Comparison

ABC MAGIC PHONICS 5 Deluxe vs Napier's Bones Simulation

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

Head to head
About

ABC MAGIC PHONICS 5 Deluxe

This educational app helps young children develop essential early reading skills by focusing on phonemic awareness and letter-sound correspondence. It offers a structured, sequential learning path with 10 levels, progressing from sounds to letter recognition for both uppercase and lowercase letters.

Highlights
  • Develops phonemic awareness
  • Teaches letter-sound correspondence
  • 10 sequential learning levels
  • Focuses on common letter sounds
  • Supports uppercase and lowercase letters
  • Audio for all words and images
Features
Read full description

Learn The Alphabetic Principle. Develop Phonemic Awareness. Learn How Sounds Relate to Words. Learn Letter-Sound Correspondence. Learn How to APPLY Letter Sound Correspondence. Gain proficiency in the use of the sounds of the letters. Gain Proficiency with Auditory Discrimination. This app has all of the features and components necessary to give your child strong phonemic awareness. This app also has all of the features and components necessary to give your child strong letter awareness. These are the beginning steps to start your child off on the path to reading success. This game is part of the ABC MAGIC PHONICS series. We recommend the other ABC MAGIC apps as a means to expand and reinforce your child’s phonemic awareness and letter awareness. This app has 10 levels of sequential learning for English learners to master. The sequence is designed to take the learner from the concrete to the abstract; from not knowing anything about letters to having good phonemic awareness. The app starts with using sounds and finishes with the letter symbols for both lowercase and uppercase letters. This app is broken down into 10 lessons to create distinct and manageable levels of learning. Each level focuses on a particular step in effective learning of the Alphabetic Principle. Lesson 1. Sounds to Sounds Lesson 2. Sounds to Images Lesson 3. Images to Images Lesson 4. Lowercase Letters to Lowercase Letters Lesson 5. Sounds to Lowercase Letters Lesson 6. Lowercase Letters to Images Lesson 7. Uppercase Letters to Uppercase Letters Lesson 8. Sounds to Uppercase Letters Lesson 9. Uppercase Letters to Images Lesson 10. Lowercase Letters to Uppercase Letters This app features 12 words pictures for each letter. Each word in each of the groupings uses only the most common sound for each letter. For instance, igloo and inchworm would be used for the letter i, but not ice nor ivy as those begin with long i (the second most used sound for the letter i). It is important to start by teaching just the most commonly used sound for each letter. Sometimes unfamiliar words are used, in this app, to ensure that 12 words were used for each letter. Use this as a vocabulary building time. Even if the child does not know the word, the child can still listen for the beginning sound of that image. Another point is that this app is not a vocabulary quiz nor an object guessing game. Some pictures may seem indiscernible, but don’t worry, the objects, when touched, will ALWAYS say their name. The child NEVER has to know what the picture is ahead of time. Tapping on the image box will ALWAYS play the audio file that names the picture. Please note, that in this app, only the SOUNDS of the letters are used and NEVER the names of the letters. A child can actually read without knowing the common names of the letters, but a child only knowing the names of the letters cannot phonetically read. The ubiquitousness of the ABC song both at home and at school will surely give children the ability to name the letters. Many children, however, are not given the much-needed explicit instruction of the SOUNDS that the letters make. This app, therefore, is dedicated to helping children learn the SOUNDS that the letters make. These games are designed so that children can do them independently after being given the basic instructions of how to play the games. The app has built-in feedback mechanisms to help the child to work independently. These mechanisms allow the child to learn at their own pace and in their own way. The child does not need to be constantly supervised and told what the right answer is. This frees up the adult to be an observer of their child’s learning and to give assistance when invited.

About

Napier's Bones Simulation

Features
Read full description

John Napier's contribution to mathematics was truly significant. Born in Scotland, Napier studied as a mathematician, physicist and astronomer. He is best known as the inventor of logarithms, but he also invented one of the first computing devices. The device, known as Napier's Bones, is manually operated and can be used to find the products and quotients of numbers. Napier's device was based on Arab mathematics and used the lattice method of multiplication. Each of the rods are inscribed with the multiplication tables for a specific number. By arranging the rods on the board, the product of two numbers can be found by performing addition operations. Use the Napier's Bones app to learn how one of the earliest calculating devices worked. More than 400 years ago, people used Napier's Bones to find the product of large numbers. In using this simulation you will discover a new way to multiply. Have fun!

Screenshots

ABC MAGIC PHONICS 5 Deluxe4 screens
Napier's Bones Simulation4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is iOS requirement: ABC MAGIC PHONICS 5 Deluxe at 9.0 against Napier's Bones Simulation's 12.0. On price, update cadence, 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

ABC MAGIC PHONICS 5 Deluxe costs $1.99 and Napier's Bones Simulation $1.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

ABC MAGIC PHONICS 5 Deluxe ships an update every 14 months, Napier's Bones Simulation every 25 months. The most recent releases landed on October 29, 2026 and October 26, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference · 8 level
ABC MAGIC PHONICS 5 Deluxe versus Napier's Bones Simulation: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterABC MAGIC PHONICS 5 DeluxeNapier's Bones Simulation
Price$1.99$1.99
Rating4.4 (22 ratings) — better—
Number of ratings22 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 14 months — betterEvery 25 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaid—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple TV — better
Requires iOS9.0 — better12.0
Further details — not scored
Size165 MB29 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperPRESCHOOL UNIVERSITYVentura Educational Systems

In-app purchases

None

ABC MAGIC PHONICS 5 Deluxe

No in-app purchases

None

Napier's Bones Simulation

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is ABC MAGIC PHONICS 5 Deluxe free?
ABC MAGIC PHONICS 5 Deluxe costs $1.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Napier's Bones Simulation free?
Napier's Bones Simulation costs $1.99, with no in-app purchases.
Do ABC MAGIC PHONICS 5 Deluxe or Napier's Bones Simulation have ads?
Neither ABC MAGIC PHONICS 5 Deluxe nor Napier's Bones Simulation shows ads.
Which is updated more often, ABC MAGIC PHONICS 5 Deluxe or Napier's Bones Simulation?
ABC MAGIC PHONICS 5 Deluxe ships an update every 14 months, and Napier's Bones Simulation every 25 months. Most recently, ABC MAGIC PHONICS 5 Deluxe was updated on October 29, 2026 and Napier's Bones Simulation on October 26, 2026.

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