Comparison

First Phrases vs Speech Therapy 2

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

Head to head
About

First Phrases

This interactive app helps young children learn to combine words into meaningful phrases. It features animated characters performing actions and allows for recording and playback to aid language development. Ideal for speech therapy and early literacy support.

Highlights
  • 72 verb + noun phrase combinations
  • Animated characters performing actions
  • Record and playback speech
  • Group setting for multiple users
  • Data collection and reporting
  • Visual support for learning
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

From SmartAppsforKids.com: "In my opinion, First Phrases is a must-have for parents of children working on increasing expressive vocabulary, as well as the therapists and teachers who support their learning. First Phrases is creative, utilizes the iPad’s features in effective ways, and is engaging for young children. Highly recommended." This interactive, illustrated and animated app is perfect for a toddler, preschooler, or any child who is learning to put two or three word English phrases together. It provides many opportunities to hear (receptive), see, and say/record (expressive--if the child is talking) 72 different verb + noun combinations, such as: eat the carrot, blow the bubble, ride the bike, throw the ball, sleep on the bed, put away the toys, and more. With 6 different characters performing the actions, there are 456 possible animations so your child will never be bored! Each verb form is paired with several associated nouns to make a logical phrase such as "eat the apple" or "eat the banana" or "eat the carrot". It is also a great way to teach the article “the” in a meaningful phrase context. Use with 20 children, making it an excellent choice for professional use by a speech-language pathologist. There is also a group setting that allows several children to be engaged at once yet still have their own personal settings. Replay missed items, email results or print them out on the Session Results page! How to play: Tell the characters what to do! Touch the illustrated parts of the phrases in order one at a time (e.g. “eat... the... carrot”). The child hears the pre-recorded spoken phrase modeled. You can have this repeated once, twice or three times in the settings for maximum auditory input. Children who are not yet talking can skip the recording option and simply tap/see the associated animation on the Easy Level to learn the meanings of the phrases and to build language comprehension. The child then watches the character (bear, mouse, cat, dog, boy or girl) perform the command to help associate the words with their meaning. Now it’s the child’s turn to say it and tell them what to do! Tap the microphone and record, listen again, and watch the character follow the direction. Use the optional visual support to help remember what to say! On the scoring page, an adult can indicate what parts of the verb phrase were produced correctly for data collection if desired, then tap "Done". When all parts of the phrase are correct the character gives a thumbs-up. This format is especially powerful for children with speech delays and autism spectrum disorders who need strong visual support with as little background clutter as possible, and for use in speech therapy sessions. The format also is a terrific way to support early literacy for left to right orientation, reading (with text on feature) and word boundaries. Options include text on/text off, recording feature on/off, girl or boy narration voice models, presentation of the phrase in 3 segments (verb + the + object) or 2 segments (verb + the object). A perfect speech therapy app for children with special needs! PRIVACY POLICY: We do NOT collect personal data from our users and have no ads. Personal data regarding user performance on the tasks on this app are self-contained and not transmitted in any way. This is a one-time download fee. We do not have subscriptions. Developed by noted speech-language pathologist Patti Hamaguchi, M.A., CCC-SLP who is also the author of books such as "Childhood Speech, Language & Listening Problems: What Every Parent Should Know", "A Metacognitive Treatment Approach to Treating Auditory Processing Disorders", several tests (RESCA-E, ELCI, TAPS4) To find out more about this app and our other upcoming projects, go to: www.hamaguchiapps.com Questions or need Tech Support? Email us at info@hamaguchiapps.com

About

Speech Therapy 2

This app helps children practice speech articulation through interactive video exercises and AI-powered feedback. It rewards improvements with playtime, encouraging consistent practice for better pronunciation.

Highlights
  • AI-powered pronunciation analysis
  • Video modeling exercises
  • Reward-based playtime
  • Voice-activated learning
  • Progress tracking
  • Offline play
Features
Read full description

