# Red Herring — user reviews > 322 indexed App Store user reviews of Red Herring by Blue Ox Family Games, Inc., rated 4.70/5 from 47,725 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/red-herring/id663596265/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/red-herring/id663596265.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 38,835 · 4★ 6,610 · 3★ 1,514 · 2★ 373 · 1★ 393 ## What do users think of Red Herring? Overall sentiment: positive **Pros** - 🤔 Challenging and thought-provoking - 🧠 Exercises the mind - ⏰ Good time-passer - 🎮 Fun and addictive game - 🎓 Educational and expands vocabulary **Cons** - 🇺🇸 Too American-centric - 💰 Expensive paid content - 🚫 Limited free content - 🐛 Bugs and crashes - 🔍 Obscure references and categories **Commonly reported bugs** - Formatting issues after updates - Inability to access previous daily puzzles - Ads that cannot be dismissed **Most requested features** - More free daily puzzles - Less American-focused content - Dark mode option - Ability to replay past puzzles - Hints system improvements ## Newest reviews (20 of 322) ### 2/5 — Free is the Red Herring word *2026-08-28, version 2.6.0* Good concept. However the pricing for everything beyond the first 25 puzzles is a bit excessive, especially a hint. ### 5/5 — VPN blocked *2026-05-20, version 2.5.10* It’s a fun game but I can’t play it when traveling (I have to for work) because I’m on a VPN and it says the daily puzzles aren’t available. About to delete it after years of having it on my phone. ### 5/5 — Definitely Challenging *2026-05-03, version 2.5.10* The difficulty of these words puzzles is inconsistent, and you have to be quite focused to see the relationships among the words, but you actually improve and are able to understand how the game works overtime. ### 5/5 — Never miss a day *2026-04-22, version 2.5.10* One of the first things I do as soon as it’s a new day is play the daily red herring game. I love to be challenged! ### 5/5 — Best category game *2026-04-09, version 2.5.10* Better challenge than Connect Words (with the 4 colors) because it has words not belonging to any category (Red Herrings!) to lead you astray- but also has levels within each puzzle so you can start hardest but keep trying if you are stumped. ### 5/5 — Brain teaser *2026-03-31, version 2.5.10* Some days it’s frustrating but always stimulating. When stymied and taking a break and going back later or the next day, the dots get connected and I solve it. Thanks for the opportunity. ### 5/5 — Supercool game *2026-03-28, version 2.5.10* We like it! ### 5/5 — Top *2026-03-14, version 2.5.10* I do this every morning ### 5/5 — Fun and often challenging *2026-03-11, version 2.5.10* Fun and often challenging ### 5/5 — Fun word game *2026-03-07, version 2.5.10* Game is full of red herrings. IYKYK ### 5/5 — Rd herring *2026-03-06, version 2.5.10* Great little word game…..Very entertaining ### 5/5 — Fun *2026-03-03, version 2.5.10* Lots of fun ### 5/5 — Red Herring *2026-01-22, version 2.5.10* The great word gave. I do it daily to keep my brain active. I’m 87. ### 5/5 — Not free! (but great game!) *2026-01-14, version 2.5.10* Not free, except for daily puzzle. I really enjoyed playing for a while, because I was catching up on past free puzzles but now can only play one puzzle a day. I know these guys are running a business, but personally I’d rather see ads than have to pay. Great game though, and being able to choose your level is good, and especially being able to retry at a lower level when you can’t solve it! ### 5/5 — Brilliant! *2026-01-11, version 2.5.10* Really recommend this game! Being able to choose level of difficulty is fabulous! And being able to go back and choose an easier level when you cannot solve it is even better! And I’ve been playing for ages since downloading and have not yet seen an ad! I don’t mind ads in a free game but I definitely applaud the team behind this game for deciding not to immediately bombard new subscribers with them! Thanks guys! ### 2/5 — Not enough free games *2025-11-28, version 2.5.10* It is a great game to play… but only one free game a day is a bummer. ### 5/5 — Red Herring *2025-11-27, version 2.5.10* Too much references to small town United States, eg., football etc Needs to be more generic, not so much American It’s in a loop and I can’t close it ### 2/5 — I’m confused? *2025-11-26, version 2.5.10* I downloaded this today and played some easy puzzles. When I got to number five in the imagination hard level, I succeeded at “plants” and “people in charge” slots but not the others. The other words were ; Clooney, Foreman, California,Oregon, Washington, Hoover, Harrison, and Roosevelt. I expected the mystery slot to be presidents, so I slid “ Washington, Harrison, Hoover, and Roosevelt” but it was still grey. The leftover words ; Clooney, Foreman, California, and Oregon were in the red herring slot but it was also still grey. I’ve spent several minutes trying to get this right and figured it was a bug. Please correct me if I’m wrong or help me if it is a bug. Thank you very much ### 2/5 — Could be better *2025-11-15, version 2.5.10* This game could be more fun if the answers were known entities. It seems they are written by non-English speakers who just pick answers at random from the dictionary or Google. ### 5/5 — Fun short word game *2025-11-11, version 2.5.10* I’ve been playing red herring for several years. A wonderful word game to play during a meal, sitting on a train, plane, waiting room. Each day has a free game, and each game has three difficulty levels you can play to challenge yourself. No gimmicks. No ads. Oh thank the lord none of those ads. Five stars for that alone. ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — Broken - delete? *2025-08-20, version 2.5.6* ‘The daily puzzle is not available right now’ Can no longer download games if using settings for basic tracking protection. Why would anyone support a game maker that doesn’t support individual privacy precautions? App developer has not corrected this issue. ### 1/5 — No longer works - delete? *2025-04-20, version 2.5.6* ‘The daily puzzle is not available right now’ Can no longer download if using basic privacy settings as previously. I won’t change privacy settings for a game. Why would anyone support a game maker that doesn’t support individual privacy precautions? ### 1/5 — Fun Game - until *2025-01-01, version 2.5.8* I really liked the game, but it has persistent ads that takeover the screen for another game. ### 1/5 — Time to delete? *2024-12-14, version 2.5.6* ‘The daily puzzle is not available right now’ Cannot download with basic privacy settings that previously worked. Why would anyone support a game maker that doesn’t support individual privacy precautions? ### 1/5 — Married grandmother *2024-09-16, version 2.5.6* Challenging ### 1/5 — Time to delete? *2024-09-05* Used to work with minor privacy settings but after recent update - doesn’t. Should anyone support a game maker that doesn’t support individual privacy precautions? ### 1/5 — Daily puzzles unavailable for days *2024-08-28, version 2.5.6* Why have the daily puzzles been unavailable for the past several days? ### 1/5 — Imagine charging $2.99 for a hint *2024-07-19, version 2.5.6* If you want a hint to solve a puzzle you have to actually pay money. Thats probably the cheapest thing I’ve seen an app do. That alone deserves a one star for these con artists. The overall game is boring as well, def not worth spending your time or money on. ### 1/5 — All Ads *2024-02-10, version 2.5.1* Game is fine but ads between each game is a deal-breaker. And the ads are all for the same stupid King something. There are better games out there with no or fewer or better ads. ### 1/5 — Red herring *2024-02-09, version 2.5.1* Great game thanks great game thank you x play this game averyday thank you ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Just Challenging Enough! *2026-08-27, version 2.6.0* Some puzzles are easier than others, but none are too easy. Nice job, developers! ### 5/5 — Challanging *2026-08-11, version 2.6.0* Fun game ### 5/5 — Red Herring *2026-08-11, version 2.6.0* Fun and challenging for me ### 5/5 — My favorite way to start the day *2026-07-17, version 2.6.0* I love this game. It’s fun and challenging. I play it every morning, still in bed, before starting my day. Highly recommend! ### 5/5 — Not too hard, not too easy, just right! *2026-07-17, version 2.6.0* Love, love, love this game! It makes me think, but gives me some help if I need it! ### 5/5 — Clever & unique! Relaxing & mindbending! *2026-07-16, version 2.6.0* This is one of my all-time favorite games. It’s so simple but so challenging. it’s relaxing to play. I really like everything about it. There’s enough freebies to play a few minutes a day. When i strike it rich I’m buying all the packs!! ### 5/5 — Fun with info *2026-07-05, version 2.6.0* This game keeps me playing, learning facts and jogging my memory. Some hints are so obscure and some so close to being something else, but that’s the point. Keeps me thinking outside the box and learning at the same time. Great idea and brilliant name. ### 5/5 — Love Red Herring *2026-07-02, version 2.6.0* Usually, I learn something interesting. ### 5/5 — Mind Exercise *2026-06-14, version 2.6.0* This game keeps my mind alert. ### 5/5 — Brain Game *2026-06-10, version 2.6.0* This game keeps my brain functioning. --- *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 2026-09-05.*