AlphaTots
Common Sense Media Review
By Chris Morris , based on child development research. How do we rate?
"E" is for an excellent educational app.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 3+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Download
Parent and Kid Reviews
Based on 2 parent reviews
Privacy Rating Warning
Privacy Rating
Our expert evaluators create our privacy ratings. The ratings are designed to help you understand how apps use your data for commercial purposes.
Pass
Meets our minimum requirements for privacy and security practices.
Warning
Does not meet our recommendations for privacy and security practices.
Fail
Does not have a privacy policy and should not be used.
Privacy Rating
Our expert evaluators create our privacy ratings. The ratings are designed to help you understand how apps use your data for commercial purposes.
Pass
Meets our minimum requirements for privacy and security practices.
Warning
Does not meet our recommendations for privacy and security practices.
Fail
Does not have a privacy policy and should not be used.
What’s It About?
Kids tap on letters to get phonetic pronunciations of them, followed by a task using an action word that starts with that letter (for example, "add" candles to a cake for "A"). Kids can skip to other letters by holding their finger down on them for roughly four seconds.
Is It Any Good?
Spinlight Studios, the developers of the wonderful number-learning TallyTots, turn their attention to the alphabet in this creative and educational app. Learning isn't something that's viewed as a burden, but rather transformed into a game, which makes young kids want to use this app again and again. All letters are always on screen, letting kids explore where they want -- and accessing the familiar A-B-C song is just as easy. The interactive elements, which kick in after pronunciation on the letters is made clear, are very clever and engaging. Navigating alphabetically is a snap, but if the user wants to jump from, say "A" to "Z," they'll have to press that letter for 3-4 seconds, which might be beyond the attention span of the target audience.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Magnetic letters are a fun, physical way for kids to interact with the alphabet.
Encourage kids to notice print in their environment. Help them spell words they see on signs or books, and let them know what word they've spelled.
App Details
- Devices: iPhone , iPod Touch , iPad , Android , Kindle Fire , Nook HD
- Subjects: Language & Reading : following directions, letter or word recognition, phonics
- Pricing structure: Paid
- Release date: May 18, 2011
- Category: Education
- Publisher: Spinlight Studio
- Version: 1.4
- Minimum software requirements: iOS 4.3 or later
- Last updated: August 9, 2018
Did we miss something on diversity?
Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.
Suggest an Update
You May Also Like...
Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.
See how we rate