Crosswords vs Crossword Scanner
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Crosswords
Engage with daily crossword puzzles from various newspapers, offering hints, clue lookups, and progress tracking. Upgrade for automatic puzzle delivery, access to extensive archives, and a wider selection of premium puzzle sources.
- Daily newspaper crossword puzzles
- Hints and clue lookups
- Progress tracking
- US and UK cryptic puzzles
- Automatic puzzle downloads
- Access to extensive puzzle archives
- Comparison with other solvers
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"… the definitive source for puzzles for iOS…" -- the New York Times Play the Award Winning Crosswords on your iPad or iPhone, optimized for iOS 27! Each day many newspapers provide their crossword puzzles online; wake up each day to new puzzles, solve them, get hints, view clues, and track how quickly you're improving! • Touch and hold a square to view hints • US and UK Cryptic puzzles available • Hints, Websites, and Clue lookups • Enter answers in 'ink' or 'pencil' • Quickly see your recently played, or sort by date, difficulty or source • Detailed info on each puzzle • Post your solve times online and compare with other solvers After upgrading, you can also: • Automatically get new puzzles every day • Access nearly unlimited puzzles from many different sources • Grab older puzzles with a tap • Download new puzzles automatically in the background Upgraded Puzzle Sources: • Brendan Emmett Quigley's Weekly Puzzle • Inkwell Crossword (Archives only) • Village Voice (Archives only) • Chronicle of Higher Education (Archives only) • King Features Crosswords (Joseph, Sheffer, and Premier) • People Magazine (Archives only) • Newsday (Archives only) • Andy Kravis, Cruciverbist at Law • Glutton for Pun • MacNamara’s Band • Murchie’s Monday Fills • Neville Fogarty • Puzzle Express • The Stickler Weekly • World of Crosswords Premium Crosswords subscription required: • Matt Gaffney’s Crossword Contest • American Values Crossword • Crooked Crosswords Providers list subject to change. •• For support, please visit our website at http://www.standalone.com •• Privacy Policy: https://www.standalone.com/legal/ EULA: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Crossword Scanner
Capture crosswords from physical media or digital screenshots and solve them on your device. Features a live preview for accurate scanning and an intuitive interface for inputting answers.
- Scan crosswords with live preview
- Import from device gallery
- Solve scanned crosswords on device
- Tap to edit horizontally/vertically
- Supports iPhone and iPad
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Scan and solve crosswords from newspapers, magazines and the likes directly on your iPhone or iPad! * Scan * Use the amazing 4K live preview to capture accurate representations of your crosswords from magazines or newspapers. Import directly from the device gallery to use screenshots from your digital subscriptions. Always make sure you only scan crosswords you either own or are allowed to copy. * Solve * Once you have scanned your crossword, it is available for solving on your device. Tap a character spot once to edit horizontally; once more on the same spot to edit vertically.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Crosswords at 4.3 against Crossword Scanner's 1.3. Crosswords also leads on ads (none vs shown) and ratings volume (579 vs 3). Crossword Scanner's advantage is iOS requirement (16.0 vs 18.0). On price, review sentiment, in-app purchases and monetization model 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. Crosswords sells 14 one-off in-app purchases and Crossword Scanner sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Crosswords holds the better App Store score, 4.3 against 1.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Crosswords has 579 ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 30% of Crosswords's written reviews are positive against 33% of Crossword Scanner's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Crosswords ships an update every 4 days, Crossword Scanner every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on October 29, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Crosswords | Crossword Scanner |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.3 (579 ratings) — better | 1.3 (3 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 29.6% of reviews | 33.3% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 579 — better | 3 |
| Update frequency | Every 4 days — better | Every 9 days |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 | 16.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 36 MB | 38 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Stand Alone, Inc. | Havnør |
Customer experience
Crosswords
Crossword Scanner
Bugs and requests
Crosswords
Reported bugs
3 issues- Puzzle grid freezing or displaying blank
- Inconsistent behavior when switching between apps
- Inability to access or download certain puzzle sources
Requested features
4 requests- Dark mode option
- Ability to delete puzzles
- Comprehensive error checking and feedback
- Customizable keyboard and gestures
Crossword Scanner
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Crosswords
- Lionel's crosswords, Vol. 1$0.99
- Ink Well Xwords, Vol. 1$1.99
- Dell Crosswords$1.99
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- Edited by Ben Tausig, Vol. 1$1.99
- Ridonkulous Crosswords$1.99
- Liz Gorski's Crossword Nation: Vol. 1, No. 1-20$1.99
- Dell Medium Crosswords$1.99
- Brendan Emmett Quigley's Faves #1$2.99
- Jonesin' Crosswords$2.99
- Edited By Tausig 2$2.99
- Brendan Emmett Quigley Freestyle$2.99
- Crosswords Pro (Upgrade)$3.99
- Crossword Nation's Centennial Edition$7.99
- Crosswords Pro$9.99
Crossword Scanner
- Monthly$1.991 Month
- Quarterly$4.993 Months
- Yearly$14.991 Year
- Lifetime$29.99
- Enable sharing$39.99
Questions
Is Crosswords free?
Is Crossword Scanner free?
Which has better reviews, Crosswords or Crossword Scanner?
Do Crosswords or Crossword Scanner have ads?
Which is updated more often, Crosswords or Crossword Scanner?
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