Comparison

LetterSchool vs Starfall Learn to Read

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

Head to head
About

LetterSchool

This app helps young children learn to write letters, numbers, and shapes through interactive tracing and engaging animations. It offers progress tracking and is designed by educational professionals to be safe and fun for toddlers and preschoolers.

Highlights
  • Block and cursive letter tracing
  • Uppercase and lowercase letters
  • Numbers 1-10 tracing
  • Geometric shape tracing
  • Progress tracking for multiple players
  • Interactive animations and sound effects
  • CVC, CVCC, and long sound word practice
Features
Read full description

The #1 alphabet tracing and words spelling app for toddlers & pre-schoolers. Recommended and used by parents, teachers, and occupational therapists! Loved & played by more than 2 million kids and used at more than 5,000 schools! - Winner of 'National Parenting Product Awards' - NAPPA Awards - ‘Best Mobile App Platinum Award’ nominee! – BMA SPECIAL FEATURES: - Block & Cursive Letters, - Uppercase and Lowercase, - Numbers 1-10, - 24 geometric shapes for toddlers! - Keep track of your child’s progress, - Unlock Golden Levels! - 72 CVC words, 36 CVCC words, and 39 long sound words! - Progress and settings stored for up to three players on the same device, - Interactive and visually attractive fun animations, - Available for both iPads and iPhones! IMPORTANT: The first five letters of the alphabet (both uppercase and lowercase), five shapes, and the first three CVC flashcards (nine words) are completely for free. They can be played entirely (on 3 game steps). Enjoy this trial and have fun! PERFECT FOR KIDS: Kids want to have fun and LetterSchool offers an educational journey with the most engaging and entertaining educational material! - Learn while engaging with over 20+ exciting animations, graphics, and sound effects. - Associate letters with words, master and memorize tracing directions and the correct formation of each character. - Learn phonics, the formation of words, understand syllable formations, and spell entire words. - Perfect for home-schooling kids and kindergartens. A user-friendly app for children with special educational needs. PERFECT FOR PARENTS & TEACHERS: - Choice of the three most popular font families in handwriting education (Handwriting Without Tears, D’Nealian, and Zaner-Bloser). - Complete a set of letters, numbers, or shapes to unlock the Golden Levels! - Golden Level allows progress tracking and displays exactly how the letter was drawn! - A new challenge at every step: Your child traces a letter, number or shape 3 times using different parameters. SAFE: - An educational app created together with parents and educational professionals. - NO ADS! - Advanced settings or purchases only accessible by an adult! - Extremely committed Customer Support ready to answer all questions and fix any issues. LET'S PLAY & LEARN! Join LetterSchool on this exciting educational journey! Download the app and allow your toddler to discover the magical world of letters and words. Before you know it, your kid will become a pro in writing and spelling! SUBSCRIPTION DETAILS: LetterSchool offers several auto-renewing subscription options: per month. quarter, and year. - You can cancel your subscription anytime without an extra cancellation fee. - Payment will be charged to your iTunes account at confirmation of purchase. - Subscription automatically renews unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24-hours before the end of the current period. - The account will be charged for renewal within 24-hours before the end of the current period, and identify the cost of the renewal. - Subscriptions may be managed by the user and auto-renewal may be turned off by going to the user's Account Settings after purchase. - No cancellation of the current subscription is allowed during an active subscription period. - Any unused portion of a free trial period, if offered, will be forfeited when the user purchases a subscription to that publication, where applicable. - Your iTunes account will be charged automatically after the 7-day free trial. CONTACT For more reviews and information, visit our website www.letterschool.com If you have any question or suggestions, please contact us at support@letterschool.com You can also check our FAQ page on https://www.letterschool.com/en/help. Terms of service and privacy policy: https://www.letterschool.com/legal/terms-of-use & https://www.letterschool.com/legal/privacy-policy

About

Starfall Learn to Read

This free app offers engaging books, games, and movies to help children learn to read. It focuses on vowel sounds and spelling through interactive activities, songs, and movies, fostering a love for language and reading.

Highlights
  • Interactive reading activities
  • Engaging games and movies
  • Focus on vowel sounds and spelling
  • Songs and positive reinforcement
  • Suitable for emerging readers
  • Supports English language learners
Features
Read full description

Starfall® Learn to Read is the second 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! In Starfall Learn to Read, children explore early phonics in a sequential, stress-free environment. Each step of the learning journey comes to life with help from the Vowel Pals—delightful characters that add depth and personality to each vowel sound. Children develop their phonics skills through the use of CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words, sight words, and vowel teams. Mastering the skills taught in Starfall Learn to Read helps children become confident, independent readers. Travel-ready. No internet connection required. Find Starfall Learn to Read, 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

LetterSchool4 screens
Starfall Learn to Read4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Starfall Learn to Read at none against LetterSchool's 14. Starfall Learn to Read also leads on review sentiment (75% vs 54%). LetterSchool's advantage is update cadence (every 2 months vs every 9 months) and ratings volume (17K vs 229). On price, ads, device support and iOS requirement 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. LetterSchool sells 14 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Starfall Learn to Read asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

LetterSchool holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 4.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: LetterSchool has 17K ratings behind it against 229, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 54% of LetterSchool's written reviews are positive against 75% of Starfall Learn to Read's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

