Comparison

Starfall Learn to Read vs Dot

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

Dot

This interactive game helps children learn numbers and letters through engaging dot-to-dot puzzles. It offers customizable learning paths for various ages and includes fun rewards like collectible pin badges.

Highlights
  • 35 dot-to-dot puzzles
  • Learn numbers and skip counting
  • Practice uppercase and lowercase letters
  • Customizable learning levels
  • Collectible pin badges
  • Multi-player profiles
Features
Read full description

This fun lesson on letters and numbers can be enjoyed by the whole family, with fully customizable options making it suitable for toddlers and older kids alike. Go from one dot to the next in the correct sequence in order to reveal the mystery object. Terrific job! You have earned a cool pin badge - now have a race with siblings and friends to see who will be the first to collect them all! Inside Dot-to-dot Adventure: - 35 dot-to-dot puzzles - Cute illustrations of fun characters and objects - watch them come alive as you complete each puzzle! - Learn about numbers - progress from traditional counting to skip counting in multiples of 2 to 12 - All about letters - know the alphabet inside and out by practising with uppercase and lowercase letters - Heaps of help options, including: dot hint, simple puzzles with less number of dots, and more - Create up to 4 player profiles - A badge board with collectable pin badges in every puzzle - Pleasant voice narration of letters and numbers, which can be switched on or off LEVELS TO SUIT EVERY CHILD Every child learns at a different pace and this app allows him or her to do just that. You decide what they should learn - is the alphabet too easy for your toddler? Has your preschooler mastered counting and is ready for something a little more challenging, like the multiplications table? Flexibility is key, but we’ve also kept things quick and easy - default settings have been built in so that you can simply enter your child’s age and they can start playing straight away. You can always go back and change the settings to specifically tailor to your child’s needs. WHOLE FAMILY FUN This app saves up to four players. That means everyone can have a go without anyone’s badges getting deleted (and we all know how important that is!). It also means you save a few dollars with something the whole bunch can enjoy. Download Dot-to-dot Adventure once and play it on the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. Available in multiple languages, including: English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Swedish, Russian and Danish. -------------- Connect with us! Visit us: http://www.GiggleUp.com Like us: facebook.com/GiggleUpApps Follow us: twitter.com/GiggleUpApps Email us: Support@GiggleUp.com Brought to you by GiggleUp, creators of the award-winning Interactive Telling Time and other educational apps for kids. Our goal is to promote learning through play with the purpose of helping children develop useful learning skills. Our apps have been enjoyed by children and used in classrooms all around the world!

Screenshots

Starfall Learn to Read4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Dot at 100% against Starfall Learn to Read's 75%. Dot also leads on iOS requirement (8.0 vs 15.0). Starfall Learn to Read's advantage is update cadence (every 9 months vs every 42 months) and device support (3 vs 1). 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.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Starfall Learn to Read ships an update every 9 months, Dot every 42 months. The most recent releases landed on October 27, 2026 and October 20, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Starfall Learn to Read versus Dot: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterStarfall Learn to ReadDot
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.2 (228 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews74.7% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings228 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 9 months — betterEvery 42 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPad
Requires iOS15.08.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size91 MB152 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperStarfall Education FoundationGiggleUp Kids Apps And Educational Games Pty Ltd

Customer experience

Starfall Learn to Read

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

Dot

Written reviews4 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

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

Dot

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Starfall Learn to Read

No in-app purchases

None

Dot

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 Dot free?
Dot is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Starfall Learn to Read or Dot have ads?
Neither Starfall Learn to Read nor Dot shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Starfall Learn to Read or Dot?
Starfall Learn to Read ships an update every 9 months, and Dot every 42 months. Most recently, Starfall Learn to Read was updated on October 27, 2026 and Dot on October 20, 2026.

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