Wordle!
reviews and complaints

this is a fun concept, but it’s marred by a few glaring design oversights. the most major issue for me is the font- the stylized bubbly letters are very difficult to tell apart at times (particularly because they’re white letters on a pastel background) and that’s kind of a critical failure in a timed word-making game. it’s also intensely frustrating that you can’t reset your word by any means other than shaking the phone, which wastes a lot of time and is hit or miss in terms of whether or not it even works. you can also reset your word by completing it, but the letters don’t return to their original spots- they get placed in random spots. there is also a noticeable input lag, but that might be a result of my iphone 6S’s performance being crunched by apple as they breathe down my neck about upgrading, so i’d be curious to know if others with newer models encounter this issue. the last issue is the lackluster dictionary. many common words have been rejected and it makes for an incredibly frustrating play experience. overall, this game has a lot of potential, but in its current form, it’s not very fun.

I am an inspector of apps and I’ve seen that this app has been inspected many times, so I wanted to check out what was happening with this game. I’ve read all of the reviews and they don’t sound good. However, I realized that these reviews have been made earlier this year or in November last year. Some people said that this game will never make changes and stop with uncontrollable ads. So I bought the app and decided to see what the issue was. The first thing that popped up was a thing for privacy policy and the only option was to agree, there was no I don’t want to this option, just agree. Many apps do this and it’s ok, but it’s not the best option. I went to check the privacy policy and apparently the app wants to collect every piece of information about you. Your address, name, and email. But when I joined it was different, there were 0 adds per game and there were only 2-3 ads when you finished. I think people were overreacting about ads. And for the privacy policy part, when I joined it DID NOT collect any information about me at all. I think this game is great except for the ads and I recommend it. The only reason the other reviews were so bad, is because that was from a long time ago.

Yet another fun phone game completely destroyed by the aggressive and bombardment of ads. This is probably the worst and most shameless in game advertising I’ve ever seen…and that’s saying something because every game has ads now a days.

Just to put it into perspective: let’s say you’re playing classic mode. In classic mode you have 6 guesses to find the 5 letter word. You can’t even type SIX words without 3 ad breaks. The ad breaks are twice as long as a round. If you’re going to have ads, okay…but WAIT UNTIL THE ROUND IS OVER. A round takes less than 5 min and the developers can’t even wait 2 and a half minutes before shoving another ad in your face. I’ll also thrown in that these ads are unskippable videos that blast the audio even if your phone is on silent. Pretty embarrassing if you’re playing at work or in public.

Absolutely shameless and unacceptable. This game and the incessant berating of ads has crashed & overheated my phone a handful of times. Deleting and highly recommending you don’t download. Don’t support greedy developers.

A message to the developers: have some respect for yourselves and make a game that you’re actually proud of rather than this slimy barrage of advertisements.

The free version of Wordle is a miserable experience with endless ads. So I finally broke down and got the paid version. It was working great until recently (and this is in February 2023) when they changed the way it works. Now, both in the daily Wordle, and in the classic Wordle, you will occasionally encounter a screen which demands that you pay the more money in order to continue. This is outrageous, considering I already bought the paid version. The option in the classic version if you don’t pay is that it puts your score back to zero and you must start over no matter how many hours you have put into it. The defect in the daily version comes towards the end of the month if you want to complete your perfect score, and do the six letter Wordle that is offered each day in addition to the five letter daily Wordle. This month, when one gets near the end of the month, when you have completed the daily five letter word and press the option to do the daily, six letter Wordle, it will not let you do that six day Wordle unless you pay additional money. This is absolutely outrageous, considering I’ve already paid for the paid version of Wordle! It would not surprise me if this is illegal in several states.

The game is fun and challenging, especially for puzzle-lovers, but be prepared to drown in ads.

In Classic Mode, there are ads almost every time you try a new word and almost every time you finish a round. So if you’re fast, prepare for tons of ads.

