Codewords + vs Codeword Unlimited
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Codewords +
Solve crosswords where letters are replaced by numbers. Decipher the code to reveal the hidden words. Offers five difficulty levels, making it suitable for beginners and experienced players alike. Enjoy a clean, digital experience with unlimited attempts and progress tracking.
- Number-coded crosswords
- Five difficulty levels
- 1400 puzzles available
- Progress tracking
- Mental exercise
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Crossword puzzles with a twist! All the letters in a crossword have been replaced by numbers. Can you figure out which letter each number represents? Five different levels make this app is the perfect way to learn if you have never played before. Our codewords app is even better than playing it on paper. You won't waste any time searching around for a number, and you can change your answer as many times as you want without turning your puzzle into a mess. We made this app free so that you can test it without having to buy anything. It comes with ten free puzzles--two puzzles in each of the five levels. There are 1400 puzzles available for download, but the ten free puzzles might just keep you busy for a long time :) Features: - Easy to learn! - 5 levels of difficulty - 1400 puzzles (10 are free) - See your progress instantly in the puzzle book - A fun mental exercise to keep your brain sharp!
Codeword Unlimited
This app offers an unlimited supply of number-to-letter word puzzles, also known as Codewords or Cryptograms. Players can customize grid size, difficulty, and starting letters. It supports multiple languages and includes helpful tools for solving.
- Unlimited puzzle generation
- Customizable grid size
- Adjustable difficulty levels
- Multi-language support
- Letter highlighting
- Word validity checker
- View word definitions
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Codeword Unlimited is an application to play the popular word game known as Codeword (also known as Cipher crosswords or Cyptograms). This game uses UK English spellings or US English spellings (user choice). The words to find are in English, or you can play in 35 other languages. For those unfamiliar with Codeword puzzles, they provide a grid of words, similar to a normal crossword, but with no clues, rather a few initially provided letters, and a number in each square in the gird to indicate its (as yet unknown) letter. All boxes with the same number must use the same letter. From that information and the few initially provided letters it is possible to work out which words will fit in the boxes. Hence you are decoding (or decyphering) the numbers into letters to reveal the hidden words. Usually all 26 letters of the alphabet are used in the codeword, although not always (and unused letters appear crossed out in the keyboard). It is fun, challenging, and a real brain teaser. Feature list: 1) Unlimited number of codewords!! They are created on-the-fly using the application's advanced generator engine and it's built-in word list 2) The player decides the number of rows and columns (from 3 to 20). This allows the game to be suitable for all kinds of mobile-phones and tablets 3) Difficultly level can be specified by the user, which determines the pool of words the generator will use. The larger the pool the greater the difficulty. There is even an early learner mode with a limited number of words, aimed at children and English language learners. The number of starting letters can also be specified. Higher scores can be obtained with more difficult codewords 4) Selecting a square in the grid will highlight all places the same letter is used in that grid (i.e. has the same number to decipher). This is really handy and of course not possible when doing codewords in a magazine 5) If a game is too difficult, the application provides two useful tools to help you (see below) 6) For any word in the grid for which all squares are assigned to letters, Codeword Unlimited will highlight if that word is NOT an allowed word in the word list it uses to generate its codewords. This helps you when you have mistakes in your current assignments (saving you lots of time and frustration!) 7) An on-screen keyboard means it is much easier and more comfortable to play 8) The definition of a completed word can be viewed. This is useful if you do not know it, or you are learning a foreign language (internet connection required) 9) Choose the language of the word list, from a large range of downloadable dictionaries. 36 languages are currently available (see below) 10) Can be played in portrait or landscape mode. Just rotate your device and the display adjusts automatically Other similar applications want you to pay for more puzzles, but this game provides you with endless puzzles, all for free!!. Each game is assigned a difficulty level from 0 (easy) to 9 (very hard). The difficulty level is determined by the settings or the difficulty selector. Each difficulty level maintains the high scores (measured by fastest time to complete the game). The game displays the best 20 scores for each difficulty level. If the player is in difficulty, the application provides two very useful aids 1) The game can provide another decoded letter 2) The game can show you potential answers for an uncompleted word. The game uses the letters that you have already decoded and displays the matching words You can play this app in the following languages: English, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Dutch, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish, Polish, Hungarian, Czech, Russian, Arabic, Bulgarian, Croatian, Greek, Indonesian, Romanian, Serbian, Serbo-Croatian, Slovak, Slovene, Turkish, Ukrainian, Afrikaans, Albanian, Azeri, Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Catalan, Galician, Tagalog
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ads: Codewords + at none against Codeword Unlimited's shown. Codewords + also leads on iOS requirement (9.0 vs 12.0). Codeword Unlimited's advantage is update cadence (every 4 months vs every 39 months) and ratings volume (1.8K vs 352). On price, rating, review sentiment and in-app purchases 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
Both are free to download. Codewords + sells 16 one-off in-app purchases and Codeword Unlimited sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $4.99 per year. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.8 for Codewords + against 4.7 for Codeword Unlimited. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Codeword Unlimited has 1.8K ratings behind it against 352, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 89% of Codewords +'s written reviews are positive against 81% of Codeword Unlimited's.
