Comparison

ABC MAGIC PHONICS 6 vs Co

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

Head to head
About

ABC MAGIC PHONICS 6

This app helps young children develop foundational reading skills by focusing on letter sounds and their relationships to words. It uses engaging matching games to reinforce phonemic awareness and letter-sound correspondence, building upon previous learning.

Highlights
  • Develops phonemic awareness
  • Teaches letter-sound correspondence
  • Reinforces alphabet sound recognition
  • Uses matching games
  • Includes a preview feature
  • Offers tiered learning system
Features
Read full description

This app helps give your child foundational reading skills. This app helps beginning readers gain mastery with the alphabetic principle. This app will help your child understand the relationship between sounds and letters.
 Learn The Alphabetic Principle. Develop Phonemic Awareness. Learn How Sounds Relate to Words. Learn Letter-Sound Correspondence. Learn How to APPLY Letter-Sound Correspondence. Gain proficiency in the use of the sounds of the letters. Gain Proficiency in Auditory Discrimination.
 This app is the classic matching game with a phonics twist. This app helps to reinforce alphabet sound recognition by matching beginning letter sounds to the familiar phonetic pictures from the previous apps in this series.
 The second option is to match pictures with the same beginning sounds, such as "sun" and "sailboat." This app has a preview feature for the matching games to help train the mind to remember images and image placement.
 What is the purpose of this app? ABC MAGIC PHONICS 6 gives your child practice with beginning phonics skills. This app focuses on the most common sound that each letter makes. This app builds on the skills learned in the four apps of this series. Those apps were about teaching letter/sound associations. This app continues this process by testing letter sound recognition. In this app, the default is for the letters to be silent and not to make their sounds when touched. The child's knowledge of the sounds is used in this app.
 How does this app work? This app uses four different games to help your child learn and reinforce their knowledge of which sound each letter makes. When appropriate, the games are programmed with a built-in tiered learning system that gets slightly more challenging with correct answers. Incorrect answers will make the games slightly less challenging. There is another built-in feature that reintroduces incorrectly guessed letters to give the child another chance to get those letters right.
 Why do you focus on the sounds of letters rather than the names of letters? It is a much better use of time to focus on letter sounds rather than letter names. A child can actually read without knowing the letters' common names, but a child only knowing the names of the letters cannot phonetically read. The ubiquitousness of the ABC song both at home and at school will surely give children the ability to name the letters. However, many children are not given the much-needed explicit instruction of the SOUNDS that the letters make. In this app, only the SOUNDS of the letters are used and NEVER the names of the letters. This app is dedicated to helping children learn the sounds and functions of letters.
 These games are designed so that children can do them independently after being given the basic instructions on how to play the games. The app has built-in feedback mechanisms to help the child to work independently. These mechanisms allow the child to learn at their own pace and in their own way. The child does not need to be constantly supervised and told what the right answer is. This frees up the adult to be an observer of their child's learning and assist them when invited.

About

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.

Highlights
  • Grammar-smart word prediction
  • Millions of topic-specific dictionaries
  • Flexspell™ technology for spelling errors
  • Built-in text-to-speech
  • Personalized vocabulary and settings
Features
Read full description

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

ABC MAGIC PHONICS 64 screens
Co4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: ABC MAGIC PHONICS 6 at 100% against Co's 8%. ABC MAGIC PHONICS 6 also leads on rating (4.3 vs 2.6) and ratings volume (182 vs 17). Co's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and update cadence (every 4 months vs every 27 months). On price, ads, monetization model and device support 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. ABC MAGIC PHONICS 6 sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Co asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

ABC MAGIC PHONICS 6 holds the better App Store score, 4.3 against 2.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: ABC MAGIC PHONICS 6 has 182 ratings behind it against 17, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 100% of ABC MAGIC PHONICS 6's written reviews are positive against 8% of Co's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

ABC MAGIC PHONICS 6 ships an update every 27 months, Co every 4 months. Both last shipped on November 1, 2026.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
ABC MAGIC PHONICS 6 versus Co: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterABC MAGIC PHONICS 6Co
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.3 (182 ratings) — better2.6 (17 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews — better8.3% of reviews
Number of ratings182 — better17
Update frequencyEvery 27 monthsEvery 4 months — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS8.0 — better10.0
Further details — not scored
Size387 MB45 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperPRESCHOOL UNIVERSITYDon Johnston Incorporated

Customer experience

ABC MAGIC PHONICS 6

All ratings177 ratings
Positive81.4%
Neutral11.9%
Negative6.8%
Written reviews3 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Co

All ratings17 ratings
Positive29.4%
Neutral23.5%
Negative47.1%
Written reviews12 reviews
Positive8.3%
Neutral16.7%
Negative75.0%

In-app purchases

1 purchases

ABC MAGIC PHONICS 6

One-time1
  • Full Version$1.99
None

Co

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is ABC MAGIC PHONICS 6 free?
ABC MAGIC PHONICS 6 is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Co free?
Co is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, ABC MAGIC PHONICS 6 or Co?
ABC MAGIC PHONICS 6 is rated higher. ABC MAGIC PHONICS 6 averages 4.3 out of 5 from 182 ratings, while Co averages 2.6 from 17 ratings.
Do ABC MAGIC PHONICS 6 or Co have ads?
Neither ABC MAGIC PHONICS 6 nor Co shows ads.
Which is updated more often, ABC MAGIC PHONICS 6 or Co?
ABC MAGIC PHONICS 6 ships an update every 27 months, and Co every 4 months. Most recently, ABC MAGIC PHONICS 6 was updated on November 1, 2026 and Co on November 1, 2026.

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