Comparison

Starfall It's Fun to Read vs Phonics Ninja

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

Head to head
About

Starfall It's Fun to Read

This app offers a free selection of reading activities designed to teach foundational reading skills. It features interactive games, stories, and creative exercises that make learning to read enjoyable for young children. The app requires no internet connection and can model fluent reading with an optional AutoRead feature.

Highlights
  • Interactive reading games
  • Creative activities
  • Poetry and tongue twisters
  • Riddle solving
  • Optional AutoRead feature
  • Offline access
Features
Read full description

Starfall® Fun to Read is the third step of Starfall’s Learn to Read phonics sequence, which teaches the foundational skills for learning to read. Step 1: ABCs Step 2: Learn to Read Step 3: It’s Fun to Read Step 4: I’m Reading! With a basic understanding of letter-sound relationships from ABCs and Learn to Read steps, children are ready to explore a variety of genres and topics that will expand their vocabulary, comprehension, and world knowledge. In Starfall Fun to Read, children can learn about famous artists, experiment with mixing colors, discover the lives of famous musicians, and engage with literary forms like poetry, tongue twisters, and riddles. By connecting these interactive experiences with written words, young readers build the confidence and curiosity necessary to become lifelong learners. Travel-ready. No internet connection required. Find Starfall It’s Fun to Read, along with 700+ additional activities and counting across reading, math, music, and more in the Starfall app. The Starfall website and applications are program services of Starfall Education Foundation, a 501(c)(3) publicly supported nonprofit organization. Starfall® and Starfall.com® are registered trademarks in the US, the European Union, and various other countries. Copyright © 2002–2026 by Starfall Education. All rights reserved. Starfall apps are inclusively designed to support all children, including English Language Learners (ELLs). Starfall also provides an Enhanced Accessible Index for children with visual, hearing, or mobility impairments. For more information, please contact Customer Service at (+1) 303-417-6414.

About

Phonics Ninja

This educational game helps children master phonics, blends, and digraphs through interactive slicing gameplay. It offers customizable difficulty levels and focuses on multi-sensory learning to keep young learners engaged and improving their reading skills.

Highlights
  • Slice lowercase letters by sound
  • Slice phonic blends
  • Slice phonic digraphs
  • Customizable sound categories
  • Adjustable difficulty levels
  • Multi-sensory learning
Features
Read full description

"Thank you for listening to our feedback and finally launching a phonics ninja app with blends and digraphs!" - Sonja, SLP and mom of four lovely kids. I have a confession to make. My son's favorite game was Fruit Ninja and I was getting increasingly frustrated with having my son waste a lot of time on a fun but mindless game while he was still struggling to master his phonics and learning to read. So I decided to create our very own phonics slicing game and to my and my son's delight, he now has a new favorite game where he is having fun and learning at the same time. My sons skills in recognizing letters, blends and digraphs have dramatically improved since he started playing phonics ninja and now I no longer have to feel guilty when I need a five minute break to take care of the laundry or prepare lunch for the kids. I know that they are having fun and that they are learning at the same time. Warning: Your child will keep begging for your iPhone or iPad after they try this app. Phonics Ninja is an exciting educational game that helps kids rapidly learn letter sounds, blends, and digraphs by sight, sound, and touch. The interface is so easy to use that even a 9 month old baby will delight in using this app. FEATURES: • Slice your way through all lowercase letters by sound • Slice your way through all phonic blends including bl, br, cl, cr, dr, fl, fr, gl, gr, pl, pr, sc, sk, sl, sm, sn, sp, st, sw & tr • Slice your way through all phonic digraphs including ch, ck, gh, gn, kn, ng, ph, qu, sh, th, wh, wr & tch (trigraph) • You decide what to focus on - turn individual categories ON or OFF from the settings page. Just press on the ON / OFF button. You can also turn individual letter and phonic sounds ON and OFF within each category. • Learn by sight, sound, and touch • Fun game play, sounds, and animations keep kids engaged • Dynamic game play adjusts difficulty (the number of sight words) automatically based on player skills to keep kids both challenged and entertained vs. getting bored • Supports 3 difficulty settings: EASY, MEDIUM, or HARD EASY MODE: - Max 1 phonic sound - letters move very slowly - Great for introducing phonic sounds one at a time MEDIUM MODE: - Starts with 1 phonic sound - Max of 3 phonic sounds on screen - Letters move 30% faster HARD MODE: - Starts with 2 phonic sounds - Max of 5 phonics on screen - Phonic letters move even faster - Letters rotate faster too Adjust difficulty from settings page. • Wrong answers do not interfere with gameplay, the child can immediately try again and slice the correct answer (most other games are too slow to keep kids interested by interrupting the gameplay and slowly repeating the desired question) • Play Phonics Ninja from A to Z or in random order (adjustable from settings page) • Multi-sensory learning tool - combining audio, voice, and touch • Want to work on just a few phonic sounds? No problem… head to the settings page to turn entire categories or individual phonic sounds on and off • Want to record your own audios? No problem. Just click on the category and record your own sounds for each item • Supports three levels of difficulty HEROIC SUPPORT Heroic Support is not just what we do. It's really what makes us, well, us. It's that drive to make a difference in your life - no matter how big or small. Really, it's our way of life because we want you to be our customer for a lifetime of fun and learning. Have questions? We are here to help. Email us at support@grasshopperapps.com

