# KATOA: Oceans — user reviews > 95 indexed App Store user reviews of KATOA by Sankari Studios, Inc., rated 4.43/5 from 115 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/katoa-oceans/id1618026462/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/katoa-oceans/id1618026462.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 83 · 4★ 13 · 3★ 7 · 2★ 4 · 1★ 6 ## What do users think of KATOA? Overall sentiment: mixed **Pros** - 🌊 Beautiful ocean visuals - 🐠 Cute and diverse aquatic fauna - 🌱 Relaxing gameplay loop - 🌍 Supports environmental causes - 🎨 Gorgeous art style **Cons** - 🐛 Frequent crashes and bugs - ⏱️ Slow progression and unlock process - 🔁 Repetitive daily quests - 🤖 Unintuitive or unclear mechanics - 💤 Lack of content and things to do **Commonly reported bugs** - Quests and fauna getting stuck - Inability to expand certain areas - Graphical glitches and UI issues - Login and loading problems - Unresponsive or buggy controls **Most requested features** - More unlockable areas and expansions - Ability to rename or customize fauna - Improved tutorial and in-game help - Additional mini-games or activities - Smoother combat and raid mechanics ## Newest reviews (14 of 95) ### 3/5 — Game *2026-06-26, version 1.3.5* The store won’t load ### 3/5 — Great game, but… *2025-10-15, version 1.3.3* I just unlocked the second reef area and it generates a tutorial where I have to go to that location, but every time I try to load in the game crashes. ### 2/5 — Game crashes a lot! *2025-05-10, version 1.3.2* Can’t even start the game it takes forever to load than crashes😅 ### 2/5 — Oceans *2025-05-05, version 1.3.2* It’s not loading please fix it ### 4/5 — Great but… *2025-04-02, version 1.3.2* I absolutely love the game but there is only one problem, when even I try to play it won’t let me in. I sit at the loading screen forever. Is this just a small bug? Or am I doing something wrong? ### 4/5 — Add more *2025-02-14, version 1.3.2* Need more different species of fish, need to add more to the game so it doesn’t get boring after a while. Add special homes for different breeds of fish ### 3/5 — What’s Going On? *2024-09-24, version 1.3.2* I absolutely love this game and the message/work that’s being done with it. But, I’m not sure what’s going on with the company. It seems there isn’t any updates coming out and radio silence on all their socials. Plus there isn’t much about them on google. It makes me wonder if I should put that much effort into the game? ### 4/5 — Fun but limited *2024-07-26, version 1.3.1* The game is really cool and relaxing but there’s so much stuff that’s there and you can’t even touch it. It’s also hard to find the tutorial after you click through it and when you do it doesn’t explain a whole lot but I figure after some more updates this game will be even better ### 3/5 — It's nice but I'm bored *2024-02-02, version 1.3.1* This is one of those games you can only play for a short period of time. It has limitations. I only have two reefs and they are both finished and I cannot for the life of me find any explanation on how to unlock any of the others. I keep winning more beacons and corals and plants but I can't do a thing with them? What's the point? It was fun at first but now it's just taking up space on my phone. I was happy to put in some money for a good cause but I think it was a waste since the good cause only gets a teeny tiny fraction of it and the game actually goes nowhere... ### 2/5 — Great concept *2023-12-10, version 1.3.1* I love the concept for this game, but it seems like it’s not completed? I’ve played daily (and completed daily tasks for weeks) but have only unlocked 2 areas. How can I unlock the other areas ? ### 3/5 — I’ve played A LOT, and…. *2023-12-04, version 1.3.1* I have spent 7 hours on this game in the last nine days. I love the concept and the visuals, and I like how there’s an added competitive element to it with leader boards. It feels really good to know that the time I’m spending on this game has a minor impact on the globe as well. It’s a beautiful game. I also love the randomized names, there’s some quirky favorites for me now. But, there’s definitely some flaws. There is no help section available in the game, so if you have questions..good luck? This game is very niche, so finding your answers on somewhere like the Internet or YouTube is extremely difficult. Please🙏 add a help section if you take anything from this! It crashes A LOT. My game probably crashes around 2-3 times a day. The raids get RIDICULOUS once you level up your reef to a high level. You will see yourself facing a staggering 7-14 Blight monsters, all the while your animals are getting in the way of you trying to tap the smaller enemies, which is