Comparison

Writing Wizard vs Twinkl Formation & Handwriting

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

Head to head
About

Writing Wizard

This app helps children learn to trace letters, numbers, and words with a fun, motivating system. It offers customizable tracing, interactive games, and progress reports for parents and educators.

Highlights
  • Customizable tracing practice
  • Interactive games and rewards
  • Letter names and phonics
  • Create custom word lists
  • Progress reports
  • Printable worksheets
Features
Read full description

"Fantastic, customizable tracing practice with fun rewards." 5 Stars - Common Sense Media 470,000+ units sold (including 260,000 to schools) ! Writing Wizard is designed to help every child learn how to trace letters, numbers, and words through a fun system carefully designed to maintain motivation. • Show and enforce how to trace letters correctly • 16 Fonts available (including 3 most popular USA fonts) • Fun tracing using 50+ animated stickers, sound effects and interactive games that animate letters at the end of tracing • Letter names and phonics • Uppercase & lowercase letters, numbers and words • Ability to create your own word lists (and record audio for each word) • Fully customizable to suit every child’s needs (letter size, difficulty,...) • Check progress thanks to reports that display what the child has traced • Shapes tracing activity for toddlers • Create PDF Worksheets and print them to help your child to write on paper • Use Apple pencil to write at very small size _______ ACCOLADES • "Writing Wizard is the most complete and intelligent letter tracing app we’ve seen"" AppoLearning.com • "This brand-new app should be the go-to for every parent, teacher and therapist to work on handwriting" - TOP PICKS - 5 stars - SmartAppsForKids.com • "Writing Wizard by L’Escapadou is everything a parent wants in a handwriting app, and more." 5/5 - kids-app-reviews.com • "L’Escapadou has made handwriting fun." AppyMall.com 5/5 • Listed in "20 best educational iPhone and iPad apps for kids of 2013" - appsplayground.com • Editor's Choice Award for Excellence in Design - Children's Technology Review _______ PERFECT FOR KIDS Kids want to have fun, and Writing Wizard offers a lot of fun to keep them motivated in the learning process ! • They can trace using 50+ animated stickers and sound effects • Once tracing is complete, they can interact with them on 4 games that animate letters • They can trace any word - like their name - and record their voice for each word • They can collect stars in 5-Stars play mode _______ PERFECT FOR PARENTS & TEACHERS • Ability to create your own word lists (and record audio for each word) • Detailed reports provide information on what kids have done, including the ability to replay and export the tracings to view kids' progress • Share word lists via iCloud drive or other cloud providers, adhoc network, or email • Multiple parameters to customize the app according to the child’s current education level (e.g. letter size, difficulty, show/hide model, allow to stop between key points, etc.) • 3 most popular fonts in the US (ZB, DN & HWT) and 13 international fonts (UK, Scandinavia,Australia, germany, France) • Upper and lower case letters, numbers (and word lists) • Letter names and phonics (which can be customized) • A customizable 5-Stars play mode prompting the child to trace a letter or a word 5 times using different parameters (each step is more challenging) • Create an unlimited number of users • Many settings to customize the app (sound, game time limit, black background,...) • In the A-Z section, special graphics available to match letters (e.g. ant graphic for A/a) _______ Note that a free to try version is available (search for "Writing Wizard -Starter" on the App Store) _______ Privacy Policy KNOW WHAT'S INSIDE As a Moms with Apps member, we follow the "Know what's inside" best practices for kids’ apps L’Escapadou takes children’s privacy seriously. We believe you should not have to worry about your kids being tracked by apps or websites. This app: • Does not collect any user information (we do not use data collection tools) • Does not contain in-app purchases • External Links: Protected parent sections are available where you can send us a mail and check out our others apps. Before accessing a parent section, an addition must be solved so that young kids cannot access it. *

About

Twinkl Formation & Handwriting

This app helps young learners develop essential handwriting skills by practicing letter and number formation, and shapes. It offers a fun, engaging, and prep-free experience for children, with customizable word lists and offline functionality.

Highlights
  • Letter and number formation practice
  • Shape tracing
  • Fine motor skill development
  • Customizable word lists
  • Offline functionality
  • Multi-language support
Features
Read full description

