# SpellTower — user reviews > 198 indexed App Store user reviews of SpellTower by Zach Gage, rated 3.70/5 from 629 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/spelltower/id1490605957/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/spelltower/id1490605957.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 321 · 4★ 70 · 3★ 71 · 2★ 73 · 1★ 94 ## What do users think of SpellTower? Overall sentiment: positive **Pros** - 🚀 Challenging and fun - 🧠 Great brain exercise - 🎨 Elegant and well-designed - 🕰️ Relaxing gameplay - 👍 Addictive and enjoyable **Cons** - 🔍 Dictionary needs updating - 🤖 Words not recognized despite being valid - 💰 Ads too frequent and intrusive - 🔒 Paid version doesn't remove all ads - 🤯 Frustrating when game ends unexpectedly **Commonly reported bugs** - Game freezes or crashes - Tutorial gets stuck and can't be skipped - Scoring and progress issues - Compatibility problems on certain devices **Most requested features** - Undo/Redo functionality - Adjustable difficulty levels - Sync progress across devices - Offline gameplay mode - More game modes and customization options ## Newest reviews (15 of 198) ### 2/5 — unnecessary redesign *2026-07-10, version 1.0.22* I used to love this game, playing zen mode for hours on the airplane. It stopped working last month, then I found the redesign that just unneccessarily animates every step. The simplicity has been eliminated for distracting scores plus I'd have to pay again for the ad-free, full game access I had. V. sad. ### 2/5 — Too many ads!!! *2026-07-09, version 1.0.22* I love love love this game so much but the ads are making it unbearable. There should be no ads in the middle of the puzzle. ### 3/5 — Not so good *2026-07-02, version 1.0.22* Format not nearly as good as original and less user friendly ### 3/5 — Ads come on too strong *2026-05-27, version 1.0.22* I really wanted to keep playing this game to see if I will play it enough to warrant the reasonable $4.99 cost to remove ads, but they put them on you pretty much as soon as you finish the tutorial and you get a fairly long ad multiple times in the middle of the game. I completely understand a small indie developer needing ad support, but the frequency of the ads so quickly made it too cumbersome for me to want to keep playing and make a decision on whether to buy or not. No hate for the developers at all, but I’m out :( ### 4/5 — Old and new *2026-04-02, version 1.0.22* I liked the old version better, not those tags popping up when I get a word ### 2/5 — Too many ads *2026-01-19, version 1.0.22* Way too many ads. Makes it annoying really. ### 2/5 — Does anyone else miss the original game? This one works but seems a pale version of its predecessor *2025-12-13, version 1.0.22* Not quite as good as the original ### 4/5 — We bought the game bc my 7 yr old loves it that much. *2025-11-26, version 1.0.22* I couldn’t do the ads anymore. It was really ridiculous so I ended up buying it bc my 7 yr old loves playing it. The word list should be updated. I don’t know why so many words aren’t words and you have to contest them. I don’t know if that’s done on purpose or not but I’ve come across a few words that I’ve had to challenge for some reason. Also, I would love a back button. Doesn’t have to go all the way back but going back once would help for the times you accidentally submit a word and don’t mean to. Otherwise, we love it and play it all the time. ### 3/5 — Dictionary needs to be updated *2025-10-16, version 1.0.22* I found it very frustrating that when I tried to use different words, it told me they weren’t real words at all when they were perfectly acceptable and are words in the English dictionary 🤷🏻‍♂️ ### 2/5 — TOO MANY ADS *2025-09-17, version 1.0.22* I love playing this game but it’s not even enjoyable when there is an ad every 20 seconds. ### 3/5 — Doesn’t include a lot of words *2025-08-20, version 1.0.22* The game gives you the chance to challenge word but still will say “sorry, **** is not a word”. Okay, but it’s in the dictionary which would imply it is in fact a word? You are only given the chance to challenge a word 3 times a day, which is not enough considering there are a lot of words it doesn’t identify. ### 1/5 — Sad *2025-08-13, version 1.0.22* I played a earlier version of this game and loved it. No ads, Zen mode was relaxing. New version is too much. And each time I made a word an irritating flag came up with info I don’t care about and takes up time and space. Liked the old format and NO ADs! ### 4/5 — Please add more words to the word-checker *2025-07-26, version 1.0.22* Good game, but please add more words to the word-checker, like tenis, or tier ### 1/5 — Game is enjoyable / ads are too much. *2025-04-15, version 1.0.22* I used to use the older version of this game. I find the new version injects ads way too frequently to make it worthwhile at the free tier. Also not interested in paying for the full version when I had that previously and it seems to have been discontinued in favour of this reskinned one. ### 3/5 — Turmeric is a word aka yellow ginger. Sigel also a word, please update *2025-02-28, version 1.0.22* Happens too often that my real word is rejected ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — Don’t bother *2026-08-26, version 1.0.22* Playing the game is impossible with all the ads and pop up videos. ### 1/5 — Frequent Intrusive Ads *2026-08-06, version 1.0.22* Game is fun but the free version is borderline unplayable due to the high frequency and long duration of ads, including ads mid-game. I understand the devs want to drive users towards the paid version but the excessive ads have done the opposite for me. ### 1/5 — So Disappointed *2026-03-26, version 1.0.22* I bought the game to avoid the annoying ads and started feeling like the game was out to get me. Larger legitimate words were somehow “not words.