Main Idea vs ABA Play
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Main Idea
This app helps children in grades 2-5 develop reading comprehension skills by focusing on identifying the main idea of sentences. It uses a fun, game-like approach with step-by-step learning and rewards to keep kids motivated. Designed by educators, it's suitable for both typical and special needs children.
- Step-by-step skill building
- Game-like environment
- Frustration-free learning
- Reward Center for motivation
- Parental review and reporting
- Over 600 examples
- Designed by teachers and researchers
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** Featured on Appolicious.com & iHeartThisApp.com ** 'Main Idea -Sentences' helps kids who have trouble with reading comprehension. Identifying the main idea is a key part of reading comprehension. 'Main Idea -Sentences' builds this comprehension skill in a fun, game-like environment. The skill is developed step-by-step until mastery. *** Happy Frog Apps is a Mom's Choice Award winner! *** ***** 5 Stars - Thank you for this app! Other software I’ve used has moved too quickly for my son. This one worked! Can’t wait for the next Main Idea app…it’s coming, right? ***** 5 Stars - This app is one the best education apps I have used with my little one. It really helps to improve his reading abilities. He is obsessed with passing the levels and it never let him disappointed. One of the few apps that worth to upgrade to premium version. 'Main Idea - Sentences' is designed for children in Grades 2-5 who can read the words, but don't understand what they read. Beginning readers in earlier grades can also benefit from the targeted skill development. 'Main Idea - Sentences' develops the skill of knowing what a sentence is about. This skill must be firmly established before a child can determine what a paragraph or page is about. Key Benefits: - Builds comprehension skills step-by-step until mastery. - Incremental learning. New levels are unlocked only when your child is ready. - Frustration-free learning. Your child will always be guided to the correct answer. - Fun and engaging Reward Center to increase motivation. - Easy parental review. Just check out the stars to see how your child is doing. - Contains over 600 examples, with content designed by professional teachers and researchers. - Advanced levels include timers to ensure fluency. Research shows fluency in the foundation skills is critical to reading comprehension. - Can be used independently (just hand it over: your child will know what to do!) or with a therapist/parent for reading intervention. - Provides extensive reporting for up to 10 students to suit the needs of parents, teachers and therapists. Our apps are designed for and tested by typical and special needs children. Testers include children with Autism and other special needs. Our apps work for them! To evaluate the app, download the free version, which has 4 free levels. Additional levels and additional players can be accessed with in-app purchase. If you prefer no in-app purchases, download the School Edition of this app. While you're thinking about reading, check out our other apps that target WH questions, inferencing and answer identification skills. Learn more about reading comprehension and research at our website www.HappyFrogApps.com. Drop us a note, we'd love to hear from you! We take customer service very seriously! If you ever have a problem or find that we've missed something, contact us at our website and we will do our best to fix the problem. We are a member of the Moms With Apps program that promotes privacy in children's apps. We collect NO private information in our apps and our apps do not allow unrestricted web access.
ABA Play
This educational app uses AI-generated content and data-driven teaching principles to create a customizable learning environment for early learners. It supports multiple profiles and includes autopilot modes for independent exploration, with on-device data tracking to monitor progress.
- Customizable learning environment
- AI-generated images and voice prompts
- Multiple learner profiles
- Autopilot exploration modes
- On-device local data tracking
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ABA Play is an educational tool designed around powerful learning principles. The goal of this app is to provide a fun and engaging playground with customizable learning delivered in a way that aligns with data driven teaching practices. The images and voice prompts included are AI generated, leveraging AI tools to democratize access to these resources for underserved children. It also serves as another opportunity for children to maintain and generalize skills. Features: - Deeply customizable learning environment designed to be accessible to a wide range of early learners - Multiple profiles for multiple learners - Autopilot modes for parents to allow learners to explore learning targets with guardrails to prevent overwhelming them - On-device local data tracking to assess learning and make changes to programming This application was built by a single developer and has many planned updates.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: ABA Play at 5.0 against Main Idea's 3.8. ABA Play also leads on update cadence (every 5 days vs every 3 months) and review sentiment (100% vs 71%). Main Idea's advantage is ratings volume (19 vs 3) and iOS requirement (12.2 vs 15.0). On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support 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. Main Idea sells 3 one-off in-app purchases and ABA Play sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
ABA Play holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Main Idea has 19 ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 71% of Main Idea's written reviews are positive against 100% of ABA Play's.
Main Idea ships an update every 3 months, ABA Play every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on October 17, 2026 and October 14, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Main Idea | ABA Play |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.8 (19 ratings) | 5.0 (3 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 71.4% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 19 — better | 3 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Every 5 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 12.2 — better | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 22 MB | 1.4 GB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Janine Toole | MATTHEW ODELL BLANEY |
Customer experience
Main Idea
ABA Play
In-app purchases
Main Idea
- Upgrade to 2 Users$1.99
- Access All Levels$2.99
- Up to 10 Users$2.99
ABA Play
- Full Access$9.99
- Add 8 Additional Profiles$29.99
- Upgraded Access AND 10 Profiles$39.99









