3 Things to Look Out for in a Reading App
There are thousands of reading and phonics apps out there and most of them look brilliant. Eye-catching images, fun games, happy children on the screenshots. But as we know, looking good and teaching well aren't the same thing.
Here's what I would actually check before letting my own children near one.
Does it teach, or just entertain?
A lot of "phonics" apps are really games with a few letters sprinkled on top. Tap the balloon, pop the bubble, collect the star. Your child has a lovely time and learns next to nothing.
A proper phonics app follows an order the same systematic phonics they'll meet at school building from single sounds, to blends, to whole words. If you can't see a clear progression, that's a red flag.
2. Are the sounds right?
Open the app and listen to how it pronounces the letters. The letter t makes a sharp "t," not "tuh." M is "mmm," not "muh."
Those little tacked-on vowel sounds (called the schwa) feel harmless, but they quietly wreck blending later. If an app teaches the sounds sloppily, your child ends up having to unlearn it and that is so much harder than learning it right the first time.
"If an app teaches the sounds sloppily, your child ends up having to unlearn it and that is so much harder than learning it right the first time."
3. Does it know when to stop?
This is the one I care about most.
Most apps are designed to keep your child on them. The rewards keep coming, the levels keep unlocking, the little dopamine hits keep landing. A child who's been chasing those rewards comes off the screen wired and ratty and a real book suddenly feels unbearably slow by comparison.
A good reading app should leave your child ready to read. Not desperate to stay on a screen.
Why we built The Phonics App differently
When we built The Phonics App, these three things were the whole reason we started. We left out the flashing rewards and the endless dopamine loops on purpose. Instead, it's designed to give your child just five quiet minutes of proper phonics: correct sounds, a clear sequence, and over 600 real words (plus 200 alien words!) to practise with.
600+ real practice words
200+ alien words
5 min daily practice
2× award winner
And these are the reasons why The Phonics App won two awards last year: The Made for Mums Tech Award and The Ed Tech Awards.
⏰ YEAR ONE PARENTS - HEADS UP
The Phonics Screening Check is coming up
If your child is in Year One, they'll be sitting the Phonics Screening Check very soon.
Here's what you can do to feel prepared:
View the 2024 past paper →
Practise with The Phonics App →
All the sounds that come up in the check and exactly how to say them are inside The Phonics App. So your child can practise confidently before the day.