READING MAGIC 2 Deluxe vs i Can Spell with Phonics
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
READING MAGIC 2 Deluxe
This app helps children master consonant blends through interactive blending, segmenting, and reading modes. It features over 300 words, male and female voices, and a sequenced curriculum designed by educators.
- Blending Mode for sound blending
- Segmenting Mode for word segmentation
- Reading Mode for independent word reading
- Focus on CCVC and CVCC words
- Advanced consonant blends section
- Over 300 words with male/female voices
- Lesson tracking and sequenced curriculum
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Unlock the Magic of Reading with READING MAGIC 2! Transform your child into a confident reader with READING MAGIC 2! This app makes learning to read an exciting adventure with interactive activities focused on CCVC (Consonant-Consonant-Vowel-Consonant) and CVCC short-vowel blend words. Meticulously designed to provide an advanced boost to your child’s phonemic awareness, this app combines three foundational pillars of literacy science into one powerful, interactive ecosystem: Blending (Listening), Segmenting (Speaking), and Decoding (Reading). Grounded firmly in Science of Reading principles and utilizing University of Florida Literacy Institute (UFLI) guidelines, READING MAGIC provides specific, precise training with extensive repetitions to help young brains bridge the gap between spoken sound units and complete words. IDEAL FOR BOTH BEGINNING PRE-READERS AND STRUGGLING READERS For Beginning Pre-Readers: A stress-free launchpad. By practicing words through pure sound sequences first, your child masters the internal mechanics of reading without cognitive overload. This keeps them from being frustrated by trying to learn separate, difficult skills at the same time. For Struggling or Remedial Readers: If your child's reading is hesitant or choppy, or if they guess at words, this app provides the targeted intervention recommended by modern reading science to help young brains bridge the gap. THREE CRITICAL SKILL-BUILDING PILLARS While many phonics programs completely overlook the auditory mechanics of reading, our program systematically guides your child through the complete progression of decoding: Skill 1: Blending (Listening): Interactive listening activities train your child’s neural processing ability to hear isolated sounds in words and join them together mentally. This builds the vital auditory runway required for future fluency. Skill 2: Segmenting (Speaking): True spelling and reading independence require the ability to pull spoken words apart into their individual sound units. These exercises build explicit awareness of the acoustic structure of language. Skill 3: Decoding (Reading): The ultimate bridge to literacy. Your child applies their mastery of blending and segmenting directly to text, smoothly moving from spoken sounds to visual words. STRUCTURAL SPACING & INSTRUCTION (Science-Backed Layout) Our app builds the actual findings of reading science directly into the user interface for maximum visual clarity: Anti-Crowding Design: Peer-reviewed research, including Marinus et al. (2016) and Wery & Diliberto (2017), demonstrates that generous letter spacing is critical for early decoding. By placing each letter on its own isolated card with distinct physical gaps, our layout eliminates visual crowding, allowing your child to isolate each sound unit cleanly. True Comprehension: The app strictly discourages picture guessing, forcing children to rely purely on their decoding skills to foster true comprehension and build lasting confidence. INDEPENDENT LEARNING & AESTHETIC SIMPLICITY Distraction-Free: Our minimalist design eliminates overstimulating audio-visual clutter, excessive sound effects, and animations to keep your child entirely focused on the mechanics of reading. Stress-Free Growth: Built-in natural feedback loops offer gentle corrections, nurturing self-discovery and independent learning at your child's own pace. EXPERT RESEARCH BACKING "Before a child can read fluently with their eyes, they must be able to blend fluently with their ears. Weakness in auditory blending is one of the strongest early predictors of later reading failure." — Dr. Joseph Torgesen, Florida State University. "Teaching students to blend and segment benefited their reading much more than did a multiple-skills approach... and teaching phonemic awareness with letters created effect sizes almost twice as large as teaching children without letters." — The National Reading Panel (NRP) Meta-Analysis
i Can Spell with Phonics
This app teaches 150 sight words through phonics and sentence context with vibrant photos. It breaks words into "phonic chunks" and sounds them out, offering a fun, independent learning experience for young children and those needing remedial support.
