Puzzle Pop HD vs Starfall I'm Reading
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Puzzle Pop HD
This app features animated puzzles with moving characters and animals. It offers 27 levels designed to help children aged 3-8 develop problem-solving, sequencing, and spatial reasoning skills through colorful illustrations and engaging gameplay.
- Animated puzzles with moving characters
- 27 levels for various ages and skills
- Develops problem-solving skills
- Enhances sequencing and spatial reasoning
- Teaches shapes, patterns, and color recognition
- Colorful illustrations and engaging gameplay
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The award-winning Puzzle Pop features unique animated puzzles with characters and animals that move between the different puzzle pieces. Puzzle Pop brings puzzles to life, with colorful illustrations and 27 levels for different ages and skills. Children will learn problem solving, sequencing, spatial reasoning, shapes, patterns and color recognition. AWARDS: Parents' Choice Silver Award; Children’s Technology Review Editor’s Choice Award. AGES 3-8. CATEGORY: Creative Expression ACTIVITIES - EXPLORE 27 levels of puzzles for different ages and skills - PLAY with colorful puzzle pieces featuring animated dancing animals, flying birds and more - LISTEN to lively jazz versions of popular children’s songs made exclusively for Puzzle Pop ABOUT DUCK DUCK MOOSE (A wholly-owned subsidiary of Khan Academy) Duck Duck Moose, an award-winning creator of educational mobile apps for families, is a passionate team of engineers, artists, designers, and educators. Founded in 2008, the company has created 21 top-selling titles and has received 21 Parents’ Choice Awards, 18 Children’s Technology Review Awards, 12 Tech with Kids’ Best Pick App Awards, and a KAPi award for “Best Children’s App” at the International Consumer Electronics Show. Khan Academy is a nonprofit with a mission to provide a world-class education for anyone, anywhere. Duck Duck Moose is now part of the Khan Academy family. We rely on our community of volunteers and donors. Get involved today at www.duckduckmoose.com/about. Check out the Khan Academy app to learn and practice all kinds of topics for elementary school through college and beyond. We’d love to hear from you! Visit us at www.duckduckmoose.com or drop us a line at support@duckduckmoose.com.
Starfall I'm Reading
This app helps young children transition from learning to read to reading to learn. It offers a selection of stories and activities designed to build comprehension and fluency using high-frequency words in context. An AutoRead feature models fluent reading and can be toggled off for independent readers.
- Stories and activities for reading comprehension
- Controlled vocabulary with high-frequency words
- AutoRead feature to model fluent reading
- Plays, fiction, non-fiction, comics, and fables
- Audio support for fluency practice
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Starfall® I’m Reading is the fourth step of Starfall’s Learn to Read phonics sequence, which teaches the foundational skills for learning to read. Step 1: ABCs Step 2: Learn to Read Step 3: It’s Fun to Read Step 4: I’m Reading! Starfall I’m Reading is the final step of Starfall’s free early learn-to-read sequence. I’m Reading! focuses on bridging the gap between basic phonics and true reading mastery. The program expands fluency and comprehension through exercise with words from the Dolch and Fry sight word lists. These words are challenging to sound out phonetically, but represent the majority of words found in children’s texts. Familiarity with these words builds confidence and natural ease with reading. The texts cover a wide range of multicultural fiction and nonfiction stories, with clickable words and sentences for fluency assistance throughout. Travel-ready. No internet connection required. Find Starfall I’m Reading, along with 700+ additional activities and counting across reading, math, music, and more in the Starfall app. The Starfall website and applications are program services of Starfall Education Foundation, a 501(c)(3) publicly supported nonprofit organization. Starfall® and Starfall.com® are registered trademarks in the US, the European Union, and various other countries. Copyright © 2002–2026 by Starfall Education. All rights reserved. Starfall apps are inclusively designed to support all children, including English Language Learners (ELLs). Starfall also provides an Enhanced Accessible Index for children with visual, hearing, or mobility impairments. For more information, please contact Customer Service at (+1) 303-417-6414.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Starfall I'm Reading at 4.2 against Puzzle Pop HD's 3.6. Starfall I'm Reading also leads on review sentiment (67% vs 50%) and ratings volume (47 vs 11). Puzzle Pop HD's advantage is iOS requirement (9.0 vs 15.0). 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Starfall I'm Reading holds the better App Store score, 4.2 against 3.6. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 11 and 47 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 50% of Puzzle Pop HD's written reviews are positive against 67% of Starfall I'm Reading's.
Puzzle Pop HD ships an update every 6 months, Starfall I'm Reading every 10 months. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and November 8, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Puzzle Pop HD | Starfall I'm Reading |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.6 (11 ratings) | 4.2 (47 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 50.0% of reviews | 66.7% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 11 | 47 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 6 months — better | Every 10 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 9.0 — better | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 41 MB | 102 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Duck Duck Moose LLC | Starfall Education Foundation |
Customer experience
Puzzle Pop HD
Starfall I'm Reading
In-app purchases
Puzzle Pop HD
No in-app purchases
Starfall I'm Reading
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Puzzle Pop HD free?
Is Starfall I'm Reading free?
Which has better reviews, Puzzle Pop HD or Starfall I'm Reading?
Do Puzzle Pop HD or Starfall I'm Reading have ads?
Which is updated more often, Puzzle Pop HD or Starfall I'm Reading?
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