Comparison

Kids' Words 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

Kids' Words

This educational game helps parents and teachers assess children's word recognition skills. It provides detailed report cards to track progress and identify areas of strength and weakness. The app features engaging themes, vibrant music, and sound effects to enhance the learning experience.

Highlights
  • Word recognition testing
  • Detailed report cards
  • Progress tracking
  • Multiple themes
  • Pronunciation guidance
  • Vibrant music and sounds
  • Supports multiple children and teachers
Features
Read full description

A first letters and sounds game for children ages 4 to 6. Your child hears a word out loud, then drags the beginning letter into place. You see which sounds they've got and which ones they're still working out. What your child does Pick a theme. A word is spoken. Five letters are scattered on screen and your child drags the right one to the front of the word. The word is spoken again once it's complete, so the sound and the letter connect. That beginning sound is what children learn first, before they can read or spell anything. It's also the part a four year old can get right on their own, which is what brings them back tomorrow. The wrong answers aren't random For alligator, all five choices are vowels. For mosquito they're m, s, v, b and p, the sounds children mix up with each other. Your child has to actually hear the difference, which is the whole point, and it's why the Progress screen tells you something real. Big words, small ask Your child only supplies the beginning, so the words don't have to be babyish. Crocodile, trampoline, grasshopper and watermelon are all in here. Children this age already know these words and love saying them. They just can't spell them yet, and with this game they don't need to. 150 words across 5 themes Jungle, Mountains, Backyard, Beach and Garden. Each theme has thirty words in three rounds of ten, so a round is short enough to finish before anyone loses interest. Every word is spoken by a real voice, and every word belongs to its theme. Record the words in your own voice Every word comes with a teacher's voice built in. Tap any word on the Word Lists screen, press Record, and say it. From then on your child hears you whenever that word comes up. Record all 150 or just the ones your child keeps missing. Say it the way your family says it, or let a grandparent record a theme. Play both voices back, choose for each word, and switch back to the teacher any time without losing your recording. Recording sits behind a parents' gate, so your child hears the voices but never reaches the microphone. Record a word once and every child on the device hears it. Add your own word lists Ten words make a list, the same length as a built-in round, and you can make as many as you like. Type them one per line or paste them in. Names from home, words from a favorite book, whatever your child is asking about. Each new word needs your voice, so record it once and the list is ready to play. Your list sits beside the built-in rounds in its theme, with its own Progress, and the wrong letters are still chosen to be plausible. A word you add always asks for its first letter, so your lists suit the youngest player. Made for children who can't read yet Every prompt is spoken. Nothing on screen needs an adult to read it aloud, so a four year old can open the app and play without help. See how they're doing Every round is saved to Progress. You'll see the words your child got, the ones they keep missing, and how that shifts week to week. Enough to know whether it's landing, without hovering over them while they play. A profile for every child Add as many children as you need. Each one keeps their own words and their own progress and picks up where they left off. Works for a family with three kids and a classroom with thirty. Nothing about your child leaves this app No accounts, no sign in, no ads, no trackers, no third party code of any kind. There's no server to send anything to. Your child's progress, your recordings and your word lists are saved on your device and stay there. The microphone is only on while you're recording. Tell us what's missing A word you wish we'd included, a theme your class would love, anything that isn't working. Send it to us at info@circular3d.com. We read all of it. Our soundtrack is on Apple Music. "The Jungle" and "The Jungle (With Animals)" are the ones people ask about. https://music.apple.com/us/album/kids-words-original-video-game-soundtrack/389220050

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

Kids' Words4 screens
Starfall Learn to Read4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Starfall Learn to Read at Free against Kids' Words's $0.99. Starfall Learn to Read also leads on ratings volume (228 vs 5) and update cadence (every 9 months vs every 26 months). Kids' Words's advantage is review sentiment (100% vs 71%) and rating (4.4 vs 4.2). 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

Starfall Learn to Read is free to download; Kids' Words costs $0.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Kids' Words holds the better App Store score, 4.4 against 4.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Starfall Learn to Read has 228 ratings behind it against 5, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 100% of Kids' Words's written reviews are positive against 71% of Starfall Learn to Read's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Kids' Words ships an update every 26 months, Starfall Learn to Read every 9 months. The most recent releases landed on October 20, 2026 and October 28, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
Kids' Words versus Starfall Learn to Read: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterKids' WordsStarfall Learn to Read
Price$0.99Free — better
Rating4.4 (5 ratings) — better4.2 (228 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews — better71.3% of reviews
Number of ratings5228 — better
Update frequencyEvery 26 monthsEvery 9 months — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS13.0 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size39 MB91 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperCircular3DStarfall Education Foundation

Customer experience

Kids' Words

All ratings5 ratings
Positive80.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative20.0%
Written reviews5 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Starfall Learn to Read

All ratings228 ratings
Positive77.2%
Neutral7.0%
Negative15.8%
Written reviews87 reviews
Positive71.3%
Neutral3.4%
Negative25.3%

Bugs and requests

Kids' Words

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

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

None

Kids' Words

No in-app purchases

None

Starfall Learn to Read

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Kids' Words free?
Kids' Words costs $0.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Starfall Learn to Read free?
Starfall Learn to Read is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Kids' Words or Starfall Learn to Read?
Kids' Words is rated higher. Kids' Words averages 4.4 out of 5 from 5 ratings, while Starfall Learn to Read averages 4.2 from 228 ratings.
Do Kids' Words or Starfall Learn to Read have ads?
Neither Kids' Words nor Starfall Learn to Read shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Kids' Words or Starfall Learn to Read?
Kids' Words ships an update every 26 months, and Starfall Learn to Read every 9 months. Most recently, Kids' Words was updated on October 20, 2026 and Starfall Learn to Read on October 28, 2026.

Other comparisons