The developer of the only clinically-validated language therapy application MITA that was downloaded by over 3 million families, brings you a series of Speech Therapy apps: Speech Therapy Step 1 – Preverbal exercises Speech Therapy Step 2 – Learn to sequence sounds Speech Therapy Step 3 – Learn to say 500+ words Speech Therapy Step 4 – Learn to say complex words Speech Therapy Step 5 – Record your own model words and exercise articulation _______________ Speech Therapy Step 2 is for children who already learned many words and want to exercise on their articulation. HOW IT WORKS? Speech Therapy Step 2 uses 500+ prerecorded video exercises. These videos encourage children to mirror words’ pronunciation. A proprietary AI algorithm measures similarity between model words and children’s vocalizations. Improvements are rewarded with reinforcers and PlayTime. This technique was demonstrated to improve speech production in toddlers, late talkers (speech delay), children with Apraxia of Speech, Stuttering, Autism, ADHD, Down Syndrome, Sensory Processing Disorder, Dysarthria. Video exercises are followed by a PlayTime. Improvements in performance are rewarded with reinforcers and a longer PlayTime. In order to achieve a longer PlayTime, children try to improve their articulation. In this way the app works autonomously all the time encouraging children to improve articulation. LEARN WITH SPEECH THERAPY STEP 2 - The only speech therapy app that rewards your child proportionally to the improvement of their articulation. - Uses scientifically proven video modeling for effective speech development. - Voice-activated functionality provides a fun, interactive learning experience. - The app basic version is completely FREE! - No ads. SCIENTIFICALLY-PROVEN LEARNING TECHNIQUES Speech Therapy Step 2 uses video modeling to create an immersive learning environment. When children watch model videos in real time, their MIRROR NEURONS are engaged. This is scientifically proven to be highly effective in speech development. FROM THE DEVELOPERS OF THE CLINICALLY-VALIDATED LANGUAGE THERAPY APPLICATION MITA Speech Therapy Step 2 is developed by Boston University neuroscientist Dr. A. Vyshedskiy, Speech and Language Therapist Y. Bolotovsky, Harvard-educated early-child-development specialist R. Dunn, MIT-educated J. Elgart, and a group of award-winning artists and developers.

Screenshots

First Phrases4 screens
Speech Therapy 24 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Speech Therapy 2 at Free against First Phrases's $15.99. Speech Therapy 2 also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.2) and update cadence (monthly vs every 4 months). First Phrases's advantage is chart position (#186 vs unranked) and ratings volume (13 vs 3). On ads, in-app purchases 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

Speech Therapy 2 is free to download; First Phrases costs $15.99 up front. First Phrases sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Speech Therapy 2 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

Speech Therapy 2 holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.2. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 13 and 3 respectively.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

First Phrases ships an update every 4 months, Speech Therapy 2 monthly. The most recent releases landed on October 29, 2026 and October 15, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 4 level
First Phrases versus Speech Therapy 2: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterFirst PhrasesSpeech Therapy 2
Price$15.99Free — better
Rating4.2 (13 ratings)5.0 (3 ratings) — better
Positive reviews93.8% of reviews—
Number of ratings13 — better3
Update frequencyEvery 4 monthsMonthly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
Best chart rank#186 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.612.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size612 MB165 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperHamaguchi Learning & Development, LLCImagiRation LLC

Customer experience

First Phrases

All ratings13 ratings
Positive76.9%
Neutral15.4%
Negative7.7%
Written reviews65 reviews
Positive93.8%
Neutral1.5%
Negative4.6%

Speech Therapy 2

All ratings3 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

First Phrases

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Screen share disconnects during animations
  • App crashes frequently
  • Settings do not save
  • Words do not flip to show phrases after update
  • App not working after new iPad purchase (resolved)

Requested features

8 requests
  • Store recordings for progress tracking
  • Add more phrases
  • Allow more student profiles
  • Save multiple recordings
  • Repeat targeted phrase with icons on all pages
Show 3 more
  • Data collection feature
  • Add more verb-noun combinations
  • Data tracker for student progress

Speech Therapy 2

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

1 purchases

First Phrases

One-time1
  • In-app purchase$0.99
1 purchases

Speech Therapy 2

One-time1
  • Speech Therapy Step 2 Lifetime$29.99

Questions

Is First Phrases free?
First Phrases costs $15.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Is Speech Therapy 2 free?
Speech Therapy 2 is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, First Phrases or Speech Therapy 2?
Speech Therapy 2 is rated higher. First Phrases averages 4.2 out of 5 from 13 ratings, while Speech Therapy 2 averages 5.0 from 3 ratings.
Do First Phrases or Speech Therapy 2 have ads?
Neither First Phrases nor Speech Therapy 2 shows ads.
Which is updated more often, First Phrases or Speech Therapy 2?
First Phrases ships an update every 4 months, and Speech Therapy 2 monthly. Most recently, First Phrases was updated on October 29, 2026 and Speech Therapy 2 on October 15, 2026.

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