In Word Fever Mode, ads will pop up mid-round and completely throw you off, especially if your timer is about to run out, and when your timer runs out, of course there is another ad. Don’t try to avoid the ads by shutting down the game and restarting, it will conveniently lose any coins you may have won or records you may have beaten.

Secret Word Mode, again, has a ton of ads if you’re at all quick with your guesses.

Almost all of the ads are the double to triple level ads you have to click out of multiple times and have the “oh you must have “missed” the X-out/close button, so here’s another level to the ad” features.

I can definitely see the appeal of the game. If you like word games but you move fairly slow, you’ll probably have fun. But if word games are your thing and you intend to play multiple rounds in a sitting, I’d honestly give this game a miss until the hype dies down and they have to start cutting down on the ads to attract more players. There are so many ads right now YouTube and cable tv COMBINED couldn’t compete with the number of ads you have to deal with in this game.

Okay so first of all it’s $6 for the ad free version of the game, but I’d been playing it every single day and I’d been going back to do daily puzzles from previous months, before I’d started playing. In order to do this, I was watching an ad to access the game, which was fine, but since ad free was so expensive compared to other apps, I figured purchasing would give me access to previous months puzzles without watching the apps— like other apps I’ve played have done. WRONG. Now I can’t watch an ad to access anything, AND it costs 150 coins PER PUZZLE. That means if I want to do the daily puzzle and the daily plus puzzle for a day I missed, it costs me 300 coins PER DAY! I messaged support because this seems really unfair and I would not have purchased the ad free version if I had known, and got no response. Deleted the app hoping I could reset the ads (a desperate attempt, I know) and instead it just erased all my progress and sent me back to the very start. No coins, no master league, not even all features unlocked. There was no way to restore my progress. Even my messages to support were gone.

And also, in case you’re thinking you can just pay coins to do old puzzles and that it’ll let you watch an ad to to the next one when you run out of coins, it doesn’t. It tries to force you to buy coins. So you spend $6 for what you think will be a better version of the game, and instead you get slapped with a horrible pay to play system.

Deleted the app.

I just took advantage of your half price “sale” of $2.99 for NO ADS… So why am I still getting ads? So far I like the game other the ad issue. It would be very nice if the game could be played in landscape or if my tablet could be turned upside down and still play without damaging my charger cord at the bottom of my tablet. Lastly, while playing, it would be GREAT if players could slide the letters around within the word to help solve the puzzle. That would be very helpful to those of us who are not good with visualizing the letters in the right place. For example, if I know I have the second, fourth and fifth letters in the correct place, it would be helpful to be able to put those letters in the right place AND LEAVE THEM THERE. Then, the player could work on the two letters they know are either wrong or are just in the wrong place. Thanks for listening.

***UPDATE***

I will be contacting Apple and requesting a refund for the $2.99 I paid for “NO ADS” and reporting you for FRAUD! Paying the $2.99 DOES.NOT.REMOVE.ADS! How is it you can advertise it, take people’s money and not deliver what you advertise?

The premise of the game is good, but only a VERY SMALL amount of time is spent actually playing.

As soon as I get my refund, you are GONE. Your star rating just dropped from 5-stars to 2-stars! I wish I had read all the negative reviews (very few of them are positive — you must have very thick skin and are laughing all the way to the bank). Had I read the reviews first, I wouldn’t have bothered with the $2.99 “sale” to get rid of ads. WHAT A JOKE — and it was on ME.☹️

Problems with Gameplay: The game itself is somewhat fun. Some problems I have with the actual gameplay is that it will not tell you if the same letter will appear twice in a word. Secondly, there is no tutorial in the beginning but there is a question mark on the board you can press to see the rules, which I didn’t see until I was on my third guess in the first round.

Suggestions: Outside of that I would like to make a suggestion for a mode where there could be themes to the words and you need to guess 6 words relating to that theme to fill out the board. Secondly, either do less OR more timely ads (like an ad after every COMPLETED board…not in the middle of one). I understand you want us to pay $5 to have no pop up ads but I don’t feel like the app has enough to offer for me to pay $5 for no ads while other similar apps offer more and only want $1-2 for no ads.

