abc PocketPhonics: letter sounds & writing + first words
By Apps in My Pocket Ltd
View More By This Developer- Price$6.99
- CategoryEducation
- First releasedDecember 8, 2008
- Versions2 archived
- Installable2 of 2
- AvailabilityStill on the App Store
- SellerApps in My Pocket Ltd
- Bundle IDcom.appsinmypocket.iphonics.pocketphonics
RequirementsCompatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 4.0 or later.
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Report an issue“PocketPhonics teaches the basics of reading and writing to young kids. Most surprising? It seems to work.” 148apps.com
PocketPhonics teaches kids letter sounds, first words and handwriting. It is used in hundreds of elementary schools and pre-schools, and tens of thousands of homes. It is aligned with the Common Core State Standards, and independent research (see appsinmypocket.com/research) found children learnt nine times faster using PocketPhonics compared to a classroom lesson.
"One of my children’s favorite early reading apps" New York Times “This app feels much like a private tutoring session for early readers with emphasis on letter sounds and writing.” everythingmom.com -“If you are working on phonics for your kids, this is the best application to have.” Technology in Education -“This app feels much like a private tutoring session for early readers with emphasis on letter sounds and writing.” everythingmom.com -“PocketPhonics is seriously educational and I think it’s a terrific tool for helping early readers. You can tell that a ton of thought and research was put into it and best of all, they talked and listened to teachers. It shows.” iPhoneMom.com -“When it comes to learning apps for young learners and early readers, there is no better choice than PocketPhonics." ipad-applications.neiia.com
PocketPhonics is split in to 12 groups of letter sounds, each group is followed by a set of storybooks that use those letter sounds. Kids read storybooks that are on the right level for them.
The phonics levels are included in the price of this "basic edition", but the storybooks cost extra. PocketPhonics Stories (full edition) includes the stories in the price.
Phonics (letter sounds) help children to read by understanding the sounds that letters make. The National Reading Panel concluded that “children who have phonics instruction read better and spell better than other children”.
In the first group of letter sounds, there are six sounds to master before the child will be able to read their first storybook. Most children aged 4+ start to read their first storybook within 10 weeks if they use the app for 15 mins everyday.
Parents and teachers can easily monitor children’s progress online. Teachers and parents are emailed a certificate when a child completes a task.
Children can tap an unfamiliar word in a story, and the app will sound out the letters to help the child understand what the word says. They can tap again to hear the actual word and see a picture that illustrates its meaning.
As the child reads a story, the app tests whether they can read some of the key words. At the end of the story, it quizzes the child on all new words in that story.
Children master the following skills:
writing letters recognising 72 letter sounds (e.g. ‘ch’ are the letters that make the initial sound in ‘chat’) * blending letter sounds together to make words (e.g ‘ch-a-t’) * hearing a word and selecting its written form (e.g. the app says, “chat”, the child has to select ‘chat’ from a group of words)
How it works * The phonics levels are included in the price. * The books are extra, but can be tried for free. $1.49 monthly and $14.49 annual subscriptions unlock access to all books for an unlimited number of children * The subscription gives you access to more books as they are added * Once subscribed, your subscription auto-renews each month or annually. However, you can easily turn auto renew off via the Settings app * Payment will be charged to your iTunes account at confirmation of purchase * Subscription automatically renews unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24-hours before the end of the current period * Cannot cancel current subscription during its subscription period
Privacy policy: http://appsinmypocket.com/privacy
Terms of use: http://appsinmypocket.com/terms
Chart History
Ratings Over Time
sampled from 13 archived captures| Date | Version | Rating | Ratings | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 7, 2010 | 1.7 | — | 617 | $0.99 |
| March 27, 2011 | 1.8.4 | — | 1,094 | $2.99 |
| January 13, 2012 | — | — | 1,266 | $2.99 |
| July 31, 2013 | — | — | 1,529 | $2.99 |
| November 25, 2015 | 2.4.3 | — | 1,599 | $6.99 |
From archived App Store listing data, captured by the Wayback Machine.
Archived Reviews
8 of 25My 5 yr old loves this app and his knowledge of phonics improved using this app. Thank you
I have been very pleased with how well thought out the app works for kids.
Cant believe I wasted money buying this. After one week trial, my $6 was only good for the first level for only one child. Bull crap.
Amazing results! One of the few apps found that truly produce results. Worth the time effort and $
Great product for practice. My son and students enjoyed and benefited from this app.
My son has been using this app and his progress has been great. I've contacted support to provide suggestions and they responded promptly. You can clearly see the time and effort the developers have put into this app. I can't say enough. The fact that it incorporates writing the letters, the letters are sounded out, the spelling challenges that use the sound of the letters and has the child pick the letters to make words, I could go on and on but it's just easier for you to get the application and experience it yourself. I know this review sounds like it might be coming from the company but I don't work for them. I wish I did so I could say I was part of this wonderful application and help all those children. Keep up the good work and I look forward to seeing what else you come up with.
This app is well designed, the production of the speech sounds is very well done as is the feedback to the student using the app. I highly recommend Pocket Phonics!
This app is great it is LITERALLY teaching my 2 year old how to read and write.
Period reviews recovered from Apple's customer-review feeds via the Wayback Machine.