Comparison

Starfall Learn to Read vs CAPIT Reading

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

CAPIT Reading

This app teaches young learners to read and write through interactive sound-based activities. It focuses on phonics, word blending, and sentence construction without traditional game rewards. Designed for early elementary students, it supports various learning needs.

Highlights
  • Learn to read by playing with sounds
  • Intuitive letter creation and word blending
  • Sentence assembly
  • Phonics instruction
  • Writing component
  • Supports ELL and struggling students
Read full description

CAPIT Reading: Learn to Read by Playing with Sounds (TK-2 | 5+) CAPIT Reading teaches students to read without “verbal instructions.” Native English speaking students and ELL students learn to read by intuitively creating letters, blending words, and assembling sentences. CAPIT Reading is a dynamic instructional tool that advances learners in phonics as they demonstrate mastery and automaticity of foundational skills. It is 100% Learning 100% of the Time. CAPIT Reading is not a game or “Edutainment.” It has no monsters, spaceships, or letter-eating-frogs. It has no currencies, badges, point system, or any kind of extrinsic rewards. It is what you would expect from a curriculum that teaches students to decode, write, spell, and read with fluency and comprehension. When students learn to read by “Playing with Sounds,” they stay engaged, entertained, and motivated to level-up. CAPIT supplements all core Language Arts curricula by offering self-paces phonics instruction and a complete writing component that supports ELL, struggling and gifted students. CAPIT was built upon very specific research on early reading instruction, child development, and cognitive science. CAPIT is available for classrooms and single users (TK-2 | 5+). CAPIT Reading requires a constant internet connection. https://capitlearning.com/terms-of-use

Screenshots

Starfall Learn to Read4 screens

Verdict

The call

Starfall Learn to Read and CAPIT Reading both sit at 4.2 stars, but that hides the real split: 75% of Starfall Learn to Read's written reviews are positive against 0% of CAPIT Reading's. Starfall Learn to Read also leads on ratings volume (229 vs 8) and device support (3 vs 1). CAPIT Reading's advantage is update cadence (every 2 months vs every 9 months) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.0). On price, rating, ads and in-app purchases 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

CAPIT Reading holds the better App Store score, 4.4 against 4.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Starfall Learn to Read has 229 ratings behind it against 8, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 75% of Starfall Learn to Read's written reviews are positive against 0% of CAPIT Reading's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Starfall Learn to Read ships an update every 9 months, CAPIT Reading every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 9, 2026 and October 4, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Starfall Learn to Read versus CAPIT Reading: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterStarfall Learn to ReadCAPIT Reading
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.2 (229 ratings)4.4 (8 ratings) — better
Positive reviews74.7% of reviews — better0.0% of reviews
Number of ratings229 — better8
Update frequencyEvery 9 monthsEvery 2 months — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPad
Requires iOS15.013.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size91 MB67 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperStarfall Education FoundationCapit Learning 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%

CAPIT Reading

All ratings8 ratings
Positive87.5%
Neutral0.0%
Negative12.5%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive0.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative100.0%

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

CAPIT Reading

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Starfall Learn to Read

No in-app purchases

None

CAPIT Reading

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 CAPIT Reading free?
CAPIT Reading is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Starfall Learn to Read or CAPIT Reading?
CAPIT Reading is rated higher. Starfall Learn to Read averages 4.2 out of 5 from 229 ratings, while CAPIT Reading averages 4.4 from 8 ratings.
Do Starfall Learn to Read or CAPIT Reading have ads?
Neither Starfall Learn to Read nor CAPIT Reading shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Starfall Learn to Read or CAPIT Reading?
Starfall Learn to Read ships an update every 9 months, and CAPIT Reading every 2 months. Most recently, Starfall Learn to Read was updated on October 9, 2026 and CAPIT Reading on October 4, 2026.

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