Crosswords With Friends Reviews

by GranniePants

*** Edit 8/6/21 CrosswordsWithFriends has been ‘improved’ in the past week. Update has not only bogged down the whole game.. it takes even longer to load now.. but the new graphics are juvenile. I don’t get the developers reasoning on adding cartoon directions. I don’t need a lame cartoon chick explaining how to solve crossword puzzles. Maybe the next update you can dumb it down some more… if you’ve read this far… *** I urge you to find another crossword app. You’ll be watching ads and not getting the credits earned.. been going on for a very long time. The weekly challenges most often start a day after the new week starts. You can’t complete the ones that want you to use the week’s puzzles… you’ve probably already solved the first one.. no credit again! This is at least my 3rd edit.*** Unlike many others who’ve mentioned seeing the same ad over and over, I don’t mind that... not getting credit for watching it pi$$ing me off & it has gotten old. I’ve even waited a little before closing the ad to be sure it’s done. Just wasted my time with 3 of 4 ads I watched... you’re getting your $$ for it.. I want my credits.

by The Ice Pick

I would give this a zero star rating if I could. I have been playing this game for awhile now. I like the puzzles themselves but overall CrosswordsWithFriends is a scam. Like other people have said it ease very hard to earn free coins. You are always getting a pop up telling you there are no videos to watch at this time. But what is even worse is if you play the tournament it specifically tells you that if finish in first, second, or third you will earn 1 coin for every tournament point you scored. This is a lie. The last time I won a tournament I scored 620 points and only got 300 coins. When I complained about it they said there is a limit of 300 coins earned in tournaments. No where in CrosswordsWithFriends does it say there is a limit. Since you must spend coins in order to play enough puzzles to win a tournament you end up spending more coins than you earn. CrosswordsWithFriends is nothing but a scam to get you to spend money to buy extra coins. If you read the reviews you will see there is a lot of people who agree with me. So only download CrosswordsWithFriends if you only want to play the one free puzzle per day and don’t care about playing the tournament.

by Baggin

Used to love CrosswordsWithFriends. Not anymore. I accumulated a lot of achievements that you can cash in or hold until later. I finally cashed in around 1400 coins. I only got around 400. I contacted them and they gave me a giant runaround. Long story short they claimed I had used them. They were all still there when I redeemed them. Eventually they just blew me off. I have been trying to accumulate more coins by watching ads. I used to be able to get around 100 coins every time I did this, by watching multiple ads. Now I’ve been trying to build up some coins again but it only lets me watch one ad for 5 coins and then quits working. A message comes up that the ads are temporarily unavailable. It’s really suspicious that it worked great until I had my battle with them over my lost coin bonuses. I wouldn’t even play anymore but I play the daily puzzle every night against my wife and we both looked forward to it. Bottom line, they should have just given me my lost coins, but they made the back and forth with their help people turn adversarial.
I’m totally disgusted with them. Only reason I even still have CrosswordsWithFriends is my wife loves playing and comparing times every evening.

by SuperUser80

Was playing regularly for awhile, until I scored a ton of tournament points last week and came in first, only to find out that the winnings are capped at 300 coins. I messaged customer service and said the points page clearly says 1 tournament point = 1 coin (if you win) and I had 611 points. No mention of a cap anywhere. And I was well in the lead, but even spent 30 coins to do the double points boost, thinking it would increase my winnings, but totally wasted those coins in the end. Customer service just gave cut/paste responses and thanked me for my input, but refused to return even my 30 coins, let alone give me the coins I won.

That dumb display of horrible service took all the fun out of the game, and over something so small. But Zynga is greedy and doesn’t care about scamming you to make you buy more in-app coin packages (coins are required to play any puzzle other than the daily one). The puzzles were too easy anyway, with half the clues being reused over and over in every puzzle. I deleted CrosswordsWithFriends and found some better crossword games that don’t mislead the player and try to get you to spend more money with ripoff schemes.

by Aquaman1066

I like puzzles and while this crossword puzzle does seem easy, it's still "words" and that is fun. The "link" to Facebook is a BIG turnoff. No Facebook, no bonus points. Facebook wins out over getting friends to play. So it defeats the whole idea. The ads are an irritation. If you seek extra points, and watch some of the ads there often is a total failure. The ads freeze the game; one must start completely over. Promised bonus points are not awarded. Continued denial to earn points counts as seeing an ad and one ultimately loses points. When notified of the problem the response is, “we are working to make the needed improvements”. So far, 6 months, nothing is changing. Sad! The puzzle is very good, the rest, really needs improvement.
Unable to go to one star. Still disappointing in terms of earning coins to play. The program to earn free coins is never available. Ads run after a game, but no rewards for putting up with the ads. Let's fix the problems. Puzzles are nice, and are difficult if one is not "up" on a lot of current tv, movies, music, and social media. I like the puzzles, it's the problems that are in need of improvement.

