16 Of The Best Phonics Apps For iPad
by TeachThought Staff
How To Choose The Right Reading App For Your Students
When selecting a phonics app, consider your child’s age, current reading level, and learning preferences. Apps like Starfall and ABC Kids offer simple introductions for younger learners, while tools like Phonics Genius or Ultimate Phonics provide more structured, skill-specific practice.
Look for features such as adaptive learning, sound grouping, and interactive feedback to ensure the app supports both engagement and progression. Ideally, the app should complement—not replace—shared reading and guided instruction.
Tips for Choosing a Reading App:
- Match the app to your child’s age and reading level – Younger children may benefit from simple sound recognition, while older readers might need more structured phonics or fluency support.
- Look for adaptive or customizable features – Apps that adjust to your child’s progress can provide better-targeted practice.
- Check for interactive, engaging design – Games, characters, and animations can help sustain attention and reinforce learning.
- Ensure it complements real reading – The best apps support—not replace—reading aloud, shared books, and guided instruction.
Hooked on Phonics Learn & Read: This app has a long-standing reputation and offers a structured, adaptive program covering preschool through second grade. It includes reading, math, and spelling activities with progress tracking.
Starfall Learn to Read: A free and engaging app that focuses on phonics basics and caters to various learning styles through interactive games and activities.
Teach Your Monster to Read: An award-winning game that makes learning phonics fun and covers the foundational skills for reading.
Endless Alphabet and Endless Reader: These apps use playful monster characters to introduce letter sounds and sight words in a memorable way. They focus on building vocabulary and early reading skills.
Wonster Words (Pro Edition): This app features cute monsters that help children learn letter sounds, blending, and word building through interactive animations and puzzles.
ABC Magic Phonics: This free app focuses on teaching the pronunciation of letter sounds and combinations, which is crucial for becoming a better reader.
For Specific Skill Building
Phonics Genius: This app offers a vast library of over 6,000 words grouped by phonics sounds, making it excellent for targeted practice and recognition.
Blending Board: A free app that helps students understand the fundamentals of blending sounds to form words. It allows for manipulation of phonemes to create different words.
PocketPhonics: This app (available in a basic and paid version) focuses on letter sounds and early reading skills through interactive exercises.
Khan Academy Kids: A free app with a comprehensive curriculum that includes phonics and reading activities alongside other subjects.
Lalilo: This app offers a structured literacy program based on K-2 curriculum, using AI to personalize learning and provide targeted practice.
Ultimate Phonics Reading App: This app offers a structured phonics program with a significant number of lessons, suitable for learners of various ages.
16 Of The Best Phonics Apps For iPad
5. Speed Reader
6. HOMER: Kids Learn-to-Read App
11. ABC Kids – Tracing & Phonics
12. Alphabytes
13. Simplex Spelling Free Lite –Reverse Phonics
15. Vocabulary City
16. Phonics Vowels
Best Learn to Read Apps for Kids (2025)
Learning to read is a complex process involving phonemic awareness, vocabulary development, comprehension, and more—but phonics, the ability to connect sounds with letters, remains one of the most essential foundational skills. The apps below support that process in fun, structured, and developmentally appropriate ways.
These apps combine evidence-based reading instruction with the kind of engagement that keeps kids learning without it feeling like work.
1. HOMER Learn & Grow
Ages: 2–8
A personalized early learning app that focuses on phonics, letter recognition, sight words, and comprehension. HOMER adapts to your child’s reading level and includes stories, games, and lessons.
🔗 learnwithhomer.com
2. Starfall Learn to Read
Ages: 4–7
A classic and still-relevant phonics-based app with interactive books and activities that help children blend sounds and decode simple words.
🔗 starfall.com
3. ABCmouse
Ages: 2–8
Covers a full early reading curriculum including phonics, sight words, and sentence structure. Includes over 10,000 activities and a progression system to help children grow.
🔗 abcmouse.com
4. Reading Raven
Ages: 3–7
A self-paced, phonics-focused app with voice instructions, tracing, matching, and early sentence building. Ideal for hands-on learners.
🔗 readingraven.com
5. Teach Your Monster to Read
Ages: 4–7
A game-based app backed by the Usborne Foundation that teaches phonics, blending, and early reading fluency in a playful adventure format.
🔗 teachyourmonstertoread.com
6. Epic! – Books for Kids
Ages: 4–12
Not a phonics app, but an excellent digital library that supports reading fluency and vocabulary development through read-to-me books and audiobooks.
🔗 getepic.com
7. Reading Eggs
Ages: 3–13
Research-backed and comprehensive, this app includes phonics lessons, leveled readers, spelling, and grammar tools. Great for both pre-readers and early readers.
🔗 readingeggs.com
8. Squiggle Park / Dreamscape
Ages: 6–12
Blends adaptive reading comprehension games with fantasy-style gameplay, ideal for older elementary students who still need literacy support.
🔗 squigglepark.com
16 Of The Best Phonics Apps For iPad; Best apps to learn to read