Comparison

Crossword Jewels™ vs Crossly

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

Head to head
About

Crossword Jewels™

This app offers a vast collection of cryptogram puzzles for users to solve. It challenges your mind to decipher hidden words by identifying letter patterns within a crossword grid. Enjoy a relaxing, timer-free experience with adjustable difficulty levels and helpful hints.

Highlights
  • 100,000 cryptogram puzzles
  • Relaxing, timer-free gameplay
  • 7 difficulty levels
  • Hint and check work functions
  • Automatic progress saving
  • Easy touch controls
Features
Read full description

100% FREE! DOWNLOAD NOW AND START HAVING FUN! Look for patterns among the letters to figure out the hidden words! Perfect for fans of crosswords or cryptograms! Crossword Jewels™ challenges your mind to deduce the connections among the hidden letters in a crossword grid! • 100,000 Crossword Puzzles included! Play forever! • Beautiful, easy to read letters! • No timers at all! Just relax and have fun! • Easy touch controls to fill in the crossword • 7 Difficulty Levels so you can find the right challenge for you! • Hint function if you get stuck! • Check your work function, to spot any problem words! • Your progress is automatically saved, all the time, so go ahead and take that call or jump out to any other apps - you can come back and pick up playing right where you left off! • Sounds can be disabled if you want a quiet game • You can even listen to your own music while you play Download Crossword Jewels today! It's 100% FREE! ••••• Thanks for playing! CROSSWORD JEWELS is a trademark of Boy Howdy Technology LLC

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

Crossword Jewels™2 screens
Crossly4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Crossword Jewels™ at 96% against Crossly's 51%. Crossword Jewels™ also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 7) and ratings volume (5.4K vs 1). Crossly's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and rating (5.0 vs 4.7). On price, 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. Crossly sells 7 one-off in-app purchases. Crossword Jewels™ asks for nothing beyond the download.

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: Crossword Jewels™ has 5.4K ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 96% of Crossword Jewels™'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

Crossword Jewels™ ships an update every 2 months, Crossly every 5 months. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and November 3, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
Crossword Jewels™ versus Crossly: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCrossword Jewels™Crossly
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (5.4K ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews96.2% of reviews — better50.7% of reviews
Number of ratings5.4K — better1
Update frequencyEvery 2 months — betterEvery 5 months
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPod
Requires iOS12.010 — better
Further details — not scored
Size54 MB30 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperBoy Howdy Technology LLCMercury Intermedia, Inc.

Customer experience

Crossword Jewels™

All ratings5,404 ratings
Positive95.7%
Neutral2.8%
Negative1.4%
Written reviews213 reviews
Positive96.2%
Neutral0.5%
Negative3.3%

Crossly

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

User reviews

Crossword Jewels™

From 5.4K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Fun and challenging
  • 👍 Keeps brain active
  • 👍 Variety of difficulty levels
  • 👍 No ads or timers
  • 👍 Relaxing and enjoyable

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Occasional freezing or bugs
  • 🔍 Some obscure words
  • 🔍 Lack of undo button

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

Crossword Jewels™

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Freezing or locking up during gameplay
  • Compatibility issues on older devices

Requested features

2 requests
  • Option to view word definitions
  • Ability to choose British spelling

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

None

Crossword Jewels™

No in-app purchases

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 Crossword Jewels™ free?
Crossword Jewels™ is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Crossly free?
Crossly is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Crossword Jewels™ or Crossly?
Crossly is rated higher. Crossword Jewels™ averages 4.7 out of 5 from 5.4K ratings, while Crossly averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Crossword Jewels™ or Crossly have ads?
Crossword Jewels™ shows ads; Crossly does not.
Which is updated more often, Crossword Jewels™ or Crossly?
Crossword Jewels™ ships an update every 2 months, and Crossly every 5 months. Most recently, Crossword Jewels™ was updated on November 6, 2026 and Crossly on November 3, 2026.

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