by JTPHOENIXGA

I like playing this game, but it angers me when I lose my streak because of an issue with the game. Ten times now I’ve lost my streak and the game has started me over. I’m currently on level 56, been playing this game for years and it’s odd that this issue keeps happening. I’ve complained about this issue, along with the issue of the game not allowing the user to earn free coins by watching ads, yet “support” is non-existent. I don’t know if this issue is because the “developers” don’t want the user earning free coins for having long streaks or what, but it’s just odd that this happen every so often, after I’ve had long streaks that have gone over two-hundred days and then BAM, I get started over.

Apple, I urge you to look into the going-ons of this game/app and see why there’s so many issues. If I’m having issues, I assure you, other users are having issues also. If the “developers” and “support” won’t assist with solving some of these issues, then pull the game from CrosswordsWithFriends Store until they get the bugs out.

by Slim_kt

I played DCC for a couple years before the switch and am happy to say that I didn’t find many massive changes I was terribly bothered by. However, there are some minute details that need mulling over and fixing.

I cannot, no matter how many times I try, earn free coins. I only get a message that says it’s unavailable and to try again later. I don’t know if I’m the only user unable to access that feature, but if I am, I would love to know why I’m experiencing this with CrosswordsWithFriends .

Also, accidentally paying for the ‘See Wrong’ option is a problem I’ve been having frequently. If you turn it on in one session and then start a new puzzle, the ‘See Wrong’ option is automatically checked and I end up paying, eventually getting halfway through a puzzle before even realizing it’s on. So, I end up paying for a perk I don’t even use as long as I have coins. DCC automatically reset it so that you had to manually click the button if you wanted to pay. Bring that feature back!

by Pail Gal

I play this game almost every night and enjoy it thoroughly.

My only complaint is when wanting to play for free coins by watching a video/ad, the banner that drops down saying that that choice isn’t available and to try later, that banner drops down way too often making it so frustrating that I have to halt playing; almost makes me want to stop playing the game at altogether!

Jillsy

Thanks so much for fixing the above-referenced problem. Now the banner drops very infrequently and the game is, once again, a blast to play 😃!

Jillsy

The game’s a blast and all bugs seem to have been eradicated—yeah! 😉

Jillsy

I continue to love ❤️ this game and play every night religiously. There had been an issue with the game not being able to be played as originally set up; the bugs were fixed and the game was playable! The bugs seem to be back; please fix this issue again as I want to get back to playing this game as before!!!!

Jillsy

Continue to love 💕 playing but when I want to watch the ads to win free coins but half the time I only get 2-3 tries instead of 6. Please please fix as I want to continue to play and enjoy the game!!!

Jillsy

Still love 💕 playing this game but the ability to win coins after watching ads is still iffy in it working. When that is fixed I’d give this game a 5.

Jillsy

Love the game but please fix the free ad watching to win coins; it always seems to be broken to some degree. Fix this and the game gets a 5!!!

Jillsy

by MtrMaid68

Have been playing and enjoying Crosswords with Friends for years. Do like the new interface, but disappointed with a couple of things.

First, the leaderboard no longer lists the folks I had been playing with for so long. I suspected that they are still using an older version, but a friend who has this latest version installed on her mobile device (same iOS version as my mobile device) is not listed either. I wouldn’t think I’d have to invite her to be on my leaderboard as that was not previously the case, but I could be mistaken.

Secondly, since this same friend no longer appears on my leaderboard, I text her my timings using the Crosswords with Friends app. The problem is the times displayed for every puzzle I play and then text her is inconsistent. What comes up in the text message is some random three digit number that doesn’t, in any way, represent my times. I assume this is a bug the developers will address some time in the future.

by Sanuela

When the game owners changed I was concerned of course and then shocked to see how much it cost for a hint and to play a previous puzzle but was pleased to see how accommodating they were to earn coins for watching ads! I hadn't had the difficulties I had read about. Well that has all changed. I barely get to watch two ads and it stops any further viewing at this time, sometimes I can't watch any and sometimes I don't get the coins. In addition I believe the clock is selective with regard to the ten minute mark although there really isn't any reason to care because rewards of any value are few and far between. I would much rather have free hints or coins than badges any day! Last, I have noticed in a couple of puzzles very recently answers that I have NEVER heard of. I admit I'm not the most knowledgeable when it comes to vocabulary but I'm fairly well read and to see a word that doesn't ring a bell somewhere is rare for me. Finally if the coin issue isn't resolved I will delete this game. It's very sad because I have played this daily for a very long time and enjoyed it a great deal!

by Vermont Lippy Lady

I have played Celebrity Crossword for years, but when I had to switch over to this game, it was like starting all over again. In some ways that was ok, because I got many coins in the beginning. But now even though it says in my stats I have played this 61 days in a row, I didn’t get the coins for playing any of the consecutive days.

