# Downwordly — user reviews > 54 indexed App Store user reviews of Downwordly by Bird Cartel LLC, rated 4.70/5 from 756 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/downwordly/id1544633266/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/downwordly/id1544633266.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 599 · 4★ 109 · 3★ 30 · 2★ 10 · 1★ 8 ## What do users think of Downwordly? Overall sentiment: positive **Pros** - 🚀 Fun games - 🚀 Unique and challenging - 👍 Visually pleasing - 👍 Relaxing and strategic - 👍 Addictive and engaging - 🔒 No data collected **Cons** - 🐛 Crashes when offline - 🐛 Multiplayer issues - 🐛 Bugs and glitches - 🐛 Confusing tutorial - 🐛 Certain puzzles unsolvable - 🐛 Stuck on purchase screen **Commonly reported bugs** - Multiplayer games not showing up correctly - Rewind arrow causing game to get stuck - Puzzle mode issues with overlapping words - Endless mode not dropping enough letters **Most requested features** - Auto-orientation for iPad - Dark theme option - Leaderboards for Endless mode - Hints for Puzzle mode - Ability to restart Daily Challenge - Improved multiplayer experience ## Newest reviews (11 of 54) ### 4/5 — Great Game needs one small fix IMO *2022-05-24* This game is great. I love it and have been thinking laying nonstop since downloading it. The only thing that would make it better is a more direct way to switch between multiple multiplayer games. Currently you have to Save & Quit and then go back in to multiplayer to switch to another game. You should be able to simply back out to the multiplayer menu and switch between each match you have going on. ### 4/5 — New Puzzle levels *2022-02-28* I’m a avid word game player. This is one of the more unique and challenging ones and I have come to really enjoy it. I came across it about 2 weeks ago, and I have already completed both sets of puzzles—the first free one and the 2nd pay one. However, there aren’t any more puzzles to play. It just resets to puzzle set 1. Am I overlooking someone or are there only two puzzle packs/levels? If so, when will new puzzles be coming out? ### 4/5 — "Fruits" Puzzle cannot be solved *2022-01-01* I like this game, however after traversing the first 6-7 levels of the "puzzles" section I came across the "fruits" level. It cannot be solved. I have tried 100 different ways. There are not enough "w's" to solve both "watermelon" and "kiwi". This is clearly a glitch in the game. If the developers want to help me with my quandary I would welcome their feedback. Until then, it seems this game is broken. **Developer response:** Hi Jimmy! Thanks for playing. There are three Ws in that puzzle. One each for strawberry, kiwi, and watermelon. All puzzles are solvable. To give you a hint: there's one W in the layer on top, one more in the second layer visible from the start, and one final W in the second layer near the bottom middle, but that one is hidden by some tiles in the top layer. Good luck! ### 5/5 — Such a fun game! *2021-12-10* Easy to learn, easy to challenge yourself to improve. Great options for playing the endless game, puzzles, daily challenge. Two improvements I’d like to see (unless I have missed them being there already) are a time-out feature that results in a multiplayer game ending after one player has not played a move for a certain number of days (10?). It’s not fair that if I end a game with someone because they haven’t played in days, they win and I lose. Also, I’d love to see a leaderboard for the most endless game points (not just the best endless word or deepest depth) - let’s reward risk-taking for the maximum number of points. **Developer response:** Thanks Twocatmommy. I have three cats :) Glad you're enjoying Downwordly. Great suggestions. I agree that quitting multiplayer because someone else won't play is a bummer. I'll take a look at that. Great idea on the leaderboard too! ### 5/5 — This is challenging for me and I love that!!! *2021-11-28* My favorite is the PUZZLE. You have to find the words in a specific order and choose a letter that reveals a letter underneath it that completes the next word. If you didn’t choose correctly you have to undo that word and find the right letter. Hard to understand unless you’ve played the game. If you want a challenge this is a good one. I often play for hours at a time. If you like Word games that will challenge you, you will love this one!! **Developer response:** Thanks 19Squeek49! Glad you are enjoying the puzzles. ### 4/5 — Great Game could be Improved! *2021-10-16* To say I’m an avid Downwordly fan is an understatement. I’m hooked. It’s an intriguing game unlike any others I’ve played, and improving it will make it more popular. First and foremost, you