Comparison

Starfall Learn to Read vs ABC Spelling

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

ABC Spelling

This educational game helps young children learn the alphabet, phonics, and spelling through interactive games. It features colorful graphics, animations, and a report card system to track progress, making learning fun and accessible for kids and parents.

Highlights
  • Alphabet and phonics learning
  • Spelling games
  • Fill in the blank exercises
  • Progress tracking report cards
  • Sticker rewards for achievements
  • Customizable game modes
Features
Read full description

Discover a brand new world of education with ABC Spelling - Spell & Phonics, a fun and free game for parents and children to play together! ABC Spelling is a colorful and easy to use educational game that helps young children learn the alphabet, sound out words, and associate letters with pictures. Play anytime and anywhere, it only takes a moment to turn on your phone and help your child learn the ABCs! Featuring three games in one: Spelling: A picture is shown on the screen with letters outlined just above it. Children match the letters at the top by choosing from the tiles below, placing them in the correct order to spell out words. Fill In Blank: Kids spell out the name of the picture using letters on the screen. There’s just one catch, though: all the letters are jumbled up! Blank Spelling: Letters are placed at the bottom of the screen, but this time there’s no clue at the top! ABC Spelling was designed with both adults and children in mind. Kids will love the bright graphics, the easy to touch icons, and the fun cartoon drawings. Parents will love the report card feature that helps track learning progress. Best of all, ABC Spelling - Spell & Phonics is absolutely free, with no third party ads, paywalls, or other distractions. Features: - Fun, educational activities for toddlers, kids, and parents alike! - Colorful graphics and wonderful animations to help kids learn. - Sounds to help children learn phonics for letters and words. - Report cards show learning progress so parents can help their kids at every turn. - Parents have complete control to set options and customize game modes to make learning more effective. - Collect stickers to celebrate learning achievements! Note to Parents: ABC Spelling is a passion project for us. We want to reach kids across the world and give them an educational advantage. Children in cities, towns, even remote places where cell phones are more common than schools can benefit from a learning app like this one. There are so many kids who lack proper schooling, and that's why we want to remove as many barriers as possible to help them learn. As parents, you can do a lot to help us spread the joy of education. Share this app with friends, family, schools, daycares, non-profit organizations, or simply post about it on Facebook or Twitter. One share, one tweet, can make a huge difference. We're parents ourselves, and it's our goal to keep making free educational apps for kids. We need your help to make that happen. Every child should have a chance to learn the basics of spelling, phonics, and numbers. Together, we can give countless kids an opportunity they've never had. Thank you! - Best wishes from the parents at RV AppStudios

Screenshots

Starfall Learn to Read4 screens
ABC Spelling4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: ABC Spelling at fortnightly against Starfall Learn to Read's every 9 months. ABC Spelling also leads on rating (4.6 vs 4.2) and review sentiment (86% vs 71%). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

ABC Spelling holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: ABC Spelling has 3.2K ratings behind it against 228, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 71% of Starfall Learn to Read's written reviews are positive against 86% of ABC Spelling's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Starfall Learn to Read ships an update every 9 months, ABC Spelling fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on November 10, 2026 and November 11, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Starfall Learn to Read versus ABC Spelling: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterStarfall Learn to ReadABC Spelling
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.2 (228 ratings)4.6 (3.2K ratings) — better
Positive reviews71.3% of reviews85.7% of reviews — better
Number of ratings2283.2K — better
Update frequencyEvery 9 monthsFortnightly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.015.0
Further details — not scored
Size91 MB210 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperStarfall Education FoundationRV AppStudios LLC

Customer experience

Starfall Learn to Read

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

ABC Spelling

All ratings3,181 ratings
Positive89.1%
Neutral5.1%
Negative5.8%
Written reviews84 reviews
Positive85.7%
Neutral4.8%
Negative9.5%

User reviews

Starfall Learn to Read

From 228 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

ABC Spelling

From 3.2K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Great for kids
  • 🚀 Fun and engaging activities
  • 💡 Helpful for learning and development
  • 🔒 No ads or in-app purchases

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Inaccurate phonics sounds
  • 🐛 Incorrect teaching techniques
  • 🐛 Frequent freezing or crashing

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

ABC Spelling

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Sound issues
  • Compatibility problems on older devices

Requested features

3 requests
  • Add more advanced word families and blends
  • Incorporate lower case letters
  • Improve sentence structure and grammar

In-app purchases

None

Starfall Learn to Read

No in-app purchases

None

ABC Spelling

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Starfall Learn to Read free?
Starfall Learn to Read is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is ABC Spelling free?
ABC Spelling is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Starfall Learn to Read or ABC Spelling?
ABC Spelling is rated higher. Starfall Learn to Read averages 4.2 out of 5 from 228 ratings, while ABC Spelling averages 4.6 from 3.2K ratings.
Do Starfall Learn to Read or ABC Spelling have ads?
Neither Starfall Learn to Read nor ABC Spelling shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Starfall Learn to Read or ABC Spelling?
Starfall Learn to Read ships an update every 9 months, and ABC Spelling fortnightly. Most recently, Starfall Learn to Read was updated on November 10, 2026 and ABC Spelling on November 11, 2026.

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