Comparison

Letterpress vs Crossly

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

Head to head
About

Letterpress

Engage in a relaxing yet competitive word-spelling game where players capture board tiles by forming words. Play at your own pace against friends, random opponents, or AI bots, with real-time chat and performance tracking.

Highlights
  • Play multiple concurrent games
  • Compete against friends, random opponents, or bots
  • Real-time chat
  • Track performance with statistics and leaderboards
  • Group play within custom groups
  • Real-time word definitions
Features
Read full description

This Apple award winner is fun and relaxing! Play multiple concurrent games casually with friends, random opponents or match wits against bot players. You can even play within custom groups! If you enjoy word games then you will love Letterpress for its intuitive play and beautiful design. Two players take turns spelling words to capture the board. Player with the most points wins! • PLAY words at your own pace even across multiple games if you like concurrent play. • ALWAYS FREE and full-featured. • COMPETE against friends, let Letterpress find you an opponent or challenge one of our Bot players. • CHAT in real-time with other players. • TRACK your performance with Statistics and Leaderboards. • DICTIONARIES power real-time word definitions. • GROUP PLAY enables friends to play Letterpress within custom groups (no outsiders) enjoying group-level Statistics, Leaderboards and more great features! • Many more game features and customizations available. For free support and answers to frequently asked questions, head over to http://www.letterpressapp.com/support.html. Follow us on Twitter @LetterpressApp. Like us on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/Letterpress. Play everywhere! Letterpress is built in the USA by the team at Solebon LLC (http://www.solebon.com) where we are dedicated to Sharpening Minds at Play.

About

Crossly

Engage in a strategic word game with friends, blending classic crosswords with competitive play. Earn points for correct answers, hinder opponents, and enjoy endless unique puzzles with interactive features like stealing turns and revealing letters.

Highlights
  • Endless unique crossword puzzles
  • Steal turns and send taunts
  • Peek at letters for difficult clues
  • Pencil in and change answers
  • Offline saving of penciled words
  • Premium mode with bonus peeks and themes
Features
Read full description

Challenge your friends in the fun strategic word game that combines classic crosswords with the spirit of friendly competition! In Crossly™, two players take turns filling out the board, accumulating points for each correct clue by gaining a point for each letter in the clue and subtracting a point from their opponent for any of their intersecting answers. Clean design, fluid animations and playful messaging work together to make this the best crosswords experience in the App Store. Features: - Endless Gameplay: Crossly pulls from tens of thousands of clues to generate unique crossword puzzles on the fly for optimal replay value. No two boards are ever alike! - Steal & Taunt: When you or your opponent miss a word, the other player may choose to steal for an extra turn and send a friendly taunt using animated GIFs powered by GIPHY - Peeks: For hard-to-guess clues, you may use one Peek per turn to reveal a letter of your choice. That letter is only visible to the player who initiates the Peek. Bonus Peeks are awarded for completing games and Peek Packs may be acquired via In-App Purchase. - Penciling: Penciling allows you to work on the board at any time, changing answers and adjusting your strategy as more words are completed. All penciled words are saved, even when your network connection is offline. - Premium Mode: Play unlimited games for free, or unlock Premium Mode for 15 bonus Peeks and colorful themes. Show your love by choosing your own price to upgrade!

Screenshots

Letterpress4 screens
Crossly4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: Crossly at none against Letterpress's shown. Crossly also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.7) and iOS requirement (10 vs 15.0). Letterpress's advantage is review sentiment (84% vs 51%) and ratings volume (8.3K vs 1). On price, in-app purchases, monetization model 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. Letterpress sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Crossly sells 7 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Crossly holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Letterpress has 8.3K ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 84% of Letterpress's written reviews are positive against 51% of Crossly's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Letterpress ships an update every 6 weeks, Crossly every 5 months. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Letterpress versus Crossly: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterLetterpressCrossly
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (8.3K ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews83.6% of reviews — better50.7% of reviews
Number of ratings8.3K — better1
Update frequencyEvery 6 weeks — betterEvery 5 months
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPod
Requires iOS15.010 — better
Further details — not scored
Size50 MB30 MB
Age rating17+4+
DeveloperSolebon LLCMercury Intermedia, Inc.

