READING MAGIC vs Co
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
READING MAGIC
This app makes learning to read an exciting adventure for young children. It focuses on CVC words and uses science-based phonics principles to build essential reading skills like blending and segmenting.
- CVC word focus
- Blending and segmenting practice
- Phonemic awareness building
- Phonological processing improvement
- Engaging games and activities
- Discourages picture guessing
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Unlock the Magic of Reading with READING MAGIC 1! Transform your child into a confident reader with READING MAGIC 1! This app makes learning to read an exciting adventure with interactive activities focused on short-vowel words, specifically CVC (Consonant-Vowel-Consonant) words. Meticulously designed to provide an advanced boost to your child’s phonemic awareness, this app combines three foundational pillars of literacy science into one powerful, interactive ecosystem: Blending (Listening), Segmenting (Speaking), and Decoding (Reading). Grounded firmly in Science of Reading principles and utilizing University of Florida Literacy Institute (UFLI) guidelines, READING MAGIC provides specific, precise training with extensive repetitions to help young brains bridge the gap between spoken sound units and complete words. IDEAL FOR BOTH BEGINNING PRE-READERS AND STRUGGLING READERS For Beginning Pre-Readers: A stress-free launchpad. By practicing words through pure sound sequences first, your child masters the internal mechanics of reading without cognitive overload. This keeps them from being frustrated by trying to learn separate, difficult skills at the same time. For Struggling or Remedial Readers: If your child's reading is hesitant or choppy, or if they guess at words, this app provides the targeted intervention recommended by modern reading science to help young brains bridge the gap. THREE CRITICAL SKILL-BUILDING PILLARS While many phonics programs completely overlook the auditory mechanics of reading, our program systematically guides your child through the complete progression of decoding: Skill 1: Blending (Listening): Interactive listening activities train your child’s neural processing ability to hear isolated sounds in words and join them together mentally. This builds the vital auditory runway required for future fluency. Skill 2: Segmenting (Speaking): True spelling and reading independence require the ability to pull spoken words apart into their individual sound units. These exercises build explicit awareness of the acoustic structure of language. Skill 3: Decoding (Reading): The ultimate bridge to literacy. Your child applies their mastery of blending and segmenting directly to text, smoothly moving from spoken sounds to visual words. STRUCTURAL SPACING & INSTRUCTION (Science-Backed Layout) Our app builds the actual findings of reading science directly into the user interface for maximum visual clarity: Anti-Crowding Design: Peer-reviewed research, including Marinus et al. (2016) and Wery & Diliberto (2017), demonstrates that generous letter spacing is critical for early decoding. By placing each letter on its own isolated card with distinct physical gaps, our layout eliminates visual crowding, allowing your child to isolate each sound unit cleanly. True Comprehension: The app strictly discourages picture guessing, forcing children to rely purely on their decoding skills to foster true comprehension and build lasting confidence. INDEPENDENT LEARNING & AESTHETIC SIMPLICITY Distraction-Free: Our minimalist design eliminates overstimulating audio-visual clutter, excessive sound effects, and animations to keep your child entirely focused on the mechanics of reading. Stress-Free Growth: Built-in natural feedback loops offer gentle corrections, nurturing self-discovery and independent learning at your child's own pace. EXPERT RESEARCH BACKING "Before a child can read fluently with their eyes, they must be able to blend fluently with their ears. Weakness in auditory blending is one of the strongest early predictors of later reading failure." — Dr. Joseph Torgesen, Florida State University. "Teaching students to blend and segment benefited their reading much more than did a multiple-skills approach... and teaching phonemic awareness with letters created effect sizes almost twice as large as teaching children without letters." — The National Reading Panel (NRP) Meta-Analysis.
Co
This app provides advanced word prediction and spelling support for students. It offers grammar-smart suggestions and access to millions of topic-specific dictionaries to aid in writing. Built-in text-to-speech functionality helps users review their work.
- Grammar-smart word prediction
- Millions of topic-specific dictionaries
- Flexspell™ technology for spelling errors
- Built-in text-to-speech
- Personalized vocabulary and settings
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Co:Writer® Universal app and third-party keyboard gives students easy access to word prediction on iPad, iPad Pro, iPhone, and iPod Touch. Students simply sign in to their Co:Writer Universal accounts to write with their personal settings and vocabulary. ABOUT CO:WRITER UNIVERSAL This version is for schools with a Co:Writer Universal license only. Users without a Co:Writer Universal license must purchase the Co:Writer app. HOW DOES CO:WRITER WORK? As letters are typed, Co:Writer predicts the intended word with a selection of word suggestions using powerful grammar-smart word prediction. These suggestions can be read aloud with a swipe. Selecting the intended word places it into the writing document. For feedback while writing (and after writing) built-in text to speech can be used to read letters, words, sentences, and the entire document. 4+ MILLION TOPIC-SPECIFIC DICTIONARIES Co:Writer has access to a main prediction dictionary (that includes core words) and Topic Dictionaries (that includes topic specific words). Co:Writer can access over 4 million topic-specific dictionaries which are activated based on the writing task. A small sampling of the variety of topic dictionaries: - America's Cup - Apple II - Compare and Contrast - Dinosaurs - Grumpy Cat - History of the Peloponnesian War - Mahatma Gandhi - My Dog - Pig Latin - Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost - SpongeBob SquarePants - Tommy (album) - Wonders of the World SPELLING SUPPORT Co:Writer handles the widest range of spelling mistakes through its Flexspell™technology including phonetic spelling and inventive spelling errors (letter omissions, word ending omissions, letter reversals, etc). Examples of how Co:Writer aides with phonetic and/or inventive spelling: Before Co:Writer The blk jargon flu over the bra lfnt. R u hpy to ce me? I no hw to nor the fone. After Co:Writer The black dragon flew over the gray elephant. Are you happy to see me? I know how to answer the phone. GRAMMAR SUPPORT Co:Writer bases its prediction off of proper grammar, and uses its understanding of grammar to accurately predict words within the framework of valid sentence structures. Examples of how Co:Writer aides with grammar: Dogs are furry. (noun, verb, adj.) - When you typed d-o, you get plural noun choices Three very mangy dogs ran down the street. (adj., adv., adj., noun, verb… etc.) - After typing three, very, mangy, you get plural noun choices, then you get plural verb tenses. OTHER FEATURES - Built-in Text to Speech - Export
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: READING MAGIC at 62% against Co's 8%. READING MAGIC also leads on rating (4.6 vs 2.6). Co's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and iOS requirement (10.0 vs 13.7). On price, ratings volume, update cadence 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
Both are free to download. READING MAGIC sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Co asks for nothing beyond the download.
READING MAGIC holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 2.6. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 42 and 17 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 62% of READING MAGIC's written reviews are positive against 8% of Co's.
READING MAGIC ships an update every 6 months, Co every 4 months. Both last shipped on November 1, 2026.
| Parameter | READING MAGIC | Co |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (42 ratings) — better | 2.6 (17 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 62.2% of reviews — better | 8.3% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 42 — better | 17 |
| Update frequency | Every 6 months | Every 4 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 13.7 | 10.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 208 MB | 45 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | PRESCHOOL UNIVERSITY | Don Johnston Incorporated |
Customer experience
READING MAGIC
Co
In-app purchases
READING MAGIC
- Deluxe Upgrade$3.99
Co
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is READING MAGIC free?
Is Co free?
Which has better reviews, READING MAGIC or Co?
Do READING MAGIC or Co have ads?
Which is updated more often, READING MAGIC or Co?
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