Comparison

PLAY vs ABC Tracing from Dave and Ava

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

Head to head
About

PLAY

This app uses virtual Play-Doh to teach children the alphabet. Kids can trace letters, learn new vocabulary, and create custom Play-Doh scenes. It also includes letter matching games and progress tracking for parents.

Highlights
  • Virtual Play-Doh letter tracing
  • Vocabulary association with letters
  • Customizable Play-Doh creations
  • Play-Doh scene building
  • Letter matching games
  • Progress tracking for parents
Features
Read full description

“Top 20 Best Apps of the Week” - The Guardian UK “The perfect blend of nostalgia and learning opportunities” - About.com “Fun, mess free way for learning”-Yahoo Voices “Well-thought out, educationally beneficial, colorful”- The Learning Treehouse “Completely transforms the way kids interact with technology” - Appshappens.com Learn your ABCs using ‘virtual’ PLAY-DOH modeling compound with this delightfully interactive educational app! PLAY-DOH Create ABCs application is designed to help children develop the essential skills required for reading and writing. Using this app, children will learn to: recognize letters, write letters using proper stroke order and associate letters with sounds. WRITE AND CRAFT! Learn how to write letters of the alphabet by using ‘virtual’ PLAY-DOH modeling compound. Discover new vocabulary words that start with the same letter. What starts with the letter A? An alligator! But be careful, it’s ready to chomp! When you successfully complete each letter, you are rewarded with a ‘virtual’ PLAY-DOH treat that you can create and customize. Want to change the color? Go ahead! Want to squish it? You can do that, too! CREATE AND SHARE! Build your own PLAY-DOH scenes with your PLAY-DOH creations. The PLAY-DOH gallery is just a click away on the ‘create and share’ button. There you can enjoy all the animated, colorful objects you make as you work your way through the letters of the alphabet. Select your favorite background and then bring PLAY-DOH scenes to life with custom PLAY-DOH pictures. Save your creations on your phone or tablet and share them with others! LETTER MATCHING Click on the ‘match’ button and you can enjoy a new activity: matching letters with the PLAY-DOH creations. The ‘match’ feature reinforces initial letter sounds by matching letters with objects that start with the same sound. A letter select screen allows you to play the activity on any letter you choose. Can you match the letters of the alphabet to the different PLAY-DOH creations? Give it a try! PLAY-DOH Create ABCs includes: -Tracing of uppercase and lowercase letters of the alphabet -Exciting ‘virtual’ PLAY-DOH treats -Poem and animations to re-enforce learning letter sounds -‘Squishable’ PLAY-DOH animations! -A matching activity to match letters with pictures -A letter select screen that allows children to choose any letter to play -A creativity zone, the PLAY-DOH gallery, where kids design custom PLAY-DOH scenes -A save-to-camera feature where parents can save and share their child’s colorful creations -Curriculum developed and reviewed by preschool education expert
s -Multiplayer profiles that allow more than one child to play and save their progress -Parental reporting to show progress PLAY-DOH Create ABCs will help children develop: -Language and pre-reading skills, including letter recognition and phonemic (sound) awareness and knowledge. - Fine motor skills and coordination -Their creativity via ‘learning by doing’ NOTE: Before you download this experience, please consider that this app contains in-app purchases that cost money. Additional content cannot be unlocked without spending money. ABOUT PLAYDATE DIGITAL PlayDate Digital Inc. is an emergent publisher of high-quality, interactive, mobile educational software for children. PlayDate Digital's products nurture children's emerging literacy and creativity skills by turning digital screens into engaging experiences. PlayDate Digital content is built in partnership with some of the world's most trusted global brands for kids. Visit us: playdatedigital.com Like us: facebook.com/playdatedigital Follow us: @playdatedigital Watch all our app trailers: youtube.com/PlayDateDigital1 HAVE QUESTIONS? We'd love to hear from you! Your questions suggestions and comments are always welcome. Contact us 24/7 at info@playdatedigital.com

About

ABC Tracing from Dave and Ava

This app helps young children learn the alphabet, letter sounds, and tracing skills through interactive games and activities. It focuses on early literacy development with a kid-friendly interface and no third-party ads.

