Comparison

Starfall Learn to Read vs Endless Learning Academy

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

Head to head
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.

About

Endless Learning Academy

This app offers interactive early learning lessons for children aged 2-6, covering letters, numbers, reading, math, emotions, and more. It features thousands of progressive modules and video lessons with adorable characters to make learning fun and engaging.

Highlights
  • Interactive lessons for letters and numbers
  • Reading and phonics development
  • Math and counting activities
  • Learning emotions and social skills
  • Thousands of progressive lesson modules
  • Offline access to all content
Features
Read full description

***Download to TRY FREE – no cancellation fee or commitment!*** Prepare your child for Preschool, Kindergarten, 1st grade, and beyond with this interactive early learning educational app from Originator - Endless Learning Academy! Kids will learn letters, phonics, vocabulary, reading, numbers, math, emotions, feelings, and a whole lot more, with an ever growing curriculum all while having FUN with the adorable Endless monsters! PRESS AND REVIEWS: ⁃ KidSAFE Certified ⁃ Children's Technology Review Editor's Choice ⁃ Mom's Choice Awards Gold Recipient - National Parenting Product Awards Winner - Creative Child Magazine Preferred Choice Award ⁃ Apple App Store "Best Education Apps for Your Child" CURRICULUM: Endless Learning Academy includes thousands of progressive lesson modules and delightful interactive learning activities covering: - ABC’s - Reading - Handwriting - Vocabulary - Phonics - Spelling - 123’s - Learn numbers - Math for kids - Quantity - Counting - Sequences - Arithmetic - Emotions - Music - Spanish - Art & coloring - …and much more In addition to the interactive lessons, this app includes hours of video lessons on hundreds of subjects to deepen your child’s early learning across a vast array of subjects including: - Time & duration (e.g. morning, before, after) - Colors & shapes (e.g. red, blue, circle) - Size & weight (e.g. big, small, tall) - Direction & orientation (e.g. top, bottom, over, under) - Physical states & conditions (e.g. on, off, fast, slow) - Actions (e.g. throw, catch, sit, stand) - Anatomy (e.g. eyes, ears, hands, feet) - Human senses & functions (e.g. sleep, smell, hear, yawn) - Hobbies (e.g. bicycling, climbing, baking, dancing) - Social emotions (e.g. share, help, determination, friendship) - Feelings (e.g. brave, curious, excited, proud) - Weather & seasons (e.g. rain, summer, thunder, wind) - Geography & places (e.g. farm, garden, lake) - Plants & animals (e.g. bird, elephant, fruit, flower) - Physical science (e.g. sun, stars) FEATURES: - Thousands of interactive lessons let your child see, hear, and feel concepts come to life. - Delightful animations reinforce basic concepts, deeper understanding, and subtle nuances. - Customizable Common Core based lesson plans grow with your child: progress to more advanced lessons when they're ready, or review individual lessons or entire lesson plans. - Freeplay mode allows kids to focus on specific subjects for more practice. - Multiple user profiles on each device allow the entire family to learn at their own pace. - 7-day free trial gives you unlimited access to all activities and lessons in the app before paying. A limited version of the app is available even for non-subscribers. - Designed and developed for children of ages 2-6+. - 100% free of advertisements and offers. - Learn on the go: all lessons and activities are accessible when the device is offline. - Endless Learning Academy was designed with your children in mind. There are no high scores, failures, limits or stress. Your children can interact with the app at their own pace. ** NOTE: The app must be periodically connected to the internet to validate the status of your subscription. SUBSCRIPTION DETAILS: Endless Learning Academy is a subscription service that gives total access to everything available in the app. You can choose to subscribe on a monthly or annual basis. ⁃ Payment will be charged to your Apple iTunes account after the 7-day free trial. ⁃ Your subscription will automatically renew unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24-hours before the end of the current period. - Your subscription gives you complete access to a version of the app on Apple TV. ⁃ Cancel your subscription anytime without a cancellation fee through Account Settings on your device. Privacy Policy: https://playpiknik.link/privacy-policy Terms of Use: https://playpiknik.link/terms-of-use

