# Oxford Dictionary & Thesaurus — user reviews > 1,067 indexed App Store user reviews of Oxford Dictionary & Thesaurus by MobiSystems, Inc., rated 4.60/5 from 28,630 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/oxford-dictionary-and-thesaurus/id978674211/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/oxford-dictionary-and-thesaurus/id978674211.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 23,379 · 4★ 2,694 · 3★ 912 · 2★ 425 · 1★ 1,220 ## What do users think of Oxford Dictionary & Thesaurus? Overall sentiment: neutral **Pros** - 👍 Reliable and simple to use - 👍 Comprehensive and best for all English, especially rare and aged language - 👍 Very useful for learning new words - 👍 Excellent reference app - 👍 Helps with homework or even if you forgot how to spell write or don't know the meaning of a word - 👍 Excellent dictionary that has everything you'll ever need - 👍 Offline access is very helpful - 👍 Detailed definitions including word origins **Cons** - 🐛 Glitchy, way too many ads - 🔒 Annoying popup ads makes it unusable - 🔒 Ads stuck in, despite payment - 🐛 Never connect the server - 🐛 Stopped working - 🔒 Annoying popup ads - 🐛 Definitions disappear before reading is complete - 🔒 Intrusive and persistent ads even in paid version - 🔒 Subscription pricing is too high **Commonly reported bugs** - Favorites folder disappearing after device restart - Inconsistent behavior when looking up words - Frequent crashes and freezes - Inability to restore premium purchases on new devices **Most requested features** - Improved formatting and typography for definitions - Better organization of features and information - More advanced search and filtering options - Ability to sync favorites across devices - More challenging and interesting 'word of the day' selections - Improved offline dictionary with more comprehensive coverage ## Newest reviews (13 of 1,067) ### 2/5 — Major update was poorly executed *2026-08-04, version 16.3* Want to look up the odd word? This app will be OK. For more complex needs, the programming is poorly executed. If you look up words with wild cards (* or ?), the results are not alphabetical, strange for a dictionary. If you select a word from the results to review and then go back, you often lose your search pattern and have to re-enter it. The app worked fine before the update, aside from annoying and frequent requests for a review. Edit: Still buggy, with no fix of above problems. If you search for for a string of characters and want to delete the last two or more, the keyboard disappears after you delete the last character, forcing you to tap in the search bar to bring it back. Very frustrating. Edit: some of the above issues have been fixed. However, searches, especially with wildcards such as *, are now painfully slow, taking several minutes at times to produce any results. Edit: the app had become stable with a very useful wildcard feature. However a recent update has degraded it again. A search pattern such as ‘s???????s’ should produce 9-letter words beginning and ending with ‘s’, but instead produces a list of words of any length, essentially giving the same results as ‘s*s’. A pattern such as ‘a*b*’, calling for words beginning with ‘a’ and including ‘b’ used to yield a list firstly sorted by length and secondly alphabetically, but now the list is sorted only alphabetically. If one’s aim is to find words of a certain length, this renders the feature far less useful. ### 2/5 — Subscription required *2026-08-03, version 16.3* I just need a simple thesaurus, which is listed in the features - but you need a paid subscription of €39/yr to access it. It seems all of the features listed (with exception of limited word search) are actually paid features. Full service is €4.99/week. 😅 Thanks, but I’ll just cross the room and use the physical book I bought in 1998 - or the internet, which is still free (ish). 👀 ### 4/5 — Export words? *2026-08-03, version 16.3* Great app! Using it every day, one feature that I think would make it even more useful is to be able to export favourite words or folders into a doc/excel/pdf/etc ### 3/5 — Favorites not saved *2026-07-26, version 16.3* I love this app, but the app crashed and had to reinstall to get it working again. Great that’s it works again, but all my favorites have been removed and that is very frustrating. I wouldn’t have had to reinstall if it worked normally. I even had my dictionary downloaded but the crash didn’t let it work. ### 4/5 — Who coded this app? *2026-07-25, version 16.3* Upon opening, unlike other iPhone dictionaries such as Collins and Chambers, there is no cursor and no keyboard to enter a word… without a second press to go to page 2, to allow entry into the word field. Also, other dictionary apps allow shaking the phone to clear the form field, or open with a clear form field even when not swiped away. Finally… the word “naïf” is not in the dictionary but in all others! ### 4/5 — Exceptional *2026-07-23, version 16.3* Excellent in all respects except rather expensive. For some, such as I, it is worth it. For casual users, perhaps not. ### 3/5 — Ugh *2026-07-21, version 16.2* The ads are unbearable without the subscription but it’s a great dictionary. ### 4/5 — :) *2026-07-20, version 16.2* :) ### 1/5 — Better use Cambridge webs. *2026-07-20, version 16.2* This one has Atrocious incessant intrusive ads. ### 3/5 — Ads galore *2026-07-20, version 16.2* I wish that the plain dictionary just worked without being bombarded by ads. Give me ads for extras, not for looking up a word. ### 1/5 — Greedy *2026-07-19, version 16.2* Insanely greedy monetization. It’s a dictionary app, no one is paying $60 a year for this ### 1/5 — A joke *2026-07-18, version 16.2* Those who use this app don’t know about the Merriam-Webster one. The product it provides is already freely accessible across the entire internet, and they expect $50 to use the speech features or to use the app offline. Downloading a free pdf of a thesaurus onto your phone has more functionality than this app. That isn’t to say a free product can’t be profitable; the issue is you need to be much more cautious about the way you do so to not insult your user base. to remove functionality to sell a freely accessible