Comparison

Talking Typer vs Visual LightPad

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

Head to head
About

Talking Typer

This accessible typing program helps students improve their keyboarding skills through lessons and a fun game. It is designed for blind and visually impaired students but is beneficial for all learners, offering progress tracking and customizable lessons.

Highlights
  • 35 built-in typing lessons
  • Customizable lessons for teachers/parents
  • Progress tracking for speed and accuracy
  • Hurry Scurry typing game
  • Self-voicing and VoiceOver accessible
  • Supports refreshable braille displays
Read full description

Talking Typer finally makes its way to iOS. Help students make typing progress with this fun-to-use self-voicing app! Talking Typer An accessible typing and computer keyboard tutorial app with a keyboard game to help increase speed and accuracy in a fun environment! Learn to type or improve your skills with drills, practice lessons, keyboard explorer, and an entertaining game. It is designed for blind and visually impaired students, but can be used by sighted students too. This makes it a great tool for the whole class. 35 Built-in Lessons Talking TyperTM for iOS devices comes with 35 built-in lessons at levels 1-10. Teachers and parents can create new lessons, edit lessons, and assign lessons to individual students or groups. Speed, accuracy, and typing level can also be set for individual students or groups. The app saves the results of each drill allowing students, teachers, and parents to monitor improvement. Hurry Scurry Game The app also includes the exciting game Hurry Scurry, where students earn points by typing letters before the ball drops. It’s fun for all ages and skill levels! Self-Voicing and Apple® VoiceOver Accessible The app is both self-voicing and accessible with Apple’s VoiceOver. The onboard keyboard of your device can be used with Talking Typer, but an external keyboard is recommended. The app can also be used with a refreshable braille display, like APH’s Refreshabraille 18TM Bluetooth®-enabled device, making it accessible for students who are deafblind as well. Recommended ages: All.

About

Visual LightPad

Features
Read full description

Visual LightPad creates a bright illuminated surface for developing visual perceptual and visual motor skills in people with visual impairment. It's a cheaper alternative to expensive, dedicated hardware visual impairment light boxes. Think of it as a digital light box! Adjust Visual LightPad's brightness and color, then place semi transparent toys, numbers or letters on the iPad's screen. Where colors become difficult, open the color picker and change the background color to something that accentuates the toys. Where hardware light boxes can be associated with work, iPads tend to be associated with play. Visual LightPad helps develop awareness to color and light, but using objects also helps in the development of visual perceptual skills, hand eye coordination, and both visual scanning and tracking. Visual LightPad can also be used for; - Reading content printed onto acetate - Providing a reading backlight when paper documents are placed on top of it - Photo negative illumination - Sensory / mood lighting Visual LightPad is purposefully easy to use and relatively low on features. It supports presets for easy saving and recall of preferred settings. It is designed to run on iPad, but also runs on iPhone - meaning you can keep a small light box in your pocket at all times.

Screenshots

Talking Typer4 screens
Visual LightPad1 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Visual LightPad at weekly against Talking Typer's every 11 months. Talking Typer's advantage is iOS requirement (12.0 vs 17.0). 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Talking Typer ships an update every 11 months, Visual LightPad weekly. The most recent releases landed on September 2, 2026 and September 17, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Talking Typer versus Visual LightPad: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterTalking TyperVisual LightPad
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.9 (10 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews50.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings10 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 11 monthsWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS12.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size18 MB3 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAmerican Printing House for the Blind (APH)AW Games

In-app purchases

None

Talking Typer

No in-app purchases

None

Visual LightPad

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Talking Typer free?
Talking Typer is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Visual LightPad free?
Visual LightPad is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Talking Typer or Visual LightPad have ads?
Neither Talking Typer nor Visual LightPad shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Talking Typer or Visual LightPad?
Talking Typer ships an update every 11 months, and Visual LightPad weekly. Most recently, Talking Typer was updated on September 2, 2026 and Visual LightPad on September 17, 2026.

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