Customer experience

Letterpress

All ratings8,277 ratings
Positive94.1%
Neutral3.2%
Negative2.7%
Written reviews444 reviews
Positive83.6%
Neutral3.8%
Negative12.6%

Crossly

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews73 reviews
Positive50.7%
Neutral27.4%
Negative21.9%

User reviews

Letterpress

From 8.3K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 💡 Challenging and strategic gameplay
  • 👍 Clean and elegant design
  • 🤖 Enjoyable bot opponents
  • ⚡ Quick gameplay between turns
  • 🧠 Helps expand vocabulary

Room to improve

  • 🔍 Limited dictionary, missing common words
  • 📢 Excessive and intrusive ads
  • 🕰️ Opponents taking too long to make moves
  • 🐛 Bugs and connectivity issues
  • 🔒 Lack of account/progress syncing

Crossly

From 1 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🤩 Addictive gameplay
  • 💡 Innovative blend of crossword and competition
  • 👍 Fun and engaging for friends
  • 🎨 Beautiful and fluid interface
  • 🧠 Great mind jogger

Room to improve

  • 🐌 Slow loading times
  • 🧩 Obscure or nonsensical clues/answers
  • 🇺🇸 Strong US bias in clues
  • 📉 App abandonment concerns
  • ❓ Puzzles lack cohesion

Bugs and requests

Letterpress

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Game freezing or crashing
  • Incorrect game state/turn notifications
  • Inability to delete or resign from games
  • Syncing issues across devices

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add chat/messaging between players
  • Implement a timed game mode
  • Allow custom dictionaries or word lists
  • Introduce a scoring/ranking system
  • Add a 'pass and play' local multiplayer mode

Crossly

Reported bugs

16 issues
  • App crashes frequently
  • App won't load / spins forever
  • Games disappear or are lost
  • Notifications are broken / badge issues
  • Rematch issues (wrong person)
Show 11 more
  • Board/clues mixed up or incorrect
  • Games don't update automatically
  • Inability to start games with friends
  • In-game errors and glitches
  • Crashing on launch
  • Games stuck in 'waiting for their move' list
  • Inconsistent turn notifications
  • Cannot decline rematches
  • Cannot end games without resigning
  • Clues are sometimes backwards
  • Words run into each other

Requested features

13 requests
  • iPad support
  • UK version of the game
  • Difficulty levels
  • Chat feature
  • Facebook integration
Show 8 more
  • User-selectable usernames
  • Stats page (wins/losses)
  • Themes for puzzles
  • Time limits for turns
  • Ability to decline invitations
  • Reminder for opponent's turn
  • More American puzzle makers/content
  • Color customization options

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Letterpress

One-time1
  • Letterpress Upgrade$9.99
7 purchases

Crossly

One-time7
  • "Meh" Premium Upgrade$0.99
  • Peek Pack - 5 Peeks$0.99
  • "It's Cool" Premium Upgrade$1.99
Show 4 more
  • Peek Pack - 15 Peeks$1.99
  • "LOVE" Premium Upgrade$2.99
  • Peek Pack - 25 Peeks$2.99
  • Peek Pack - 100 Peeks$4.99

Questions

Is Letterpress free?
Letterpress is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Crossly free?
Crossly is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Letterpress or Crossly?
Crossly is rated higher. Letterpress averages 4.7 out of 5 from 8.3K ratings, while Crossly averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Letterpress or Crossly have ads?
Letterpress shows ads; Crossly does not.
Which is updated more often, Letterpress or Crossly?
Letterpress ships an update every 6 weeks, and Crossly every 5 months. Most recently, Letterpress was updated on November 1, 2026 and Crossly on October 24, 2026.

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