# Crosswords With Friends — user reviews > 882 indexed App Store user reviews of Crosswords With Friends by Zynga Inc., rated 4.50/5 from 62,487 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/crosswords-with-friends/id1184083151/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/crosswords-with-friends/id1184083151.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 44,553 · 4★ 9,832 · 3★ 3,377 · 2★ 1,751 · 1★ 2,974 ## What do users think of Crosswords With Friends? Overall sentiment: neutral **Pros** - 🎮 Fun and challenging puzzles - 🧠 Keeps the brain active - 🕰️ Great daily routine - 💻 Decent crossword game **Cons** - 💰 Difficult to earn free coins - 🛑 Too many ads and paywalls - 🇺🇸 Heavily American-centric - 🐛 Frequent crashes and bugs - 🔄 Repetitive clues and content - 🔍 Difficult to navigate and find features **Commonly reported bugs** - Coins disappearing without explanation - Inability to claim earned badges - Inconsistent tournament scoring - Ads not properly rewarding coins **Most requested features** - Easier way to earn free coins - More international/global content - Option to disable ads for a fee - Ability to play past puzzles without paying - Improved stability and performance ## Newest reviews (19 of 882) ### 3/5 — Ad banner *2026-09-07, version 51.34.635* Loved this app until they started putting the ad banner over the top line of the puzzle. ### 3/5 — Ads are annoying *2026-09-04, version 51.34.635* The top banner ad obscures the top of the game. I found another reviewer with same complaint , you said to go to help section- doesn’t exist anywhere in the game ### 3/5 — Fix the app *2026-09-02, version 51.34.635* Please fix the glitches in this fun-to-play app! For over a month now the user can’t gift a fried. It says I have gifts to give, but when I try, it says my limit is over for every friend in our team. Please fix this. ### 2/5 — AI *2026-09-01* Puzzles have become so bad over the last few weeks with such awful clues. It doesn’t even note when a clue is more than one word anymore. I noticed it doesn’t have the puzzle creators name at the beginning every time it’s a newer puzzle and that makes me think they’ve swapped over to some AI slop. It’s the worst. I went from an average solve time of 3-4 mins to 7-8 because I can’t make sense of these new clues. ### 1/5 — SOMETHING HAS CHANGED *2026-08-31* Puzzles have recently become much more difficult - my usual time is well under 10 minutes - now 15 or 20 minutes. Clues are not the same, more obscure, not familiar, do not identify if one word or two words, puzzles are no longer themed- for example Movie Monday or Wayback Wednesday means absolutely nothing. I will stop playing altogether if this trend continues. Who is creating your puzzles now?? ### 1/5 — Uses AI *2026-08-31, version 51.34.635* Clearly they’ve switched to use AI to write the clues. There are spelling mistakes in the answers and the clues make no sense. ### 2/5 — Great crossword puzzle, however Houston you have a problem *2026-08-31, version 51.34.635* For the past week, game is slow to load. Also, the clues are not matching the daily themes. ie, today is supposed to be Movie Monday, but it was sports or singer related. ### 1/5 — What happened? *2026-08-31* I used to look forward to my daily brain exercise but this past week the puzzles have changed. There are some clues that make no sense and there have been some repeated answers but one is the plural form. It’s disappointing when something you enjoy changes like this. ### 1/5 — Not enjoyable *2026-08-31, version 51.34.635* Please fix the puzzles, they are no longer fun to do and the clues make no sense. ### 1/5 — Deleted after years *2026-08-28* They’ve obviously started using AI to write the puzzles in the last week or so. Clues are all garbage. Deleted without remorse. ### 2/5 — It has changed this week *2026-08-28* I have enjoyed this game for a few years and loved it but this week the daily puzzle has changed, new writer? No longer enjoying it. A lot of the hints are very obscure and some make no sense. ### 1/5 — Works great *2026-08-25, version 51.34.635* Thank you for fixing this app. ### 3/5 — Never fix any of the bugs *2026-08-25, version 51.34.635* I see the updates but it seems to never address any of the bugs. The icon for free coins for watching a video still appears and disappears , after watching the video I don’t always get the coins. The latest mini event but only received 1 of the rewards even though I solved a the puzzles today ### 1/5 — Birds add *2026-08-22, version 51.33.629* To many annoying ads that last to long. ### 1/5 — Ads don’t work correctly *2026-08-19, version 51.33.629* I like the game but many times the points don’t get added after you’ve watched an ad (even after the last update). I kind of feel I’m wasting my time and that’s frustrating. ### 3/5 — Freezes up *2026-08-19, version 51.33.629* This app started off great with no problems but lately it glitches and freezes up in the middle of solving puzzles which is very frustrating! ### 1/5 — Glitch *2026-08-17, version 51.32.558* I have loved this app for years but the last month or so this game glitches a minute or two into using it. Sometimes the app won’t even close to restart it ### 1/5 — Today ALL my earned coins disappeared! And …. *2026-08-16, version 51.32.558* I’ve played this game for years and enjoyed it so much! But during the last year almost, it’s very glitchy! Today, all my coins disappeared to zero and I had hundreds!!! Please attend to this app and fix it! It was my fav for a long time, but something is wrong! ### 2/5 — Buggy App *2026-08-14, version 51.32.558* This used to be my favorite app, but like the reviewer mentioned above, the game crashes and locks up my phone so often I simply can’t use it anymore. ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — Not enjoyable *2026-09-06, version 51.34.635* Please fix the puzzles, they are no longer fun to do and the clues make no sense. Please fix this ### 1/5 — No longer makes sense *2026-09-05* Recently the clues are ambiguous and illogical. App is no longer enjoyable. Getting ready to delete. ### 1/5 — They changed to AI puzzles *2026-09-05* Deleted this app after 9 years because puzzles are now nonsense made by AI. Clues don’t tell you how many words are in the answer. Answers are nonsense uncommon phrases. Many answers that just use a word that is already in the clue but abbreviated or pluralized. Just lazy puzzle making that made the puzzles too hard but also not fun. ### 1/5 — Don’t like *2026-09-04* Daily puzzles have changed. They are much longer and harder to solve. No fun anymore. ### 1/5 — AI Slop *2026-09-04* This app was good for years, fun puzzles, daily themes. Now it’s become AI slop, with clues clearly not written by humans that make no sense. Deleting this app. Don’t waste your time with this one ### 1/5 — Ads ever give coins *2026-09-04, version 51.34.635* Same ### 1/5 — Deleting this app *2026-09-04* For the past week, the clues have gotten harder, obscure, and made very little sense! They also used to have a fun theme I looked forward to! It used to be fun and used to be a nice way to exercise my brain! My times went from 4-5 minutes to double and triple that! Please stop with this AI SLOP and get some writers and creators who can make this puzzle fun again. If this continues, I’m deleting the app with no regrets! ### 1/5 — How many words in the answers *2026-09-01* It now doesn’t tell me how many words are in the answer and it’s got a lot harder so I’m not playing anymore ### 1/5 — Not the same *2026-09-01* I’ve been doing this puzzle for years, lately I have trouble finishing it. In the hint used to say 2 or 3 words. The adds are getting longer and longer. ### 1/5 — Remove ad banner *2026-09-01, version 51.34.635* Get rid of the bannered ad at the very top of the screen. It’s not only in the way of me playing, but it’s very distracting. This is not a blog or a website — we don’t need this. ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Active *2026-08-19, version 51.33.629* Love it. Play every day ### 5/5 — Bugs *2026-07-20, version 51.32.558* I’ve been playing this game for over 5 years and the past month or so it’s been making my phone freeze and crashing mid game multiple times. Please fix it I love this app sm ### 5/5 — Crosswords with Friends *2026-07-19, version 51.32.558* Most of the time, I have no problems. Lately, I cannot play the game because it is locked and you cannot get into the game and it jitters. ### 5/5 — Same Problem *2026-07-12, version 51.32.558* My game has, also, been locking up for no reason. It would be a shame to lose it after enjoying it for so long. Please remedy this problem as quickly as possible. ### 5/5 — It’s that Hit to the head when needed… *2026-07-08, version 51.32.558* They’re not always challenging….but they allow you to keep awake those parts of your mind you stopped using when no longer in formal education. It taught me not to be assumptive about what l know… ### 5/5 — Great game *2026-06-19, version 51.32.558* Play it every morning at 66 keeps my brain working ### 5/5 — See update below Disputes never in your favor - WORST customer service *2026-05-31, version 51.31.512* Why did the coins for winning the tournament drop drastically? I won 97 coins for first place and last week 65 for first place and 61 points This app expects you to screen shot every move you make in order to prove you completed an offer or have an in game issue What's the incentive to complete mini and midi games once you've completed 50? None - they don't add any points to the tournament. How about adding more goals to reach with them. Additionally, having a player earn over 800 points in a tournament in about an hour is ridiculous! I get that you're in the business to make money but let's keep the tournament fair. It's impossible to finish a game in 1 second without buying every single word. Take their money but these players should be banned from the tournament. Suggestion: put a minimum time into the game for finishing one. It's physically impossible to answer the clues for an entire game without cheating aka buying every clue, in one second. Put at least 2 minutes as the minimum time. Sick of losing against cheaters who complete their puzzles in zero seconds!! Lastly it used to be 300 coins if you finished first Now it is some random amount🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️ And of course no answer from developers really sick of players “completing” a puzzle in zero seconds Reporting ton the FCC ### 5/5 — Fun *2026-05-27, version 51.31.512* Love this puzzle. I play every day. ### 5/5 — Angry *2026-05-13, version 51.30.419* I can’t use this app. I played it every night it keeps defaulting to a frame that says claim this and you can’t get beyond it.😡 ### 5/5 — 🤙🤙🤙🤙🤙 *2026-04-11, version 51.30.419* I play this every for the past 5 years And will continue to play forever!! --- *Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-09-14.*