Comparison

ABC MAGIC PHONICS 5 vs ABC Wood Puzzle

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

ABC Wood Puzzle

This educational game helps young children learn English letters and pronunciation through interactive play. By touching and manipulating wooden puzzle pieces, kids can associate letters with objects and hear correct pronunciation from a native speaker.

Highlights
  • Interactive letter recognition
  • Native speaker pronunciation
  • Object association with letters
  • Realistic wooden puzzle feel
  • Simple touch-based gameplay
  • Develops imagination
Features
Read full description

ABC Wood Puzzle is an educational game that helps children learn English as they tilt or touch the screen. Once the app is launched, all you need to do is touch the screen. It has a very simple design so it can be enjoyed even by very small children. As they touch, tilt, watch, listen, and play, children unconsciously start to learn to recognise the basic letters of the English alphabet. ■■■Watch, Touch, and Listen■■■ The background of the wooden frame shows an illustration of an object beginning with the letter of the alphabet being displayed, so that children can think about the object straight away. As they touch and insert pieces in the frame, they will hear a native speaker say the words out loud. This allows them to listen to English words with the correct pronunciation. By repeatedly touching the screen, they can play and learn spontaneously about the shapes of the letters and their pronunciation. ■■■Just Like a Real Wooden Puzzle■■■ A colorful wooden puzzle that develops their imagination! In order to look realistic, the pieces of ABCPuzzle for Kids were made by cutting out actual pieces of wood. This gives the game a realistic feel as if it were a real wooden puzzle. Have great fun with this puzzle and learn English at the same time!

Screenshots

ABC MAGIC PHONICS 54 screens
ABC Wood Puzzle4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: ABC Wood Puzzle at none against ABC MAGIC PHONICS 5's 1. ABC Wood Puzzle also leads on update cadence (every 3 months vs every 6 months). ABC MAGIC PHONICS 5's advantage is review sentiment (83% vs 50%) and ratings volume (718 vs 6). On price, rating, ads 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 5 sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. ABC Wood Puzzle asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.3 for ABC MAGIC PHONICS 5 against 4.3 for ABC Wood Puzzle. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: ABC MAGIC PHONICS 5 has 718 ratings behind it against 6, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 83% of ABC MAGIC PHONICS 5's written reviews are positive against 50% of ABC Wood Puzzle's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

ABC MAGIC PHONICS 5 ships an update every 6 months, ABC Wood Puzzle every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and November 11, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
ABC MAGIC PHONICS 5 versus ABC Wood Puzzle: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterABC MAGIC PHONICS 5ABC Wood Puzzle
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.3 (718 ratings)4.3 (6 ratings) — better
Positive reviews83.3% of reviews — better50.0% of reviews
Number of ratings718 — better6
Update frequencyEvery 6 monthsEvery 3 months — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS9.09.0
Further details — not scored
Size165 MB99 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperPRESCHOOL UNIVERSITYGloding Inc.

Customer experience

ABC MAGIC PHONICS 5

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

ABC Wood Puzzle

All ratings6 ratings
Positive83.3%
Neutral0.0%
Negative16.7%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive50.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative50.0%

In-app purchases

1 purchases

ABC MAGIC PHONICS 5

One-time1
  • Full Version$1.99
None

ABC Wood Puzzle

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is ABC MAGIC PHONICS 5 free?
ABC MAGIC PHONICS 5 is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is ABC Wood Puzzle free?
ABC Wood Puzzle is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, ABC MAGIC PHONICS 5 or ABC Wood Puzzle?
ABC Wood Puzzle is rated higher. ABC MAGIC PHONICS 5 averages 4.3 out of 5 from 718 ratings, while ABC Wood Puzzle averages 4.3 from 6 ratings.
Do ABC MAGIC PHONICS 5 or ABC Wood Puzzle have ads?
Neither ABC MAGIC PHONICS 5 nor ABC Wood Puzzle shows ads.
Which is updated more often, ABC MAGIC PHONICS 5 or ABC Wood Puzzle?
ABC MAGIC PHONICS 5 ships an update every 6 months, and ABC Wood Puzzle every 3 months. Most recently, ABC MAGIC PHONICS 5 was updated on November 1, 2026 and ABC Wood Puzzle on November 11, 2026.

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