Comparison

READING MAGIC 3 for Schools vs Touch and Write Phonics

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

Head to head
About

READING MAGIC 3 for Schools

This educational app helps children master reading multi-syllable words through interactive activities based on the science of reading. It features three engaging modes: blending, segmenting, and reading, with sequential lessons and progress tracking.

Highlights
  • Science of Reading methodology
  • Focus on multi-syllable words
  • Blending and segmenting modes
  • Reading mode for comprehension
  • Sequential lessons
  • Progress tracking
  • Diverse male and female voices
Features
Read full description

Unlock the Magic of Reading with READING MAGIC 3! Transform your child into a confident reader with READING MAGIC 3! This app makes learning to read an exciting adventure through interactive activities focused on short vowel words containing multiple syllables. 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

About

Touch and Write Phonics

This app helps children learn phonics through interactive writing exercises. It offers various fun writing textures and papers, allowing kids to practice writing whole words. Parents and teachers can track progress and create custom practice lists.

Highlights
  • Interactive writing practice for phonics
  • Multiple fun writing textures and papers
  • Learn vowels, blends, and digraphs
  • Progress tracking for parents and teachers
  • Customizable practice lists
  • Reward system for completed words
Features
Read full description

**Best App Ever Award - Honorable Mention!** "Touch and Write Phonics" is a fun way for children to practice vowels, blends, digraphs and trigraphs - as they write with shaving cream, ketchup and more! "Touch and Write Phonics" allows parents and teachers to create individualized practice lists, and it allows parents and teachers to track children's progress! ▫▫ How to Play ▫▫ Children choose a phonics area to practice by tapping the "Vowels," "Blends" or "Digraphs" button. Children will have the opportunity to watch animations that teach about short vowels, long vowels, blends and digraphs or to practice writing words with short vowels, long vowels (with special attention to "silent e"), starting and ending blends, digraphs and trigraphs. Fun writing textures keep children engaged! Shaving cream is fun to write with, but children may switch between 18 different writing textures (along with sound effects!) Children may write with shaving cream, ketchup, lime gelatin, chocolate frosting, syrup, pudding, jelly, cookie dough, and much more! Children may also choose from 35 different writing papers - including zebra, tiger, giraffe, brick, chalk board, waffle, hieroglyphics, and much more! There are also lined papers that match school writing papers and dark papers for children who are visually impaired. "Touch and Write Phonics" allows children to write an entire word, rather than one letter at a time as in some writing apps. Blends, digraphs, trigraphs, short and long vowels are color-coded to help children learn them. After completing a word, children have a brief reward time in the prize room. Children may drag their monster or tilt the iPad to make it eat the cupcakes. They may tap the balloons to review their phonics words – and as soon as balloons are popped, the reward time will end. Parents and teachers may change the length of reward time in the "Settings" panel. Reward time can be adjusted from 0 up to 20 seconds. "Touch and Write Phonics" was created by elementary classroom teachers, and is based on best teaching practices. It integrates visual, kinesthetic and simulated tactile modalities to enhance learning – and fun! ▫▫ Tracking Children's Progress ▫▫ Parents and teachers may tap the player name button at any time to display a report of the child's practice sessions, or they may tap the "View practice reports" button. This displays the phonics lists practiced by a child, organized by date, and reports the number of times the child practiced each list. "Letters correct / total letters" allows parents and teachers to determine the percentage of letters formed without error. There is even an "Email" button to send an email copy of the report to yourself or to a student's parents. ▫▫ Individualizing ▫▫ Parents and teachers can create individualized lists for children to practice. Simply scroll through the phonics words list and add words to a child's list. Parent reviews of our "Touch and Write" app have included comments such as: "the easiest app for me to customize." Have fun, and please contact us with any questions, problems or suggestions: fizzbrain@gmail.com . We value our customers and want to hear how we can make our products serve your needs better! We have already made many improvements based on your feedback!

Screenshots

READING MAGIC 3 for Schools4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: READING MAGIC 3 for Schools at 100% against Touch and Write Phonics's 25%. READING MAGIC 3 for Schools also leads on rating (5.0 vs 1.0) and device support (3 vs 1). Touch and Write Phonics's advantage is update cadence (every 2 months vs every 40 months) and price ($2.99 vs $3.99). On ratings volume, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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

READING MAGIC 3 for Schools costs $3.99 and Touch and Write Phonics $2.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

READING MAGIC 3 for Schools holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 1.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1 and 2 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 100% of READING MAGIC 3 for Schools's written reviews are positive against 25% of Touch and Write Phonics's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

READING MAGIC 3 for Schools ships an update every 40 months, Touch and Write Phonics every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on September 20, 2026 and August 18, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
READING MAGIC 3 for Schools versus Touch and Write Phonics: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterREADING MAGIC 3 for SchoolsTouch and Write Phonics
Price$3.99$2.99 — better
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better1.0 (2 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews — better25.0% of reviews
Number of ratings12 — better
Update frequencyEvery 40 monthsEvery 2 months — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPad
Requires iOS13.79.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size224 MB77 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperPRESCHOOL UNIVERSITYFIZZBRAIN LLC

Customer experience

READING MAGIC 3 for Schools

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews8 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Touch and Write Phonics

All ratings2 ratings
Positive0.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative100.0%
Written reviews4 reviews
Positive25.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative75.0%

In-app purchases

None

READING MAGIC 3 for Schools

No in-app purchases

None

Touch and Write Phonics

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is READING MAGIC 3 for Schools free?
READING MAGIC 3 for Schools costs $3.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Touch and Write Phonics free?
Touch and Write Phonics costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, READING MAGIC 3 for Schools or Touch and Write Phonics?
READING MAGIC 3 for Schools is rated higher. READING MAGIC 3 for Schools averages 5.0 out of 5 from 1 ratings, while Touch and Write Phonics averages 1.0 from 2 ratings.
Do READING MAGIC 3 for Schools or Touch and Write Phonics have ads?
Neither READING MAGIC 3 for Schools nor Touch and Write Phonics shows ads.
Which is updated more often, READING MAGIC 3 for Schools or Touch and Write Phonics?
READING MAGIC 3 for Schools ships an update every 40 months, and Touch and Write Phonics every 2 months. Most recently, READING MAGIC 3 for Schools was updated on September 20, 2026 and Touch and Write Phonics on August 18, 2026.

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