Press Kit
Playing Without a Signal: How Often Kids Play Wonster Words Offline
Nearly 1 in 11 Wonster Words sessions starts with no internet connection. Our own app data on when and where kids play offline, by device, hour, holiday, and country.
Last updated
Nearly 1 in 11 Wonster Words sessions starts with no internet connection. Across about 1.27 million app launches on iOS and Android in the 12 months to August 2026, 8.8% began offline, and more than 43,000 kids played offline at least once. Each time the app opens, it runs a live test of the connection, so these figures count real offline starts, not guesses.
The real share is higher than 8.8%. A launch with no connection is recorded only when the device next comes back online, so play on a device that never reconnects is not counted at all.
The pattern behind the number is simple: offline play follows where a child is, not how much free time they have. Kids on iPad play offline more than three times as often as kids on iPhone, the morning school run is the busiest offline hour, and travel days rise while holidays spent at home do not.
How often do kids play Wonster Words offline?
One Wonster Words session in eleven starts without a connection, and on Android the share is higher than on iOS. The table counts every app launch in the 12 months from 21 August 2025 to 20 August 2026.
| Platform | Share of launches that started offline | Kids who played offline at least once |
|---|---|---|
| iOS (iPhone and iPad) | 7.3% | 11.1% |
| Android | 11.6% | 11.8% |
| Both | 8.8% | 11.5%, more than 43,000 kids |
Share of Wonster Words app launches that started with no internet connection, 12 months to August 2026, from our own app analytics.
The share has drifted down slowly over two years, from about 9.5% of iOS sessions in August 2024 to about 6.5% in early August 2026. The trend line stops before the most recent weeks, which always read low until devices reconnect. That fits a world that keeps getting online: the International Telecommunication Union found in its Facts and Figures 2025 that the number of people using the internet grew by more than 240 million in 2025. Offline play is shrinking slowly, not disappearing.
Why do iPads go offline more often than iPhones?
Kids on iPad start a Wonster Words session offline more than three times as often as kids on iPhone: 11.7% of iPad launches against 3.6% of iPhone launches, over the same 12 months.
| Device | Share of launches that started offline |
|---|---|
| iPad | 11.7% |
| iPhone | 3.6% |
Share of Wonster Words app launches on iOS that started with no internet connection, by device, 12 months to August 2026.
The reason is the hardware. About nine in ten of the most-used iPads are Wi-Fi-only models, with no cellular connection of their own, according to the iPad survey from TelemetryDeck, which counts iPads in use. A phone stays online when it leaves the house. A Wi-Fi-only iPad does not.
The iPad is also the family device: it goes to the grandparents’ house, into the car, and onto the plane. For those families, offline play is the normal way the app is used on roughly one launch in nine. If you are still choosing one, our guide to the best tablet for kids covers how to pick it.
When do kids play offline? The school run, and Fridays
Offline play in Wonster Words peaks with the morning school run, among US kids on iPhone and iPad in their local time. At 8am, 8.66% of launches start offline. Through the evening the share falls, to 4.88% at 10pm, when most children are home, and home is where almost all of them are connected: 97% of US 3- to 18-year-olds had internet access at home in 2021, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. A child is 1.8 times as likely to start offline at 8am as at 10pm, and the same shape shows up in the UK, Canada, and Australia. Overnight hours are left out because so few kids play then.
The week follows the same rule. Friday and Saturday lead, and Sunday sits with the weekdays:
| Day | Share of launches that started offline |
|---|---|
| Friday | 8.01% |
| Saturday | 7.85% |
| Thursday | 7.23% |
| Sunday | 6.62% |
| Tuesday | 6.56% |
| Wednesday | 6.56% |
| Monday | 6.31% |
Share of Wonster Words app launches that started with no internet connection, by day of the week, US kids on iOS in local time, 11 sampled weeks from September 2025 to July 2026.
The weekend effect is really a getting-out-of-the-house effect. It starts on Friday afternoon and fades by Sunday, when families are home again.