product for a premium conveys multiple ideals through implication; you don’t care about education, you believe wealth equates to worthiness of education, and you think your audience is foolish enough to not use anything else. What makes the merriam dictionary better is that they do everything in the complete opposite way. Brief and non-intrusive advertisements such as banner and skippable advertisements, educational tools like quizzes, and a lack of any mention of reimbursement. Only information and respect. Those qualities may not generate as much immediate revenue, but they do build an appreciative community that will watch 100s of ads each. This is all without mentioning this app should also be sponsored by the university of oxford which should generate more than enough profit in of itself. This is a disappointment. ### 1/5 — Pay for what *2026-07-17, version 16.2* You people want me to pay to look at unli words.. how can you say now this thing is offline if I need to pay… so it’s not offline. This nonsense ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — Too many ads *2026-08-22, version 16.5* I was just trying to look up words. But it’s constantly throwing ads in my face. Asking you to upgrade. I didn’t like that. ### 1/5 — Yikes. *2026-08-16, version 16.5* Can’t even look up words without being bombarded with ads. The app becomes aggressive when you choose not to go with premium. This is definitely want the owners wanted but honestly, the aggressive ads is disgusting. ### 1/5 — Mobi Ruined OED *2026-08-15, version 16.5* Basic words don't show up; 1/4 the Dictionary it was; useless. ### 1/5 — Premium. Really. *2026-08-06, version 16.3* We have to pay for the thesaurus? I hope no one downloads your parasitic app. ### 1/5 — Full of ads and slow *2026-07-28, version 16.3* Not even full dictionary. ### 1/5 — Basic features locked behind paywall *2026-07-23, version 16.3* Absurdly greedy to charge a subscription fee for a thesaurus and pronunciation audio while still having banner ads and a pop-up reminder to subscribe whenever you open the app. This is just a laughable excuse for a dictionary. ### 1/5 — Can’t change dictionary *2026-07-23, version 16.3* I updated it to the recent version. Since then, I can't change the dictionary from "Oxford Dictionary of English" to any. I delated downloaded ones, then downloaded them again. I also signed out and signed in. Nothing works and big pain as a premium member who is in France and need French dictionary NOW. The error message always shown is "SqliteException(1): while executing, duplicate column name: uuid, SQL logic error (code 1) Causing statement: ALTER TABLE favourite_collections_table ADD COLUMN uuid TEXT DEFAULT ", parameters:" ### 1/5 — Not Worth It & Way Overpriced *2026-07-22, version 16.3* The Oxford brand isn’t worth $49.99 a year. Don’t be fooled by clever marketing. This dictionary & thesaurus isn’t particularly useful and is exorbitantly overpriced. There is no etymological explanation of words, which would have been very helpful. Googling words is a far superior method and costs nothing. Needless to say, I am not renewing with Oxford for another year. ### 1/5 — Don’t *2026-07-22, version 16.3* Awful! They charged me twice, and it’s too much for the most basic dictionary. Don’t waste your money. ### 1/5 — UNUSABLE *2026-07-20, version 16.2* I was again disappointed today with this app as now I can’t even launch unless I download the App Etoro. It just gets worse so I have now deleted the App. I just feel gutted and don’t understand what is going on and why, but nothing has changed from my last review and today I couldn’t even launch the App… I will update my paper copy….. ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Suddenly French English dictionary not working *2026-08-22, version 16.5* I’ve been using the Oxford hatchette French English dictionary for over a decade. Suddenly, it’s not working when I try to open it up. It just says “not connected to the Internet” which I am.. additionally I am unable to find that dictionary in the Apple Store; I did buy it many many years ago, and no other dictionary comes close in usefulness. Can the developers please help? ### 5/5 — Great app *2026-08-17, version 16.5* Lots of information! Highly recommend. ### 5/5 — Did *2026-08-10, version 16.4* It is amazing ### 5/5 — Sponsor *2026-08-02, version 16.3* It’s too much better. It’s being better when it’s freely available for poor countries citizens. ### 5/5 — Thank you *2026-07-26, version 16.3* It is very good and helps me with all the meaning and synonyms/antonyms that I need…it should succeed in the future; it is amazingly easy to neavigste your way through the app! ### 5/5 — ‘It’s the most physical of languages’ *2026-07-26, version 16.3* So Jorge Luis Borges said in an interview seen on TokTok. Frankly, I agree as I dream away all the days in splendor. ### 5/5 — Great app for Vocabulary expansion *2026-07-15, version 16.2* It’s a dictionary in your pocket, that gives you a word a day (sometimes too easy of words, but a lot of the time it is a word that I didn’t know). ### 5/5 — Be A Word Smith *2026-07-13, version 16.2* If you a writer or student in High School or College consider downloading The Oxford Dictionary And Thesaurus. It is available in British and American English and in a wide selection of foreign languages. No other dictionary is as complete as an Oxford dictionary Dictionary. Included under word listing is word origin, pronunciation, variant meanings, synonyms and antonyms. There is also a daily word to help enhance vocabulary. Get it today! You can thank me later! ### 5/5 — Best Resource for English Ever! *2026-07-02, version 16.2* If you want to study English as a whole, this is the app to choose! It has everything you could ever want in a normal dictionary, while also including an amazing thesaurus. However, the thesaurus can only be free to use if you get the premium version of the app. Overall, 5 stars for this app is the perfect rating! ### 5/5 — Expanding my vocabulary! *2026-06-28, version 16.2* This helps me a lot with my English language with daily words to learn, thanks Oxford Dictionary! --- *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 2026-08-29.*