Bluster! vs ABC SPELLING MAGIC
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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! *****
ABC SPELLING MAGIC
This educational app helps children learn to spell CVC words using the principles of the Science of Reading. It focuses on letter sounds and word construction with two levels of challenge, aiding early literacy development.
- Teaches letter sounds
- Word construction with CVC words
- Two levels of challenge
- Incorporates Science of Reading principles
- Montessori-inspired learning
- Customizable voice and font options (DELUXE)
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Introducing ABC Spelling Magic, where learning to spell is fun and engaging! ABC SPELLING MAGIC incorporates the main principles of the Science of Reading. This app is designed to teach children the sounds of the letters and how to construct words, aligning with the science of reading. With two levels of challenge, it indirectly imparts the essential reading skill of segmenting while focusing on the skill of learning to spell words with three phonetic sounds using short vowel words. Incorporating the science of reading, the app's comprehensive approach is tailored to assist children in learning the sounds of the alphabet and honing their blending and segmenting skills, essential for early literacy development based on the science of reading. SPELLING MAGIC 1 focuses on CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words, such as cat, box, and pig, which are fundamental for phonics instruction based on the science of reading. The app categorizes words by middle vowel sounds in the first part and by categories in the second part, offering a well-rounded approach to phonics and word construction, rooted in the principles of the science of reading. The DELUXE version provides 245 words and offers a variety of options in the menu, including two types of voices, three types of fonts, two letter color styles, a special feature to connect the letters together, and over 185 additional words from the free version, enhancing the learning experience based on the principles of the science of reading. Developed by a team of educators utilizing accelerated learning techniques and Montessori principles, this app has been tested and approved by preschoolers, aligning with the science of reading and providing an enjoyable and beneficial experience in learning letter sounds. We welcome your feedback and suggestions as we strive to provide an enriching educational experience for young learners, rooted in the science of reading.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Bluster! at 4.5 against ABC SPELLING MAGIC's 3.8. Bluster! also leads on iOS requirement (8.0 vs 12.4). ABC SPELLING MAGIC's advantage is update cadence (every 6 weeks vs every 13 months) and review sentiment (94% vs 73%). 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
Both are free to download. Bluster! sells 7 one-off in-app purchases and ABC SPELLING MAGIC sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Bluster! holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 3.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: ABC SPELLING MAGIC has 42 ratings behind it against 8, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 73% of Bluster!'s written reviews are positive against 94% of ABC SPELLING MAGIC's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Bluster! ships an update every 13 months, ABC SPELLING MAGIC every 6 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and November 1, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Bluster! | ABC SPELLING MAGIC |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.5 (8 ratings) — better | 3.8 (42 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 72.7% of reviews | 94.2% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 8 | 42 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 13 months | Every 6 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 8.0 — better | 12.4 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 21 MB | 132 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | McGraw-Hill School Education Group | PRESCHOOL UNIVERSITY |
Customer experience
Bluster!
ABC SPELLING MAGIC
Bugs and requests
Bluster!
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
ABC SPELLING MAGIC
Reported bugs
2 issues- Letters will not move to be dragged into place
- Screen freezing
Requested features
8 requests- Ability to hear the full word, slowly articulated
- Option for English accent
- Vowels in red and consonants in blue
- More advanced content
- Animated graphics for interactivity
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- Option to pick letters from the full alphabet
- Improve sound quality
- Improve graphics and sounds
In-app purchases
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
ABC SPELLING MAGIC
- Deluxe Upgrade$1.99
Questions
Is Bluster! free?
Is ABC SPELLING MAGIC free?
Which has better reviews, Bluster! or ABC SPELLING MAGIC?
Do Bluster! or ABC SPELLING MAGIC have ads?
Which is updated more often, Bluster! or ABC SPELLING MAGIC?
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