Do kids play offline more on holidays? Only on travel days
Holidays that move families raise offline play in Wonster Words, and holidays spent at home do not. Each figure below compares a holiday with the same weekday in the eight weeks around it, so the usual weekday pattern is already taken out. Above 1.00 means more offline play than a normal day.
| Holiday (US kids, iOS) | Share offline | Against a normal day |
|---|---|---|
| Wednesday before Thanksgiving, 26 Nov 2025 | 9.26% | 1.37 times |
| New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day | 8.07% | 1.29 times |
| Easter weekend, 3–6 Apr 2026 | 8.40% | 1.25 times |
| Labor Day weekend, 30 Aug–1 Sep 2025 | 9.25% | 1.19 times |
| Thanksgiving Day, 27 Nov 2025 | 8.34% | 1.17 times |
| Christmas Eve and Christmas Day | 7.60% | 1.15 times |
| Memorial Day weekend, 2026 | 7.93% | 1.12 times |
| Christmas to New Year, 20 Dec–4 Jan | 7.70% | 1.11 times |
| Presidents’ Day and February break | 7.24% | 1.09 times |
| July 4th weekend, 2026 | 7.34% | 1.06 times |
| Spring break, March 2026 | 7.00% | 1.01 times |
| Summer, 15 Jun–6 Aug 2026 | 6.70% | 1.00 times |
| MLK weekend, 2026 | 6.23% | 0.92 times |
| Veterans Day weekend, 2025 | 6.75% | 0.92 times |
Share of Wonster Words app launches that started with no internet connection on US holidays, compared with the median for the same weekday across the surrounding eight weeks, August 2025 to August 2026.
The Wednesday before Thanksgiving had the strongest effect of the year: the share of sessions starting offline was 37% higher than on a normal Wednesday. According to AAA, it is one of the busiest travel days of the year. Three-day weekends that mostly stay local, such as MLK and Veterans Day, sit below a normal day. Spring break and summer are flat, because a long break is many days at home with a trip somewhere inside it.
Where in the world do kids play offline?
Among countries with at least 1,000 Wonster Words launches, offline play is highest in the Philippines, China, and Saudi Arabia, and among the large, well-connected markets it is highest in Australia, at 11.0%. The table covers iOS launches in the 12 months to August 2026.
| Country | Share of launches that started offline |
|---|---|
| Philippines | 15.2% |
| China | 12.3% |
| Saudi Arabia | 11.7% |
| Australia | 11.0% |
| Malaysia | 9.0% |
| Singapore | 8.4% |
| Canada | 7.5% |
| United Kingdom | 7.4% |
| United States | 7.0% |
| India | 5.5% |
| Hong Kong | 5.2% |
Share of Wonster Words app launches on iOS that started with no internet connection, by country, countries with at least 1,000 launches, 12 months to August 2026.
Australia stands out because of its distances. It is a wealthy country, but mobile coverage reaches less than a third of its land area, as ABC News reported in October 2026, so a long drive leaves the network behind.
How we measured offline play
Every Wonster Words figure on this page comes from our own app analytics, and each outside figure is linked to its source. Each time the app opens, it sends a live test request and records whether the request got through. That makes each launch a measured online or offline start, not an estimate from the device’s network settings.
- The window is 21 August 2025 to 20 August 2026, about 1.27 million launches on iOS and Android. The day, hour, and holiday figures are US kids on iOS, converted to local time.
- It counts launches, not time. A session that starts offline is counted. How long a child plays offline is not measured.
- It undercounts. An offline launch is recorded only when the device reconnects, so play on a device that never reconnects is lost, and the most recent weeks always read low. Both make every figure here an underestimate.
- Kids are counted per app store, so a family with the app on both iOS and Android counts once on each.
What this means when you choose an app
Offline play is common, and it peaks exactly when a child is away from home: the school run, a Friday, a holiday drive. An app that needs a connection fails at those moments, so the only way to know is to test one before you need it. Turn on airplane mode, open every activity, and listen for the audio.
For the airplane-mode test and what each app says about offline play, see our guide to learning apps that really work offline.
Wonster Words has full features available offline. Download lessons before the school run or the Thanksgiving drive, and they go wherever your child does, with no ads and no way to reach the internet from inside the app. Get Wonster Words on the App Store or Google Play.
Questions about offline play
Why is offline availability important for kids’ educational apps? Because kids use them where the connection is weakest. Nearly 1 in 11 Wonster Words sessions starts offline, rising to more than 1 in 9 on iPad, and the share peaks on school mornings and travel days.
Can kids use Wonster Words without internet? Yes. Wonster Words has full features available offline, and all content, including videos, can be played offline once it is downloaded, so download it ahead of a trip.
What are the current trends in offline kids apps? In our data, offline play has drifted down slowly as more people get online, from about 9.5% of iOS sessions in August 2024 to about 6.5% in early August 2026. It is concentrated on iPads, mornings, and travel days.
What are the benefits of using offline educational apps for kids? Practice does not stop when the connection does. In a car, on a plane, or at the grandparents’ house, an app that works offline is the one a child can actually open, and an app with no way to reach the internet has nowhere for a child to wander.