LetterSchool ships an update every 2 months, Starfall Learn to Read every 9 months. The most recent releases landed on October 18, 2026 and October 17, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
LetterSchool versus Starfall Learn to Read: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterLetterSchoolStarfall Learn to Read
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.5 (17K ratings) — better4.2 (229 ratings)
Positive reviews54.4% of reviews74.7% of reviews — better
Number of ratings17K — better229
Update frequencyEvery 2 months — betterEvery 9 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.015.0
Further details — not scored
Size158 MB91 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperLetterschool Enabling Learning B.V.Starfall Education Foundation

Customer experience

LetterSchool

All ratings16,985 ratings
Positive87.6%
Neutral6.1%
Negative6.3%
Written reviews250 reviews
Positive54.4%
Neutral8.0%
Negative37.6%

Starfall Learn to Read

All ratings229 ratings
Positive77.3%
Neutral7.0%
Negative15.7%
Written reviews75 reviews
Positive74.7%
Neutral1.3%
Negative24.0%

User reviews

LetterSchool

From 17K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Engaging and interactive
  • 🚀 Helps improve handwriting
  • 💡 Supports multiple writing styles (print, cursive, d'nealian)
  • 👍 Motivating with rewards and animations
  • 👍 Useful for children with learning challenges

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Subscription issues (app reverts to lite version, need to restore purchases)
  • 🐛 Glitches and crashes (especially with Dari letters)
  • 💰 Expensive subscription model
  • 🔍 Limited free version
  • 🔍 Inconsistent letter formation (not aligned with school standards)

Starfall Learn to Read

From 229 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 📚 Excellent phonics and reading instruction method
  • 🎵 Engaging songs and catchy tunes that maintain interest
  • 🎨 Well-designed animations and interactive stories
  • 👶 Effective for children with learning difficulties (dyslexia, ADHD, special needs)
  • 💰 Free version available with substantial content

Room to improve

  • 🐛 App crashes and fails to load on some devices
  • ❌ Math games incompatible with certain iOS versions
  • 📱 Technical issues with black/green screens on launch
  • 🔄 Requires multiple restarts to function properly
  • 💳 Misleading pricing - paid version converted to free

Bugs and requests

LetterSchool

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Dari letter (پ) keeps glitching
  • Subscription issues (app reverts to lite version, need to restore purchases)
  • Incompatibility with older devices
  • Login screen freezes

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add more languages (Russian, Serbian, Thai, Korean, Hebrew, Hindi, etc.)
  • Allow creating custom words/names to practice
  • Improve letter sound pronunciations
  • Add more visual options (fonts, themes, etc.)
  • Integrate with International Phonetic Alphabet

Starfall Learn to Read

Reported bugs

8 issues
  • App won't load beyond launch screen (black or green screen)
  • Math games incompatible with iPhone updates
  • Sound not playing in some instances
  • App requires deletion and reinstallation to function
  • Crashes on iOS 9.2.1 and older versions
Show 3 more
  • Glitches when pressing letter machine words
  • App needs to be opened twice each time to run
  • Compatibility issues with various iOS versions

Requested features

10 requests
  • Reward/star system for motivation and progress tracking
  • Lesson progression markers showing mastery of modules
  • Writing and spelling exercises to reinforce learning
  • More stories and content variety
  • UK English version option
Show 5 more
  • Settings to control word pronunciation features
  • More word-building exercises
  • Sight vocabulary games for common words
  • Additional phonics rules (ng, tch, ck, tion, sion)
  • Level progression system to track advancement

In-app purchases

14 purchases

LetterSchool

Subscriptions10
  • Monthly Access Pass7 Days trial$4.991 Month
  • LetterSchool - Monthly Pass7 Days trial$9.991 Month
  • Monthly Access Pass7 Days trial$9.991 Month
Show 7 more
  • Quarterly Access Pass7 Days trial$12.993 Months
  • LetterSchool - Monthly Pass7 Days trial$14.991 Month
  • Quarterly Access Pass7 Days trial$19.993 Months
  • Annual Access Pass7 Days trial$44.991 Year
  • LetterSchool - Annual Pass$59.991 Year
  • Yearly Access Pass7 Days trial$59.991 Year
  • LetterSchool - Annual Pass7 Days trial$74.991 Year
One-time4
  • Unlock All Shapes$2.99
  • Unlock Full Block Alphabet$6.99
  • Unlock Full Cursive Alphabet$6.99
Show 1 more
  • All-in-one Package$79.99
None

Starfall Learn to Read

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is LetterSchool free?
LetterSchool is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Starfall Learn to Read free?
Starfall Learn to Read is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, LetterSchool or Starfall Learn to Read?
LetterSchool is rated higher. LetterSchool averages 4.5 out of 5 from 17K ratings, while Starfall Learn to Read averages 4.2 from 229 ratings.
Do LetterSchool or Starfall Learn to Read have ads?
Neither LetterSchool nor Starfall Learn to Read shows ads.
Which is updated more often, LetterSchool or Starfall Learn to Read?
LetterSchool ships an update every 2 months, and Starfall Learn to Read every 9 months. Most recently, LetterSchool was updated on October 18, 2026 and Starfall Learn to Read on October 17, 2026.

Other comparisons