I agree with someone who was not happy about the hints eating up coins. I hit one by accident, but made no mistakes so didn’t realize it. The next few days I also made no mistakes. It wasn’t until 4 days of losing coins each day, I made a mistake and then noticed it was on, and that my coin numbers were way down.

It would also be good to be more realistic about the tournaments. How can anyone with a life ever win? The top winners, unless I am not understanding something, has to be playing 100s of games in a week!! I guess in this case the old adage that “you have to spend money to get money”, is true. The most stars you can get in a week is 21, so people in the top leader board with hundreds of stars are spending lots of coins to get lots of coins. One week I figured the leader had to play at least 30 puzzles a day!!

But, the clues are fun and just challenging enough to not get boring. I enjoy the bonus puzzles and the chance to win badges ( those are realistic). I do recommend CrosswordsWithFriends to crossword puzzle fans. Unless you are an avid NYTd puzzle solver. Then this is way too easy.

by Campbuny

I have played this for a couple of years. Always enjoyed it till now. It keeps shutting down and I have to start over. It erases all my answers. Yesterday I had to start over 5 times before I could finish it and then only because when I had two blank boxes, I quickly spent 10 coins to fill in the last two letters. If I thought it wouldn’t shut down again, I would have taken a few minutes to to figure it out. Today, I’ve tried to remove it and then put it in again and it is still shutting down almost immediately. I’m not going to keep trying. All other programs I have are working fine. I won’t try more than once to do the puzzle and if it keeps shutting me down, I will delete it permanently in a few days. they fixed the shutting down problem and I am now enjoying it again. I feel it is a good game to keep my brain exercised.

by Meecree

Very entertaining. Surprisingly, it makes me more curious and aware of who and what are involved in various areas of the news that have usually been of very limited interest to me. Thank you for opening the door to new avenues!

It makes me think it’s an opportunity to review my knowledge of current events. It also makes me think about the person or persons who are responsible for developing the puzzle itself. For example, so many expressions are commonly used in my particular part of the country, which isn’t a very large or well-known part and yet no matter what, it seems that we share a similar knowledge in their usage. It’s fun to realize we have a connection, no matter which part of this wonderful country we have grown up in. I don’t know if this makes sense when I see what I have written, but I have laughed when a correct answer is a word or thought that I believed was strictly a part of my hometown and not familiar with a heavily populated or sophisticated area.

by Rgray65

It’s a fun game to play and I love the “extra” puzzles that they have every week to earn badges & extra letters and such. To win more coins to spend, you can watch ads, but...sometimes the game doesn’t give you your coins that you’ve earned after you’ve watched the ad. There have been plenty of times that I’ve given up watching when I noticed that I wasn’t being credited the coins. Why waste my time? Otherwise, it’s a fun game to play and I love to play it daily.
UPDATE: I absolutely HATE the Word Seeker Mini Games that they occasionally put out. You scan on the letters to make words and your words aren’t even on the list. And then their words are words that don’t make any sense or you’ve never even heard of. It’s frustrating. I don’t play those word seeker games anymore when they pop up on the Home Screen. I’ll forgo the badge and “prizes” that you get when you play that mini game.

by AstrosFan555

The puzzles are fun and challenging. The only complaint that I have is when you go to “watch videos” for extra coins, I continuously receive error messages that there aren’t any videos to watch. This is long before you receive the “reach your limit” message. I wish that they would fix that because it’s extremely irritating! They also have these ads which have lasted at least 5-minutes and you can’t skip it because then CrosswordsWithFriends locks and you don’t receive any credit. If any of these ads last longer than a minute, you ought to at least 10 credits instead of the insulting 5 credits! What else is irritating, is writing down a nickname that they want to use before sending a review. Another thing that is irritating is NOT receiving the credits after you watch these ads! However, you have to pick one that hasn’t been used!!! You know how many people use CrosswordsWithFriends?!! This is ridiculous!!!
It’s been over 3 months and guess what, the issues still aren’t fixed! With one exception, haven’t seen anymore of those infomercials.