“ Even though they were in the dictionary. And once you get past 300,000 points, it starts working against you. My game was sabotaged by black boxes that kept lining up along the side, preventing me from clearing them…. especially with larger words that the game said we’re not words. ### 1/5 — Ad in middle of game *2026-01-25, version 1.0.22* Why play an ad in the middle of the game? Leave the ads to the start or end of the game. ### 1/5 — W *2026-01-15, version 1.0.22* To fast ### 1/5 — Buggy *2025-12-25, version 1.0.22* Every time it shows me an ad, it locks up. ### 1/5 — Doesn’t recognize word *2025-12-06, version 1.0.22* I thought it was my imagination at first. Words I knew were legitimate words weren’t accepted. I started looking up words the app rejected and discovered they were in the dictionary. I’m very disappointed in this app. ### 1/5 — Ads ruined one of the best word games on the store *2025-11-13, version 1.0.22* As per the title. Greed at the heart of this as always. ### 1/5 — WTH *2025-09-16, version 1.0.22* I just got charged my yearly fee for no ads and 3 days later, the game is gone. Vanished. Just a screenshot of the name and Zach and his buddy’s. I need a refund, guys. I paid for 365 days and got 2. ### 1/5 — Word created stay static until… *2025-08-20, version 1.0.22* The constant interruption from the challenge finger whenever an invalid word is formed is beyond annoying. It kills the flow of the game, especially when accidental words pop up from random tile movements. Fix this and either remove the hand or add an "undo" option—it's badly needed. ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Love it *2026-08-07, version 1.0.22* I love this game!! I don’t see any issues. So much fun and really challenging. ### 5/5 — Very fun, IQ boosting game *2026-06-11, version 1.0.22* As said in the title, it’s a very fun, IQ boosting game. It’s free, both to download and to use. It’s recommended for parents who want to turn screen time into something more educational, without being boring. ### 5/5 — Record score? *2026-02-08, version 1.0.22* Today (8 Feb 3026), playing Zen, I found: REINFECTIONS, all letters doubles for a score of 780 * 4096 = 3,194,880. Is this a record? ### 5/5 — Addictive and challenging! *2025-10-24, version 1.0.22* I am a big fan of the games this developer makes. I've spent hours keeping my brain busy with this game. I paid full price and consider it a bargain, given how often I play. ### 5/5 — Challenging and Fun! *2025-08-03, version 1.0.22* This is one of my favorite word games to play, and it was well worth the small investment. I’ve been playing this game multiple times a day for many years, and never get tired of it! ### 5/5 — Crashed again *2024-09-09, version 1.0.22* I love the game but it has crashed twice now requiring me to delete the app and then reinstall. Not happy! ### 5/5 — *EDITED* Love it but wish I hadn’t paid *2024-07-30, version 1.0.22* *Edited to add: I just found the zen mode! 5 stars! I’ve had the free version of this game for several years and I’ve loved it. The puzzle game is my favorite because I can find words at my own pace and I can keep it going for a really long time and it’s still challenging but not too challenging. I’ve even had a puzzle round going for a couple years when I would just play occasionally. For some reason a few days ago I got impatient with the ads and just caved and bought the game, but it immediately got way harder with the 5 and 6 letter rules. It’s frustrating when I’m finding good words but they still don’t work because they’re not 6 letters. I wish I could go back to the unpaid version just so it could be a little easier. Or if there was a way to make there be different levels of difficulty that I could choose from that would make the game perfect! ### 5/5 — Excellent Game *2024-01-02, version 1.0.22* This is a fun, wonderful word game with a lot of innovation. It runs great on an iPhone 14. As of 1/2/2024,the ads appear once every 3-8 minutes, as well as every time I switch to a different app and come back. It’s only a single ad, but it’s the type where you have to press the “next” icon several times, “back” in the App Store popup, then “next” again. @developer: Since you removed the “+” from this game’s name, I was confused by the “+” on the Apple Arcade app, thinking that one was the new one and this one was the old version. Luckily I read through all the patch notes of this one before I bought Apple Arcade. Can you please update the name on the Arcade app to match or at least differentiate a different way? Thanks! ### 5/5 — Best word game ever *2023-07-02, version 1.0.22* I’ve been playing this game for about three years now and love how relax full and challenging the zen mode is. I own the paid version and find that it accepts words that are in the dictionary. And if you feel a word should be counted, you can challenge it in the game. ### 5/5 — Best Word Game *2023-06-16, version 1.0.22* I play this in ZEN mode, with no time limit. The only limit is your ability to spell words. I've been playing this game for five years now, and its the only game I have on my phone. It's great because you can pick up where you left off at any point. Highly replayable, and very enjoyable if you love words. And I've had no issues with the app not working. Never. --- *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 2026-09-04.*