Pirate Phonics 1 vs Dinosaur Letters
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Pirate Phonics 1
This app uses a pirate adventure theme to teach young children basic phonics and letter recognition. It features interactive challenges across five treasure islands, helping kids learn to read CVC words and over 300 words in total.
- Pirate-themed learning adventure
- Phonics challenges for letter recognition
- CVC word building and blending
- Over 300 words introduced
- Revisit learned phonics and islands
- Individual phonic selection
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Rated 5/5 and Recommended by educationalappstore.com, official advisor to the Tablets for Schools scheme. Pirate Phonics offers fun and Phonics for kids who are just learning to read/recognise letters and simple CVC words. Pirate phonics uses the concept of a child’s dream about pirates as the theme of an educational game to develop skills in the basic phonics. It is a very large App which uses 5 ‘treasure islands’ with a ‘phonic’ route map across each island to recover the treasure stolen by Blackbeard the pirate. Each phonic is introduced by a pirate with ‘phonic challenges’. By passing the challenges coins are collected and the child heads towards where Blackbeard has hidden the treasure. Each island is completed when the children use phonic challenges to open the treasure chest, but of course that’s not the end! Pirate Phonics has been designed to support the first stages of phonic learning over an extended period, at least several weeks. Each phonic is emphasised through the use of several ‘picture words’ which are deliberately read slowly by the narrator. Once a phonic has been unlocked and learned the child can revisit that island and phonic at any time. The whole app introduces more than 300 words! The 5 Treasure Islands introduce the phonics 1 at a time before using blends to form simple words (mainly CVC). Phonics introduced in this App include: •s a t p d •n m i g o •c e u r h •k b f l j •v w x y z •ck ff qu ss zz •ll ch sh th ng th If your child just wants to learn words related to any individual phonic then that can be selected from the ‘extras’ area on the start screen without going through every island. Pirate Phonics 2 is also available now, with even more focus on blending, word building and reading groups of words!
Dinosaur Letters
This app helps children learn letter formation in both cursive and pre-cursive styles. It uses phonics to teach spelling and includes engaging games like dot-to-dots and spelling challenges to reinforce learning.
- Letter forming practice (cursive & pre-cursive)
- US/UK English phonics
- Phonics-based spelling game
- Dot-to-dot dinosaur puzzles
- Cursive style selection
- Developed by educators
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Have fun releasing the Dino's from their eggs as you learn your letters! Dinosaur Letters allows your child to practice letter forming in both cursive (joined up) and simple pre cursive form. Letters are sounded out in either US or UK English phonics to allow your child to develop skills of breaking down words. You can choose your cursive style in settings. Completion of capital letters reveals a simple phonics based spelling game. Completion of either style of lower case letters is rewarded by a dot-to-dot puzzle which reveals the dinosaur in the egg. Made By Educators, tested in schools, apps with learning at their core! The British Dyslexia association recommend that children learn the continuous cursive style. The cursive style has some significant advantages for Dyslexic students. The key advantages to this system are: * By making each letter in one movement, children’s hands develop a ‘physical memory’ of it, making it easier to produce the correct shape; * Because letters and words flow from left to right, children are less likely to reverse letters which are typically difficult (like b/d or p/q); * There is a clearer distinction between capital letters and lower case; * The continuous flow of writing ultimately improves speed and spelling.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Pirate Phonics 1 at 3.3 against Dinosaur Letters's 1.0. Pirate Phonics 1 also leads on monetization model (free vs paid) and ratings volume (3 vs 1). Dinosaur Letters's advantage is review sentiment (80% vs 69%). On price, update cadence, 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
Pirate Phonics 1 costs $2.99 and Dinosaur Letters $2.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Pirate Phonics 1 holds the better App Store score, 3.3 against 1.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 3 and 1 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 69% of Pirate Phonics 1's written reviews are positive against 80% of Dinosaur Letters's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Pirate Phonics 1 ships an update every 8 months, Dinosaur Letters every 11 months. The most recent releases landed on October 23, 2026 and October 15, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Pirate Phonics 1 | Dinosaur Letters |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $2.99 | $2.99 |
| Rating | 3.3 (3 ratings) — better | 1.0 (1 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 68.8% of reviews | 80.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 3 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 8 months — better | Every 11 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free — better | Paid |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 7.0 — better | 12.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 408 MB | 13 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Unit11 | madebyeducators |
Customer experience
Pirate Phonics 1
Dinosaur Letters
In-app purchases
Pirate Phonics 1
No in-app purchases
Dinosaur Letters
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Pirate Phonics 1 free?
Is Dinosaur Letters free?
Which has better reviews, Pirate Phonics 1 or Dinosaur Letters?
Do Pirate Phonics 1 or Dinosaur Letters have ads?
Which is updated more often, Pirate Phonics 1 or Dinosaur Letters?
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