told another reviewer that you could add an Endless mode all time high score. PLEASE do so! I play to maximize my score each round because it’s more fun. As a consequence my current score in Endless mode is over a million. I could have more safely reached my current depth by playing small safe low scoring words but that would be boringly repetitive. Game players are competitive - it’s what keeps us coming back. We need this metric so add the high score PLEASE! Second, in your tutorial no mention is made of the “Shiny Tiles” - one even appears in your tutorial with NO explanation. Fix this PLEASE! More people will be hooked if they understand what’s going on. Third, your hint button CHEATS! Instead of selecting each letter of a word, it occasionally counts the shiny letter tiles Twice which raises the score a lot. I’ve emailed you about this without a response, but I’ve grown to like the cheat! - it’s an added thrill when I get a huge score (my best so far is 5,376). (Here’s a suggestion: why not make this doubling an official part of the game - Either state that the Shiny tiles can double serendipitously using the hint button, or MUCH better, make them always be capable of doubling when We play them, as well as when we use the hint button. Fourth, all my metrics appear on my iPhone as well as my iPad, but my score doesn’t carry over to my iPhone. Please correct this. And Lastly, I’ve finally figured out the way the scoring works, shiny tile and word length multipliers - why not let everyone in on it in an advanced tutorial. Downwordly could have a bigger, more long lasting following this way. You’ve been responsive in the past, and I hope you’ll consider making Downwordly even better. **Developer response:** Hey Lyon! I recognize your name from the leaderboards!! First off, sorry I missed your email. Did you use the email address on Downwordly.com? I really appreciate your thoughts on how to make the game more competitive with leaderboards. Also, explaining shiny letters seems like a great suggestion. Most players don't discover the strategy of mining shiny letters so including it in the tutorial is smart. I'll look into the hint button double scoring letters, that is new to me! I really appreciate your support and I'm always happy to see your name continue to be at the top on the leaderboards! Please email me again if you have other thoughts. ### 4/5 — Great - but now a bug 🕷 *2021-09-08, version 2.0* Latest version buggy if you hit the rewind arrow to remove your last move. it gets stuck and you can’t hit return to game. LOVE the game but it’s annoying to have to close the app and restart ### 4/5 — I love this game but.. *2021-09-05, version 1.9* It could be really helpful to have a hints option in the puzzle section. It’s frustrating when it seems like the puzzle I’m stuck on doesn’t even have the right amount of tiles! ### 5/5 — Best word game I’ve ever played *2021-09-02* OMG I’m so glad I found this game! The developer did absolutely everything right here. And no, I don’t know them, so this is legit. The concept is unique and clever. I love endless mode especially; it can be as relaxing or strategic as you feel at the time. And I love that you can always save progress, that makes me want to play more often because I can play during a short break here and there. I’ve tried many word games and have either gotten frustrated or bored with them. But this one is different, it’s keeping me engaged. It will stay on my phone. I love the design, and the UI is great. It’s good on battery too (especially if you turn off sounds, haptic, etc.). I also super appreciate the fair monetizing; there are no ads, and the IAP is purely optional. Only one suggestion: for those like me who only intend to play solo (and therefore won’t buy the unlimited multiplayer upgrade), I’d like a way to tip you to support you. Maybe offer other optional IAP, such as different color palates (I’d prefer more muted colors) for solo players or something, or skins or whatever. Thank you for this game, I hope it’s successful for you! All other word games can go to … oops, I ran out of letters. ;-) **Developer response:** Wow, thanks WRS15743! That is a very kind review and I truly appreciate it! Downwordly was a way for me to feel productive during the crazy times we've all been experiencing. It really makes me feel good to know it'll have a place on your phone! In terms of in app purchases, the best tip you can give me is telling your friends :) I'm working on a big update with new color ways (some are more muted! Others...maybe not), a new game mode, and more puzzles. I'm really hoping to wrap that up soon. It'll be part of the Multiplayer+ IAP to try to entice folks like you :) Thank you! ### 5/5 — Great game find *2021-08-24, version 1.9* I love this word game! I need more puzzles. 