# To The 9s — user reviews > 38 indexed App Store user reviews of To The 9s by Lauren Sherman, rated 4.60/5 from 5 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/to-the-9s/id930149662/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/to-the-9s/id930149662.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 4 · 4★ 0 · 3★ 1 · 2★ 0 · 1★ 0 ## Newest reviews (12 of 38) ### 4/5 — Best of the few *2024-06-18, version 4.2* It’s a good word finding game, you can move on to the next game at anytime. Start inputting words to remove the instructions. No timer worries, just play. ### 3/5 — Grow your dictionary *2022-11-17, version 3.56* I enjoy this game and it’s a nice, straightforward interface. But the rejection of real words (eg. neem - a tree; perve with an E at the end) is nonsensical and needs attention. Please update your word banks! It’s puzzling when words are permitted in the Scrabble app but not here. Yes, not everyone uses American or British English - find a way to build both into your game. It’s getting very tiresome. ### 4/5 — Enjoying the app but ……. *2022-11-08, version 3.56* Very much appreciate this app. Easy to use, although not easy to find all possible words! Finding some inconsistency when a word is deemed acceptable on one puzzle but is declined on another. Would be great to learn what words I missed so I can extend my vocabulary but this feature is not available. ### 3/5 — Fairly decent. *2022-11-01, version 3.56* Clean with minimal advertising. Unfortunately missing some “definitely a word”words. Not referring to obscure scrabble words many do not agree on. (Example “cist”. Not to be confused as a misspelling of cyst. It is a type of box, chest, tomb etc. Recognised in both English and American English). ### 4/5 — It’s a challenge *2022-09-13, version 3.56* Thank you - I’m finding the 9 letter words a real challenge, but with no ads & not being timed is great. Is there an easier version? ### 4/5 — My 2nd review. Love it BUT….. *2022-09-03, version 3.56* I love this ‘no adverts’ app and am happy to continue to pay for new sets though would appreciate 20 for the money rather than just 10. Recently 2 words have been turned down as not being in the dictionary which I have felt rather unfair! Took screenshots but can’t find a way of inserting here. Update: info sent via link provided by developer. ### 4/5 — Great, needs better dictionary *2021-12-29, version 3.56* I like the simple interface without time trials, ads, ostentatious graphics. It is a plain and simple nine letter puzzler. With some polish and some extra work it could be truly fantastic. Needs a good dictionary. Didn’t accept “engine” in game 2 packet 11. Game 5 in packet 25 doesn’t have a valid 9 letter word. From some of your reply comments, I am not sure what algorithms are being used to generate the games. And why some form of automatic generation is not being used. There seems to be an allusion that all the games are generated by hand? The dictionary used should transcend each game. That is, the same dictionary is available and used with all games. Not sure why this doesn’t happen. Yes there are approximately 42,000 nine letter words in the English language so there a huge pool to generate from. The list of valid 4 to 9 letter words should be relatively static. No plurals are allowed, but conjugated verbs ending in “s” are. The initial labour intensive part is going through the wordlist to cull plurals and to add singular third person verb conjugates that end in “s”. The SOWPODS and NASPA scrabble word list goes up to nine letters and I believe is publicly and easily available. These wordlists exclude proper nouns. Yes it is a drag to trawl through wordlists, but this initial step will produce a polished product. Once suitable word lists are generated the games could be easily created, possibly on the fly. Dictionaries could be stored as directed graphs to speed up acces and search ability. I understand that by having in app purchases to buy the game packs make sense from a business and remuneration stance. For example from SOWPODS This is number of words of length 4 to 9 characters. It would be a simple matter to cull plurals by only looking at words ending in “s” and making the call about whether the word is a plural or conjugated verb. 4 5,638 5 12,972 6 23,033 7 34,342 8 42,150 9 42,933 Needs good dictionaries based on theOxford and American Oxford and the MacQuarie. I like the interface mostly except that a scroll bar should appear when you have answered a large list of words irrespective of whether you have touched the list. Also the game should be able to flip into landscape mode. Keep up the work. ### 3/5 — 9s *2019-07-27, version 2.2* I am enjoying the game , but a little frustrated that some words are not in your dictionary . Is there a way that we can see the words that you have deemed to be on your list so that we can compare . ### 5/5 — Perfect app *2018-08-28, version 2.12* I love this app. So well thought out bright and easy to use. The difficulty rating is spot on as I never achieve incredible level just like in my paper every day, and this app won’t let you put down 'fake' words or 'accidentally' use the same word twice etc. And NO AD's!! Will def be buying the cheap additional words. ### 5/5 — Great game *2018-02-22, version 2.12* An engaging word game. Pleasingly simple graphics and no annoying sounds! Thanks ### 5/5 — To the 9s *2016-06-27, version 2.0.2* Love this game! And have now found that the price is 0.79 per game! ### 5/5 — . *2016-06-18, version 2.0.2* Good challenge, ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — Disappointed *2024-07-02, version 4.3* I used the word “ablute” in the first game I played which the game doesn’t recognise It’s hard to see why you’d play a game like this It makes doing your best impossible I think traditionally the game is supposed to know more