Comparison

Cryptogram vs Codebreaker

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

Head to head
About

Cryptogram

Decode coded messages to reveal inspiring quotes. Choose from multiple difficulty levels, play daily challenges, and explore thousands of quotes in seven languages. Save your favorites and share them as images.

Highlights
  • Decode coded quotes
  • Multiple difficulty levels
  • Daily puzzles and streaks
  • Thousands of quotes
  • Seven languages supported
  • Save and share quotes
  • Offline play
Features
Read full description

Crack the code. Discover the quote. Cryptogram is a word puzzle game where solving a cipher reveals a quote worth keeping. Each coded letter stands for another letter. Spot patterns, fill the gaps and reveal the quote. FIND YOUR KIND OF CHALLENGE Choose Easy, Normal, Hard or Legendary. Start with more letters revealed or take on a tougher cryptogram. When you need a nudge, use a hint to uncover a letter. A REASON TO SOLVE EVERY DAY Take on the daily puzzle, build your solving streak and earn hints at milestones. Pick up an unfinished puzzle whenever you're ready, then see your solve time and the points you earned. A WORLD OF WORDS TO DISCOVER Explore thousands of quotes across seven languages. Browse themes such as life, love and wisdom, or discover words from authors including Oscar Wilde and William Shakespeare. Return to your recent categories and see your progress as you solve. BUILD A COLLECTION WORTH KEEPING Your solved quotes are saved to your collection. Revisit a discovery, mark a favorite or search for an author or phrase. Look back at your solve time, difficulty, points and hints used. MAKE A QUOTE YOUR OWN Choose a quote style, adjust its appearance and share it as an image. Add a home-screen widget for quotes from your collection. PLAY YOUR WAY Settle into light or dark mode and choose your puzzle font. Solve bundled puzzles offline and revisit your saved collection wherever you are. Online categories, leagues and other connected features need an internet connection. SEVEN LANGUAGES Play in English, French, German, Portuguese, Spanish, Russian or Turkish. If you enjoy word games, secret messages and code-breaking puzzles, there's a quote waiting to be uncovered. Free to play, with ads and optional in-app purchases. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

Codebreaker

Engage in a strategic code-breaking game with adjustable difficulty for casual or competitive play. Challenge AI, friends, or climb global leaderboards in a retro terminal interface. Features offline modes, daily puzzles, and a built-in notepad for reasoning.

Highlights
  • Adjustable difficulty for all skill levels
  • Play offline against AI
  • Online ranked and unranked matches
  • Daily deduction puzzles
  • Built-in reasoning notepad
  • Retro terminal aesthetic
Features
Read full description

Ever wanted a fair game of Codebreaker with your kids, grandkids, or someone far less experienced? Now you can. In casual direct challenges, each player can face a different difficulty. You might solve 6 digits in base 16 while they solve 3 digits in base 10. Same match, same rules, but both players get a real challenge. Nobody has to pretend. Ranked play is the opposite. Both players always face identical settings, so every match is a fair fight. Win and climb the global Elo ladder from Bronze to Diamond. Play against friends, other players, AI, or on your own. Take turns guessing the secret code. Every guess is marked: • X = correct digit in the correct position • O = correct digit in the wrong position Every clue stays on the screen. What you do with the information is the whole game. PLAY OFFLINE • Challenge the AI across five difficulty levels: Easy, Medium, Hard, Master, and Adaptive. • Easy plays like a beginner and can lose track of earlier clues. • Medium and Hard progressively improve their deduction. • Master plays the strongest game the solver can manage. • Adaptive learns from your recent results and adjusts to your level. • Solve a new deduction puzzle every day. • Browse a full archive of 30 past daily puzzles. • Generate unlimited practice puzzles. • AI matches and practice puzzles work with no internet connection. PLAY ONLINE • Ranked matches affect your Elo rating and use identical settings for both players. • Unranked matches let you play with nothing on the line. • Unranked direct challenges let each player set their own difficulty, so players of very different skill levels can still have a competitive game. • Choose optional turn timers: Relaxed, Standard, Speed, Blitz, or no clock at all. • Get push notifications for challenges and tap Rematch as soon as a game ends. • All players share the same global ladder and community. RANKING • Beat stronger players to gain more Elo. • New players begin provisional so the system can quickly place them. • Climb through Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Diamond. • Track your place on the global leaderboard and review your full match history. SET YOUR DIFFICULTY • 3 to 7 digits • Bases 5 to 16 A 3-digit base-8 code is a warm-up. A 7-digit base-16 code is a genuine problem. BUILT-IN NOTEPAD Track your reasoning without paper. Mark digits as confirmed or ruled out, and pin them to positions as you narrow down the code. ACHIEVEMENTS Unlock 26 badges across four categories: • Puzzle — daily streaks from a week to a full year • VS AI — AI Crusher for beating Master difficulty • Online — Hat Trick for three wins in a row, plus tier badges at Gold, Platinum, and Diamond • Career — long-haul totals across everything you play RETRO TERMINAL STYLE The whole game is styled like a computer terminal from 1983. FREE TO PLAY Play offline on your own, or sign in with Google, Apple, or email to play online, climb the leaderboard, unlock achievements, and keep your progress across devices. Whether you want a quick puzzle, a fair match with family, or a climb toward Diamond, there is always another code to break.

