ABC Kids

ABC Kids - Tracing & Phonics Review: No Ads, No Fees, Letters Only

$0 and No Ads: Who Pays for a Free Alphabet App

Many toddler alphabet apps unlock a few letters and charge for the rest; this one has nothing to unlock. Google Play shows neither the Contains ads nor the In-app purchases label, the App Store lists no purchases, and the Australian Council on Children and the Media found no advertising or purchasing when it reviewed the app in 2017. The money comes from elsewhere: in a 2023 Google case study, founder Vivek Dave, who started RV AppStudios in 2011, said ad revenue from the studio's casual games for adults, such as Bubble Pop, pays for its 14 children's apps. The studio also sells Lucas & Friends wooden toys and books and says each purchase helps keep the apps free. In 2023, though, an App Store reviewer complained that a brand video on the home screen kept pulling her son away from tracing.

Tracing 26 Letters With Lucas the Lion

Each of the 26 letters comes in upper and lower case, and the child drags a forefinger along a dotted path while arrows and an animated hand show the stroke direction. Finished letters earn praise from Lucas the lion, and progress pays out stickers and gift boxes with toys inside. Separate games pair letters with their sounds and match capitals to lowercase, and a Bubble A to Z mode arrived in September 2026. In the adult settings, Teacher Mode, report cards and switches for each tracing and phonics game let parents choose what appears. The limits show with older children: the Australian reviewer warned that finger tracing does not build the tripod pencil grip five- and six-year-olds need, and parents complain that strokes break at corners, so a W needs several lifts of the finger.

No Data Collected and Six Android Permissions

Both store listings declare no data collection: Google Play's Data safety section says nothing is collected or shared with third parties, and the App Store label reads Data Not Collected. The developer's kids' privacy policy, last updated in February 2024, says its children's apps carry no third-party advertising or analytics plugins and that activity and reports never leave the device; links to ratings, other apps and worksheets sit behind a childproof puzzle. On Android the app asks for network access, vibration, keeping the screen awake, running at startup and a Play licence check, and nothing touching the camera, microphone, contacts or location. An AppCensus test in 2021 found no tracking, and Pixalate's manual COPPA review in January 2024 noted no age gate and no third-party ads. These are declarations, not an audit: check the current policy on the store page.