Comparison

Meet the Alphablocks! vs Writing Wizard

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

Head to head
About

Meet the Alphablocks!

Explore the alphabet and letter sounds with interactive characters. Children can tap to bring each character to life, hear their letter sounds, and sing along to catchy songs. This app uses proven phonics methods to help young learners develop reading skills.

Highlights
  • Interactive alphabet characters
  • Learn letter sounds
  • Sing along to songs
  • Phonics-based learning
  • Letter name mode
Features
Read full description

Meet the Alphablocks, get to know your alphabet and letter sounds and sing along to the Alphablocks song. Alphablocks is the hit TV show that’s helping millions of children learn to read the fun way. (British English). As seen on Cbeebies. HOW TO PLAY It couldn’t be simpler: tap to bring each Alphablock to life and hear them sing their letter sound and a line from the Alphablocks song. Every Alphablock is designed to help your child remember their letters and letter sounds, so A says a! when an apple falls on her head, and so on. LETTER SOUNDS AND NAMES Listen to the Alphablocks singing their letter sounds, then change to Letter Name mode and have fun learning all the letter names too. FULL OF GOOD PHONICS Alphablocks uses best-practice phonics as taught in UK schools. It’s also part of a whole reading system that can give your child a boost in key phonics skills. Watch Alphablocks on CBeebies and find out more at www.alphablocks.tv. READY FOR MORE? If you enjoy this app, try ALPHABLOCKS LETTER FUN and really get to know the Alphablocks and the alphabet. Letter Fun has four minigames for each Alphablock (more than 100 total) to help your child master their letters and sounds, and they can sing along to the whole Alphablocks letter song.

About

Writing Wizard

This app helps children learn to trace letters, numbers, and words with a fun, motivating system. It offers customizable tracing practice, interactive games, and progress reports for parents and educators.

Highlights
  • Trace letters, numbers, and words
  • Customizable tracing practice
  • Interactive games and animated stickers
  • Create custom word lists with audio
  • Progress reports for tracking
  • Printable PDF worksheets
Features
Read full description

"Fantastic, customizable tracing practice with fun rewards." 5 Stars - Common Sense Media 500,000+ units sold (including 300,000+ to schools) ! Writing Wizard is designed to help every child learn how to trace letters, numbers, and words through a fun system carefully designed to maintain motivation. • Show and enforce how to trace letters correctly • Letter names and phonics (customizable) • 16 Fonts available (including 3 most popular in the US) • Fun tracing using 50+ animated stickers, sound effects and interactive games that animate letters at the end of tracing • Uppercase & lowercase letters, numbers, and words • Ability to create your own word lists (and record audio for each word) • Fully customizable to suit every child’s needs (letter size, difficulty,...) • Check progress thanks to reports that display what the child has traced • Shapes tracing activity for toddlers • Create PDF Worksheets and print them to help your child to write on paper • Use Apple pencil to write at a very small size All the shapes, the first 7 letters, numbers, and words are free. The remaining letters and the ability to add your own words can be unlocked with a one-time purchase or a monthly subscription. _______ ACCOLADES • "Writing Wizard is the most complete and intelligent letter tracing app we’ve seen"" AppoLearning.com • "This brand-new app should be the go-to for every parent, teacher and therapist to work on handwriting" - TOP PICKS - 5 stars - SmartAppsForKids.com • "Writing Wizard by L’Escapadou is everything a parent wants in a handwriting app, and more." 5/5 - kids-app-reviews.com • "L’Escapadou has made handwriting fun." AppyMall.com 5/5 • Listed in "20 best educational iPhone and iPad apps for kids of 2013" - appsplayground.com • Editor's Choice Award for Excellence in Design - Children's Technology Review _______ PERFECT FOR KIDS Kids want to have fun, and Writing Wizard offers a lot of fun to keep them motivated in the learning process! • They can trace using 50+ animated stickers and sound effects • Once tracing is complete, they can interact with them on 4 games that animate letters • They can trace any word - like their name - and record their voice for each word • They can collect stars in 5-Stars play mode _______ PERFECT FOR PARENTS & TEACHERS • Ability to create your own word lists (and record audio for each word) • Detailed reports provide information on what kids have done, including the ability to replay and export the tracings to view kids' progress • Share word lists via iCloud Drive or other cloud providers, adhoc network, or email • Multiple parameters to customize the app according to the child’s current education level (e.g. letter size, difficulty, show/hide model, allow to stop between key points, etc.) • 3 most popular fonts in the US (ZB, DN & HWT) and 13 international fonts (UK, Scandinavia, Australia, Germany and France) • Upper and lower case letters, numbers (and word lists) • Letter names and letter sounds (which can be customized) • A customizable 5-Stars play mode prompting the child to trace a letter or a word 5 times using different parameters (each step is more challenging) • Create an unlimited number of users • Many settings to customize the app (sound, game time limit, black background,...) • In the A-Z section, special graphics available to match letters (e.g. ant graphic for A/a) _______ Privacy Policy KNOW WHAT'S INSIDE As a Moms with Apps member, we follow the "Know what's inside" best practices for kids’ apps L’Escapadou takes children’s privacy seriously. We believe you should not have to worry about your kids being tracked by apps or websites. This app: • Does not collect any user information (we do not use data collection tools) • External Links : Before accessing a parent section, an operation must be solved so that young kids cannot access it. Terms of use : https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Meet the Alphablocks!4 screens
Writing Wizard4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Meet the Alphablocks! at none against Writing Wizard's 4. Meet the Alphablocks! also leads on iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.6). Writing Wizard's advantage is ratings volume (5K vs 333) and update cadence (every 4 months vs every 11 months). On price, rating, review sentiment and ads 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