quite bothersome. By the time you’re done tapping them all to death and healing all of the blight infected coral and plants growing around your reef, another raid begins… It’s genuinely a frustrating experience.. The quests function is a great way to rise up on the leader boards while keeping you active in the game for a while, but it can be janky. For example, you can completely max out the amount of flora that you can add to your reef, but you still have to complete a quest to plant 10 to 30 Flora, which means you have to remove flora just to replant it…it’s kinda strange. And don’t get me started on the quests for Shackleton’s Ship!! Almost every day, I get a request to kill 10-15 enemies, but the raids are VERY small here, only containing two or three smaller enemies, and the time between these raids can be a brutal 10-15 minutes :’ so all you can do is sit there, twiddle your thumbs, and hope and pray to God that a raid comes soon. 🙏 Another time, there was a request to kill a higher level enemy (a Scourge), but no enemies of that size had spawned since I had originally received Shackleton’ Ship, so I never got to complete my quests that day. I feel like the impact that my animals are having on my ability to defeat the Blight more efficiency is little to none… I’m honestly confused on their function in general they seem to just be swimming around the Blight… sometimes it makes it difficult to click on the enemies to defeat them in the first place :( Also, maybe we could add more dialogue for nocturnal creatures? That would be nice! :) There’s other little things, but I’m not gonna sit here and nitpick minor details, this is a newer game from a small game studio, so it wouldn’t be fair to nag about every little thing; however I do believe that if the above issues were addressed, I think the overall game would be a lot more of an easier experience for a lot of people, not just me 🙏 ### 4/5 — Good game, but needs more content *2023-11-13, version 1.3.1* I love this game, but I have to be honest, any progress comes to standstill very quickly. I’ve unlocked a bunch of the 1st stage plus the ship (which you can’t expand), and it’s come to a point where it’s a bit boring. You can only unlock 3 types of creatures on the ship too. It’ll be a lot more fun, for both old and new players when there’s more actual game to play. The game is only 10 months old to be fair, but the graphics are amazing and the cause is even better. ### 4/5 — How to unlock levels *2023-09-29, version 1.3.1* The game is fantastic, it works smoothly, however I don’t seem to work out how to unlock more levels. I’m on first stage and have unlocked the ship but that’s all, it is been days now playing the same but don’t make any progress. Does anyone know? ### 4/5 — Love this game buttt *2023-09-18, version 1.3.1* So I absolutely love and adore this game. The concept behind it the causes I love love love it ! But I’ve already reached out to support with no answer and just would like to know why my redeem, share, news and aquarium view are shadowed and I can’t click on them? I’ve expanded 5 times on Great Barrier Reef already and have Shackleton’s started and just want to know why I don’t have these options.. thanks! Would definitely be a 5 star game if there were more to do quest wise! ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — Update where *2026-05-23, version 1.3.5* Where is this new update that’s been pending for 2 years. I’ve maxed out all I can do…No expansions or other oceans available so nothing to work towards ### 1/5 — Game won’t open *2025-05-29, version 1.3.2* After the initial download and game demo, I’m unable to play when I try to open the app. The orange start button just continues to spin and never loads. Disappointing ### 1/5 — 1st played yesterday, won’t load today? *2025-05-27, version 1.3.2* Download yesterday and it was so much fun… but each time I tried to play today it stayed on the loading screen and then said login attempt failed…??? ### 1/5 — IOS 18 broke it *2025-04-07, version 1.3.2* Hasn’t loaded since update to IOS 18 & no reply from support hence the one star as otherwise, I highly recommend this game & hope they fix it yet have concerns it may no longer be supported since the last update was a year ago? As others have said, it was a great concept & beautiful graphics yet perhaps ran out of funding & was never completed. Such a shame really. ### 1/5 — Meh *2024-02-06, version 1.3.1* Meh bad controls, bit boring ### 1/5 — Great game but constantly crashes *2023-08-09, version 1.2.5.1* I really love this game but it’s a lil frustrating when it keeps going down when you’re in the middle of doing something ### 1/5 — Dookie *2023-05-19, version 1.2.5.0* Big old pile of