Comparison

Bluster! vs HB Phonological Awareness

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

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • Vocabulary building
  • Word matching
  • Single-player mode
  • Two-player collaboration
  • Head-to-head versus mode
  • Over 800 vocabulary words
  • Grade-level appropriate content
Features
Read full description

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! *****

About

HB Phonological Awareness

This educational app helps students improve listening and phonological awareness skills through interactive sound-based activities. Students learn to segment, blend, and manipulate sounds to build a virtual rock band, with a multi-level program that gradually increases in difficulty.

Highlights
  • Targets nine phonological awareness skills
  • Systematic sound segmentation and blending
  • Multi-level program with increasing difficulty
  • Monitors progress and provides feedback
  • Teaches listening skills for reading
  • Customizable program settings
Features
Read full description

HearBuilder is available for all users—families, educators, therapists, schools, and districts. Anyone with a HearBuilder subscription can access the full program. HearBuilder Phonological Awareness gives students a systematic, engaging way to build phonological awareness and listening skills. As they learn to segment, blend, and manipulate sounds, students earn instruments and band members to form the rock group The Phonemix, turning skill practice into a fun musical adventure. Program Features • Targets nine essential phonological awareness skills: Sentence Segmentation, Syllable Blending, Syllable Segmentation, Rhyming, Phoneme Blending, Phoneme Segmentation & Identification, Phoneme Deletion, Phoneme Addition, and Phoneme Manipulation • Multi level activities that gradually increase in difficulty • Builds foundational listening and sound awareness skills needed for early reading • Supports learners at a wide range of skill levels • Tracks progress and provides frequent feedback to keep students motivated HearBuilder Online (my.hearbuilder.com) • Access all four HearBuilder programs: Following Directions, Phonological Awareness, Auditory Memory, and Sequencing • Monitor progress and track student performance • Individualize each student’s settings and difficulty levels • Add adjustable background noise to increase challenge • Customize and print detailed reports

Screenshots

HB Phonological Awareness4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Bluster! at 4.5 against HB Phonological Awareness's 3.4. Bluster! also leads on iOS requirement (8.0 vs 15.0). HB Phonological Awareness's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 9) and update cadence (every 2 months vs every 13 months). On price, review sentiment and ads 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. Bluster! sells 7 one-off in-app purchases. HB Phonological Awareness asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Bluster! holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 3.4. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 8 and 24 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 73% of Bluster!'s written reviews are positive against 67% of HB Phonological Awareness's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Bluster! ships an update every 13 months, HB Phonological Awareness every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 15, 2026 and October 6, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
Bluster! versus HB Phonological Awareness: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBluster!HB Phonological Awareness
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.5 (8 ratings) — better3.4 (24 ratings)
Positive reviews72.7% of reviews — better66.7% of reviews
Number of ratings824 — better
Update frequencyEvery 13 monthsEvery 2 months — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS8.0 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size21 MB227 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMcGraw-Hill School Education GroupSuper Duper Publications

Customer experience

Bluster!

All ratings8 ratings
Positive87.5%
Neutral12.5%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews22 reviews
Positive72.7%
Neutral18.2%
Negative9.1%

HB Phonological Awareness

All ratings24 ratings
Positive62.5%
Neutral0.0%
Negative37.5%
Written reviews9 reviews
Positive66.7%
Neutral0.0%
Negative33.3%

In-app purchases

7 purchases

Bluster!

One-time7
  • Base Words$0.99
  • Extra Rhyming Words2 variants$0.99
  • Extra Prefixes$0.99
Show 4 more
  • Extra Synonyms$0.99
  • Extra Words2 variants$0.99
  • Extra Word Roots$0.99
  • Extra Adjectives$0.99
None

HB Phonological Awareness

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Bluster! free?
Bluster! is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is HB Phonological Awareness free?
HB Phonological Awareness is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Bluster! or HB Phonological Awareness?
Bluster! is rated higher. Bluster! averages 4.5 out of 5 from 8 ratings, while HB Phonological Awareness averages 3.4 from 24 ratings.
Do Bluster! or HB Phonological Awareness have ads?
Neither Bluster! nor HB Phonological Awareness shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Bluster! or HB Phonological Awareness?
Bluster! ships an update every 13 months, and HB Phonological Awareness every 2 months. Most recently, Bluster! was updated on October 15, 2026 and HB Phonological Awareness on October 6, 2026.

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