Comparison

READING MAGIC 3 vs Hairy Phonics 2

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

Head to head
About

READING MAGIC 3

This app makes learning to read an exciting adventure for children. It uses interactive activities and science-backed methods to help master words with two or more syllables, building essential literacy skills.

Highlights
  • Science of Reading methodology
  • Focus on multi-syllable words
  • Blending and segmenting skills
  • Phonemic awareness development
  • Three engaging learning modes
  • Interactive reading games
  • Progress tracking
Features
Read full description

Unlock the Magic of Reading with READING MAGIC 3! Transform your child into a confident reader with READING MAGIC 3! This app makes learning to read an exciting adventure through interactive activities focused on short vowel words containing multiple syllables. 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

About

Hairy Phonics 2

This educational app helps children aged 4-6 learn vowel digraphs through interactive games and animations. It guides users through a structured learning sequence, reinforcing sounds and letter formation, and is particularly beneficial for children with dyslexia.

Highlights
  • Learn 9 vowel digraph phonemes
  • Structured learning sequence
  • Phonic animations with actions
  • Letter tracing for writing practice
  • Games for blending phonemes
  • Sounding out words
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

More Hairies need your help! Learn phonics: ai, ay, ee, ea, ie, oa, oi, oy, oo This is the perfect follow-on to Hairy Phonics 1, introducing the next set of phonemes every child needs to learn. Hairy Phonics 2 develops phonemic awareness with the 9 most common vowel digraphs. This is where two vowels join together to make one sound. - Learn 9 phonemes (sounds): ai, ay, ee, ea, ie, oa, oi, oy, oo. - Guides your child through a structured sequence of learning. - Phonic animations link an action with the sound. - Trace the letters with your finger. - Play games to blend the phonemes into a whole word and improve understanding - Sound out words and understand how the digraph changes the sound of the word - 6 new Hairies dance with the Mega Hairy This is a particularly important skill for those with dyslexia. Designed for 4-6 year olds. This app is strictly educational and has no in-app purchases. *********************************************************** REVIEWS *********************************************************** My daughter was diagnosed with dyslexia and this app shows her the phonics sounds along with a picture for the words she is building. It is great in the way that she wants to play the game and laughs at all the videos that goes with the sounds. In addition to her reading struggles she also has problems with writing and she is asked to follow the path to make the letters correctly as well. She doesn't seem to realize that she is learning and playing at the same time. She is already asking if there is a hairy phonics 3 as well. My son loves it and had really helped him with his phonics.

Screenshots

READING MAGIC 34 screens
Hairy Phonics 24 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: READING MAGIC 3 at 89% against Hairy Phonics 2's 33%. READING MAGIC 3 also leads on price (Free vs $2.99) and rating (5.0 vs 3.1). Hairy Phonics 2's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and chart position (#191 vs unranked). On ratings volume, update cadence, 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

READING MAGIC 3 is free to download; Hairy Phonics 2 costs $2.99 up front. READING MAGIC 3 sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Hairy Phonics 2 asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

READING MAGIC 3 holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.1. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 13 and 9 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 89% of READING MAGIC 3's written reviews are positive against 33% of Hairy Phonics 2's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

READING MAGIC 3 ships an update every 22 months, Hairy Phonics 2 every 12 months. The most recent releases landed on October 7, 2026 and October 13, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 4 level
READING MAGIC 3 versus Hairy Phonics 2: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterREADING MAGIC 3Hairy Phonics 2
PriceFree — better$2.99
Rating5.0 (13 ratings) — better3.1 (9 ratings)
Positive reviews89.5% of reviews — better33.3% of reviews
Number of ratings13 — better9
Update frequencyEvery 22 monthsEvery 12 months — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases — betterPaid
Best chart rank—#191 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS13.79.3 — better
Further details — not scored
Size250 MB250 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperPRESCHOOL UNIVERSITYNessy Learning Limited

Customer experience

READING MAGIC 3

All ratings13 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews19 reviews
Positive89.5%
Neutral5.3%
Negative5.3%

Hairy Phonics 2

All ratings9 ratings
Positive55.6%
Neutral0.0%
Negative44.4%
Written reviews3 reviews
Positive33.3%
Neutral0.0%
Negative66.7%

In-app purchases

1 purchases

READING MAGIC 3

One-time1
  • Deluxe Upgrade$3.99
None

Hairy Phonics 2

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is READING MAGIC 3 free?
READING MAGIC 3 is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Hairy Phonics 2 free?
Hairy Phonics 2 costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, READING MAGIC 3 or Hairy Phonics 2?
READING MAGIC 3 is rated higher. READING MAGIC 3 averages 5.0 out of 5 from 13 ratings, while Hairy Phonics 2 averages 3.1 from 9 ratings.
Do READING MAGIC 3 or Hairy Phonics 2 have ads?
Neither READING MAGIC 3 nor Hairy Phonics 2 shows ads.
Which is updated more often, READING MAGIC 3 or Hairy Phonics 2?
READING MAGIC 3 ships an update every 22 months, and Hairy Phonics 2 every 12 months. Most recently, READING MAGIC 3 was updated on October 7, 2026 and Hairy Phonics 2 on October 13, 2026.

Other comparisons