by Gigi~66

Have been playing for sometime but in last few days keeps shutting down, and then you have to keep buying, yesterday it shut down three times before I could finish the puzzle and tonight it shut down twice, I have bought coins several times but if it's going to start messing up I will quit playing. Last week would have give 5 stars but not now. I bought 500 coins yesterday and I have already lost 20 last night and 60 tonight because the game keeps shutting down and every time you start over it takes 20 coins, also an ad about oil keeps coming on and usually that's when it shuts down! I've enjoyed playing this game but I'm tired of losing money! On 9/8/19 I had to update before I could get on app, I did and since then I cannot get app on my I pad, I have several coins on CrosswordsWithFriends that I just recently bought, need to fix problem!

by GONSF

Update Jul 25, 2021. Not sure why the interface for this game was completely changed. It is glitchy and harder to read and find things. e.g. 1) During games with items awarded, when I finish the word, it doesn’t go to the next word. It just randomly goes somewhere else. And some squares aren’t white, they turn pink. 2) I don’t get a message at the end of a game that something is wrong if I’ve messed up somewhere. It used to tell me. Now it just sits there using up the clock until I figure it out. 3) I have to click on each puzzle pack to see how many coins I need to finish it. This used to be easily seen on one screen. Too much back and forth between screens.
Developers, what happened to regression testing??

Update Aug 5, 2020. Ever since the last update, coins are not awarded for completing a puzzle pack. And I’ve searched and searched and can’t figure out who to send a request to! Crosswords are always a good way to pass the time. This game is easy and straightforward. I just wish there was a way to know if someone accepted or rejected your invite.

by GK In Webster, NY

As much as I love doing the daily puzzle and occasional extra games, it’s getting more and more frustrating that the videos you can watch for extra coins don’t add into your total after watching the entire video. The Not Available is also annoying as it’s become more common than videos being available. This is getting worse and worse. Update: 5/8/20 The videos have been better in the last few weeks. Points are adding in correctly but getting notice that a video isn’t avail and to try later is still happening. Update: 3/8/21 Once again, the videos are not available. If you sign off completely and back on, you might get one. Very frustrating.
Update 7/5/21: Getting videos had improved but sometimes still necessary to completely sign off and log back on to continue.

by Pulpfictionfan

I play this pretty much every day and I really enjoy it. The puzzles are pretty simple and I feel like I am exercising my mind. There are some rewards for various goals, like some of the rewards offered for solving puzzles on a regular basis, that make it even more fun, because who doesn't enjoy a challenge? That is what helps draw people to the game, right? However, some of those goals are pretty hard to earn. If the rewards are not worth the effort, or if they are too out of reach, the added draw no longer a draw.
There are some reasonable options on earning coins if you don't want to pay for the game. It is more expensive to play this game than buying a magazine of puzzles in the store, and both of those options have their own benefits.
If I were designing this game I would work toward getting more people to play by keeping the cost to play down so more people want to pick it up and play it. The fact that it's an offshoot of Words with Friends only makes Crosswords with Friends more enticing.
I hope the creators keep up the good work!

by Rosebitz

Fixed the ad loading issue but now it takes 2 to 3 taps to activate. Second, why does it take up to30 seconds to recognize puzzle completed? Puzzle incorrect is instantaneous. You have to know that I’m within two letters of correctly finishing. Why not show a thermometer of completeness?

They stopped allowing points for ads. Every other app never has a issue with displaying ads. This one can’t display more than one in a day. Can only get 5 points a day. If you make me wait 30 seconds to see ad can’t load, I should get the points anyway. Seeing ad cant load is very irritating.

Fun to beat the timer but too easy to lose points. Points are too hard to get. Should get extra points if beat the best time. Watch ads should give more points and not be limited to one a day. Winning a badge should give more points than it takes to accomplish. Video not available should still give points.

by MMSLVN

Hello App Developers,
I have been playing this game for almost two months and enjoying it quite a bit. Two things that trouble me are: scoring for the tourney is haywire sometimes, and just last night ‘Win Weekly Tournament” in “Achievements” changed
From 5000 coins to 20 coins - and I am finally in a position to win! Coins have to be collected by winning or placing in the top three in the tourney, in the Achievements section, by watching ads, or by buying them. It seems to me that lowering the prize amounts in Achievements is not a good idea. Also, the scoring needs to be looked at —— yesterday I had three puzzles awarded “+-4” (I was “doubling” points at the time)! My tourney total actually lowered by 8 points after each puzzle. Sometimes I get extra points and I have no idea why. I would appreciate fixing these issues —-perhaps before 3pm CST Dec. 2nd —-the end of this week’s tourney!!! 😊. My goal this week is those 5000 points for a first time winner! Thanks.