Comparison

Barton Tiles® vs Reading Adventures EBLI Lite

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

Head to head
About

Barton Tiles®

This app enhances the Barton Reading & Spelling System for tutors and students. It automates lesson setup, word generation, and student progress tracking, saving valuable teaching time per session. Features include student profiles, lesson notes, and direct email communication.

Highlights
  • Student progress tracking
  • Automated lesson setup
  • Digital tile manipulation
  • Word generation
  • Note-taking
  • Email communication
Read full description

This app is only for people who own or use the Barton Reading & Spelling System. More than just tiles on an iPad, this app will save Barton tutors at least 10 minutes each session. How? Student tracking Set up each student once. This app keeps track of their current level and lesson. You can enter notes after each lesson. You can even send an email to the student and/or their parents or teacher – right from the app. Tiles appear automatically Tap on a student’s name and their lesson appears – with all the tiles needed for that lesson. Words appear automatically No need to build the words when you are teaching. Just click on the Next Word button. You will gain at least 10 minutes of teaching time per session. Never put tiles away When spelling with tiles, your student will pull down a COPY of each tile. When he is done, just click on the “Erase Screen” button. You never have to put tiles away.

About

Reading Adventures EBLI Lite

This app introduces early reading skills through engaging stories and activities. It uses a multi-sensory, research-based methodology to teach letter sounds, writing, and reading comprehension. Designed for young learners, it aims to accelerate reading development.

Highlights
  • Multi-sensory learning activities
  • Research-based EBLI methodology
  • Teaches letter sounds and writing
  • Story-based progression
  • Progress tracking
  • Motivational rewards
Features
Read full description

Overview -------- Welcome to the lite version of EBLI Island, which gives you a sample of EBLI instruction to teach early reading through activities incorporated in 2 stories. Purchase the full version and gain access to over 16 stories and hours of fun activities that effectively teach beginning reading and beyond. Below is a complete description of the app: Learning to read and write has never been so fun! EBLI’s initial app is designed for beginning readers, starting as early as age 3. Children (up to 6 at a time per app) engage in EBLI’s Island Adventure as they learn through research-based reading activities that contain the revolutionary EBLI instructional methodology. Parents and teachers will find that EBLI’s multi-sensory instruction through learning activities and games will greatly accelerate children’s reading. The app takes place on EBLI Island where learners have to complete a series of activities across 16 stories to gather secret powered gems and unlock EBLI characters. EBLI Island teaches the sounds for each letter through instruction in words and moves to reading sentences. Writing letters properly is learned through prompts from Peterson Handwriting. Motivational reinforcement is accomplished through rewards earned as they move through the activities. The EBLI activities in the app are designed to teach the sounds that go with letter(s), the correct process for writing letters, and practice reading text to reinforce critical skills and concepts for beginning readers. The app includes three activities, which include: - Say and Pull - Peterson Handwriting - Fluency Training As the stories progress, the foundational skills and concepts taught in the earlier stories are continually built and expanded upon. For this reason, the level of the stories moves from simple to complex. As the stories progress students are given the opportunity to learn, reinforce, and expand upon what they have learned in previous stories. Skills and Concepts ------------------- The skills and concepts taught in EBLI Reading Adventures for Beginning Readers include: Skills - Segmenting: pulling sounds apart - Blending: pushing sounds together - Peterson Handwriting: correct letter formation - Fluency: reading smoothly with inflection Concepts - Words are made up of sounds - Teaching the most common spelling for each sound (each 1 letter spelling has a sound that it most commonly represents) - Words must be read from left to right - Letters must be written from top to bottom, and from left to right - 1, 2, 3, or 4 letters can spell 1 sound - Repetition of what was learned in order for learner to become accurate and automatic - Progressing to reading smoothly while accurately reading all the words About EBLI ---------- The EBLI System EBLI Evidence-Based Literacy Instruction was created in 2003 and is a system that teaches learners of all ages and ability levels to reach their highest potential in reading. EBLI has been implemented in over 200 schools and has been continuously refined through training and coaching thousands of classroom teachers, community tutors, and remedial reading specialists. EBLI was developed from what research has shown to be necessary to teach anyone of any ability level to reach their highest potential in reading and writing as well as from over a decade of working individually with clients of all ages and ability levels at Ounce of Prevention Reading Center in Flushing, MI.

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Reading Adventures EBLI Lite at 5.0 against Barton Tiles®'s 4.1. Reading Adventures EBLI Lite also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 10) and review sentiment (100% vs 76%). Barton Tiles®'s advantage is update cadence (every 2 months vs every 8 months) and ratings volume (17 vs 3). On price, ads, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Barton Tiles® sells 10 one-off in-app purchases. Reading Adventures EBLI Lite asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Reading Adventures EBLI Lite holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.1. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Barton Tiles® has 17 ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 76% of Barton Tiles®'s written reviews are positive against 100% of Reading Adventures EBLI Lite's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Barton Tiles® ships an update every 2 months, Reading Adventures EBLI Lite every 8 months. The most recent releases landed on October 23, 2026 and October 3, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Barton Tiles® versus Reading Adventures EBLI Lite: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBarton Tiles®Reading Adventures EBLI Lite
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.1 (17 ratings)5.0 (3 ratings) — better
Positive reviews76.5% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings17 — better3
Update frequencyEvery 2 months — betterEvery 8 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPadiPad
Requires iOS15.012.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size30 MB88 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperBright Solutions for Dyslexia, Inc.EBLI

Customer experience

Barton Tiles®

All ratings17 ratings
Positive76.5%
Neutral5.9%
Negative17.6%
Written reviews17 reviews
Positive76.5%
Neutral5.9%
Negative17.6%

Reading Adventures EBLI Lite

All ratings3 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

10 purchases

Barton Tiles®

One-time10
  • Phonemic Awareness$29.99
  • Consonants & Short Vowels$29.99
  • Closed & Unit Syllables$29.99
Show 7 more
  • Multi-Syllable words and Vowel Teams$29.99
  • Prefixes & Suffixes$29.99
  • Six Reasons for Silent-E$29.99
  • Vowel-R's$29.99
  • Advanced Vowel Teams$29.99
  • Influence of Foreign Languages$29.99
  • Latin Roots and Greek Combining Forms$29.99
None

Reading Adventures EBLI Lite

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Barton Tiles® free?
Barton Tiles® is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Reading Adventures EBLI Lite free?
Reading Adventures EBLI Lite is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Barton Tiles® or Reading Adventures EBLI Lite?
Reading Adventures EBLI Lite is rated higher. Barton Tiles® averages 4.1 out of 5 from 17 ratings, while Reading Adventures EBLI Lite averages 5.0 from 3 ratings.
Do Barton Tiles® or Reading Adventures EBLI Lite have ads?
Neither Barton Tiles® nor Reading Adventures EBLI Lite shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Barton Tiles® or Reading Adventures EBLI Lite?
Barton Tiles® ships an update every 2 months, and Reading Adventures EBLI Lite every 8 months. Most recently, Barton Tiles® was updated on October 23, 2026 and Reading Adventures EBLI Lite on October 3, 2026.

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