Problems with the App Itself: The problem I have with the app itself is that it seems to randomly play ads when you’re in the middle of trying to solve a puzzle and not to mention if the ad actually functions properly. Half the time you can sit through and ad while on the other hand, after an ad plays it will leave you on a black screen that you can not get out of unless you completely close out the game. This “force close” can cause you to lose progress on the app and may delete words you have already guessed. I downloaded this maybe 30 minutes ago and I’ve closed the app at least 8 times now. Half of that 30 minutes I was sitting through a pop up ad.

I heard a lot of good news about this app from friends which is super weird because I definitely did not have the same positive experience so I uninstalled.

I decided to give Wordle a try because I love puzzle games, but uninstalled out of frustration less than an hour later. Why? Because I realized it had taken me that long to get through four measly rounds of classic mode (something that would otherwise take around 5-10 minutes tops) due to the constant invasive ads that you cannot skip.

I’m not naïve to the fact that ads are a necessary evil to avoid charging subscription fees, so I’m in no way opposed to a developer incorporating ads into their free game to subsidize revenue. HOWEVER…there is obviously a distinct line that separates leveraging a reasonable ad strategy to fund your operating costs from the strategy that essentially boils down to: “I’m going to annoy you with so many ads that you’ll be forced to pay for the upgrade if you want to keep playing, but if you uninstall that’s cool too because I already made a good chunk of change off ya” category—and this is the one that Wordle has firmly planted itself in.

First you’ll have a banner ad permanently nestled at the bottom of your screen. That’s all well and good, but then after every single guess in every game mode, an ad for another game will completely take over your screen for a bare minimum of 30 seconds, sometimes a minute or more. Most of them give you an “x” in the upper right corner to make you think you can skip the ad, but that just brings you to the App Store download page for that game instead.

Developers like this ruin the fun for everyone. They’re why ad blockers and Pi Holes are becoming more prevalent. I won’t be installing anything from this developer moving forward and I truly hope Apple takes a stand against this predatory and insidious behavior.

BEWARE: the Secret Word puzzles will not tell you when you reach your hint limit, but will continue to STEAL your coins as if you were purchasing usable hints! They should seriously add a feature that stops the processing of coins when you reach the hint limit. They should also relocate the hint buttons. As if intentionally placed near the Submit button so you waste your coins. Long version: I kept pressing the hint button for my Secret Word puzzle thinking it was not registering my screen taps. Next thing I know, all of the coins and hints I had JUST purchased in the $4.99 Wordy Bundle. I know it’s only a few dollars… but the fact that they allow users to pay for a product (ie coins, etc) with REAL money, only to process (STEAL) the coins back via a fraudulent and one-sided exchange that did not provide any warnings of coins being wasted if the button was clicked upon the depletion if hints. Basically, I was deceived into a fake sale with the understanding that I would receive a hint if I clicked on the hint button and provided the required number of coins. I messaged the support staff after the ~1000 coins I just purchased in the wordy bundle were deceitfully extracted from my coin pot. I wasn’t expecting the royal treatment or 1000000 coins to make amends. I just wanted the extracted coins to be returned: This was part of their response: “Rest assured, that we already placed the request on the top priority list. You may not see the change immediately but know that our team is taking players' feedback into consideration. We have added 300 coins to your account to help you with the game.” LOL 300 OK THANKS. TLDR/short version: I click the hint button; I expect 150 coins (coins I paid for with my REAL money) to be withdrawn from my account; I then expect Wordle to provide me with a hint; Instead, Wordle fraudulently continued withdrawing (stealing) my coins, but did NOT provide hints.. or even a warning/notice of coin withdrawal in exchange for NOTHING.