Take the hassle out of handwriting lessons with the Twinkl Formation & Handwriting app! It’s a fun-filled, prep-free way to help your little learners form letters, numbers and shapes, and build those all-important fine motor skills. So, why will you love the Twinkl Formation & Handwriting app? Your weekend is safe. Just set them up and watch them practice. You get back the time you’d spend prepping tracing sheets for lowercase and uppercase letters, numbers 1-100, and simple shapes. No more begging to practice! The kids are actually asking to use it. That's a win-win. From the classroom to the car. It works on any device and keeps the learning consistent, no matter where they are. It's built by people who get it. The app has been developed by expert lead teachers and senior practitioners , so you can have total confidence in its standards. Phonics panic, solved. Phase 2/3 sounds and over 100 CVC words are ready-to-go, so you have exactly what you need for your next lesson. Cater to all your learners, wherever you are in the world. The app has specific fonts and professional audio in English for the US, UK, Australia and New Zealand, along with Welsh, Spanish, Arabic and Afrikaans. Stress-free screen time. The app works completely offline, so you can breathe easy knowing the kids are safe and the content is secure. Adaptable to your needs. Create your own custom word lists to personalize the experience for your learners. Full support for your teaching. The app is compatible with a great range of supporting printable resources from the Twinkl website. How to access the Twinkl Formation & Handwriting app: Twinkl Ultimate members get full access to the app and all of Twinkl’s other mobile and web apps as part of your membership. If you just want app access without the wider benefits of Twinkl, you can take out an in-app subscription. Or, if you want to see how it works, you can try some of the features of the app for free in Try! Mode. Got questions? You can contact our lovely Twinkl Cares team 24/7, and you can always speak to a real human - that’s the Twinkl difference. Our Privacy Policy: https://www.twinkl.com/legal#privacy-policy Our Terms and Conditions: https://www.twinkl.com/legal#terms-and-conditions Apple Standard Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Rated 3+ by the Indonesia Game Rating System (IGRS)

Screenshots

Writing Wizard4 screens
Twinkl Formation & Handwriting4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Writing Wizard at 90% against Twinkl Formation & Handwriting's 41%. Writing Wizard also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 2) and ratings volume (3.3K vs 61). Twinkl Formation & Handwriting's advantage is price (Free vs $13.99) and update cadence (every 6 weeks vs every 4 months). On ads, device support and iOS requirement 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

Twinkl Formation & Handwriting is free to download; Writing Wizard costs $13.99 up front. Twinkl Formation & Handwriting sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $0.49 per month. Writing Wizard asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Twinkl Formation & Handwriting holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 4.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Writing Wizard has 3.3K ratings behind it against 61, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 90% of Writing Wizard's written reviews are positive against 41% of Twinkl Formation & Handwriting's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Writing Wizard ships an update every 4 months, Twinkl Formation & Handwriting every 6 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 23, 2026 and September 20, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
Writing Wizard versus Twinkl Formation & Handwriting: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterWriting WizardTwinkl Formation & Handwriting
Price$13.99Free — better
Rating4.3 (3.3K ratings)4.5 (61 ratings) — better
Positive reviews90.3% of reviews — better41.2% of reviews
Number of ratings3.3K — better61
Update frequencyEvery 4 monthsEvery 6 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.6 — better16.0
Further details — not scored
Size69 MB225 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperPierre AbelTwinkl Limited

Customer experience

Writing Wizard

All ratings3,324 ratings
Positive81.8%
Neutral9.5%
Negative8.6%
Written reviews154 reviews
Positive90.3%
Neutral2.6%
Negative7.1%

Twinkl Formation & Handwriting

All ratings61 ratings
Positive86.9%
Neutral3.3%
Negative9.8%
Written reviews17 reviews
Positive41.2%
Neutral23.5%
Negative35.3%

Bugs and requests

Writing Wizard

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Incorrect letter formation for some characters
  • Inconsistent performance on older devices

Requested features

6 requests
  • Add more font options, including cursive and UK-specific styles
  • Improve parental control accessibility
  • Integrate Apple Pencil support
  • Allow easier clearing of tracing history
  • Expand character support (e.g., Latin Extended, Cyrillic, Arabic)
Show 1 more
  • Add a free-form writing mode or blank canvas

Twinkl Formation & Handwriting

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Writing Wizard

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

Twinkl Formation & Handwriting

Subscriptions2
  • Twinkl Monthly Subscription$0.491 Month
  • Annual Subscription$2.991 Year

Questions

Is Writing Wizard free?
Writing Wizard costs $13.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Twinkl Formation & Handwriting free?
Twinkl Formation & Handwriting is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Writing Wizard or Twinkl Formation & Handwriting?
Twinkl Formation & Handwriting is rated higher. Writing Wizard averages 4.3 out of 5 from 3.3K ratings, while Twinkl Formation & Handwriting averages 4.5 from 61 ratings.
Do Writing Wizard or Twinkl Formation & Handwriting have ads?
Neither Writing Wizard nor Twinkl Formation & Handwriting shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Writing Wizard or Twinkl Formation & Handwriting?
Writing Wizard ships an update every 4 months, and Twinkl Formation & Handwriting every 6 weeks. Most recently, Writing Wizard was updated on September 23, 2026 and Twinkl Formation & Handwriting on September 20, 2026.

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