Comparison

Monster Phonics vs Chess Max Academy

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

Head to head
About

Monster Phonics

This app uses a multi-sensory approach with character phoneme cues and color coding to teach reading and spelling of high-frequency words. It aims to accelerate learning progress for young children by simplifying "tricky" words.

Highlights
  • Multi-sensory phonics learning
  • Character phoneme cues
  • Color coding for sounds
  • Teaches first 100 high-frequency words
  • Supports reading and spelling
  • Handwriting and letter formation
Features
Read full description

Monster Phonics products are already listed as highly effective multi-sensory phonics resources by the Department for Education, UK (2014). Monster Phonics has also been selected by BETT futures as one of the top 20 most inspiring new ed-tech ideas in the UK. This app supports the reading and spelling of the first 100 high frequency words and is part of a wider phonics scheme that supports the New Curriculum for Spelling (KS1) and phonics in Reception. Monster Phonics is a synthetic phonics scheme. It is unique in that it uses character (monster) phoneme cues and colour coding to represent the sounds A, E, I, O, U, oo, ow, silent letters and tricky letters. Each monster and its corresponding colour is linked to a specific set of graphemes that makes the particular phoneme. Monster Phonics Apps have been developed specifically to make phonics more accessible for all learners. The revolutionary use of colour coding and characterisation has been proven to dramatically accelerate progress in reading. Monster Phonics also teaches handwriting and the correct letter formation for the first 100 words. This Monster Phonics APP show how the first 100 words are more accessible to children because of the use of colour. The number of “tricky” words is reduced considerably with the colour coding system. There will be 2 Monster Phonics APPs covering the first 300 words. Once learned these words stay with children forever. The first 300 words make up 65% of all reading texts. Learning these words quickly is incredibly important for all children. Selected to be in the BETT Futures Cohort - January 2015!

About

Chess Max Academy

Learn chess through interactive courses and activities. Engage with explanations, puzzles, and practice games to improve your skills. Designed for various learning levels, it makes understanding chess concepts easy and fun.

Highlights
  • Interactive chess courses
  • Activity-based learning
  • Explanation activities
  • Capture activities
  • Puzzle and tactics solving
  • Multiple-choice quizzes
  • Play against computer
Features
Read full description

It's time to learn interactive chess courses with activity-based solving! Our courses have hundreds of activities from various learning levels. The different types of interactive activities help you digest the information easily. 1) Explanation Activity: This will teach you a concept in a concise way. 2) Capture Activity: The most fun and engaging way to learn piece movements and captures. 3) Puzzle Activity: Solve interesting puzzles and tactics from a given position. 4) MCQ Activity: Test your knowledge with quiz-based multiple-choice questions. 5) Play with Computer: Train your skills by practicing must-know positions with the computer.

Screenshots

Monster Phonics4 screens
Chess Max Academy4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Chess Max Academy at Free against Monster Phonics's $2.99. Chess Max Academy also leads on update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 9 months) and review sentiment (100% vs 73%). On rating, ratings volume, 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

Chess Max Academy is free to download; Monster Phonics costs $2.99 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 — 5.0 for Monster Phonics against 5.0 for Chess Max Academy. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1 and 2 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 73% of Monster Phonics's written reviews are positive against 100% of Chess Max Academy's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Monster Phonics ships an update every 9 months, Chess Max Academy every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 29, 2026 and October 19, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Monster Phonics versus Chess Max Academy: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMonster PhonicsChess Max Academy
Price$2.99Free — better
Rating5.0 (1 ratings)5.0 (2 ratings)
Positive reviews72.7% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings12 — better
Update frequencyEvery 9 monthsEvery 3 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS13.012.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size784 MB86 MB
Age rating+44+
DeveloperIngrid ConnorsChess Max Nexus Inc

Customer experience

Monster Phonics

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews11 reviews
Positive72.7%
Neutral0.0%
Negative27.3%

Chess Max Academy

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

Monster Phonics

No in-app purchases

None

Chess Max Academy

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Monster Phonics free?
Monster Phonics costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Chess Max Academy free?
Chess Max Academy is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Monster Phonics or Chess Max Academy?
Monster Phonics and Chess Max Academy are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 1 and 2 ratings respectively.
Do Monster Phonics or Chess Max Academy have ads?
Neither Monster Phonics nor Chess Max Academy shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Monster Phonics or Chess Max Academy?
Monster Phonics ships an update every 9 months, and Chess Max Academy every 3 weeks. Most recently, Monster Phonics was updated on October 29, 2026 and Chess Max Academy on October 19, 2026.

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