Screenshots

Starfall It's Fun to Read4 screens
Phonics Ninja4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Starfall It's Fun to Read at Free against Phonics Ninja's $0.99. Starfall It's Fun to Read also leads on rating (4.4 vs 3.5). Phonics Ninja's advantage is update cadence (every 3 months vs every 21 months) and review sentiment (81% vs 70%). On ratings volume, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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

Starfall It's Fun to Read is free to download; Phonics Ninja costs $0.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Starfall It's Fun to Read holds the better App Store score, 4.4 against 3.5. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 49 and 41 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 70% of Starfall It's Fun to Read's written reviews are positive against 81% of Phonics Ninja's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Starfall It's Fun to Read ships an update every 21 months, Phonics Ninja every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and November 2, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Starfall It's Fun to Read versus Phonics Ninja: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterStarfall It's Fun to ReadPhonics Ninja
PriceFree — better$0.99
Rating4.4 (49 ratings) — better3.5 (41 ratings)
Positive reviews70.0% of reviews81.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings49 — better41
Update frequencyEvery 21 monthsEvery 3 months — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.08.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size74 MB23 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperStarfall Education FoundationInnovative Investments Limited

Customer experience

Starfall It's Fun to Read

All ratings49 ratings
Positive81.6%
Neutral6.1%
Negative12.2%
Written reviews10 reviews
Positive70.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative30.0%

Phonics Ninja

All ratings41 ratings
Positive61.0%
Neutral7.3%
Negative31.7%
Written reviews63 reviews
Positive81.0%
Neutral1.6%
Negative17.5%

Bugs and requests

Starfall It's Fun to Read

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Phonics Ninja

Reported bugs

10 issues
  • Sounds are not working
  • No sound at all
  • Some sounds are not clipped
  • Incorrect pronunciation of blends
  • Incorrect pronunciation of digraphs
Show 5 more
  • Incorrect pronunciation of "q"
  • Added "uh" sound to consonant sounds
  • Added vowel sound to end of phonemes
  • Incorrect markings on some sounds
  • Some blends pronounced with short "a" sound at the end

Requested features

11 requests
  • Make it more similar to Fruit Ninja with a penalty for errors
  • Add more features like combining sounds to create words
  • Include specific words that target articulation sounds
  • Fix how letters are presented (e.g., only 'c' or 'k' for /k/ sound)
  • Count both letters correct if presented together
Show 6 more
  • Add dark mode option
  • Improve pronunciation of blends
  • Remove the added "uh" sound after consonant sounds
  • Fix pronunciation of "q"
  • Allow shutting down all in each category for beginners
  • Add more levels or content

In-app purchases

None

Starfall It's Fun to Read

No in-app purchases

None

Phonics Ninja

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Starfall It's Fun to Read free?
Starfall It's Fun to Read is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Phonics Ninja free?
Phonics Ninja costs $0.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Starfall It's Fun to Read or Phonics Ninja?
Starfall It's Fun to Read is rated higher. Starfall It's Fun to Read averages 4.4 out of 5 from 49 ratings, while Phonics Ninja averages 3.5 from 41 ratings.
Do Starfall It's Fun to Read or Phonics Ninja have ads?
Neither Starfall It's Fun to Read nor Phonics Ninja shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Starfall It's Fun to Read or Phonics Ninja?
Starfall It's Fun to Read ships an update every 21 months, and Phonics Ninja every 3 months. Most recently, Starfall It's Fun to Read was updated on November 6, 2026 and Phonics Ninja on November 2, 2026.

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