dookie ### 1/5 — Bug city- FIX IT PLS *2023-01-21, version 1.0* So many bugs. Only have 4 fauna and I can’t even click or interact with 3 things on screen before my app goes black and closes. When I click the app again it restarts completely. So frustrating as I wanna play! ### 2/5 — Apps cool but crashes *2026-03-06, version 1.3.5* App crashes everytime I try to enter a New Haven. Redownload, and cleared out the app and still won’t work. ### 2/5 — I can’t login the game *2025-06-01, version 1.3.2* I come back from china and I can’t play it ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Crashes so much you can’t play *2026-04-05, version 1.3.5* The game is truly amazing. Exquisite animation, gorgeous score, and very educational in a very fun way. But after the latest “updates” I can’t even get the game to load to open it up. I’m very sad. ### 5/5 — I love this game. I’m hoping for a update for the maps. *2025-01-23, version 1.3.2* I like the game because you can make a ecosystem and Discover lots fish, but when you unlock Shackleton ship, you pretty much finish the game so if you’re the developer reading this, please add a new map ### 5/5 — Good quality, poor consistency *2024-12-11, version 1.3.2* Game has very good features and engaging and rich content. However, it lacks regular updates and currently you cannot go any further than the Great Barrier Reef and Shackleton's Ship. If the developers communicated more with the community and told us what was up, there wouldn't really be an issue. Its their silence that peeves me. ### 5/5 — A relaxing game to help save the world! *2024-05-31, version 1.3.1* What the title says! Downloaded it a week or so ago and it’s become a relaxing part of my daily routine, and one I especially look forward to as an animal bio scientist! The premise is delightful and I love seeing all my little sea critters every day, and watching how, gradually, the reef is flourishing with all the different flora and fauna! One improvement I would ask for is giving players more ways to increase their Guardian Level. Right now, you can only get it from daily quests, and while it’s easy enough to complete, you then can’t get more until the timer resets to the next day. This eventually makes it tedious to keep trying to expand the reef. Also, please give us more unlockable areas! However, it’s otherwise amazing. Really hope it will continue being updated and is not abandoned, because it’s such an awesome way to help with oceanic conservation. ### 5/5 — Awesome!! *2024-04-08, version 1.3.1* Just want to say thank you to developers and I love the game. I’m still learning, is there a way yet to visit others gardens within the leaderboards or friends? I think that would be a wonderful addition to the game ### 5/5 — Solid Game *2023-12-17, version 1.3.1* Overall, this is an absolutely wonderful game. Very few glitches, no ads, great cause, gorgeous graphics, and so relaxing. It’s easy to learn and not too complicated. However, I would really like to see more from it. Some events or more interactive side games or something would be cool, since there ultimately isn’t much to do once you care for your reefs for the day. I wouldn’t want the developers to lose the simplicity, but something more to do would be nice. Still, I’m honestly surprised more people don’t know about this game, because it’s really cute! I definitely recommend. ### 5/5 — Genuinely love this game! *2023-12-02, version 1.3.1* I love this game so much. The graphics are amazing and seeing all the different fauna is really nice. I’ve been to the Great Barrier Reef and it makes me miss it so much. While there are a few tech glitches (slow level ups and does crash when I go between regions) I love it so much I don’t really care. I’d love more expansions but I do realise this is a new game and I just gotta keep working at it. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS GAME! Very relaxing and perfect for busy people who can only pop in for a few mins a day ### 5/5 — Love this game *2023-10-10, version 1.3.1* I love it is because it saves the ocean and my favorite animal is in the ocean aka a sea turtle 🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢 #turtlepower ### 5/5 — Tropical fox *2023-10-06, version 1.3.1* Beautiful game, thank you so much! A real step toward encouraging people to cherish our marine habitat. ### 5/5 — Great game! However, *2023-08-29, version 1.3.0* Great game, however, I’ve done all that there is to do! I’ve completely expanded my Great Barrier Reef, and completely planted my Shackleton’s Ship, PLEEEAASE add more areas! I would love to play the game more, but i’ve run out of things to do! --- *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 2026-07-17.*