words than I do ### 1/5 — Improvements needed *2020-04-22* I enjoy nine letter games but I only use this app as a last resort. It could be greatly improved by allowing words to be put into A-Z order as it’s frustrating to know if you found a correct word or not when you have to scroll through found words. The biggest reason that I don’t like the app are the comments that come up when a chosen word is incorrect, they are not in the least bit funny, they are very condescending. If these are removed I would be happy to recommend the app to friends but at the moment because they are there I do not recommend your app. **Developer response:** Thanks for your straightforward comments on “2 The Nines”. Our developer is an ardent admirer of the cartoon character “Mad Maxine”, but she acknowledges that many people are not fans of this style of humor. We are relieved to note that you are not reporting problems with the basic functionality of our learning tool. We think you will find more to like about our upcoming version. ### 1/5 — Lose the smug and get a new dictionary! *2019-10-18, version 2.2* I love these 9-letter word puzzles, so when I run out of new games on Afterword (which is an infinitely better app), I’m reluctantly forced to come back to ‘To the Nines’ for my fix, but oh dear...it’s a struggle. I can forgive the rubbish look and feel, and even the hideously clunky functionality, but - Jeez Louise - those snarky, condescending little comments that appear when you try an ‘unrecognised’ word are THE WORST (“Your letter box is not a bonbon tray”, “Your cat has walked on your keyboard” and so on.) I could even forgive those IF they didn’t appear quite frequently in response to perfectly legitimate, correctly spelt English words! That having been said, I do like the comment “Not in my dictionary!” Yes - I can believe that - you are clearly using some drastically abridged version designed for fourth-graders. I implore you: take the money I’ve spent on this game and treat yourself - and all of us - to a shiny, new, unabridged version of the OED. Or Webster’s. Or even - at a pinch - the Macquarie. Whatever. Just get a proper freakin’ dictionary OR lose the smug. Either way would be grand. Thank you! ### 1/5 — Needs a better dictionary... *2017-01-27* I'll bet someone thought it was cute to put display insults when your entered word isn't a "real word"... Unfortunately it pops up these insults for all kinds of genuine words. I just played it once, and of 34 words with actual dictionary entries, it wouldn't accept 10. Here's one for the creator: have a latte and get a better dictionary. Deleted. ### 1/5 — Poor *2015-02-24, version 1.1* Not enough game only about 5 ### 2/5 — It’s an ‘S’ thing *2025-03-18, version 5.1* Seems to be some issue where your programming for words ending in ‘s ‘ is malfunctioning. The word “thesis” is entirely valid. ### 2/5 — Very slow in realising new games. *2020-05-22, version 2.2* I really enjoy playing this app. however it takes ages to realise new games and therefore you tend to move on to other things,it just seems to me that the developer is not very business savvy,is sitting on a good thing and not making the most of it from a financial point of view. ### 2/5 — Scoring defect *2014-11-17, version 1.1* Not to bad but allows same word to be entered more than once and counts each time. ### 3/5 — There’s no 9 letter word *2024-06-24, version 4.2* To the 9s - 25/5 - there does not appear to be a 9 letter word to match this CKLMNREOO. What is it meant to be? ### 3/5 — Disappointing *2023-06-10, version 4.0* This game is ‘pig in a poke!’ Just a bit of a joke, thankfully I woke, probably designed by a bloke and deserves to ‘go up in smoke’! ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Cannot access previous or new packets *2026-07-04, version 5.4* Cannot access new packets. Tried deleting app and reloading. Message is slightly off skew on screen and won’t download any packets either previous purchases or new ### 5/5 — Great app *2025-08-11, version 5.3* Perfect for keeping the mind occupied ### 5/5 — Thank again *2024-04-02, version 4.2* This game really makes you think ### 5/5 — Really Fun & Helps me learn more words! *2023-02-18, version 4.0* This word game is really fun and forces me to use random letter combinations to make new words and learn them. It really switches on my brain and I feel an indescribable surge of happiness and relief when I find out another word, it’s not too addictive and I would recommend it to literally anyone! 😃 ### 5/5 — Deceptively simple but so fun *2022-10-15, version 3.56* Wonderful game that can be challenging and addictive. No ads! My favourite part is the little touches of sassiness when you try to reuse a word (“No way José! You can’t use ____ again”) or when you input random letters (“A dictionary is not a bonbon tray!”) Would love an option to shuffle the letters around. Thanks for the great game ### 5/5 — To the 9s - reliably enjoyable *2022-05-30, version 3.56* Beautifully operational. Sometimes I wish there was an access to unsolved 9-letter and other words I have not been able to find. ### 5/5 — Can’t solve 11/5 *2021-12-22, version 3.56* So fun so glad I found an app with this game. But puzzle number 11/5 seems unsolvable for a 9 letter word. These are the letters: t s e s a u r u s Pls help ### 5/5 — I like this new version *2019-12-11* Interesting game to enrich vocabulary and provide definitions to "guessed" words. I am a terrible speller and this game introduces me to new words and how to spell them. ### 5/5 — Addictive *2019-09-28, version 2.2* I enjoy playing these types of word games because I always am interested in how many words I can find with the middle one ### 5/5 — Fun game! *2019-04-21, version 2.2* This is a fun and challenging game. Works great! --- *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 2026-07-31.*