your child to write on paper • Use Apple pencil to write at very small size _______ ACCOLADES • "Writing Wizard is the most complete and intelligent letter tracing app we’ve seen"" AppoLearning.com • "This brand-new app should be the go-to for every parent, teacher and therapist to work on handwriting" - TOP PICKS - 5 stars - SmartAppsForKids.com • "Writing Wizard by L’Escapadou is everything a parent wants in a handwriting app, and more." 5/5 - kids-app-reviews.com • "L’Escapadou has made handwriting fun." AppyMall.com 5/5 • Listed in "20 best educational iPhone and iPad apps for kids of 2013" - appsplayground.com • Editor's Choice Award for Excellence in Design - Children's Technology Review _______ PERFECT FOR KIDS Kids want to have fun, and Writing Wizard offers a lot of fun to keep them motivated in the learning process ! • They can trace using 50+ animated stickers and sound effects • Once tracing is complete, they can interact with them on 4 games that animate letters • They can trace any word - like their name - and record their voice for each word • They can collect stars in 5-Stars play mode _______ PERFECT FOR PARENTS & TEACHERS • Ability to create your own word lists (and record audio for each word) • Detailed reports provide information on what kids have done, including the ability to replay and export the tracings to view kids' progress • Share word lists via iCloud drive or other cloud providers, adhoc network, or email • Multiple parameters to customize the app according to the child’s current education level (e.g. letter size, difficulty, show/hide model, allow to stop between key points, etc.) • 3 most popular fonts in the US (ZB, DN & HWT) and 13 international fonts (UK, Scandinavia,Australia, germany, France) • Upper and lower case letters, numbers (and word lists) • Letter names and phonics (which can be customized) • A customizable 5-Stars play mode prompting the child to trace a letter or a word 5 times using different parameters (each step is more challenging) • Create an unlimited number of users • Many settings to customize the app (sound, game time limit, black background,...) • In the A-Z section, special graphics available to match letters (e.g. ant graphic for A/a) _______ Note that a free to try version is available (search for "Writing Wizard -Starter" on the App Store) _______ Privacy Policy KNOW WHAT'S INSIDE As a Moms with Apps member, we follow the "Know what's inside" best practices for kids’ apps L’Escapadou takes children’s privacy seriously. We believe you should not have to worry about your kids being tracked by apps or websites. This app: • Does not collect any user information (we do not use data collection tools) • Does not contain in-app purchases • External Links: Protected parent sections are available where you can send us a mail and check out our others apps. Before accessing a parent section, an addition must be solved so that young kids cannot access it. *

Screenshots

Counting Bear4 screens
Writing Wizard4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Counting Bear at $0.99 against Writing Wizard's $13.99. Counting Bear also leads on update cadence (monthly vs every 4 months) and iOS requirement (8.0 vs 15.6). Writing Wizard's advantage is ratings volume (3.3K vs 86) and review sentiment (90% vs 76%). On rating, 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

Counting Bear costs $0.99 and Writing Wizard $13.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.5 for Counting Bear against 4.3 for Writing Wizard. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Writing Wizard has 3.3K ratings behind it against 86, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 76% of Counting Bear's written reviews are positive against 90% of Writing Wizard's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Counting Bear ships an update monthly, Writing Wizard every 4 months. Both last shipped on November 1, 2026.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
Counting Bear versus Writing Wizard: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCounting BearWriting Wizard
Price$0.99 — better$13.99
Rating4.5 (86 ratings) — better4.3 (3.3K ratings)
Positive reviews76.1% of reviews89.7% of reviews — better
Number of ratings863.3K — better
Update frequencyMonthly — betterEvery 4 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidPaid
Best chart rank—#131 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS8.0 — better15.6
Further details — not scored
Size15 MB69 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperInnovative Investments LimitedPierre Abel

Customer experience

Counting Bear

All ratings85 ratings
Positive85.9%
Neutral5.9%
Negative8.2%
Written reviews92 reviews
Positive76.1%
Neutral5.4%
Negative18.5%

Writing Wizard

All ratings3,340 ratings
Positive81.8%
Neutral9.5%
Negative8.7%
Written reviews155 reviews
Positive89.7%
Neutral2.6%
Negative7.7%

User reviews

Counting Bear

From 86 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Great for learning to count
  • 🎨 Highly customizable
  • 🗣️ Ability to record own voice
  • 🖼️ Realistic and nice pictures
  • 🧒 Engaging for young children

Room to improve

  • 🐛 App crashes frequently
  • 🐛 Photo loader/custom photos don't work
  • 🐛 App freezes or closes unexpectedly
  • 🔊 Audio issues (no sound, incorrect counting)
  • 🚫 No support from developers

Writing Wizard

From 3.3K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Customizable word lists and recording
  • 🎨 Engaging graphics and animations
  • 🏫 Great for teaching handwriting and spelling
  • 🔒 No ads or in-app purchases
  • 🎓 Helpful for children with special needs

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Occasional crashes or freezing
  • 🔤 Limited font options, especially for UK users
  • 🔒 Difficulty accessing parental controls
  • 🖋️ Apple Pencil not supported
  • 🔄 Difficulty clearing tracing history

Bugs and requests

Counting Bear

Reported bugs

13 issues
  • App crashes when adding own pictures
  • Photo loader doesn't work
  • App crashes when the bear in the corner is touched
  • App freezes and doesn't progress
  • App crashes on launch after update
Show 8 more
  • App opens and closes immediately
  • App crashes on iPad
  • App closes when bear at the bottom is touched
  • App automatically closes when child touches the bear
  • Keeps saying '4' in the background
  • App crashes more often than others
  • Fails to display image on screen occasionally
  • No sound with the app

Requested features

11 requests
  • Allow counting past 20
  • Option to delay voice prompts
  • Landscape view option
  • Confirmation at the end of counting
  • Option to create an endpoint or 'play again'
Show 6 more
  • Customizable upper limit for counting
  • Hear corresponding number when previously counted object is clicked
  • Counting pattern from left to right, top to bottom
  • Fix the issue with the bear in the corner causing crashes
  • Fix the issue with the orange picture showing 1.5 oranges
  • Option to delay voice from saying each number

Writing Wizard

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Incorrect letter formation for some characters
  • Inconsistent performance on older devices

Requested features

6 requests
  • Add more font options, including cursive and UK-specific styles
  • Improve parental control accessibility
  • Integrate Apple Pencil support
  • Allow easier clearing of tracing history
  • Expand character support (e.g., Latin Extended, Cyrillic, Arabic)
Show 1 more
  • Add a free-form writing mode or blank canvas

In-app purchases

None

Counting Bear

No in-app purchases

None

Writing Wizard

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Counting Bear free?
Counting Bear costs $0.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Writing Wizard free?
Writing Wizard costs $13.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Counting Bear or Writing Wizard?
Counting Bear is rated higher. Counting Bear averages 4.5 out of 5 from 86 ratings, while Writing Wizard averages 4.3 from 3.3K ratings.
Do Counting Bear or Writing Wizard have ads?
Neither Counting Bear nor Writing Wizard shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Counting Bear or Writing Wizard?
Counting Bear ships an update monthly, and Writing Wizard every 4 months. Most recently, Counting Bear was updated on November 1, 2026 and Writing Wizard on November 1, 2026.

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