# Space Trader 2018 — user reviews > 44 indexed App Store user reviews of Space Trader 2018 by Marc Auger, rated 1.88/5 from 25 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/space-trader-2018/id1106932709/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/space-trader-2018/id1106932709.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 1 · 4★ 3 · 3★ 2 · 2★ 4 · 1★ 14 ## Newest reviews (13 of 44) ### 2/5 — Buggy *2026-04-22* Sometimes the app crashes and reverts me to a time way early in the game. I was also unable to sell certain equipments because when I click, it shows as weapons or shields. Additionally, some ships never show up in the game, like the Termite or Wasp. The moon purchasing also is buggy, I was allowed to pay twice, and then it says I don’t have enough when I already bought the moon. All in all good for nostalgia but it needs to be fixed. ### 2/5 — Crashes all the time *2026-04-14, version 2.2* A real shame. The original PalmOS one was flawless compared to this ### 2/5 — Would be great if not for frequent crashes *2021-08-19* Hi there; having played the original Space Trader ages ago on the palm pilot, this is a fun throwback with a good UI for a smartphone. However, barely 10 minutes into the game, I keep getting app crashes when I try to travel between planets, making the game unplayable. If not for these QC issues, this would likely be a great port. Please fix the bugs and I will be happy to give it a much higher rating. I cannot give it more than this in its my current state. Regards. ### 1/5 — Police attacking and forcing surrender with harmless rating *2019-05-02* My status is Harmless, but I can’t do anything because the police keep telling me to surrender or attack. Please fix bug. ### 2/5 — Very very buggy *2019-02-11, version 2.2* This is such a great game...but super buggy. Lots of crashes...then trying to sell a gadget then it sells something else. You cannot sell a gadget. Wow....please fix! ### 2/5 — 2018 still buggy *2019-01-07, version 2.2* Stopped working completely and trying to reinstall. This has been one of my favorite time burning games of all time, but just doesn’t work on iPhone. Please make another 2019 patch, I beg you. ### 1/5 — Another update: game broken again *2018-12-03, version 2.2* Update 2: the game is broken and won’t load up at all, just crashes. Don’t purchase. Update: below is the original review. After a year or so I reinstalled the game seeing it was updated. Really glad to see it works and plays just like the original! I used to love playing this game up until the developers decided to break it and never fix it. The game WILL NOT OPEN at all so don't bother buying it. ### 1/5 — Don’t upgrade your ship *2018-11-06* Upgrading to Mosquito prevents you from warping anywhere. Pretty much useless if you can’t upgrade your ships. ### 1/5 — Crashes R Us *2018-07-06, version 2.2* Had the potential to be a great game but it crashes constantly. After the last update it stopped working entirely. ### 1/5 — Sadly buggy *2018-05-31, version 2.2* I used to live this game on the Palm Pilot and was happy to see it on the App Store. I wish I’d read the other reviews about the bugs. Sadly, after several games, I’ve never been able to get more than two turns into it before it crashes, freezes, or just won’t let me leave my current system. (Yes, I bought fuel :) I loved the game and wanted to play it again. I am sad that I cannot :( ### 1/5 — Like the original, but super buggy! *2018-03-07, version 2.2* I’ve played three different games so far and each one has frozen from different bugs only about 5-10 turns into the game. Work out the bugs please!!! ### 2/5 — Keep fixing the bugs! *2018-01-25* I enjoyed this game back on my Palm but this IOS version 2.2 is still too buggy to make it enjoyable. Random crash, pirates at negative parsecs to destination, etc... ### 1/5 — Unplayable, developer website gone *2017-04-03, version 1.3* Don't buy this game. Probably should have read other reviews before dropping $1.99 on this one. Too many bugs to be considered playable. My favorite bug is when you encounter a trader who is selling something at a negative price; making such a purchase makes your own cash balance go negative. My guess is the developers ran out of funding since their website is gone and I couldn't even contact them to report the bugs. ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — DO NOT BUY!!!! *2023-07-18, version 2.2* This game is buggier than a termite infested house. It treats over half the warps as 20 parsecs, even if they aren’t. The warp button will quit working at random, meaning you have to start over, and the prices will randomly be inverted so a profit will register as a loss. The developer should put their keyboard away forever and learn to turn a wrench, because this is the buggiest game I have ever played, bar none. I want my money back ### 1/5 — Don’t Bother *2021-09-29, version 2.2* Unfortunately, a poor representation of a great game. Unlike the terrific Palm OS game, the inconsistent performance of this incarnation of ST is riddled with lapses, inconsistencies and, yes, unrecoverable and frequent crashes. Save your money. ### 1/5 — Unfortunately Unplayable *2021-05-04* One of the only games I’ve played that I had to uninstall because of bugs. Non stop glitches, you can barely go 5 minutes without the entire thing crashing and losing all of your progress. And that doesn’t