Comparison

Hooked on Phonics Learning vs Spelling Hangman

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

Head to head
About

Hooked on Phonics Learning

This app transforms screen time into educational fun for children aged 3-8. It offers interactive games and activities across reading, math, and spelling, tailored to individual learning needs. Parents receive real-time progress insights and can track their child's development through a comprehensive ebook library and reward system.

Highlights
  • Reading, Math & Spelling Games
  • 1000+ Educational Activities
  • 100+ Ebook Library
  • Adaptive Learning Program
  • Virtual Rewards System
  • Multi-device Compatibility
  • Customizable Learner Profiles
Read full description

Turn screen time into learning time! Hooked on Phonics has been trusted by parents for over 35 years to provide engaging, educational content for kids. Our app uses cutting-edge research and guidance from top educators to teach essential skills. Tailored to support preschool, kindergarten, 1st grade, and 2nd grade learners, our adaptive program targets where each child needs practice. This gives parents real-time progress insights! Learn across different subjects with Hooked on Math and Hooked on Spelling included within our Hooked on Phonics app. Kids can learn, gain rewards, and strengthen early skills that align with your family’s educational goals. Hooked on Phonics helps children (ages 3-8) learn across reading, math, and spelling with:: • 1000+ educational activities designed for preschool, kindergarten, and early grade levels • 100+ ebook library with stories to complement every reading lesson • Multi-device compatibility – keep learning consistent across devices • Three customizable learner profiles to track individual progress Children can: • Gain confidence through interactive learning activities * Earn virtual rewards like cosmetic items for your avatar • Practice reading in our extensive ebook library • Easily resume learning on any device, any time WHAT YOU GET WHEN YOU DOWNLOAD: Hooked on Phonics offers a 7-day free trial of the entire program, including: reading, math, and spelling content. Experience your child’s excitement as they read their first book or solve their first math problem! Terms of use: - Hooked on Phonics provides a 7-day free trial, which upon completion, becomes a monthly subscription charged by the Apple App Store. - Subscriptions automatically renew unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours prior to the end of the current period. - Subscriptions may be managed by the user by going to the “Subscriptions” section in the App store after purchase. https://hookedonphonics.com/terms-of-service/ Practice Packs Mailed Home: Catapult your child's progress by purchasing Practice Packs as an add-on to your App (available on our website). The workbooks, storybooks, and celebration stickers work in tandem with the App to help children develop a deeper understanding of literacy (and mathematics!) concepts. Built by educational experts and reinforced with feedback from our customers, the Practice Pack program includes 5 Pre-reader, and 15 Learn to Read packs that include workbooks, stickers, storybooks, and in the first Pre-reader pack, flashcards that are sent to the home, monthly. Subscribers can customize how often they receive these shipments through their account dashboard to tailor the pacing to each family’s needs. Created in conjunction with the App, the Practice Packs allow children to engage in different modalities of learning, review the skills they’ve gained in the App, and practice hands-on skills—like writing and tracing—that are best mastered in a non-digital environment. The result is an immersive program of learning experiences that keeps kids highly engaged in learning to read. Start your child on the path to becoming a confident lifelong learner, and download Hooked on Phonics now!

About

Spelling Hangman

Practice school spelling lists with a fun, customizable hangman-style game. Parents and teachers can create custom word lists with audio, and students can practice spelling using a keyboard. The app offers 'sneaky peeks' as hints, saving high scores for replayability.

Highlights
  • Create custom spelling lists
  • Record audio for words
  • Password-protected lists
  • Hangman-style gameplay
  • Sneaky peek hint system
  • High score saving
  • Share tests between devices
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

Designed specifically for those spelling lists from school Appymall - 'Spelling Hangman is a neat app for practicing spelling lists. Parents or teachers can add their own spelling list for children to work on, add audio, choose to lock their lists under "lock configuration" with a password and get kids practicing. In the app, the first word is spoken, and can be repeated by hitting the arrow at the bottom, and kids practice spelling it by using the keyboard at the right. The app plays like a traditional game of hangman, when a letter is missed a piece of the picture shows up, and if the entire word is missed, the word is shown. I like now customizable the app is, with adding your own words and lists, it makes it appropriate for a wider range of students. The voice detection is good, which can be an issue. I would like to see a better hint system in future updates, but overall this is a solid app that I would recommend. I saw no links, ads, or IAPs.' 4 stars EducationalAppStore - 'Spelling Hangman is a fun and easy to use app that will come in handy for young children when preparing for spelling classes. It’s fair to say that the app can be easily used in the classroom and incorporated in the regular curricula. The app receives a 4 star EAS Certification and with a few tweaks from the developer it can become a 5 star app!' iMums - 'I would recommend this app, for sure! I believe it could be useful within the therapy room, as a center in the general education classroom, or as a reward in a special education classroom, just to name a few. This is such a great tool to be used to functionally practice spelling words, or “word study” words as we call them! I feel this app has great potential and with the few things worked out, it would be a 5-star app! I was incredibly impressed with the app and had I known the few things I discovered, I would certainly have rated it higher!' - 4.5 stars Spelling Hangman is a fun and easy way to prepare for weekly school spelling tests. To create your own tests, enter and record each of the spellings, then play a hangman style game with 'sneaky peeks' to help the learning process. You will enter each letter of the word in the correct order, but watch out, if you make a mistake, hangman will start to appear. Stuck? - press and hold the 'Sneaky Peek' button to look at the word. It might sound like cheating, but each 'Sneaky Peek' adds a hangman stage. When you have finished your test, check your scores. High scores will be saved for you to try and beat next time. Spelling Hangman can also be used as a any language, for which you have a keyboard, to English vocab tester. Tests may be shared between devices using Airdrop, iMessage or eMail. Emma Mils is a participant of the Moms with Apps Know What’s Inside® program, a part of ACT | The App Association. This program is dedicated to helping family-friendly app developers implement best practices around privacy and comply with new privacy rules including the new COPPA rules that took effect July 1st. The program provides developers with guidance on best practices, but requires each developer to implement those best practices in order to display the Know What’s Inside® seal on their apps. Feedback and feature requests always welcome. Email: support@spellinghangman.com Webpage: http://www.spellinghangman.com Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/spellinghangman Facebook://http://www.facebook.com/SpellingHangman

