Red Herring vs Anagraphs
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Red Herring
This word puzzle game challenges you to group words into categories while identifying misleading "Red Herring" words. Enjoy a fun, challenging, and easy-to-learn experience with no time limits and three difficulty levels suitable for all ages.
- Group words into categories
- Identify misleading "Red Herring" words
- No time limit
- Three difficulty levels
- Daily puzzle
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Red Herring is the word connections game. How to play: 1. Make the connections and group words into categories. 2. Look out for the Red Herrings, pesky words whose sole purpose is to mislead you. 3. Have fun making the connections! Red Herring is a FUN, CHALLENGING, and EASY TO LEARN word connections puzzle game. Each puzzle has only one correct solution and there's no time limit. Three difficulty levels make it suitable for the whole family. Don't say we didn't warn you if you can't stop playing. Give Red Herring a try today! From the creators of 7 Little Words and Moxie. ----- Red Herring contains 25 puzzles and a daily puzzle that you can play for free. Additional puzzles are available for purchase inside the app.
Anagraphs
This free anagram puzzle game features a unique twist where letters can be rotated to form new characters, expanding word possibilities. Solve challenging linguistic puzzles by optimizing paths to earn stars and unlock new levels.
- Rotating letter mechanic
- Anagram word puzzles
- Star-based level unlocking
- Challenging linguistic puzzles
- Open source on GitHub
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Anagraphs, an anagram finding puzzle with a twist, is a free new game that extends the concept of anagrams by including letters that can be rotated to make other characters. In a typical anagram the letters can be re-arranged to form new words ("ma" and "am" for example) but in Anagraphs, the "m" character can be rotated to form a 'w' which allows for the word "aw" to be included. Built with a specially designed font with several characters that can be rotated in such a way, Anagraphs is a challenging linguistic puzzle where you must optimize paths to earn stars used to unlock new levels. Anagraphs is a spiritual successor to the popular word game, Synonymy. Anagraphs is open source and available on GitHub. It is made by Cinq-Mars Media, an educational non-profit with projects and games featured at E3, PAX and other festivals worldwide.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Red Herring at 4.7 against Anagraphs's 4.0. Red Herring also leads on ratings volume (48K vs 4) and review sentiment (76% vs 67%). Anagraphs's advantage is iOS requirement (11.0 vs 16.6). On price, update cadence, ads 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. Red Herring sells 10 one-off in-app purchases and Anagraphs sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Red Herring holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Red Herring has 48K ratings behind it against 4, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 76% of Red Herring's written reviews are positive against 67% of Anagraphs's.
Red Herring ships an update every 3 months, Anagraphs every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on September 27, 2026 and June 5, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Red Herring | Anagraphs |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (48K ratings) — better | 4.0 (4 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 75.6% of reviews — better | 66.7% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 48K — better | 4 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Every 2 months — better |
| Ads | Yes | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.6 | 11.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 84 MB | 22 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Blue Ox Family Games, Inc. | Cinq-Mars Media |
Customer experience
Red Herring
Anagraphs
Bugs and requests
Red Herring
Reported bugs
3 issues- Formatting issues after updates
- Inability to access previous daily puzzles
- Ads that cannot be dismissed
Requested features
5 requests- More free daily puzzles
- Less American-focused content
- Dark mode option
- Ability to replay past puzzles
- Hints system improvements
Anagraphs
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Red Herring
- Curiosity - 50 Puzzles$1.99
- Brilliant! - 50 Puzzles$1.99
- Allegro - 50 Puzzles$1.99
Show 7 moreShow fewer
- Spelunking - 50 Puzzles$1.99
- Renaissance - 50 Puzzles$1.99
- IQ - 50 Puzzles$1.99
- Serendipity - 50 Puzzles$1.99
- Unlimited Hints$2.99
- Older Daily Puzzles 2014 Jul - Dec$3.99
- Quantum Leap - 175 Puzzles$4.99
Anagraphs
- Ad Free + 10 Stars!$1.99
