8 Best Reading Apps for Kids

Reading is one of the most essential hobbies for children. Not only does reading help kids build concentration, but it also improves their critical thinking skills and makes them more familiar with the wider world.

However, mastering the art of reading can be challenging for kids. Fortunately, below, we've compiled a list of the top 8 reading apps to help kids read.

Reading Apps for Kids under 8

Experts says most children start reading between 6 and 7. Therefore, we also suggest you introducing your kids to learn to read at 6 or 7 and here is a list of the best reading apps for kids under 8 to learn to read.

1Skybrary

Skybrary is indeed one of the best reading apps for kids. Apart from the extensive collection of books, it also offers educational videos. When your child is reading books on Skybrary, all characters come alive with creative narrations and animations. What's more, this app offers an option for your child to read books by themselves.

Key Features:

• Educational video collection
• "Read to Myself" so your child can read the book
• "Backpack" to allow offline reading
• Parent dashboard to track your child's progress

Cost: 30-day free trial; $4.99/month or $39.99/year

Compatibility: iOS, Web

2ABCmouse

As a great online learning platforms, ABCmouse helps your child master reading, math, music, and more. This award-winning app offers over 900 books, printable activities, and offline reading. However, according to parents' feedback, this mobile app often freezes a bit and loads slowly.

Key Features:

• Easy to track kid's progress in the parent area
• "Learning Path" to guide your child through different lessons by age
• Various tests to help your child determine where they stand

Cost: 30-day free trial; $12.99/month or $59.99/year

Compatibility: Android, iOS, Web

3Duolingo ABC

As a free reading apps for kids, Duolingo ABC focuses on teaching sight words and enhance phonics, vocabulary, and comprehension skills. The best part of this app I favorite is when you set up your child's profile, it will present stories and lessons based on this age level.

Key Features:

• Gamified reading progress
• Age-appropriate stories and lessons
• Best for phonic and sight word
• Ever-growing library

Cost: Free

Compatibility: Android, iOS

4Vooks

Vooks is another reading app your child will love. It makes reading a breeze with intentional read-along pacing and highlighting to create a visual connection with the text. Similar to Skybrary, with intriguing animation, music, and sound effects, your little ones will be greatly entertained while learning how to read.

Key Features:

• Combines books with videos
• Highlights read-along text
• Read-aloud narration
• Weekly growing library

Cost: 7-day free trial; $4.99/month or $49.99/year

Compatibility: iOS, Android, Web

5Reading Eggs

With over 3,500 digital storybooks available, Reading Eggs is widely used in schools and has numerous features to aid your kid's reading skills. In addition to reading, the app covers phonics, phonemic awareness, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension, making the learning process suitable for all ages.

Key Features:

• Structured reading programs by age
• Powerful reward system
• Has a placement test to detect your child's reading level
• Offers detailed reports to track progress

Cost: 30-day free trial; $9.99/month or $69.99/year

Compatibility: iOS, Android, Web

Reading for Kids 8-12

No doubt, reading becomes more complicated as a child grows. By age 8, they should have a good command of comprehension and the ability to read complex texts. Therefore, the following list contains 3 apps to help them with these skills:

6Spark Reading

Spark Reading is more suitable for children who need to improve their comprehension skills as it offers plain text and narration without any more animation. It highlights words to read along with audio and includes quizzes after reading to help your child understand what this text says.

Key Features:

• Highlights words to read along
• Comprises of several quizzes
• Progress tracking
• Offers hundreds of educational topics

Cost: 7-day free trial; $23.99/year

Compatibility: iOS

7Epic

The Epic reading apps for kids hosts over 40,000 high-quality books as well as audiobooks narrated by talented voice actors. The app has a dictionary and spotlight words, and these duo work together to improve your kid's language bank. And there are lots of quizzes to aid your child's learning process.

Key Features:

• Contains read-to-me and audiobooks
• Offers multilingual books
• "Dictionary Lookup" to help your child know more vocabulary
• Reading progress tracking

Cost: 7-day free trial; $11.99/month or $79.9/year

Compatibility: iOS, Android, Web

8Reading IQ

For kids aged 8 and above, they become love reading novels and stories. This time, Reading IQ deserves a try. The app contains thousands of books, ranging from picture novels, and fiction, to nonfiction titles, in both English and Spanish. What's even more impressive is its library aligns with the school curriculum, which is great for homeschooling.

Key Features:

• Accesses to entire ABCmouse library
• Offers books on academic subject
• Accommodates up to 3 kids per account

Cost: 30-day free trial, $7.99/month or $39.99/year

Compatibility: iOS, Android, Web