Screenshots

Starfall Learn to Read4 screens
Endless Learning Academy4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Starfall Learn to Read at none against Endless Learning Academy's 12. Starfall Learn to Read also leads on review sentiment (75% vs 53%). Endless Learning Academy's advantage is update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 9 months) and ratings volume (1.7K vs 229). On price, rating, ads 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

Both are free to download. Endless Learning Academy sells 12 in-app purchases, starting at $7.99 per month. Starfall Learn to Read asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.2 for Starfall Learn to Read against 4.2 for Endless Learning Academy. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Endless Learning Academy has 1.7K ratings behind it against 229, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 75% of Starfall Learn to Read's written reviews are positive against 53% of Endless Learning Academy's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Starfall Learn to Read ships an update every 9 months, Endless Learning Academy every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 9, 2026 and October 17, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Starfall Learn to Read versus Endless Learning Academy: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterStarfall Learn to ReadEndless Learning Academy
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.2 (229 ratings)4.2 (1.7K ratings)
Positive reviews74.7% of reviews — better53.4% of reviews
Number of ratings2291.7K — better
Update frequencyEvery 9 monthsEvery 3 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple TV — better
Requires iOS15.013.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size91 MB1005 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperStarfall Education FoundationOriginator Inc.

Customer experience

Starfall Learn to Read

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

Endless Learning Academy

All ratings1,685 ratings
Positive77.3%
Neutral6.2%
Negative16.4%
Written reviews279 reviews
Positive53.4%
Neutral12.9%
Negative33.7%

User reviews

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

Endless Learning Academy

From 1.7K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Engaging and entertaining
  • 💡 Helpful for learning letters, numbers, and Spanish
  • 🚀 Offline access for learning on the go
  • 👍 Great for toddlers and preschoolers
  • 👍 Cute and quirky animations

Room to improve

  • 💰 Expensive subscription model
  • 🔒 Lack of family sharing support
  • 🐛 Occasional crashes and bugs
  • 🔋 High data usage for downloads
  • 🚫 Limited free content

Bugs and 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

Endless Learning Academy

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Rollercoaster feature gets stuck
  • Pronunciation issues with some words
  • Inconsistent video playback
  • Progress not saving properly

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add more languages like French and Russian
  • Introduce adaptive difficulty levels
  • Allow creating custom word/number lists
  • Integrate with other learning apps and platforms
  • Improve offline access for all content

In-app purchases

None

Starfall Learn to Read

No in-app purchases

12 purchases

Endless Learning Academy

Subscriptions11
  • Monthly subscription7 Days trial$7.991 Month
  • Endless Learning Academy1 Month trial$7.991 Month
  • Endless Learning Academy$7.991 Month
Show 8 more
  • Monthly subscription$7.991 Month
  • Annual Subscription7 Days trial$24.991 Year
  • Annual Subscription (Fan)7 Days trial$34.991 Year
  • Annual Subscription (Fan)$34.991 Year
  • Annual Subscription7 Days trial$34.991 Year
  • Endless Learning Academy7 Days trial$49.991 Year
  • Endless Learning Academy2 Months trial$49.991 Year
  • Endless Learning Academy$49.991 Year
One-time1
  • Lifetime access$89.99

Questions

Is Starfall Learn to Read free?
Starfall Learn to Read is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Endless Learning Academy free?
Endless Learning Academy is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Starfall Learn to Read or Endless Learning Academy?
Starfall Learn to Read and Endless Learning Academy are both rated 4.2 out of 5 on the App Store, from 229 and 1.7K ratings respectively.
Do Starfall Learn to Read or Endless Learning Academy have ads?
Neither Starfall Learn to Read nor Endless Learning Academy shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Starfall Learn to Read or Endless Learning Academy?
Starfall Learn to Read ships an update every 9 months, and Endless Learning Academy every 3 weeks. Most recently, Starfall Learn to Read was updated on October 9, 2026 and Endless Learning Academy on October 17, 2026.

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