Missing Numbers vs Writing Wizard
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Missing Numbers
This app helps young students develop problem-solving skills through engaging addition and subtraction activities. It encourages mathematical talk and metacognition by guiding students through various counting and strategy-based problem-solving methods.
- Problem-solving skills development
- Addition and subtraction focus
- Counting and partitioning strategies
- Scaffolding with visible/hidden objects
- Four distinct activity types
- Encourages mathematical talk
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Missing Numbers introduces problem solving skills to young students. Problem solving can and should be introduced at this early stage, so that young students can begin to demonstrate mathematical 'talk', through discussion of different ways to solve problems and metacognition. Missing Numbers focuses on problems involving addition and subtraction. Initially students solve problems through counting all the objects visible or through partitioning or segregation and counting all the objects given. Missing Numbers encourages students to use more sophisticated strategies such as counting backward and counting on. Missing Numbers scaffolds students through the use of seen and unseen (hidden) objects, allowing students to 'check' their answer by 'peeking' at the hidden objects and the ability to move objects to allow ease of counting. Missing Numbers is broken into four different types of activities: = How Many = How many altogether e.g. 5+6=? = Show Me = Move the objects to show partitioning in subtraction e.g. 5-2=? = Addition = There are 6 altogether. How many are (hiding) in my hand? e.g. ?+3=6 = Subtraction = There are 4 altogether. How many are in the box? 4-?=1.
Writing Wizard
This app helps children learn to trace letters, numbers, and words with a fun, motivating system. It offers customizable tracing, interactive games, and progress reports for parents and educators.
- Customizable tracing practice
- Interactive games and rewards
- Letter names and phonics
- Create custom word lists
- Progress reports
- Printable worksheets
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"Fantastic, customizable tracing practice with fun rewards." 5 Stars - Common Sense Media 470,000+ units sold (including 260,000 to schools) ! Writing Wizard is designed to help every child learn how to trace letters, numbers, and words through a fun system carefully designed to maintain motivation. • Show and enforce how to trace letters correctly • 16 Fonts available (including 3 most popular USA fonts) • Fun tracing using 50+ animated stickers, sound effects and interactive games that animate letters at the end of tracing • Letter names and phonics • Uppercase & lowercase letters, numbers and words • Ability to create your own word lists (and record audio for each word) • Fully customizable to suit every child’s needs (letter size, difficulty,...) • Check progress thanks to reports that display what the child has traced • Shapes tracing activity for toddlers • Create PDF Worksheets and print them to help your child to write on paper • Use Apple pencil to write at very small size _______ ACCOLADES • "Writing Wizard is the most complete and intelligent letter tracing app we’ve seen"" AppoLearning.com • "This brand-new app should be the go-to for every parent, teacher and therapist to work on handwriting" - TOP PICKS - 5 stars - SmartAppsForKids.com • "Writing Wizard by L’Escapadou is everything a parent wants in a handwriting app, and more." 5/5 - kids-app-reviews.com • "L’Escapadou has made handwriting fun." AppyMall.com 5/5 • Listed in "20 best educational iPhone and iPad apps for kids of 2013" - appsplayground.com • Editor's Choice Award for Excellence in Design - Children's Technology Review _______ PERFECT FOR KIDS Kids want to have fun, and Writing Wizard offers a lot of fun to keep them motivated in the learning process ! • They can trace using 50+ animated stickers and sound effects • Once tracing is complete, they can interact with them on 4 games that animate letters • They can trace any word - like their name - and record their voice for each word • They can collect stars in 5-Stars play mode _______ PERFECT FOR PARENTS & TEACHERS • Ability to create your own word lists (and record audio for each word) • Detailed reports provide information on what kids have done, including the ability to replay and export the tracings to view kids' progress • Share word lists via iCloud drive or other cloud providers, adhoc network, or email • Multiple parameters to customize the app according to the child’s current education level (e.g. letter size, difficulty, show/hide model, allow to stop between key points, etc.) • 3 most popular fonts in the US (ZB, DN & HWT) and 13 international fonts (UK, Scandinavia,Australia, germany, France) • Upper and lower case letters, numbers (and word lists) • Letter names and phonics (which can be customized) • A customizable 5-Stars play mode prompting the child to trace a letter or a word 5 times using different parameters (each step is more challenging) • Create an unlimited number of users • Many settings to customize the app (sound, game time limit, black background,...) • In the A-Z section, special graphics available to match letters (e.g. ant graphic for A/a) _______ Note that a free to try version is available (search for "Writing Wizard -Starter" on the App Store) _______ Privacy Policy KNOW WHAT'S INSIDE As a Moms with Apps member, we follow the "Know what's inside" best practices for kids’ apps L’Escapadou takes children’s privacy seriously. We believe you should not have to worry about your kids being tracked by apps or websites. This app: • Does not collect any user information (we do not use data collection tools) • Does not contain in-app purchases • External Links: Protected parent sections are available where you can send us a mail and check out our others apps. Before accessing a parent section, an addition must be solved so that young kids cannot access it. *
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Missing Numbers at $1.99 against Writing Wizard's $13.99. Missing Numbers also leads on review sentiment (100% vs 90%) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 15.6). Writing Wizard's advantage is rating (4.3 vs 3.5) and update cadence (every 4 months vs every 38 months). On ads, in-app purchases, monetization model 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
Missing Numbers costs $1.99 and Writing Wizard $13.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Writing Wizard holds the better App Store score, 4.3 against 3.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Writing Wizard has 3.3K ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 100% of Missing Numbers's written reviews are positive against 90% of Writing Wizard's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Missing Numbers ships an update every 38 months, Writing Wizard every 4 months. The most recent releases landed on October 4, 2026 and October 15, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Missing Numbers | Writing Wizard |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $1.99 — better | $13.99 |
| Rating | 3.5 (2 ratings) | 4.3 (3.3K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better | 89.7% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 2 | 3.3K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 38 months | Every 4 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Paid |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 — better | 15.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 28 MB | 69 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Aleesha Kondys | Pierre Abel |
Customer experience
Missing Numbers
Writing Wizard
Bugs and requests
Missing Numbers
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
Writing Wizard
Reported bugs
2 issues- Incorrect letter formation for some characters
- Inconsistent performance on older devices
Requested features
6 requests- Add more font options, including cursive and UK-specific styles
- Improve parental control accessibility
- Integrate Apple Pencil support
- Allow easier clearing of tracing history
- Expand character support (e.g., Latin Extended, Cyrillic, Arabic)
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- Add a free-form writing mode or blank canvas
In-app purchases
Missing Numbers
No in-app purchases
Writing Wizard
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Missing Numbers free?
Is Writing Wizard free?
Which has better reviews, Missing Numbers or Writing Wizard?
Do Missing Numbers or Writing Wizard have ads?
Which is updated more often, Missing Numbers or Writing Wizard?
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