Comparison

Starfall Learn to Read vs Reading Raven Vol 2

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

Reading Raven Vol 2

This app offers engaging, self-paced lessons for young children to build foundational reading skills. It features interactive games, guided writing, and sticker rewards to make learning fun and effective. Designed for ages 3-7, it complements traditional reading instruction.

Highlights
  • Self-paced reading lessons
  • Ten types of educational games
  • Customizable by age/level
  • Adaptive speed and tolerance
  • Sticker rewards system
  • Guided letter and word writing
  • Progress saving
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

Reading Raven is back with more learn-to-read adventures for young and developing readers! Reading Raven Volume 2 HD presents the second set of lessons in the same format your child has come to know and love in the award-winning Reading Raven series. "Reading Raven has one of the strongest educational and design foundations we have seen." -- Kindertown "[Reading] Raven has what it takes to get kids on the road to reading and the developers have done it brilliantly..." -- Teachers With Apps "Reading Raven ... has so many fun features for kids, they hardly know they're actually learning something. No, really, I kid you not. My daughter absolutely loves this app." -- Margaret Steck, mother of two ____________________ Reading Raven Volume 2 HD continues the Reading Raven series of superbly engaging learn-to-read games with new step-by-step activities that help young children build a solid foundation for reading. Your child is ready to move on to Volume 2, if he or she can read or sound out simple words that follow the consonant-vowel-consonant pattern like sad, wet, dip, cob, and hum. FEATURES: - Self-paced lessons advance from reading single words to reading small stories. - Ten types of child-tested games/activities that teach essential sub-skills. - Fully customizable by age or reading level. - Speed and tolerance dynamically adapt to child’s motor-control ability. - Sticker rewards that reinforce effort and engagement. - Feedback that encourages; no pressure tactics. - Extremely effective voice instructions and feedback. - Guided freehand letter and word writing. - Capability to pause and save progress at any time. - Beautiful hand-illustrated artwork. - No third party advertising or external links to social network sites. With the Reading Raven companion guiding them, children go on delightful fun-filled adventures where they encounter pterodactyls feeding their young, robot-assembly factories, glow-in-the-dark worms, balloon-popping whales, camera-friendly meerkats, flying fish, and much more! Reading Raven includes the following progression of self-paced educational activities: Ages 3 and Up - Letter matching - Letter tracing - Letter recognition - Word matching Ages 4 and Up - Vocabulary - Word beginnings - Word building (spelling) - Word spotting Ages 5 and Up - Reading aloud using voice recording - Word tracing - Word groups (rhyming and beginning sounds) Reading Raven presents five extensive lessons, with hundreds of individual activities in total. Parents and teachers will find the multi-sensory learning games to be a great complement to traditional classroom and home-based reading instruction. Recommended Ages: 3-7 Categories: Reading, Phonics, Letters, Spelling, Writing, Vocabulary, Early Learning, Special Needs Build your children's reading skills and confidence with Reading Raven and watch their learning take flight! Happy Reading Adventures! ____________________ MORE INFORMATION, FEEDBACK and SUPPORT Learn more about the product and our team: http://www.readingraven.com/ Like us on Facebook: http://facebook.com/readingraven Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/readingraven If you have feedback or suggestions, please email us at feedback@earlyascent.com. We would love to hear from you! ____________________ PRIVACY We have kids, too, and we take the privacy of you and your children seriously. This product does not collect any personally identifiable information by default.

Screenshots

Starfall Learn to Read4 screens
Reading Raven Vol 21 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Starfall Learn to Read at Free against Reading Raven Vol 2's $1.99. Starfall Learn to Read also leads on ratings volume (228 vs 13). Reading Raven Vol 2's advantage is rating (4.7 vs 4.2) and review sentiment (100% vs 71%). On update cadence, ads, in-app purchases 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

Starfall Learn to Read is free to download; Reading Raven Vol 2 costs $1.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Reading Raven Vol 2 holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Starfall Learn to Read has 228 ratings behind it against 13, 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 100% of Reading Raven Vol 2's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Starfall Learn to Read ships an update every 9 months, Reading Raven Vol 2 every 16 months. The most recent releases landed on October 28, 2026 and October 29, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 4 level
Starfall Learn to Read versus Reading Raven Vol 2: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterStarfall Learn to ReadReading Raven Vol 2
PriceFree — better$1.99
Rating4.2 (228 ratings)4.7 (13 ratings) — better
Positive reviews71.3% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings228 — better13
Update frequencyEvery 9 months — betterEvery 16 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree — betterPaid
Best chart rank—#188 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPod
Requires iOS15.08.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size91 MB125 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperStarfall Education FoundationEarly Ascent, 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%

Reading Raven Vol 2

All ratings13 ratings
Positive92.3%
Neutral0.0%
Negative7.7%
Written reviews5 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

Reading Raven Vol 2

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Starfall Learn to Read

No in-app purchases

None

Reading Raven Vol 2

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 Reading Raven Vol 2 free?
Reading Raven Vol 2 costs $1.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Starfall Learn to Read or Reading Raven Vol 2?
Reading Raven Vol 2 is rated higher. Starfall Learn to Read averages 4.2 out of 5 from 228 ratings, while Reading Raven Vol 2 averages 4.7 from 13 ratings.
Do Starfall Learn to Read or Reading Raven Vol 2 have ads?
Neither Starfall Learn to Read nor Reading Raven Vol 2 shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Starfall Learn to Read or Reading Raven Vol 2?
Starfall Learn to Read ships an update every 9 months, and Reading Raven Vol 2 every 16 months. Most recently, Starfall Learn to Read was updated on October 28, 2026 and Reading Raven Vol 2 on October 29, 2026.

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