Comparison

Phonogram Sounds vs SPELL

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

Head to head
About

Phonogram Sounds

This interactive app provides clear audio pronunciations for letter sounds and combinations, featuring all 72 basic phonograms from a popular language arts curriculum. It's designed to support reading and spelling development for learners of all ages.

Highlights
  • Hear correct pronunciation of sounds
  • Clear enunciation of letters and combinations
  • Includes all 72 basic phonograms
  • Supports reading and spelling skills
  • Interactive learning experience
Features
Read full description

Touch a button and hear the correct pronunciation! *Check that your sound is turned on!* This interactive program features clear enunciation of the sounds of the letters and letter combinations (also known as phonograms). Contains all 72 of the basic phonograms as taught in the All About Reading and All About Spelling language arts curriculum. All About Reading is a multisensory, mastery-based program that starts with essential pre-reading skills and continues on to teach all five key components of reading. All About Spelling teaches encoding skills, spelling rules, and multisensory strategies to help your student become a proficient speller for life. Our lightly scripted “open and go” lesson plans and mastery-based approach leave no gaps and make this curriculum a favorite of homeschool families everywhere. Suitable for all ages and learning styles!

About

SPELL

This educational app enhances reading, spelling, vocabulary, and oral language skills for K-12+ students. It offers engaging activities that focus on sound structure and phonics, supporting both online and in-person learning environments.

Highlights
  • Improves reading and spelling
  • Enhances vocabulary
  • Develops oral language skills
  • Supports K-12+ students
  • Flexible for online/in-person use
  • Focuses on sound structure and phonics
Features
Read full description

Improve reading, spelling, vocabulary, and oral language skills with SPELL-Links WordUP! This unique educational app from the publishers of the SPELL-Links to Reading and Writing™ curriculum is a fun and effective learning tool for K-12+ students. Use for online or in-person instruction, one-on-one, in small or large groups, or at independent work stations. Simply adjust settings and select words to support students at the appropriate level. Educators and parents use SPELL-Links WordUP! in these ways and more: • For remote learning and in-person classes; • To introduce or reinforce new concepts; • As an engaging warm-up activity and during breaks between other learning activities; • As a supplement to classroom instruction; • To deliver teacher-facilitated intervention; and • For practice at school or home. The Catch the Beat! activity develops awareness of syllables in spoken and written words, phoneme-grapheme correspondences, and decoding skills and simultaneously strengthens vocabulary and lexical representations of words to improve reading fluency, reading comprehension, and spelling accuracy. The Stress this Mess! activity develops awareness of syllabic stress, phoneme-grapheme correspondences, and decoding skills and simultaneously strengthens vocabulary and lexical representations of words to improve reading fluency, reading comprehension, and spelling accuracy. The No Fouls! activity develops awareness of phoneme-grapheme correspondences, orthographic knowledge, and decoding skills and simultaneously strengthens phonological awareness, vocabulary, and lexical representations of words to improve reading fluency, reading comprehension, and spelling accuracy. The Build on the Base! activity develops morphological awareness of base words and early prefixes and suffixes, phonological awareness, and knowledge of letter pattern and spelling rules for words containing prefixes and suffixes. Build on the Base! simultaneously strengthens vocabulary and lexical representations of words to improve reading fluency, reading comprehension, and spelling accuracy. What makes SPELL-Links WordUP! different? Other phonics and word study programs begin with the written letter and teach students how to match the letter to a sound. SPELL-Links WordUP! teaches students to attend to the sound structure of spoken English words first, and then to connect the sounds they say and hear with letters and letter patterns they see in the printed word. And unlike other word study programs that teach skills in isolation, SPELL-Links WordUP! activities promote the integrated study of sounds, letters, and meanings across all grade levels to establish efficient reading and writing neural pathways. This is exactly how the brain works in good readers and writers!

Screenshots

Phonogram Sounds3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Phonogram Sounds at Free against SPELL's $23.99. Phonogram Sounds also leads on ratings volume (84 vs 6) and device support (3 vs 1). SPELL's advantage is review sentiment (83% vs 70%) and iOS requirement (9.1 vs 15.0). On rating, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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

Phonogram Sounds is free to download; SPELL costs $23.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.0 for Phonogram Sounds against 4.0 for SPELL. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Phonogram Sounds has 84 ratings behind it against 6, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 70% of Phonogram Sounds's written reviews are positive against 83% of SPELL's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Phonogram Sounds ships an update every 6 months, SPELL every 8 months. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and November 2, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Phonogram Sounds versus SPELL: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPhonogram SoundsSPELL
PriceFree — better$23.99
Rating4.0 (84 ratings)4.0 (6 ratings) — better
Positive reviews69.6% of reviews83.3% of reviews — better
Number of ratings84 — better6
Update frequencyEvery 6 months — betterEvery 8 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree — betterPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPad
Requires iOS15.09.1 — better
Further details — not scored
Size27 MB50 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAll About Learning Press, Inc.Learning By Design, Inc.

Customer experience

Phonogram Sounds

All ratings84 ratings
Positive70.2%
Neutral14.3%
Negative15.5%
Written reviews46 reviews
Positive69.6%
Neutral13.0%
Negative17.4%

SPELL

All ratings5 ratings
Positive80.0%
Neutral20.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews6 reviews
Positive83.3%
Neutral0.0%
Negative16.7%

Bugs and requests

Phonogram Sounds

Reported bugs

7 issues
  • R says /er/ instead of /r/
  • Sound not working
  • App crashes
  • No sound when tapping phonograms
  • Sound only works with ringer on
Show 2 more
  • List of phonograms cut off on iPad
  • App is stick, no audio, no movement

Requested features

9 requests
  • Videos showing lip/tongue placement
  • Interactive game app
  • App for building words/movable tiles
  • Level-based sound availability
  • Enlarging tapped tile
Show 4 more
  • Adding missing phonograms (Level 6, Spalding)
  • Adding more sounds for /i/, /e/, /x/, /ou/, /ei/, /oe/, /wor/, /ear/
  • Spelling lists for review
  • All About Reading app with word reading

SPELL

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Phonogram Sounds

No in-app purchases

None

SPELL

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Phonogram Sounds free?
Phonogram Sounds is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is SPELL free?
SPELL costs $23.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Phonogram Sounds or SPELL?
SPELL is rated higher. Phonogram Sounds averages 4.0 out of 5 from 84 ratings, while SPELL averages 4.0 from 6 ratings.
Do Phonogram Sounds or SPELL have ads?
Neither Phonogram Sounds nor SPELL shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Phonogram Sounds or SPELL?
Phonogram Sounds ships an update every 6 months, and SPELL every 8 months. Most recently, Phonogram Sounds was updated on November 1, 2026 and SPELL on November 2, 2026.

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