Comparison

Touch and Write Phonics vs Spelling Spree

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

Head to head
About

Touch and Write Phonics

This app helps children learn phonics through interactive writing exercises. It offers various fun writing textures and papers, allowing kids to practice writing whole words. Parents and teachers can track progress and create custom practice lists.

Highlights
  • Interactive writing practice for phonics
  • Multiple fun writing textures and papers
  • Learn vowels, blends, and digraphs
  • Progress tracking for parents and teachers
  • Customizable practice lists
  • Reward system for completed words
Features
Read full description

**Best App Ever Award - Honorable Mention!** "Touch and Write Phonics" is a fun way for children to practice vowels, blends, digraphs and trigraphs - as they write with shaving cream, ketchup and more! "Touch and Write Phonics" allows parents and teachers to create individualized practice lists, and it allows parents and teachers to track children's progress! ▫▫ How to Play ▫▫ Children choose a phonics area to practice by tapping the "Vowels," "Blends" or "Digraphs" button. Children will have the opportunity to watch animations that teach about short vowels, long vowels, blends and digraphs or to practice writing words with short vowels, long vowels (with special attention to "silent e"), starting and ending blends, digraphs and trigraphs. Fun writing textures keep children engaged! Shaving cream is fun to write with, but children may switch between 18 different writing textures (along with sound effects!) Children may write with shaving cream, ketchup, lime gelatin, chocolate frosting, syrup, pudding, jelly, cookie dough, and much more! Children may also choose from 35 different writing papers - including zebra, tiger, giraffe, brick, chalk board, waffle, hieroglyphics, and much more! There are also lined papers that match school writing papers and dark papers for children who are visually impaired. "Touch and Write Phonics" allows children to write an entire word, rather than one letter at a time as in some writing apps. Blends, digraphs, trigraphs, short and long vowels are color-coded to help children learn them. After completing a word, children have a brief reward time in the prize room. Children may drag their monster or tilt the iPad to make it eat the cupcakes. They may tap the balloons to review their phonics words – and as soon as balloons are popped, the reward time will end. Parents and teachers may change the length of reward time in the "Settings" panel. Reward time can be adjusted from 0 up to 20 seconds. "Touch and Write Phonics" was created by elementary classroom teachers, and is based on best teaching practices. It integrates visual, kinesthetic and simulated tactile modalities to enhance learning – and fun! ▫▫ Tracking Children's Progress ▫▫ Parents and teachers may tap the player name button at any time to display a report of the child's practice sessions, or they may tap the "View practice reports" button. This displays the phonics lists practiced by a child, organized by date, and reports the number of times the child practiced each list. "Letters correct / total letters" allows parents and teachers to determine the percentage of letters formed without error. There is even an "Email" button to send an email copy of the report to yourself or to a student's parents. ▫▫ Individualizing ▫▫ Parents and teachers can create individualized lists for children to practice. Simply scroll through the phonics words list and add words to a child's list. Parent reviews of our "Touch and Write" app have included comments such as: "the easiest app for me to customize." Have fun, and please contact us with any questions, problems or suggestions: fizzbrain@gmail.com . We value our customers and want to hear how we can make our products serve your needs better! We have already made many improvements based on your feedback!

About

Spelling Spree

Features
Read full description

Features of Spelling Spree • Three engaging games that help children practice spelling • Difficulty level is automatically adjusted • Two-Player Option is available • Scores are automatically saved to show progress. • Scores can also be emailed to keep a record of a child's progress. • Colorful graphics and lively music make this game fun to play • Kid-safe: No third party ads or tracking This game helps to exercise a child’s attention and language skills while providing practice spelling basic words. Children, ages 5 to 7, will travel from blooming gardens to high-flying hot air balloons as they have fun playing and learning. All of our games are specially created to help children practice the cognitive abilities important for success in school and life. The games automatically adjust to allow children to learn at a level of difficulty personalized for them. As they succeed, new challenges at harder levels will be presented. Children will be challenged to develop their thinking speed as they are required to respond faster and faster in order to win. While a child's difficulty level is automatically adjusted based on his or her performance, it can be easily modified by parents or teachers when necessary. Distraction stimuli can also be added to reinforce increased focus and the ability to stay on task. In addition, a two player option is available which helps children learn how to take turns and be both a good winner and a good loser. Each round must be completed for grades to be saved in single player mode. Please note that no grades are saved in two player mode. Two player mode only records which Player (1 or 2) won the match after three rounds are completed. A training session is completed only when the program is stopped and then removed from memory. If the program is left open in the background and it is selected, then the last session started will be continued. The app will start off with a 60 minute trial version. You can modify the options and run the games during this trial period. Once the trial has ended, you will need to make a one-time in-app purchase to unlock the games for unlimited use.

Screenshots

Spelling Spree4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Spelling Spree at Free against Touch and Write Phonics's $2.99. Spelling Spree also leads on device support (3 vs 1). Touch and Write Phonics's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and update cadence (every 2 months vs every 39 months). On 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

Spelling Spree is free to download; Touch and Write Phonics costs $2.99 up front. Spelling Spree sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Touch and Write Phonics asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Touch and Write Phonics ships an update every 2 months, Spelling Spree every 39 months. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and November 2, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Touch and Write Phonics versus Spelling Spree: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterTouch and Write PhonicsSpelling Spree
Price$2.99Free — better
Rating1.0 (2 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews25.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings2 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 2 months — betterEvery 39 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaid—
DevicesiPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS9.0 — better13.0
Further details — not scored
Size77 MB35 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperFIZZBRAIN LLCBrainTrain Inc.

In-app purchases

None

Touch and Write Phonics

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

Spelling Spree

One-time1
  • Full Version$2.99

Questions

Is Touch and Write Phonics free?
Touch and Write Phonics costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Spelling Spree free?
Spelling Spree is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Touch and Write Phonics or Spelling Spree have ads?
Neither Touch and Write Phonics nor Spelling Spree shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Touch and Write Phonics or Spelling Spree?
Touch and Write Phonics ships an update every 2 months, and Spelling Spree every 39 months. Most recently, Touch and Write Phonics was updated on November 1, 2026 and Spelling Spree on November 2, 2026.

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