🙂 ### 4/5 — Love this game *2021-08-12* I have tried several of your versions of this game, and they are all great. I ended up with multiplayer plus. And I really enjoy this version of your game. I have got about 10 people I have started games with . I have a couple of issues but I’m not sure if it’s me, or the game. When I go into multiplayer plus, it shows all the games in Progress. At the top of the screen it shows the (my turn) first. Then it shows all the games that are (their turn). But I am finding out that it is really my turn, that is under their turn portion. Is that a glitch in the system, is there a bug that needs to be fixed? Most games have notifications when it’s your turn, as yours does. But I also like to have a number on the icon, to also show me it is my turn. But I see you do not have that feature. Is that something you can look into ? **Developer response:** Thanks for the feedback! I've experienced some issues around multiplayer as well and I'm trying to track them down! I'm using GameCenter for multiplayer which, as far as I know, doesn't allow me to put a red badge on the Home Screen icon. I'll look into that more to see if I missed something though. Thank you! ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — Multiplayer broken *2023-12-01, version 2.4* Added a friend and they don’t show up on the list to start a new game. ### 1/5 — So confusing *2022-09-23, version 2.3* I cannot make it past the second part of the tutorial- so confusing and no help within the app to give suggestions. Was really excited to play this game but it’s impossible to make it past the tutorial it seems. ### 1/5 — Then what? *2021-09-08, version 2.0* Can’t get past first screen with word hello. ### 2/5 — Might be good *2024-06-21* Sadly there seems t be a major bug. Follow the instructions, hold the word in white and nothing happens. There’s nothing you can do. **Developer response:** Hi Pygmy, I just redownloaded the game to confirm everything is working. I think there might just be a misunderstanding. Once you tap letters to add them to your word, you can tap and hold on the white underlined word to score it. The word has to be a valid word, indicated by the underlined. You should feel your device vibrate and give audio feedback if it's not muted. Please give it another try and update your review if it works for you. If not, I'd love more details sent to me at bj@birdcartel.com. Thanks for trying. ### 2/5 — Crashes Offline :( *2024-05-26, version 2.4* Love the game, but as of recent, it crashes regularly when offline/airplane mode. Was playing on a flight. ### 2/5 — How to clear words? *2021-10-09* I want to try out this game but I can’t seem to figure out how to get the words to clear. I got past “hello” for the first one but can’t get “howdy” to clear. I’ll tap and the letter will un-highlight. But when I tap and hold nothing happens. Is there some extra trick to it? Edit: you have to click the word at the bottom and NOT click and hold the blocks. Maybe make that direction clearer? **Developer response:** Thanks for the note. I can update the text to make it more clear! ### 2/5 — Bug, no way to report, can’t cont. *2021-07-03, version 1.9* I beat the dog puzzle, the next one was countries. When I goth that puzzle, the dog words were still visible on top of the countries. I restarted the app, now it wants me to make the dog words again, but the countries letters are showing on the board. Now I can’t continue the game. Uninstalled. Thanks but, I want to play the game not troubleshoot issues. ### 3/5 — Great solo game, Cheaters in multiplayer *2022-03-30, version 2.3* Not gonna lie the one reason I wanted to give you guys the premium price beyond supporting your work was to play this game multiplayer because the single player was just so peaceful and calming and fun and it looked really pretty. I don’t really know what you should do to correct it but y’all messed up the multiplayer. For one through game Center, those matchmaking‘s have never been good, but second allowing players too much time giving people ample time to just look up the biggest word they could find in their grouping of letters… and it seems like most everybody’s doing it. There are always gonna be people smarter than me and I’m fine with that… But it should still be a fair game. As far as the single player experience I find it quite peaceful and fun, maybe some more backgrounds or some thing different music… But overall a good game. Also maybe difficulty modes for solo verses would be nice ### 3/5 — Good game / glitch *2021-10-01* It’s honestly a good game, but the glitch is ruining it for me. When playing puzzle mode, if you hit the back button enough times, a purchase extension pops up and doesn’t go away. Even has the option to click main menu, but it doesn’t work, so you have to quit out of the app and go back in. Pretty annoying. **Developer response:** Hey SamS56, thanks for the feedback. I just fixed this and I'll submit a new version today! ### 3/5 — Love the game, but *2021-08-15, version 1.9* Sooo many bugs in multiplayer. It always tells me I have 2 games but it doesn’t allow me to quit or delete one, it just comes back. I can reset multiplayer and after like the 5th reset it lets me play. Then when the game is over, I have to go through it all over again. ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Fun games! *2025-09-21, version 2.4* These games are so fun and 100% private — no data collected. My kind of app! Thank you! ### 5/5 — This word game is awesome! *2025-08-04, version 2.4* Unique in its own way. I especially like to play the Solo Mode against the CPU opponents which was worth paying for. Visuals and background soundtrack is a nice addition to the game. ### 5/5 — Please auto orientation for iPad 🙏 *2024-03-09* An amazing game, I don’t know why.. but I prefer this one over we’ll word. I purchased both, but this one hits better for me. The expertly puzzle setup. This is my new favorite word spelling game. I’ve played them all: Word Knot Well Word Word Tower Type Shift Picto Words Spell word Words with Friends Up Spell Wordly None in the list, hit me like Down Worldly. This sophisticated and elegant game. I will buy any future add ons. I only wish had ✅ Auto orientation for iPad ✅ Dark theme for night in bed sessions Other than that, this literally a masterpiece in game design, UX design and UI design. Immaculately done! **Developer response:** Thanks for the kind review! I really appreciate it. I'll look into orientation on the iPad. ### 5/5 — Fantastic Strategic Word Game *2023-10-17, version 2.4* Get it 🥳 ### 5/5 — Great game! *2023-05-30, version 2.4* Been playing for quite a while and it’s always challenging. Love it! ### 5/5 — Terrific game *2023-05-16, version 2.4* Loving puzzle mode and that it’s never as easy as I think, so addictive if you are into words. Buy all of the games from the developer, you won’t regret it. ### 5/5 — Better than Word Search *2023-01-08, version 2.3* Word Search is a game by doing straight lines and the game has categories and 1000000000+ themes but download this game because its better than that game. ### 5/5 — Fun game *2023-01-03* I like this game and am especially impressed there's no ads. Kudos to the dev. I feel more open to support the app and offer feedback. Some things that can be improved are: if you get stuck on a daily challenge there doesn’t seem to be a way to restart. I also forget what the bookmark feature does or how to use it after initial note. Maybe a include “OK” and “Don’t show again” options? Also, some kind of reinforcement/acknowledgment of finding a longer word would be nice and feels expected, but not a big deal. Thanks! **Developer response:** Thanks for the review salitrov. Really appreciate the thoughtful feedback too! ### 5/5 — Outstanding Word Puzzler *2022-11-29* I’m absolutely in love with this word game. Found it by chance in the App Store. Definitely lucked out. It’s wonderfully challenging and relaxing at the same time. Multiple modes of gameplay. You can play solo or against a friend. It’s pleasing to the eye as well, with soft colors and smooth fluid animation. My new happy obsession :) **Developer response:** It makes me happy you found Downwordly and that you like it! Thanks NotMurrie!! ### 5/5 — “ALMOST” perfect!!! *2021-12-15* I’ve looking high and low for any “make your own word” game! I love Alphabetty but it gets impossible to do without spending money and I’m not doing that! This game is SO relaxing!! My only problem…. In Endless I get all the way to a depth of about 24, it would drop letters for the next depth on every level while I still have plenty of letters to work with but then it would stop! It would just end! I started over in depth 1, only got to depth 3 got down to only three letters that wouldn’t go together so it just stopped, ended! Why will it not drop more letters?? Getting down to three letters is NOT endless play! **Developer response:** Hey! I don't think the instructions are very clear but you only ever get 3 "layers" of letters. To get a new layer, you have to use the last letter of a layer! Also, the last letter of the layer turns into a shiny gem letter so you can boost your score if you're careful. Thanks for the kind review. --- *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 2026-08-26.*