Keyboarding Without Tears vs TERC EarthLabs
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Keyboarding Without Tears
This app provides touch-typing practice for K-5 students using a game-based curriculum. Licensed users can log in to access assigned activities and develop essential computer skills. An educator account is required for access.
- Game-based touch-typing activities
- Pre-keyboarding lessons
- Developmentally appropriate lessons
- Online progress monitoring
- Digital citizenship training
- Cross-curricular connections
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Access the Keyboarding Without Tears K-5 student curriculum. This app is available for licensed students of Keyboarding Without Tears web-based program and serve as a companion app for touch-typing practice on mobile devices. Students can login and access their Keyboarding Without Tears activities assigned to them by their educator. An existing educator account in +Live Insights educator dashboard is required to access the app. The Keyboarding Without Tears K-5 curriculum features: • Effective, game-based activities • Pre-keyboarding and touch-typing lessons • Developmentally appropriate lessons by grade • Easy online progress monitoring • Digital citizenship and general computer readiness activities • Strong English Language & Arts and other Cross-Curricular connections
TERC EarthLabs
This app offers free high school Earth science curriculum units with interactive visualizations, videos, and hands-on labs. It allows users to run Flash-based videos and interactives on their iPad for engaging science education.
- Interactive visualizations
- Video content
- Hands-on labs
- Flash-based interactives
- Curriculum units
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EarthLabs (http://serc.carleton.edu/earthlabs) is a free set of high school Earth science curriculum units developed by TERC that engage students through a variety of modes including interactive visualizations, video, and hands-on labs. Download the EarthLabs App to run many of the Flash-based videos and interactives on your iPad.
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: TERC EarthLabs at 5.0 against Keyboarding Without Tears's 3.7. TERC EarthLabs also leads on review sentiment (40% vs 4%) and iOS requirement (8.0 vs 13.0). Keyboarding Without Tears's advantage is update cadence (every 2 months vs every 53 months) and ratings volume (6 vs 1). On price, 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
TERC EarthLabs holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Keyboarding Without Tears has 6 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 4% of Keyboarding Without Tears's written reviews are positive against 40% of TERC EarthLabs's.
Keyboarding Without Tears ships an update every 2 months, TERC EarthLabs every 53 months. Both last shipped on November 1, 2026.
| Parameter | Keyboarding Without Tears | TERC EarthLabs |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.7 (6 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 4.1% of reviews | 40.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 6 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months — better | Every 53 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPad | iPad |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 | 8.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 83 MB | 40 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Handwriting Without Tears & Get Set for School | TERC, Inc. |
Customer experience
Keyboarding Without Tears
TERC EarthLabs
Bugs and requests
Keyboarding Without Tears
Reported bugs
10 issues- App crashes frequently
- App freezes during use
- External keyboards are not recognized
- Progress is deleted without warning
- Puzzle pieces do not work correctly
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- Screen does not rotate
- No sound after sign-in
- Login issues (PIN required, invalid email)
- Inconsistent skipping of review content
- Grammar errors in the app
Requested features
11 requests- Make the app more fun and engaging
- Fix the keyboard recognition issue
- Improve app performance and stability
- Allow skipping of review content
- Ensure puzzle pieces work correctly
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- Fix screen rotation issues
- Add sound to tutorials and lessons
- Clarify PIN/license requirements
- Make the app available to the general public
- Improve grammar and spelling
- Use the default iOS keyboard
TERC EarthLabs
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Keyboarding Without Tears
No in-app purchases
TERC EarthLabs
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Keyboarding Without Tears free?
Is TERC EarthLabs free?
Which has better reviews, Keyboarding Without Tears or TERC EarthLabs?
Do Keyboarding Without Tears or TERC EarthLabs have ads?
Which is updated more often, Keyboarding Without Tears or TERC EarthLabs?
Other comparisons