- Teaches 150 sight words
- Breaks words into phonic chunks
- Words in meaningful sentence context
- Vibrant photos for visual learning
- Independent use for children
- Reward games for motivation
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Easy to use – Top quality recorded speech – Educationally sound – It gets results! Teaches 150 sight words with regular spelling. Breaks words into "phonic chunks" and sounds them out. Words are taught in meaningful sentence context with vibrant photos. It's like training wheels for spelling success! Ages 5 to 7, plus Remedial, ESL and Special Needs. Designed for children to use independently – Hours of learning fun. Begin learning two letter words, CVCs, short vowel sounds and simple rimes, before moving on to consonant blends, common digraphs, including: sh, ch, th, ck, oo, ee, ow, ou, ay, ai, oa, and r-controlled vowels: ar, ir, or, er. i Can Spell with Phonics provides an easy introduction for beginning spellers, with no irregular words, no typing, and no spelling tests (these will be introduced in our later apps!) TO PLAY... Simply tap "PLAY" and pick one of the five words to start (from easy to hard). Or pick a word list from 1 to 15, CVC words, a short vowel or digraph, or pick your own "My Words" list. Each 10-word-lesson is made up of three activities, followed by a reward game. Activity 1: Tap on the "phonic chunks" to build and sound-out each spelling word. Activity 2: Name the pictures: Drag the vowels, beginning letters, rimes or digraphs to complete the words. (This may be completed strategically, or by trial and error.) Activity 3: More "phonic chunks", but this time the spelling words are put in context, with engaging sentences and vibrant photographs. Reward Game: Choose between "Match the Pairs", "Word Search", "Fish Food" and "Space Rescue". NO ADS – NO IN-APP PURCHASES – NO WORRIES! All links and app settings are placed behind a parental gate. VOICE OPTIONS: American, British and Australian English TEACHERS: If you find the reward arcade games too distracting for your classroom, these may be turned off (in "Settings"), enabling students to play word games only. Please visit our developer website (link found at the bottom of this page) to view videos, get the app guide, and free worksheets! SYNTHETIC OR ANALYTIC PHONICS? Our apps systematically break words into phonemes and sound them out. The whole word and phonics are presented together. Neither is given priority, because the phonemic and visual aspects are BOTH important when learning to read and spell. i Can Spell with Phonics teaches spelling through immersion and repeated exposure both visually to the correct spelling, as well as hearing and actively sounding out the words. Phonics is taught explicitly, and the words are also placed in meaningful sentence context. The words included are phonemically regular sight words, however the vocabulary is not limited to the extent required by most "synthetic phonics" programs, which tend to dictate a specific order in which to introduce phonemes. If required, teachers can pick their own words for the lesson using "My Words" (words must be chosen from the 150). We use a traditional pronunciation of "w" and "y" ("wuh" and "yuh"). Our apps are designed to be highly educational, fun to play, and also take into consideration the needs of struggling literacy learners. A GREAT START... Whether you are buying this app for your four year old who has already mastered the sounds of the alphabet, or for your eight year old who still struggles to read, i Can Spell with Phonics will provide them with intensive phonics practice which is easy, fun and effective. *Get a 50% discount for quantities of 20 or more = ($1.49 each), via Apple’s Education Volume Purchase Program (VPP)
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: i Can Spell with Phonics at 4.8 against READING MAGIC 2 Deluxe's 3.0. i Can Spell with Phonics also leads on update cadence (every 5 months vs every 30 months) and review sentiment (100% vs 82%). 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
READING MAGIC 2 Deluxe costs $3.99 and i Can Spell with Phonics $1.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
i Can Spell with Phonics holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 3.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: i Can Spell with Phonics has 17 ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 82% of READING MAGIC 2 Deluxe's written reviews are positive against 100% of i Can Spell with Phonics's.
READING MAGIC 2 Deluxe ships an update every 30 months, i Can Spell with Phonics every 5 months. Both last shipped on November 1, 2026.
| Parameter | READING MAGIC 2 Deluxe | i Can Spell with Phonics |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $3.99 | $1.99 — better |
| Rating | 3.0 (3 ratings) | 4.8 (17 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 81.8% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 3 | 17 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 30 months | Every 5 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Paid |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 13.7 | 6.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 232 MB | 111 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | PRESCHOOL UNIVERSITY | Michael Harvey |
Customer experience
READING MAGIC 2 Deluxe
i Can Spell with Phonics
In-app purchases
READING MAGIC 2 Deluxe
No in-app purchases
i Can Spell with Phonics
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is READING MAGIC 2 Deluxe free?
Is i Can Spell with Phonics free?
Which has better reviews, READING MAGIC 2 Deluxe or i Can Spell with Phonics?
Do READING MAGIC 2 Deluxe or i Can Spell with Phonics have ads?
Which is updated more often, READING MAGIC 2 Deluxe or i Can Spell with Phonics?
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