SmartySprouts vs I Learn
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
SmartySprouts
This app offers 21 interactive pocket chart activities for young learners on iPad. It covers essential early education skills like math, phonics, and word building, with progress tracking for parents and teachers. Designed for short, engaging play sessions, it simplifies gameplay by locking to portrait mode.
- 21 interactive pocket chart activities
- Math: addition, subtraction, fractions
- Literacy: phonics, spelling, word building
- Early learning: counting, colors, shapes
- Progress tracking for parents/teachers
- Portrait mode gameplay
- Short, engaging activity sessions
Read full descriptionHide full description
Do you love classroom Pocket Charts? Pocket Charts! Pro combines 21 pocket chart activities for your child to use on the iPad. Just like the pocket chart games popular in the classroom, this app gives young students a fun way to practice adding and subtracting, sorting blends and digraphs, matching positional words to picture, spelling 3 letter words, combining images to build compound words. The youngest iPad users are not left out, some early learning activities include counting, sorting, matching colors, shapes and uppercase to lowercase letters. Administrative features allow teachers/parents to manage the functionality of the app and track student progress. Pocket Charts! Pro gives kids a lot of learning fun for a very small price. Here’s what’s included: • Upper and Lowercase Letter Matching • Beginning Letter Sounds • Colors and Color Words • Counting • Shape Matching • Long and Short Vowel Sounds • Rhyming Words • Consonant Blends and Digraphs • Ending Letter Sounds • Position Words • Numbers and Number Words • Pre-Number Category Sorting • Compound Words • Spelling 3-Letter Words • Word Families • Fractions • Single-digit Addition and Subtraction • Halloween Match • Thanksgiving Match • Christmas/Hanukkah Match • Egg Match Teach and reinforce basic skills with Pocket Charts! Pro. Each game requires 3-5 minutes for a young learner to complete, making this iPad app ideal for students with limited attention spans or those requiring highly visual or tactile learning experiences. Additionally, these activities are designed to lock and play only in the portrait mode in order to simplify game play and eliminate an orientation switch if young learners jostle the iPad while playing. Good Neighbor Press has specialized in the development, illustration, design and production of educational material since 1991. High quality, developmentally-appropriate educational material with clean, charming instructional design is our specialty! For additional information on our activity book series, downloadable worksheet units, or free downloadable worksheets please visit www.goodneighborpress.com. Look for all our Early Childhood iPad Apps by searching Good Neighbor Press in the App Store.
I Learn
This app helps young children aged 4-7 build foundational reading and spelling skills through engaging, interactive word-building games. It focuses on sound awareness, decoding, and word recognition with unique "wiggle-and-replace" gameplay.
- Sound awareness and decoding practice
- Engaging wiggle-and-replace word building
- Learning mode for new words
- Practice mode for mastered words
- Flexible "Just Read" and "Read & Build" play styles
- Parent insights for progress tracking
- Adjustable mastery goals
Read full descriptionHide full description
Just 10 minutes a day can build strong phonics, reading, and spelling skills — and help children remember what they learn. By changing one sound at a time, children begin to see how words are connected and how small shifts create new words. Children tap a wiggling letter or chunk to replace it — turning cat into hat, then bat — building confidence step by step as readers and word builders. Each session feels fresh, as children choose which letter to change and discover new words as they play. WHY IT WORKS • One small change at a time • Clear, repeatable structure • Builds reading and spelling together LEARNING APPROACH • Word sets are organized in a clear, step-by-step progression • Practice mastered sets anytime to build fluency and confidence PLAY STYLES • Just Read: Focus on listening and word recognition • Read & Build: Build words after reading to strengthen spelling FOR PARENTS • Adjust play style to match your child’s needs • See progress at a glance • Practice anytime with guided, step-by-step learning No ads. Family Sharing enabled.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: I Learn at 5.0 against SmartySprouts's 4.5. I Learn also leads on update cadence (monthly vs every 2 months) and review sentiment (100% vs 91%). SmartySprouts's advantage is price ($3.99 vs $4.99) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 16.0). On ads, in-app purchases, monetization model 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
SmartySprouts costs $3.99 and I Learn $4.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
I Learn holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: I Learn has 10 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 91% of SmartySprouts's written reviews are positive against 100% of I Learn's.
SmartySprouts ships an update every 2 months, I Learn monthly. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and November 6, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | SmartySprouts | I Learn |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $3.99 — better | $4.99 |
| Rating | 4.5 (2 ratings) | 5.0 (10 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 90.9% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 2 | 10 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Monthly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Paid |
| Devices | iPad | iPhone, iPad — better |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 — better | 16.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 185 MB | 34 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Good Neighbor Press, Inc | Preeti Kancharla |
Customer experience
SmartySprouts
I Learn
In-app purchases
SmartySprouts
No in-app purchases
I Learn
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is SmartySprouts free?
Is I Learn free?
Which has better reviews, SmartySprouts or I Learn?
Do SmartySprouts or I Learn have ads?
Which is updated more often, SmartySprouts or I Learn?
Other comparisons















