Comparison

Category Therapy Lite vs Keyword Understanding

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Category Therapy Lite

This app helps individuals improve their mental organization and category-based thinking skills. It offers evidence-based exercises designed by experts to aid in word-finding and sorting, beneficial for those with stroke, brain injury, or autism.

Highlights
  • Evidence-based exercises
  • Improve word-finding
  • Improve sorting skills
  • 4 engaging activities
  • Unlimited practice
  • Clear photos and simple interface
  • Customizable settings
Read full description

Improve mental organization skills. Practice categories in a versatile speech therapy app. When you struggle with categories due to stroke, brain injury, or autism, simple tasks can be impossible. But there’s a way to heal the broken networks of meaning. TRY CATEGORY THERAPY, an app designed for both speech therapists and home users to help restructure the brain and let the ideas flow. This free Lite version gives you a sample of what you’ll get in the full version. - Take control with evidence-based exercises designed by experts - Improve word-finding and sorting skills with 4 engaging activities and unlimited practice - Get an app that works in both home and clinical settings - Interact with clear photos and a simple interface that's easy for everyone to use - Adjust settings to target your goals and suit your needs - Use reports and customization to seamlessly fit the app into your therapy program When you lose the ability to group items and identify what they have in common, it gets in the way of your ability to understand, learn, and communicate. But with the right kind of practice, it’s possible to strengthen the connections between words and concepts and navigate your world more easily. “It will be a LONG time before you run out of content to use with one patient, and the app’s fantastic settings options will allow you to use it with a variety of individuals, regardless of cognitive abilities.” - Aubrey Klingensmith, MS, CCC-SLP, Speechie Apps GET THE RIGHT ACTIVITY - FOR EVERY BRAIN. No two people are the same. With 4 activities ranging from simple to complex, there's something in Category Therapy to match your needs. Work through them gradually or focus on the activity that best suits your needs. 1) FIND: Start with the basics. You'll hear and see a photo of a category (let's say "Fruit"). Tap the item that matches (for example, a banana). 2) CLASSIFY: Switch it up. Now you start with an item and choose the category that matches. This tests your ability to apply categories to what you see. 3) ADD ONE: Train yourself to recognize common features of items – to categorize them – and then choose one item that fits the category you’ve identified. 4) EXCLUDE: Challenge yourself. By choosing an item that doesn't belong, you learn how to independently identify categories. As things get harder, you can always tap Hint for some help. ALL DONE? Share your progress. The app makes it easy to quickly view, share, or e-mail detailed reports to a therapist or loved one. GET EVERY FEATURE YOU NEED IN ONE EASY APP. • 70 categories and nearly 700 words in the full version • 3 difficulty levels ranging from simple objects to more abstract concepts • Great for aphasia, brain injury, autism, and other cognitive & language impairments • Switch to Pictures Only to practice naming or Words Only to practice reading • Customize the number of trials, choices, and more – the full version gives you total control • Designed with adults in mind but easy enough for children to use • No subscriptions, no monthly bills, no Wi-Fi needed THERE’S HOPE. With Category Therapy in your corner, you can build stronger connections between words – and learn to speak and think more easily. What’s the difference between the Lite and full versions? - Full has nearly 700 words in 70 categories; Lite has 21 target words and 15 categories. - Full lets you control all the settings; Lite limits the number of choices and number of trials - Full has enough variety to practice and improve; Lite gives you a taste to know if this app is right for you – it’s not meant to be used for long as the sample exercises are easily mastered. Looking for something different in a speech therapy app? We offer a wide range to choose from. Find the right one for you at https://tactustherapy.com/find

About

Keyword Understanding

This app helps users of all ages improve their ability to understand spoken and written directions. It features various activities targeting vocabulary, basic concepts, and sequential instructions, making it beneficial for individuals with listening comprehension or processing difficulties.

Highlights
  • Follow spoken and written directions
  • Improve vocabulary and basic concepts
  • Target auditory attention and working memory
  • Activities for one and two-step directions
  • Temporal and sequential direction practice
  • Comprehension check for vocabulary and concepts
Features
Read full description

