Comparison

Short Words vs Episodic

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

Head to head
About

Short Words

Enhance your Scrabble® game by discovering powerful two and three-letter words. This tool helps you find optimal letter placements and build valid short words to boost your score. It serves as both a study aid and an in-game resource for players of all skill levels.

Highlights
  • Finds two and three-letter words
  • Shows top-scoring words
  • Reveals all possible words from your rack
  • Includes definitions
  • Supports North American and UK dictionaries
  • Wildcard matching with '?'
  • Study tool and in-game resource
Features
Read full description

Improve your score up to FIFTY POINTS in Scrabble® by exploiting the power of two and three-letter words. Effortlessly find the single letters that fit the board to make valid short words. Features: - Long-press the score to see the top-scoring word - Type your whole rack to reveal all possible short words in your hand - Swipe the letters to see words and scores - Complete lists of allowable two and three letter words, with definitions - Customizable choice of dictionaries for both North American and UK play - Use a question mark (“?”) for wildcard letter matching - Want to get rid of a specific letter? Type it as a capital - Use as a study tool and as an in-game resource - Weaker players can even the playing field when they’re up against stronger players - Any player can use it to hone their game WARNING: The first time you play a word like “za” or “qi” (both of which appear in all dictionaries) your opponents may be outraged and appalled. Expect this outrage to continue until the first time they have the opportunity to play one of these words, after which you should have no more problems.

About

Episodic

Create dynamic, moving collages from black and white looping animations. Reposition and scale these "episodes" to build unique narratives and explore new visual relationships.

Highlights
  • Create moving collages
  • Utilize black and white looping animations
  • Reposition and scale animation fragments
  • Build unique narratives
  • Explore new visual relationships
Features
Read full description

Episodic is an artwork that allows users to create a moving collage from disparate fragments. Contained within the app are black and white looping animations. Each animation is a short episode that can be repositioned and scaled allowing users to link together different segments to create a narrative and explore new relationships. The app reconfigures pop-up windows containing Flash animations originally created for the website www.urban fragments.net

Screenshots

Short Words4 screens
Episodic4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Episodic at every 8 days against Short Words's every 9 months. Episodic also leads on ratings volume (3 vs 1). Short Words's advantage is iOS requirement (12.0 vs 17.4). On price, rating, review sentiment and ads 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Short Words against 5.0 for Episodic. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1 and 3 respectively. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 100% and 100% positive.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Short Words ships an update every 9 months, Episodic every 8 days. The most recent releases landed on October 6, 2026 and October 3, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Short Words versus Episodic: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterShort WordsEpisodic
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings)5.0 (3 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings13 — better
Update frequencyEvery 9 monthsEvery 8 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS12.0 — better17.4
Further details — not scored
Size5 MB5 MB
Age rating12+4+
DeveloperFlaming Pear Softwarejody zellen

Customer experience

Short Words

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews4 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Episodic

All ratings3 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

Short Words

No in-app purchases

None

Episodic

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Short Words free?
Short Words is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Episodic free?
Episodic is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Short Words or Episodic?
Short Words and Episodic are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 1 and 3 ratings respectively.
Do Short Words or Episodic have ads?
Neither Short Words nor Episodic shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Short Words or Episodic?
Short Words ships an update every 9 months, and Episodic every 8 days. Most recently, Short Words was updated on October 6, 2026 and Episodic on October 3, 2026.

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