In previous research the Joan Ganz Cooney Center and New America have characterized the children's educational app market as a "Digital Wild West" (Guernsey, Levine, Chiong & Severns, 2012; Shuler, 2011). The marketplace is chock full of choices but lacks essential information to aid parents' and educators' decision-making. In 2014, the Joan Ganz Cooney Center, with partners at New America, launched a new study of the most popular educational apps marketplace by focusing an in-depth inquiry on literacy-focused apps for children ages 0-8 years. We analyzed a sample of 183 apps from among lists of the "Top 50" educational apps in popular app stores and those that had recently won critical acclaim from expert review sites. Next, we examined the apps along numerous dimensions, including characteristics of their descriptions (e.g., number of words used to describe each app; target audience age-range; specific skills mentioned) and features within their actual content (e.g., the nature of adult-directed information; types of activities). (author abstract)