“This app is great for children with processing difficulties which need to improve their ability to follow directions with a variety of embedded concepts.” ~ Smart Speech Therapy blog “Every child I have used it with has been very engaged by the lovely, brightly-colored pictures, and has quite happily kept on listening and following the instructions.” ~ Speech Blog UK “It can be used for informal assessments, language therapy and home practice. It can also be used to target auditory attention and working memory for cognitive-communication goals.” ~ Speaking of Apps blog Keyword Understanding is a professional speech and language therapy app that targets the ability to understand sentences and follow spoken and written directions of increasing difficulty. Children and adults are asked to follow directions in their everyday lives. In order to follow directions, the child or adult requires a strong knowledge of vocabulary, basic concepts and the ability to process and retain the information they have listened to or read. WHO IS KEYWORD UNDERSTANDING FOR? - Parents - Teachers - Speech language pathologists / Speech and language therapists - Children with reduced attention and listening comprehension or auditory processing difficulties  - Children with receptive language delay, developmental language delay or autism - Adults with mild to moderate aphasia due to stroke or traumatic brain injury - Adults with cognitive-communication difficulties due to stroke or traumatic brain injury  WHAT COMPREHENSION ACTIVITIES ARE INCLUDED IN KEYWORD UNDERSTANDING? Comprehension Check: This activity helps you identify where comprehension breaks down. It checks the understanding of individual vocabulary items, and the basic concepts of size and color. Object, Size & Color: This activity works on the understanding of the basic concepts of size and color as well as the ability to follow one and two-step directions of increasing difficulty. 2 keyword level: Touch the green car 3 keyword level: Touch the big red mug 4 keyword level: Touch the green vase and the yellow cushion 6 keyword level: Touch the small pink gloves and the big blue comb Before & After: This activity works on the ability to understand and follow temporal directions (directions which include the concepts before/after in a variety of positions in the sentence). “Before you touch the t-shirt, touch the phone” “After you touch the lamp, touch the vase”, “Touch the flower before you touch the box”, “Touch the sock after you touch the bucket”. First & Then: This activity works on the ability to understand and follow sequential directions (directions which include the concepts first/then in the sentence). “First touch the ladder, then touch the bike”.  WHAT LANGUAGE & COGNITIVE SKILLS DOES KEYWORD UNDERSTANDING TARGET? - Vocabulary - Listening / Auditory Comprehension - Reading Comprehension - Working Memory - Attention to Detail - Language Processing - Basic Concepts / Adjectives (size, color) - Temporal Directions (Before/After) - Sequential Directions (First… Then)  FEATURES 3 modes: - Listening/ Auditory Only: Match the spoken direction to the picture(s) - Reading Only: Match the written direction to the picture(s) - Listening and Reading: Match the spoken and written directions to the picture(s) Keyword Understanding lets you: - Choose from a variety of vocabulary items in different sizes and five different colors allowing for thousands of following directions tasks - Follow directions of increasing difficulty and length - Add individual user profiles - Automatically track correct and incorrect responses of each user - Email a detailed result summary after a session or at a later date - Receive audio feedback for correct answers only, incorrect answers only or both All Aptus Speech Therapy apps participate in the 50% off Volume Purchase Program.  Visit our website for more details about our other speech and language therapy apps.

Screenshots

Category Therapy Lite4 screens
Keyword Understanding4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Category Therapy Lite at 90% against Keyword Understanding's 25%. Category Therapy Lite also leads on price (Free vs $17.99) and ratings volume (306 vs 3). Keyword Understanding's advantage is rating (5.0 vs 4.8). 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

Category Therapy Lite is free to download; Keyword Understanding costs $17.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Keyword Understanding holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Category Therapy Lite has 306 ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 90% of Category Therapy Lite's written reviews are positive against 25% of Keyword Understanding's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Category Therapy Lite ships an update every 9 months, Keyword Understanding every 10 months. The most recent releases landed on September 6, 2026 and September 3, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Category Therapy Lite versus Keyword Understanding: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCategory Therapy LiteKeyword Understanding
PriceFree — better$17.99
Rating4.8 (306 ratings)5.0 (3 ratings) — better
Positive reviews90.0% of reviews — better25.0% of reviews
Number of ratings306 — better3
Update frequencyEvery 9 months — betterEvery 10 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree — betterPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS9.0 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size17 MB64 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperTactus Therapy Solutions Ltd.Aptus Speech and Language Therapy Limited

Customer experience

Category Therapy Lite

All ratings306 ratings
Positive95.1%
Neutral2.3%
Negative2.6%
Written reviews20 reviews
Positive90.0%
Neutral5.0%
Negative5.0%

Keyword Understanding

All ratings3 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews4 reviews
Positive25.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative75.0%

In-app purchases

None

Category Therapy Lite

No in-app purchases

None

Keyword Understanding

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Category Therapy Lite free?
Category Therapy Lite is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Keyword Understanding free?
Keyword Understanding costs $17.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Category Therapy Lite or Keyword Understanding?
Keyword Understanding is rated higher. Category Therapy Lite averages 4.8 out of 5 from 306 ratings, while Keyword Understanding averages 5.0 from 3 ratings.
Do Category Therapy Lite or Keyword Understanding have ads?
Neither Category Therapy Lite nor Keyword Understanding shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Category Therapy Lite or Keyword Understanding?
Category Therapy Lite ships an update every 9 months, and Keyword Understanding every 10 months. Most recently, Category Therapy Lite was updated on September 6, 2026 and Keyword Understanding on September 3, 2026.

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