I WAS PLAYING CUSTOM WORDLE WITH MY FRIEND AND THE WORD WAS PAIGE SO I TYPED IT AND IT SAID “Word not in dictionary” SO I DID POOPS AND THE WORD WAS PAIGE😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡👹👹👹👹👹👹👺👺👺👺👺👹👹👺👺👺😡😡😡😡😡

I have a friend who plays this so I thought I would give it a shot. Thankfully I stopped playing after a few rounds. The rules are simple. Find the correct word, without getting a single hint as to what the word might be. Sounds fun, right? Wrong. How do you “guess what the word is” if they give you no hint as to what the word might be? You know there are bazillion words in the English language and thus, trying to find the correct word is near impossible. How about giving us a hint? How about something that might help us move toward that word. “Hey, there are no W’s, L’s, O’s, A’s, Z’s in this word…” ok, then I won’t use those letters. I mean, SOMETHING, to make this game at the very least fun. So far, it’s not fun at all. It’s stupid, annoying and impossible. And it’s going to be deleted.

You would think an app like Wordle would have no interest in objectifying women. I mean, it’s just a bunch of letters, and it was a programmer’s gift to his female partner, right? Well, the game will constantly bombard you with ads for Project Makeover, an app wherein the user is apparently supposed to reshape and distort hypersexualized women’s bodies to fit the grotesquely unrealistic confines of white Barbie dolls, all in order to embody the fantasy of a creepy, sexist white guy. Moreover, Wordle “support” ratified the other app’s sexually harassing ads by ignoring my requests that they stop subjecting me, at the very least, to that misogyny for weeks. So, if you don’t want to experience or encourage objectification of women, I urge you to boycott this app. Btw, trigger warning for survivors!

This game is an absolute ad-fest. Open the game: ad. Play a new round: ad. Finish a round: ad. Everything you do is preceded and followed by an ad, and a very long ad at that, not to mention all of the popups for in-game purchases.

At best, this is a $2 game. Minus the ads it would be a nice little time killer, but it's just not worth it, otherwise. There simply isn't enough "meat" to this app to justify spending more than $2 on it, nor is there enough to justify wasting 30 seconds out or every 2 minutes played waiting on an ad.

And ignore all of the fake reviews for this. Jfc, the highlighted review for this is by someone claiming to be an "app inspector" and affirming that there are very few ads, as well as affirming that this game does not invade your privacy. Seriously? An "app inspector"? Yeah, ok bud.

Update: I received an email response to my review and all the developers could say was to purchase the the Pro Version so I won’t get ads. Now why would I purchase a game before knowing what it is about? I would hope that I could actually play it to see what it is about and see if it is worth purchasing, but I couldn’t even get a game started because of ad after ad after ad.

I thought this game was going to be fun but there are so many adds that it just became annoying and I ended up deleting the game. I understand the need for adds but there should be a limit. I started playing the game and then got hit with an add, I clicked the X to stop it and then it counts down and then wait for another X to pop up. When I go to play, another add started and so on. I gave up and just deleted the game. Very disappointed.

I played to spinner for some rewards and won 20 minutes without ads. However, it was not delivered and I got rewarded right away with more ads. What a ripoff

Update: The company reached out to me asking for more details and promising to look into the issue; which I provided.
They then sent me a lengthy explanation that winning ads free time does not actually mean you can play the game without ad interruption, it simply means they are removing a certain category of ads , but not all ads. Bottom line is they make you play, engage you longer, give you the illusion you won ads free time just to keep blasting ads at you. And nowhere a legal disclaimer what the practices are.
Welcome to modern cyber crime world.
I hope someone from Apple reads this and boots them from the App store. I for sure will report this app to Apple.

Got to be honest, the game was fun. I enjoyed the twist where you earn coins for your words if you had guessed left over, plus a daily gift of coins or hints, and the coins could be used to buy hints which could help you guess a word faster or if you were on the last guess. But-and I cannot stress this enough-I HATED how I got an ad EVERY SINGLE TIME I opened the app to play a game. Seriously. I can’t do your daily word without an ad? If I am playing a bunch of classic or practice games, I’m on for an hour or something, I understand having an ad every few minutes. Give me 4 or 5 games or so per ad. But it seemed like I spent more time watching ads than playing the game. This isn’t YouTube, it’s a brain game. I’ve deleted other games before for the same reason. I’ll just go play other games where I’m not accosted by marketing.

