Comparison

ABC MAGIC PHONICS 5 vs SightWordsPlay with flashcards

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 5

This educational app helps children develop foundational reading skills by teaching the alphabetic principle, phonemic awareness, and letter-sound correspondence. It uses a sequential learning approach with three levels and focuses on the most common sounds of letters to build strong reading readiness.

Highlights
  • Develops phonemic awareness
  • Teaches letter-sound correspondence
  • Sequential learning levels
  • Focuses on common letter sounds
  • Lowercase and uppercase letter recognition
  • Auditory discrimination practice
Features
Read full description

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 with Auditory Discrimination. This app has features and components necessary to give your child strong phonemic awareness. This app has features and components necessary to give your child strong letter awareness. This app will start your child off on the path to reading success. This game is part of the ABC MAGIC PHONICS series. We recommend the other ABC MAGIC apps as a means to expand and reinforce your child’s phonemic awareness and letter awareness. This app has 3 levels of sequential learning for English learners to master. The sequence is designed to take the learner from the concrete to the abstract; from not knowing anything about letters to having good phonemic awareness. The app starts with using sounds and finishes with the letter symbols for both lowercase and uppercase letters. This has 3 lessons that each focus on a particular step of the Alphabetic Principle. Lesson 1. Sounds to Images Lesson 2. Sounds to Lowercase Letters Lesson 3. Lowercase Letters to Images This app features 4 words pictures for each letter. Each word in each of the groupings uses only the most common sound for each letter. For instance, igloo and inchworm would be used for the letter i, but not ice nor ivy as those begin with long i (the second most used sound for the letter i). It is important to start by teaching just the most commonly used sound for each letter. Sometimes unfamiliar words are used, in this app, to ensure that 4 words were used for each letter. Use this as a vocabulary building time. Even if the child does not know the word, the child can still listen for the beginning sound of that image. Another point is that this app is not a vocabulary quiz nor an object guessing game. Some pictures may seem indiscernible, but don’t worry, the objects, when touched, will ALWAYS say their name. The child NEVER has to know what the picture is ahead of time. Tapping on the image box will ALWAYS play the audio file that names the picture. Please note, that in this app, only the SOUNDS of the letters are used and NEVER the names of the letters. A child can actually read without knowing the common names of the letters, 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. Many children, however, are not given the much-needed explicit instruction of the SOUNDS that the letters make. This app, therefore, is dedicated to helping children learn the SOUNDS that the letters make. These games are designed so that children can do them independently after being given the basic instructions of 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 to give assistance when invited. Upgrade to the Full version to get 12 words/pictures per letter. Upgrade to the Full version to get 7 more Lessons.

About

SightWordsPlay with flashcards

This app helps young children develop pre-reading skills by teaching them to recognize common words by sight and sound. It offers flashcards divided by grade level and includes a question mode to test comprehension. Difficult words can be saved for later review to reinforce learning.

Highlights
  • Sight word recognition
  • Sound association
  • Grade-level categories (Pre-primary, K, 1st, 2nd)
  • Question Mode for testing
  • Customizable practice list
  • Ad-free upgrade option
Features
Read full description

Sight Words Flash Cards is designed to develop pre-reading skills such as recognizing common words by sight and sound. Parents, teachers, schools and educational institutions worldwide use this app to enhance early reading, spelling and word recognition skills. Sight Words Flash Cards are divided into 4 categories: Pre-primary, kindergarten, 1st grade & 2nd grade. Each grade has an accompanying Question Mode to test and enhance reading skills. Repetition is the key to learning! By simply clicking on the flag button provided in each flashcard, kids or parents can add difficult words to the practice list for revision at a later time. In-app purchase available to upgrade the app to make it Ad-free.

Screenshots

ABC MAGIC PHONICS 54 screens
SightWordsPlay with flashcards4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: ABC MAGIC PHONICS 5 at 83% against SightWordsPlay with flashcards's 34%. ABC MAGIC PHONICS 5 also leads on rating (4.3 vs 3.4) and ratings volume (718 vs 125). On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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 5 sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and SightWordsPlay with flashcards sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

ABC MAGIC PHONICS 5 holds the better App Store score, 4.3 against 3.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: ABC MAGIC PHONICS 5 has 718 ratings behind it against 125, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 83% of ABC MAGIC PHONICS 5's written reviews are positive against 34% of SightWordsPlay with flashcards's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

ABC MAGIC PHONICS 5 ships an update every 6 months, SightWordsPlay with flashcards every 8 months. Both last shipped on November 1, 2026.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
ABC MAGIC PHONICS 5 versus SightWordsPlay with flashcards: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterABC MAGIC PHONICS 5SightWordsPlay with flashcards
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.3 (718 ratings) — better3.4 (125 ratings)
Positive reviews83.3% of reviews — better33.7% of reviews
Number of ratings718 — better125
Update frequencyEvery 6 months — betterEvery 8 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS9.0 — better15.1
Further details — not scored
Size165 MB44 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperPRESCHOOL UNIVERSITYeFlashApps, LLC

Customer experience

ABC MAGIC PHONICS 5

All ratings716 ratings
Positive81.0%
Neutral10.3%
Negative8.7%
Written reviews6 reviews
Positive83.3%
Neutral0.0%
Negative16.7%

SightWordsPlay with flashcards

All ratings125 ratings
Positive56.0%
Neutral9.6%
Negative34.4%
Written reviews92 reviews
Positive33.7%
Neutral17.4%
Negative48.9%

Bugs and requests

ABC MAGIC PHONICS 5

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

SightWordsPlay with flashcards

Reported bugs

10 issues
  • App stuck on loading screen or title screen
  • Intro animation loops infinitely
  • Sound not working across multiple iOS versions
  • Question mode displays incorrect words
  • Bottom right card in question mode never changes
Show 5 more
  • App crashes after second use
  • Random crashes even in paid version
  • Ads pop up without user interaction
  • Ads cause app to exit to App Store unexpectedly
  • Voice functionality inconsistent or missing

Requested features

10 requests
  • Delayed voice option to let children read first
  • Repeat button to hear word again
  • Auto-play feature without manual tapping
  • Progress tracking and performance analytics
  • List view of all sight words in each category
Show 5 more
  • More high-frequency words
  • Better graphics and engaging visuals
  • Multi-user profile support
  • Flag words for follow-up practice
  • Capitalized 'I' in sight word lists

In-app purchases

1 purchases

ABC MAGIC PHONICS 5

One-time1
  • Full Version$1.99
1 purchases

SightWordsPlay with flashcards

One-time1
  • Sight Words Flash Cards Ad Free$4.99

Questions

Is ABC MAGIC PHONICS 5 free?
ABC MAGIC PHONICS 5 is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is SightWordsPlay with flashcards free?
SightWordsPlay with flashcards is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, ABC MAGIC PHONICS 5 or SightWordsPlay with flashcards?
ABC MAGIC PHONICS 5 is rated higher. ABC MAGIC PHONICS 5 averages 4.3 out of 5 from 718 ratings, while SightWordsPlay with flashcards averages 3.4 from 125 ratings.
Do ABC MAGIC PHONICS 5 or SightWordsPlay with flashcards have ads?
Neither ABC MAGIC PHONICS 5 nor SightWordsPlay with flashcards shows ads.
Which is updated more often, ABC MAGIC PHONICS 5 or SightWordsPlay with flashcards?
ABC MAGIC PHONICS 5 ships an update every 6 months, and SightWordsPlay with flashcards every 8 months. Most recently, ABC MAGIC PHONICS 5 was updated on November 1, 2026 and SightWordsPlay with flashcards on November 1, 2026.

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