Squeebles Spelling Connect vs The Original Squeebles Spelling
We've created this page to answer some of the frequently asked questions we're being sent about our new Squeebles Spelling Connect app and how it compares to our older Squeebles Spelling Test app, that you may well own. If you have any questions not covered below, please e-mail us. We also have pricing information for the new app, including an FAQ section about subscriptions here.
The Original Squeebles Spelling App
The first incarnation of our original Squeebles Spelling Test app was released way back in 2012!
Over the intervening years, we've continued to develop and improve the app, often due to your feedback, helping thousands of children across the world with their spelling practice.
If you own this app, you can continue to use it, including the cloud-based Spelling Share functionality, for the foreseeable future. However, as of late September 2024, the app is no longer available for sale to new customers and we will not be adding any new features, or developing this app any further. We're now pointing anyone looking for a longer-term option for an app to help their children with their spelling to our new Squeebles Spelling Connect app...
Squeebles Spelling Connect
Squeebles Spelling Connect is a completely new app, released in September 2024. It is not a free upgrade to the older Squeebles Spelling Test app.
This app requires you to sign up for a Squeebles Connect account and purchase a monthly or yearly subscription. For families, these start at £2.99 a month, which gives you up to 4 child accounts. Full pricing information for families, tutors and schools is available here.
Owning the original Squeebles Spelling Test app does not give you automatic access to the new app, but for anyone who purchased the original app very recently and would rather use the new app, you can request a refund via the store you bought it from and sign up for a subscription with the new app.
Anyone signing up for the new Squeebles Spelling Connect app gets a free 7 day full trial so you can try before you pay anything at all and cancel at any time.
You can find out more about the app and some of its features here...
Comparison - Squeebles Spelling Connect vs The Original
Everyone loves a chart, so for those of you who want to know why / if you should subscribe to the new Squeebles Spelling Connect app, here are some of the key features and where it differs from the original app. You can see a full list of features and more information here.
| Feature |
Squeebles Spelling Connect |
The Original Squeebles Spelling Test App |
| Curriculum-based spelling lists |
Over 160 (already included) |
Over 160 (must be downloaded by parent) |
| Included words / word audio |
8500 and growing |
1500 |
| Log in on any device |
YES |
NO |
| Supported platforms |
PC, Mac, iPad, iPhone, Android, Chromebook |
iPad, iPhone, Android |
| Create your own spelling lists |
YES |
YES |
| Share spelling lists with children |
YES - automated |
Requires manual upload / download of tests |
| Set homework assignments |
YES - including pass mark and due date |
NO |
| Free home access for children who have a school account |
YES - children can access the app free of charge |
NO - required parents to buy app |
| Record your own audio for words |
YES - available immediately to your children |
YES - but requires manual upload and download |
| Progress, stats & account data |
Stored in the cloud and accessible from any device |
Stored on the device being used |
| Word searches |
YES - we've incorporated our Squeebles Word Search app into the new spelling app. |
NO - requires separate app at extra cost |
| Accessibility features |
YES - OpenDyslexic font as standard, coloured overlays, timer on / off |
YES - optional OpenDyslexic font, coloured overlays, timer on / off |
| High score tables |
YES |
NO |
| Reward system |
YES - a completely new reward game and collectables |
YES |
| Unique login for each child |
YES |
NO |
| Offline use |
In development - currently requires internet connection |
Mostly - some features require internet connection |
| Parent / teacher zone |
YES - via secure login. Allows management of child accounts, subscription management, viewing and setting homework assignments, checking progress, misspellings, stats and class / group management for school and tutor accounts. |
YES - secured via optional PIN. Allows management of child accounts, checking progress, misspellings, stats. |
| Cost |
£2.99 a month for 4 child accounts (75p per child). Tutor and school account pricing here. |
£4.99 per copy. |
Price Difference
One of the differences you might have noticed in the chart above, is of course the cost. A subscription to the new Squeebles Connect app is going to cost you more over time than an individual purchase of £4.99 (assuming you use the app for more than 2 months) - and we completely understand that some people might feel that's a pretty big price increase. If you're interested in our reasoning, we've laid it out below, but please ask if you have any questions.
- Firstly, we are offering completely free access at home for any children who are signed up by their school, as part of a school subscription. So if a school has a subscription, for their pupils to use Squeebles Spelling Connect at home will cost their families nothing at all. That's a lot of copies of our previous app we were selling that families will potentially not be buying any more and that's something we have to consider when setting a price point.
- Secondly, creating a system that allows you to sign in on any device, share spelling lists automatically, set homework assignments for your children and receive the results back immediately along with all the other new features this app offers, requires a lot more in the way of development, support and web hosting costs than a standalone app that's installed on one device does. We simply could not have built this app, or continue to support it, if we didn't charge a subscription fee to ongoing users.
- Thirdly, we've combined 2 apps into one, by adding word search functionality into the new Spelling Connect app. This used to be a separate app, but a lot of people asked for them to be combined, so the same spelling lists could be used for both spelling tests and word searches.
Given the above, we feel that the price we've settled on is very fair. For about the same per month as the cost of a takeaway coffee, up to 4 children can have access to a system that will support them learning their spellings from reception to year 6. For tutors and schools, the cost is even lower per child.
We think that's pretty decent value, but we also understand that subscriptions can add up and quickly become unaffordable. That's why we're committed to keeping the price for any subscriber locked at the same level for at least 6 months in the event of any future price rises. And we should add that we have no plans at all to raise our subscription prices in the immediate future.
If you have any questions, please e-mail us.