Comparison

Starfall Learn to Read vs Blending Board

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

Blending Board

This app helps teachers and parents teach phonics and blending sounds for reading. It allows users to create and customize decks of phonemes for blending activities, supporting both simple and multisyllabic word decoding. Shared decks via QR codes streamline instruction.

Highlights
  • Create custom phoneme decks
  • Blend sounds for word decoding
  • Practice multisyllabic rules
  • Personalize visual deck design
  • Share decks via QR codes
Features
Read full description

The Blending Board App is a powerful educational tool for teachers and parents working with dyslexic learners or anyone else still learning the foundations of blending sounds (phonics) and the multisyllabic rules of English. In this App users will find an easy-to-use resource that allows them to create a deck of phonemes that can be substituted and manipulated to create various kinds of blending activities. The decks enable users to practice decoding simple words, and multisyllabic words, too. Blending Board also offers a unique opportunity for creative flexibility by granting users design options when creating personalized decks that are visually appealing. The end product is a professional-looking, personalized deck of educational materials that users can integrate into instruction with one or many, and which can be used time and again. An easy-to-use QR code system allows the personalized decks to be shared with anyone who has the app, so that the teacher's time can be focused on teaching, not navigating complicated technology.

Screenshots

Starfall Learn to Read4 screens
Blending Board4 screens

Verdict

The call

Starfall Learn to Read and Blending Board both sit at 4.2 stars, but that hides the real split: 75% of Starfall Learn to Read's written reviews are positive against 65% of Blending Board's. Blending Board's advantage is iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.0). On price, rating, ratings volume and update cadence 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

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.2 for Starfall Learn to Read against 4.3 for Blending Board. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 226 and 81 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 75% of Starfall Learn to Read's written reviews are positive against 65% of Blending Board's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Starfall Learn to Read ships an update every 11 months, Blending Board every 10 months. The most recent releases landed on October 1, 2026 and September 8, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Starfall Learn to Read versus Blending Board: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterStarfall Learn to ReadBlending Board
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.2 (226 ratings)4.3 (81 ratings) — better
Positive reviews74.7% of reviews — better64.5% of reviews
Number of ratings226 — better81
Update frequencyEvery 11 monthsEvery 10 months — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better
Requires iOS15.013.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size91 MB49 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperStarfall Education FoundationChain Reaction Games LLC

Customer experience

Starfall Learn to Read

All ratings226 ratings
Positive77.0%
Neutral7.1%
Negative15.9%
Written reviews75 reviews
Positive74.7%
Neutral1.3%
Negative24.0%

Blending Board

All ratings81 ratings
Positive81.5%
Neutral4.9%
Negative13.6%
Written reviews31 reviews
Positive64.5%
Neutral12.9%
Negative22.6%

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

Blending Board

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Starfall Learn to Read

No in-app purchases

None

Blending Board

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 Blending Board free?
Blending Board is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Starfall Learn to Read or Blending Board?
Blending Board is rated higher. Starfall Learn to Read averages 4.2 out of 5 from 226 ratings, while Blending Board averages 4.3 from 81 ratings.
Do Starfall Learn to Read or Blending Board have ads?
Neither Starfall Learn to Read nor Blending Board shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Starfall Learn to Read or Blending Board?
Starfall Learn to Read ships an update every 11 months, and Blending Board every 10 months. Most recently, Starfall Learn to Read was updated on October 1, 2026 and Blending Board on September 8, 2026.

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