What’s up? Game crashed 2 weeks ago and still not repaired! Number of ads were a bit over the top.

Update: horrible customer service response. Their idea of “fixing” problems is to mark it “resolved” when they have accomplished nothing. Attempts to fix the problem have been nothing but asking me for screen shots and details, which I’ve done 4-5 times already. When I send information they mark it “resolved” with nothing done on their end at all! I’ve done all of the fixes from my end multiple times- reset devices (app not working on all 4 of our devices, SO ITS NOT my device!), run from Wi-Fi only at different high-speed locations, run from cellular data only, deleted and re-installed app, updated software, hard reset devices, turn devices off and back on . . .
HONESTLY- APP IS NOT WORTH THE RIDICULOUS NUMBER OF ADS ANYWAY.

This app was a lot of fun, with enough challenges and goals to keep you returning every day. Ad supported, so you knew you were going to get those unless you paid to remove ads. I don’t have a problem with that. You used to be able to replay a daily challenge by watching an ad, or continue your tournament streak by watching, as well. UNTIL NOW. Now, all the things you could do by watching an ad all cost 150 coins. I understand making money through ad sales. I also understand in-game currency as a business model. But now the developers want both. And it feels like a greedy cash-grab. A shame, because it was enjoyable enough to play daily before this new update. I’ll be deleting the game now. Oh, fyi - I’m the kind of player that DOES purchase something every month to help the developers on a game I enjoy and play daily. But this is just greedy. And no fun. Sad.

The constant ads pop ups interruption s make the app almost unusable and leave the user feeling aggravated and disgusted. Totally understand the authors / co behind the app want to secure revenue streams but when they get to the point that the user abandons the ridiculous effort it takes to play the game, something has gone off the rails.

Just received a totally arrogant tone deaf reply to my initial review, which I am not changing. The reply suggests I purchase the remove ads feature. This is something I would do if the developers hadnt made the ads so obtrusive annoying and aggravating to the point I lose any motivation at all to reward them or use the app, on too of the fact they have obviously been given so much similar feedback in other reviews. Total disgust at their behavior. The app should be removed from the store
In fact if I could lower it to zero stars I would

This game lasted a lot longer than many of the games I've downloaded with as many ads. It's fun, if you like word games, but lately I've been getting hit with 3 unskippable ads just to play the 2 daily puzzles, and it's too much. Uninstalling.

Edit: Purchasing the pro version does not eliminate the “optional” ads for the daily puzzles, as far as I know. I don’t mind ads, but 3 long ads for 2 little puzzles was more than I could bear. Take note you would have made more revenue off me with fewer ads. Removing a star for poor developer response in not recognizing these particular ads can’t be removed and that the issue was not that there are ads but that there are too many of them. I can’t see the cost right now because I uninstalled it, but I’m also pretty sure the “pro” version was more expensive than I was willing to pay, especially since it sounded like it didn’t include the daily puzzles.

ONE AD BETWEEN PUZZLES IS OK BUT THREE ? AND ALL OF THEM DOUBLE ADS? More time spent watching ads than playing game. I really like the word version of the old game mastermind but I am over whelmed by ads. You solve the word and you have to watch an ad before it congratulates you and offers you the prize. Then you click to claim the prize and have to watch another ad. No just to really slap you in the face and waste even more of your time when you select the next puzzle from the calendar you have to watch a THIRD AD before start I g the next puzzle.. I understand watching one but THREE? Now to make matters even worse the ads are what I call double ads…. You watch the ad click the right top corner at the end and have to sit through a second page with 5e word GET in the middle of it for ani determinable amount of time befor a second X appears. SOMETIMES you just can’t get out and keep being sent to the Apple apps site. The only way to get out is to close WORDLE and reopen the app. SERIOUSLY ONE ADD IS ENOUGH BETWEEN-PUZZLES