Comparison

Retrogram vs PigPen

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Retrogram

Challenge your vocabulary with a daily word puzzle. Create as many words as possible from seven letters. Enjoy a stylish, retro-themed experience designed to sharpen your mind and introduce you to new words.

Highlights
  • Daily hand-made puzzles
  • Solve puzzles together via SharePlay
  • Apple Watch compatibility
  • No ads
  • Discover new words
Features
Read full description

Think you’re a word nerd? Put your vocabulary to the test with new word puzzles every day Retrogram is a love letter to the 1970s — a cozy collection of handcrafted word games, curious words and satisfying puzzles to make part of your daily routine PLAY EVERY DAY SPELLOTRON Make as many words as you can using seven letters. Find the pangram, climb the ranks and discover interesting stories behind some of your favorite words WORDWAY Build a bridge of words from one word to another. Use the letters you’re given and find a path across the board THERE’S MORE Subscribe to Retrogram to catch up on the past week of daily puzzles, explore the Puzzle Vault, play limited-edition bonus packs, switch things up with vintage app icons, and play after dark with Neon Nites FEATURES * Two handcrafted word puzzles every day * Play today’s Spellotron and Wordway puzzles for free * Catch up on the past seven days * A growing Vault of bonus puzzles * Limited-edition puzzle packs * Neon Nites dark theme * Vintage alternate app icons * SharePlay — solve together over FaceTime * Play Spellotron on your Apple Watch * No ads, ever Additional details Privacy policy: https://retrogram.app/#privacy Terms of use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

PigPen

Features
Read full description

Fence the pigs. Fill the field. One puzzle a day. PigPen is a daily logic puzzle for the one-finger, coffee-break crowd — players who love Wordle, Connections, and Strands and are ready for something with a little more bite. The board is a grid of farmland with pigs scattered across it. Your job is simple to learn and surprisingly deep to master: drag fences along the grid lines to enclose every pig in its own pen, where each pen is rotationally symmetric around its pig and the whole field is partitioned with no leftover squares. Three rules. No timers in your face. No fluff. Just a clean, satisfying daily solve. FEATURES • A new puzzle every day — three sizes (5×5, 7×7, 10×10), each with Standard and Hard tiers, so you can pick a quick warm-up or settle in for a Sunday-cryptic-sized challenge. • Globally-keyed daily puzzles so leaderboards stay fair — everyone's puzzle of the day is the same puzzle. • One-finger play — tap a fence to toggle it, drag along an axis to paint a run of fences, long-press to mark a cell. • Live symmetry hints (optional) — your moves' rotational counterparts highlight faintly so you can feel the shape of each pen. • Unlimited undo and redo — experiment freely without losing your place. • Mistake checker and one daily hint per puzzle when you're truly stuck. • Clean-solve badges for finishing without hints or mistakes. • Stats and streaks that track your daily habit, not your wallet. • Gorgeous, warm visual design — pigs you'll actually want to fence in. WHO IT'S FOR If you start your morning with a daily word game and finish it before your coffee's cold, PigPen is the next logic puzzle for your routine. It's deductive (no guessing, no trial-and-error), uniquely solvable, and hand-tuned for satisfying "aha" moments rather than tedious bookkeeping. INSPIRED BY THE CLASSICS PigPen is a love letter to Galaxies (Tentai Show) by Nikoli — one of the most elegant pen-and-paper puzzle formats ever invented — reimagined with a warmer hook, modern progression, and the daily cadence that makes a puzzle a habit. Get one puzzle a day. Build a streak. Become the kind of person who fences pigs.

Screenshots

Retrogram4 screens
PigPen4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: PigPen at weekly against Retrogram's every 3 weeks. Retrogram's advantage is device support (4 vs 2). On price, ads, in-app purchases and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Retrogram sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month and PigPen sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Retrogram ships an update every 3 weeks, PigPen weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 22, 2026 and October 9, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Retrogram versus PigPen: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterRetrogramPigPen
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.5 (326 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews66.1% of reviews—
Number of ratings326 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemium—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Vision Pro — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.6 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size162 MB13 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developerin ColorRodney Telford

Bugs and requests

Retrogram

Reported bugs

7 issues
  • Words marked as missed that were actually found
  • Puzzle letters changing when spinning the wheel
  • Apple Watch app no longer functioning
  • Game progress deletion without explanation
  • Inconsistent word acceptance across different puzzles
Show 2 more
  • Hint feature disappeared in recent updates
  • Contact support only available through Apple Mail

Requested features

10 requests
  • Access to previous/archived puzzles
  • Multiple puzzles per day or puzzle difficulty levels
  • Statistics tracking (completion rate, pangram frequency)
  • Hint system that doesn't impact streak
  • Word find rate percentages for context
Show 5 more
  • Immediate answer reveal after puzzle completion
  • Cheaper one-time purchase option instead of subscription
  • In-game dispute method for word validation
  • Apple Watch functionality restoration
  • Automatic daily prefix posting on social media

PigPen

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

10 purchases

Retrogram

Subscriptions2
  • Daily Puzzle (Monthly)$4.991 Month
  • Daily Puzzle (Yearly)$29.991 Year
One-time8
  • Where in the World$3.99
  • 80s Dinner Party$4.99
  • Gaming Icons$4.99
Show 5 more
  • Stone Cold$4.99
  • Flower Power$4.99
  • Dear Reader$4.99
  • Outer Rim$4.99
  • Daily Puzzle (For Life)$49.99
1 purchases

PigPen

One-time1
  • PigPen Unlimited$4.99

Questions

Is Retrogram free?
Retrogram is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is PigPen free?
PigPen is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Retrogram or PigPen have ads?
Neither Retrogram nor PigPen shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Retrogram or PigPen?
Retrogram ships an update every 3 weeks, and PigPen weekly. Most recently, Retrogram was updated on October 22, 2026 and PigPen on October 9, 2026.

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