Codewords + ships an update every 39 months, Codeword Unlimited every 4 months. The most recent releases landed on October 10, 2026 and October 14, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Codewords + | Codeword Unlimited |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (352 ratings) — better | 4.7 (1.8K ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 88.5% of reviews — better | 81.1% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 352 | 1.8K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 39 months | Every 4 months — better |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 9.0 — better | 12.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 26 MB | 91 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Sarah Pierce | Havos |
Customer experience
Codewords +
Codeword Unlimited
User reviews
Codewords +
From 352 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Great app, no ads
- 🎯 Well designed and straightforward to use
- 🧠 Challenging and engaging
- 🔍 Helps sharpen the mind
- 💡 Beats paper version
Room to improve
- 💰 Not entirely free, have to pay for more puzzles
- 🌐 Uses American spelling, not suitable for UK users
- 🔍 Hard to see/read visuals
- 💰 A little too pricey for the number of puzzles
Codeword Unlimited
From 1.8K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🧠 Mentally stimulating
- 👍 Customizable difficulty levels
- 🕹️ Addictive gameplay
- 💪 Keeps the brain active
- 🎮 Enjoyable game
Room to improve
- 📢 Intrusive ads
- ⏱️ Inaccurate timers
- 🔍 Questionable word choices
- 🇺🇸 American-centric vocabulary
- 🤖 Automated hints/penalties
Bugs and requests
Codewords +
Reported bugs
2 issues- Puzzle #29 looks different from actual puzzle
- App is slowing down user's phone, needs update
Requested features
5 requests- Add a help/clue button
- Option to choose UK English spelling
- Add a timer for more challenge
- Allow users to insert letters manually
- Add more puzzles/levels
Codeword Unlimited
Reported bugs
3 issues- App crashes on certain devices
- Incompatibility issues with updates
- Incorrect word definitions
Requested features
5 requests- Option to disable ads
- More challenging word lists
- Ability to manually fill in letters
- Improved timer accuracy
- Localization for different languages
In-app purchases
Codewords +
- Gentle Pack #1$0.99
- Gentle Pack #2$0.99
- Easy Pack #1$0.99
Show 13 moreShow fewer
- Easy Pack #2$0.99
- Medium Pack #1$0.99
- Medium Pack #2$0.99
- Hard Pack #1$0.99
- Hard Pack #2$0.99
- Expert Pack #1$0.99
- Gentle Pack #4$0.99
- Gentle Pack #3$0.99
- Medium Pack #4$0.99
- Medium Pack #3$0.99
- Hard Pack #4$0.99
- Hard Pack #3$0.99
- Megapack$6.99
Codeword Unlimited
- Supporter (no ads)$4.991 Year
Questions
Is Codewords + free?
Is Codeword Unlimited free?
Which has better reviews, Codewords + or Codeword Unlimited?
Do Codewords + or Codeword Unlimited have ads?
Which is updated more often, Codewords + or Codeword Unlimited?
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