Screenshots

Hooked on Phonics Learning4 screens
Spelling Hangman4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Hooked on Phonics Learning at Free against Spelling Hangman's $1.99. Hooked on Phonics Learning also leads on rating (4.5 vs 2.1) and ratings volume (18K vs 8). Spelling Hangman's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 21) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 15.0). On review sentiment, ads, chart position 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

Hooked on Phonics Learning is free to download; Spelling Hangman costs $1.99 up front. Hooked on Phonics Learning sells 18 in-app purchases, starting at $6.99 per month. Spelling Hangman asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Hooked on Phonics Learning holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 2.1. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Hooked on Phonics Learning has 18K ratings behind it against 8, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 42% of Hooked on Phonics Learning's written reviews are positive against 41% of Spelling Hangman's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Hooked on Phonics Learning ships an update monthly, Spelling Hangman every 5 months. The most recent releases landed on September 26, 2026 and September 3, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 4 level
Hooked on Phonics Learning versus Spelling Hangman: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterHooked on Phonics LearningSpelling Hangman
PriceFree — better$1.99
Rating4.5 (18K ratings) — better2.1 (8 ratings)
Positive reviews42.2% of reviews — better40.9% of reviews
Number of ratings18K — better8
Update frequencyMonthly — betterEvery 5 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases — betterPaid
Best chart rank#70 — better#189
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.012.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size635 MB7 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperHooked on PhonicsEmma Mills

Customer experience

Hooked on Phonics Learning

All ratings18,048 ratings
Positive86.9%
Neutral4.4%
Negative8.8%
Written reviews365 reviews
Positive42.2%
Neutral11.8%
Negative46.0%

Spelling Hangman

All ratings8 ratings
Positive25.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative75.0%
Written reviews22 reviews
Positive40.9%
Neutral13.6%
Negative45.5%

Bugs and requests

Hooked on Phonics Learning

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Avatar creation feature broken
  • Incorrect letter pronunciations
  • Levels not loading properly
  • Login issues after updates

Requested features

4 requests
  • More variety in activities and games
  • Ability to skip or customize lessons
  • Offline mode for using the app without internet
  • Support for larger families with more user profiles

Spelling Hangman

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

18 purchases

Hooked on Phonics Learning

Subscriptions14
  • Hooked on Phonics7 Days trial$6.991 Month
  • 1 month 7.997 Days trial$7.991 Month
  • Monthly $7.997 Days trial2 variants$7.991 Month
Show 11 more
  • Hooked on Phonics7 Days trial$7.991 Month
  • 1 month - 8.997 Days trial$8.991 Month
  • Hooked on Phonics7 Days trial$9.991 Month
  • Hooked on Phonics7 Days trial$12.991 Month
  • Monthly $12.997 Days trial2 variants$12.991 Month
  • Monthly $14.997 Days trial$14.991 Month
  • Semi-Annual $29.997 Days trial$29.996 Months
  • Hooked on Phonics$39.991 Year
  • Annual $49.997 Days trial2 variants$49.991 Year
  • 1 year 49.997 Days trial$49.991 Year
  • Annual $79.997 Days trial$79.991 Year
One-time4
  • Can Man eBook$0.99
  • Zap eBook$0.99
  • Unlocking of Step 2 including 3 eBooks$6.99
Show 1 more
  • Unlock Complete 12 Step Set$49.99
None

Spelling Hangman

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Hooked on Phonics Learning free?
Hooked on Phonics Learning is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Spelling Hangman free?
Spelling Hangman costs $1.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Hooked on Phonics Learning or Spelling Hangman?
Hooked on Phonics Learning is rated higher. Hooked on Phonics Learning averages 4.5 out of 5 from 18K ratings, while Spelling Hangman averages 2.1 from 8 ratings.
Do Hooked on Phonics Learning or Spelling Hangman have ads?
Neither Hooked on Phonics Learning nor Spelling Hangman shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Hooked on Phonics Learning or Spelling Hangman?
Hooked on Phonics Learning ships an update monthly, and Spelling Hangman every 5 months. Most recently, Hooked on Phonics Learning was updated on September 26, 2026 and Spelling Hangman on September 3, 2026.
Which is more popular, Hooked on Phonics Learning or Spelling Hangman?
Hooked on Phonics Learning currently peaks at #70 in the App Store charts, and Spelling Hangman at #189. Chart position reflects recent download velocity rather than total install base.

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