Screenshots

Cryptogram4 screens
Codebreaker4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Codebreaker at none against Cryptogram's 8. Codebreaker also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.7). Cryptogram's advantage is ratings volume (504 vs 1). On price, update cadence, ads and device support 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. Cryptogram sells 8 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Codebreaker asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Codebreaker holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Cryptogram has 504 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Cryptogram ships an update every 6 days, Codebreaker every 8 days. The most recent releases landed on November 11, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Cryptogram versus Codebreaker: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCryptogramCodebreaker
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (504 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews68.6% of reviews—
Number of ratings504 — better1
Update frequencyEvery 6 days — betterEvery 8 days
AdsYesYes
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesAd-supported — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.115.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size71 MB73 MB
Age rating12+12+
DeveloperBerkay SaglamVector Horizon LLC

Customer experience

Cryptogram

All ratings504 ratings
Positive94.0%
Neutral2.6%
Negative3.4%
Written reviews70 reviews
Positive68.6%
Neutral8.6%
Negative22.9%

Codebreaker

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

Cryptogram

Reported bugs

9 issues
  • Ads freezing application and preventing progress
  • Game completion not registering despite solving puzzle
  • Hint system providing letters not in cryptogram
  • Settings reverting to default after closing app
  • Keyboard layout settings not saving properly
Show 4 more
  • Hints charging payment without delivering hints
  • Progress not syncing across devices
  • Leaderboard showing impossible scores suggesting cheating
  • Puzzle categories and leaderboards unavailable

Requested features

10 requests
  • Home screen widget functionality
  • Filter and search for favorite quotes
  • Ad-free premium version option
  • Color-coded cipher letters for pattern recognition
  • Landscape mode support for tablets
Show 5 more
  • League chat functionality
  • Ability to change username
  • Legendary mode for competitive battles
  • User-submitted quote categories
  • Set progression levels for sense of completion

Codebreaker

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

8 purchases

Cryptogram

Subscriptions2
  • Cryptogram Plus$0.991 Month
  • Cryptogram Plus$9.991 Year
One-time6
  • 5 Hints$0.99
  • 15 Hints$1.99
  • Offline Quotes$2.99
Show 3 more
  • 30 Hints$3.99
  • Remove Ads$4.99
  • 80 Hints$8.99
None

Codebreaker

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Cryptogram free?
Cryptogram is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Codebreaker free?
Codebreaker is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Cryptogram or Codebreaker?
Codebreaker is rated higher. Cryptogram averages 4.7 out of 5 from 504 ratings, while Codebreaker averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Cryptogram or Codebreaker have ads?
Both Cryptogram and Codebreaker show ads.
Which is updated more often, Cryptogram or Codebreaker?
Cryptogram ships an update every 6 days, and Codebreaker every 8 days. Most recently, Cryptogram was updated on November 11, 2026 and Codebreaker on October 31, 2026.

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