Short answer first: yes, Spelling.Live supports real written input. A child can handwrite each word on screen with a finger or stylus, type it, say it aloud, or - just as often - do none of that and instead have a photograph of paper work read and marked automatically. Most spelling apps only offer one of these. Spelling.Live is built around the idea that how your child is actually tested at school should be how they practise at home, so it supports all four.
Here's what each one does, and when to reach for it.
Write it - handwriting on screen, AI-checked
Most UK spelling tests are still handwritten - a weekly dictation, a written test in an exercise book. Write it mode has a child write each word on screen with a finger or stylus, and the app checks not just whether the spelling is right, but how the letters were formed - shape, reversals, spacing. We go into the mechanics of that AI vision check, and why letter formation and spelling are taught together in school but usually practised separately at home, in how Spelling.live analyses handwriting.
Type it and Say it - fast, low-friction practice
Typing and saying a word aloud are quicker options for drilling through a long list, or for a child who isn't yet confident writing by hand. They're built for volume and repetition rather than replicating a test, which is exactly what makes them a good complement to Write it rather than a replacement for it.
Photograph a printed word list
Setting up a list shouldn't take longer than practising it. Instead of typing out this week's spelling homework word by word, photograph the printed sheet and the app reads it straight into a practice list.
Photograph a marked paper test
Most of the spelling your child actually does happens on paper, not inside an app - the Friday test, a dictation in an exercise book. Paper practice closes that gap: photograph the marked sheet, and it becomes real progress-report data, including a handwriting assessment, without any of it having been typed into a screen. It's careful about how it reads the page, too - it catches the difference between a plain misspelling and a homophone mix-up like "hear" for "here", which look identical to a quick glance but mean very different things for what to practise next.
Why the input method isn't a minor detail
None of this is about offering more buttons for the sake of it. Sweden's reversal of its digital-first classroom policy is part of a wider body of research on handwriting and memory that UK schools have never actually moved away from - dictation and written tests are still how spelling is assessed in most primary classrooms. An app that only offers multiple-choice or typed answers is practising a different skill from the one being tested. Matching the practice to the test is the whole point.