Both are free to download. Writing Wizard sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $2.49 per month. Meet the Alphablocks! asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.4 for Meet the Alphablocks! against 4.4 for Writing Wizard. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Writing Wizard has 5K ratings behind it against 333, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 73% and 73% positive.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Meet the Alphablocks! ships an update every 11 months, Writing Wizard every 4 months. The most recent releases landed on September 27, 2026 and October 2, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Meet the Alphablocks! versus Writing Wizard: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMeet the Alphablocks!Writing Wizard
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.4 (333 ratings)4.4 (5K ratings)
Positive reviews72.9% of reviews73.4% of reviews — better
Number of ratings3335K — better
Update frequencyEvery 11 monthsEvery 4 months — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS13.0 — better15.6
Further details — not scored
Size212 MB68 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperBlue-ZooPierre Abel

Customer experience

Meet the Alphablocks!

All ratings333 ratings
Positive85.9%
Neutral3.6%
Negative10.5%
Written reviews129 reviews
Positive72.9%
Neutral9.3%
Negative17.8%

Writing Wizard

All ratings5,039 ratings
Positive84.2%
Neutral6.2%
Negative9.6%
Written reviews207 reviews
Positive73.4%
Neutral6.8%
Negative19.8%

User reviews

Meet the Alphablocks!

From 333 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Fun and engaging
  • 🚀 Great for learning letters and sounds
  • 💡 Helpful for speech therapy
  • 🎨 Colorful and visually appealing

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Crashes and glitches
  • 🤔 Lack of mini-games or interactive features
  • 🤷‍♀️ Confusing instructions for accessing content
  • 😕 Disappointing for those expecting more features

Writing Wizard

From 5K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 User-friendly interface
  • 🚀 Engaging animations
  • 💡 Customizable word lists
  • 👍 Helpful for children with special needs
  • 👍 Effective for improving handwriting

Room to improve

  • 🔒 Locked features behind paywall
  • 🐛 Bugs and glitches
  • 🔒 Paid version not working as expected
  • 💰 Expensive for the limited features

Bugs and requests

Meet the Alphablocks!

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • App crashes when tapping on certain letters
  • Some visual glitches with character animations
  • Subscription/purchase issues for full app access
  • Compatibility problems on older devices

Requested features

4 requests
  • Add more mini-games and interactive elements
  • Improve stability and reduce crashes
  • Provide clearer instructions on accessing all content
  • Expand the app to include more advanced learning activities

Writing Wizard

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • App crashes when trying to access locked features
  • Purchased content not unlocking properly
  • Inconsistent letter formation guidance

Requested features

4 requests
  • Add more letters, numbers, and shapes
  • Allow recording of custom voice instructions
  • Improve compatibility with stylus/digital pens
  • Provide more customization options

In-app purchases

None

Meet the Alphablocks!

No in-app purchases

4 purchases

Writing Wizard

Subscriptions1
  • Full Access - Monthly$2.491 Month
One-time3
  • All Letters and Numbers$5.99
  • Add Your Words and Word Lists$5.99
  • Lifetime Full Access$9.99

Questions

Is Meet the Alphablocks! free?
Meet the Alphablocks! is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Writing Wizard free?
Writing Wizard is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Meet the Alphablocks! or Writing Wizard?
Meet the Alphablocks! and Writing Wizard are both rated 4.4 out of 5 on the App Store, from 333 and 5K ratings respectively.
Do Meet the Alphablocks! or Writing Wizard have ads?
Neither Meet the Alphablocks! nor Writing Wizard shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Meet the Alphablocks! or Writing Wizard?
Meet the Alphablocks! ships an update every 11 months, and Writing Wizard every 4 months. Most recently, Meet the Alphablocks! was updated on September 27, 2026 and Writing Wizard on October 2, 2026.

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