begin to touch on the bugs that just impact gameplay. Being unable to warp, mechanics not working properly, and overall strange decisions would be enough to avoid this app. Add in the nonstop crashes and essentially this is just highway robbery ### 1/5 — This is a ripoff!! Doesn’t work!! *2021-03-13, version 2.2* I tried opening it up on my iPhone and it doesn’t work!! Caveat Emptor!! Buyer beware!! I just wasted money on this!! Someone’s making money in this somewhere. Shame on them! ### 1/5 — Disappointing *2021-01-09, version 2.2* I used to play this game many years ago on a palm pilot and while this version is true to the original, there are so many bugs it’s too frustrating to play. Game crashes periodically when trying to warp. Pirates take money instead of goods. Ship gets destroyed without coming under fire periodically. ### 1/5 — Splash screen then closes *2020-11-19, version 2.2* This app doesn’t work and needs to be removed from the App Store. With no apps open and a fresh restrart, the Space Trader splash screen displays then the app closes. How do I get a refund? ### 1/5 — Buggy mess *2020-03-03, version 2.2* Loved this game on my Palm Pilot but on my iPad Pro it is a mess. Lots of bugs and a Crash that will infuriate you. All I can say is save often. Nothing like playing an hour building up then poof! All is lost. Fix this once great game now a trash heap. ### 1/5 — I really want to write a good review *2019-12-07, version 2.2* I loved this game. And I love that the developer wanted to port the thing. And I really really want to write a good review. But the game doesn’t open. I’ll definitely change this review if the game is updated and starts to work. ### 1/5 — Looks promising but is totally unplayable *2019-12-03, version 2.2* TL;DR – it looks like a nice iOS implementation of the classic Space Trader game but it crashes so often that it’s no fun to play. This game looks like a nice iOS implementation of the classic Space Trader game I remember from ~20 years ago on the PalmOS platform (yes, really!). The UI is clean and readable and easy to use. It could use a few little tweaks (dark mode would be most welcome and the save/load game capability needs improvement and more metadata to be truly useful) but it gets the important bits exactly right, down to the shapes of other spacecraft and the interactions your ship will have as you warp between systems. Unfortunately, the game crashes, VERY frequently. Depending on the random state of your new game, it might start crashing almost immediately, and loading from an earlier saved point in the same game won’t help, it’ll keep crashing at the same point no matter what. All of which makes playing this game a total waste of time. The fact that the crashes are so frequent and so repeatable is a really poor reflection on the programmer(s), and that’s a shame, too. A classic game like Space Trader deserves better. ### 1/5 — Cannot actually play this game *2019-09-07, version 2.2* It crashes to desktop. That’s a right shame too because you can’t get a refund and it was actually the better of the two options. Don’t waste the money buying this. If you’re not interested in fixing this steaming pile, could you release the source so someone else can!? ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Great game *2022-10-14* Really fun, takes you back decades to when the game was played on Palm! ### 5/5 — classic *2022-03-08, version 2.2* i always come back and beat this game every once in a while ### 4/5 — Where’s dark mode at? *2023-06-07, version 2.2* Like seriously.. the stark white screen makes it impossible to play at night without blinding me. Rly not too much to ask for a text based game in 2023. ### 4/5 — Just like the old game :) *2019-01-24, version 2.2* I love this game so much. Takes me back to the old game. There’s only a few bugs such as the scrolling in the star system sometimes gets stuck to where you can’t read it making you restart the app. Other than that, where the heck do I find crew members?? And mercenaries to hire? ### 4/5 — Just how I remember it... *2016-08-20, version 1.0* except the buttons need work. Why can't I sell my stupid robots?! I used to play Space Trader on my Palm m100 and I'm thrilled to have it back!! Please, please fix the buttons and let me sell my robots. ### 4/5 — Great! *2016-07-22, version 1.0* This is a great game that stays true to the original. Button areas need to be increased though. ### 3/5 — An almost perfect port *2022-03-25, version 2.2* This game was one of the best time killers for me when I had my palm. Crashes a lot, so I’d recommend a lot of saves. ### 3/5 — Much better! *2020-05-23, version 2.2* Game is playable now which is huge. There seems to be far too many encounters, however. Isn’t space supposed to be empty? ### 3/5 — So close... *2017-01-13* But no cigar. The interface looks fantastic but there are some frustrating bugs. The game gradually slows down over time and crashes. Loading/Saving has some weird errors that allow you to come back to life with negative hull strength. There are WAY too many encounters during warps, with high likelihood of destruction. Misses the feel of the original. ### 3/5 — Crashes!! *2016-10-24, version 1.2* I will start by saying - I love this game. But this version crashes every time I play it. I will give this 5 stars if the bugs are fixed --- *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 2026-07-29.*