Highlights
  • Learn letter sounds
  • Practice tracing letters
  • Develop fine motor skills
  • Build vocabulary
  • Interactive learning games
  • Kid-friendly and safe environment
Read full description

DOWNLOAD AND LEARN THE ALPHABET Looking for an engaging and educational preschool app to learn ABC’s, tracing and letter sounds? Meet ABC Tracing - early literacy app from Dave and Ava! Whether mastering phonics or building vocabulary, Dave and Ava will keep young learners busy with fun activities for hours. This app is perfect for children, ages 1-6. HANDS-ON, MINDS-ON APPROACH - Interacting with letters to learn cute sounds they make - Revealing the hidden objects to develop fine motor skills and sparkle the imagination - Feeding hungry bugs with yummy fruits while learning to trace the letters of the English Alphabet - Working on letter recognition skills SPECIAL FUN REWARDS Dave and Ava prepared lots of surprises to keep preschool-aged learners motivated. Wonderful animations help to learn letters and their sounds in a fun and engaging way! Interactive elements make ABC Tracing app easy to use even for toddlers.
 KID-FRIENDLY AND SAFE No third-party advertising. Parent control feature supports a completely safe environment - there is no ability for an external party to contact your kids. We provide the tool to encourage your child’s natural desire to discover! You can download the app for free to get 3 letters. The additional purchase will be applied to access all the letters of the English Alphabet. NOTE: Requires iOS 10 on iPhone 5S, iPad Mini 4, iPad Pro, iPad Air devices or later.  Watch all Dave and Ava videos for free on YouTube – youtube.com/daveandava Have questions or suggestions? We are here to help. Email us at app@daveandava.com

Screenshots

PLAY4 screens
ABC Tracing from Dave and Ava4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ratings volume: ABC Tracing from Dave and Ava at 6.8K against PLAY's 26. ABC Tracing from Dave and Ava also leads on iOS requirement (10.0 vs 13.0). PLAY's advantage is review sentiment (51% vs 31%). On price, rating, update cadence and ads 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. PLAY sells 2 one-off in-app purchases and ABC Tracing from Dave and Ava sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.2 for PLAY against 4.1 for ABC Tracing from Dave and Ava. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: ABC Tracing from Dave and Ava has 6.8K ratings behind it against 26, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 51% of PLAY's written reviews are positive against 31% of ABC Tracing from Dave and Ava's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

PLAY ships an update every 2 months, ABC Tracing from Dave and Ava every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and November 11, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
PLAY versus ABC Tracing from Dave and Ava: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPLAYABC Tracing from Dave and Ava
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.2 (26 ratings) — better4.1 (6.8K ratings)
Positive reviews51.2% of reviews — better31.0% of reviews
Number of ratings266.8K — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 months — betterEvery 3 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS13.010.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size243 MB306 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperPlayDate Digital Inc.Dave and Ava Ltd

Customer experience

PLAY

All ratings25 ratings
Positive84.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative16.0%
Written reviews84 reviews
Positive51.2%
Neutral2.4%
Negative46.4%

ABC Tracing from Dave and Ava

All ratings6,768 ratings
Positive76.3%
Neutral10.7%
Negative13.0%
Written reviews174 reviews
Positive31.0%
Neutral13.8%
Negative55.2%

Bugs and requests

PLAY

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

ABC Tracing from Dave and Ava

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Letters obscured by large bugs/grass
  • Blank/white screen after tracing
  • App not working on older iOS versions

Requested features

3 requests
  • Add lower case letter tracing
  • Improve letter sound accuracy
  • Implement family sharing for purchases

In-app purchases

2 purchases

PLAY

One-time2
  • Remove Ads$1.99
  • Unlock All Alphabets$3.99
1 purchases

ABC Tracing from Dave and Ava

One-time1
  • Unlock All$2.99

Questions

Is PLAY free?
PLAY is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is ABC Tracing from Dave and Ava free?
ABC Tracing from Dave and Ava is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, PLAY or ABC Tracing from Dave and Ava?
PLAY is rated higher. PLAY averages 4.2 out of 5 from 26 ratings, while ABC Tracing from Dave and Ava averages 4.1 from 6.8K ratings.
Do PLAY or ABC Tracing from Dave and Ava have ads?
Neither PLAY nor ABC Tracing from Dave and Ava shows ads.
Which is updated more often, PLAY or ABC Tracing from Dave and Ava?
PLAY ships an update every 2 months, and ABC Tracing from Dave and Ava every 3 months. Most recently, PLAY was updated on November 6, 2026 and ABC Tracing from Dave and Ava on November 11, 2026.

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