Verithiathe honest score on any app
Updated July 2026 · real, multi-region App Store reviews
The verdict on

Lily’s Garden

55
User verdict / 100 High confidence Divided

Lily's Garden is a popular match-3 puzzle game with an engaging storyline and appealing graphics, but recent updates have introduced significant technical issues, aggressive monetization, and disruptive ads that frequently crash the game or prevent progression.

4.8★ lifetime (271,957) Free + in-app purchases since 2019 by Tactile Games ApS updated 0.1 mo ago recent negative 13% 120 reviews across 4 regions
Technical Issues Ads & Monetization Gameplay & Progression
5★738
4★74
3★60
2★34
1★94
recent reviews across 4 regions, vs the 4.8★ lifetime average

Lily's Garden is a free-to-play match-3 puzzle game known for its relaxing gameplay, engaging narrative, and attractive graphics. However, recent user reviews highlight a concerning trend of technical problems, including frequent crashes and unplayable ads, alongside complaints about aggressive in-app purchase prompts and increasing difficulty designed to encourage spending.

What users like

  • Engaging storyline and appealing graphics keep players invested.R16R19R22R34
  • Puzzles are fun, challenging, and offer variety.R5R24R27R42
  • Relaxing gameplay experience for many users.R4R23R37R209
  • Customer service is responsive and helpful for some players.R15

What users complain about

  • Frequent game crashes and freezing, often linked to ads, lead to lost progress.R38R68R78R79
  • Ads are often broken, unskippable, or prevent exiting the game, forcing app restarts.R2R38R68R84
  • Aggressive monetization pushes players to spend money to progress, especially on harder levels.R28R53R161R188
  • Game often fails to load or gets stuck on the loading screen after updates.R121R149R153R155
  • Ads for the game itself are misleading and do not accurately represent gameplay or storyline.R71R125R194R564
  • Recent updates have negatively impacted gameplay, including changes to booster mechanics and increased difficulty.R186R541R546
  • Some players report losing progress or accumulated items after updates or game crashes.R78R141R154R463
  • Excessive number of pop-ups for side quests and in-app purchases disrupt gameplay.R124R152R189R267

Latest update · v3.73.0

What the developer says changed (the verdict above weighs this against what reviewers report):

Get back to the garden in this week's update! Lily is ready with new levels and the next part of her story! - Bug fixes and performance improvements

Recurring themes

Technical Issues negative
Many recent reviews report frequent game crashes, freezing, and inability to load the game, especially after updates. This directly contradicts the developer's claim of 'bug fixes and performance improvements' in the latest update. Users lose progress and are forced to restart the app.R38R68R78R79
Ads & Monetization negative
A significant number of players are frustrated with broken, unskippable, or overly aggressive ads that often lead to game freezes and force restarts. There are also widespread complaints about the game being designed to push in-app purchases, making progression difficult without spending money. Some ads are also criticized for being misleading about the actual gameplay.R2R28R29R33
Gameplay & Progression mixed
Players generally enjoy the core match-3 puzzles, storyline, and graphics. However, many find the difficulty spikes frustrating, feeling that levels become impossible without purchases. There are also complaints about repetitive levels, changes to booster mechanics, and long waits for new story content.R4R5R9R16

Who it's for

This game is for players who enjoy match-3 puzzle games with a strong narrative and garden decoration elements R16R42. It might appeal to those looking for a relaxing game experience R4R37 and who don't mind occasional challenges R5R24. It is not for players who are sensitive to aggressive in-app purchase prompts R28, frequent game crashes, or disruptive, broken advertisements R2. Players who expect consistent technical performance and fair progression without spending money should likely skip this game R155.

Evidence note: The recent reviews skew heavily negative, focusing on technical issues and monetization. While the lifetime rating is very high, the recent sentiment indicates a significant decline in user experience, particularly concerning stability and ad implementation. The developer's release notes for 'bug fixes and performance improvements' are directly contradicted by numerous recent reports of crashes and loading problems.

Frequently asked

Does Lily's Garden have a good story?
Yes, many players enjoy the engaging storyline and find it a key reason to continue playing, alongside the appealing graphics R16R19.
Is Lily's Garden free to play?
Yes, Lily's Garden is free to download and play, but many users report that it becomes very difficult to progress without making in-app purchases for coins and boosters R28R53R161.
Does Lily's Garden have a lot of ads?
Yes, many players report an excessive number of ads, which frequently cause the game to freeze, crash, or become unplayable because there is no way to exit them R2R68R84.
Are there technical issues with Lily's Garden?
Yes, recent reviews indicate significant technical issues, including frequent game crashes, freezing, and problems with the game not loading at all, especially after updates R38R78R96R155.

What reviewers actually said

Built only from these 120 real reviews (foreign ones translated). Superscripts jump to the quote here. Apple has no per-review links, so [ref] opens that app's reviews on the App Store.

  1. [R16] 5/5 · US Addictive!: Beautiful graphics, lovely choices to decorate, fantastic story. Some of the mini games can be tough, but it wouldn’t make any sense to play if they all were easy to solve! Love it, BUT it’s such a pain to have to wait a whole week to continue to the next level ! I use the squirrel games between levels to kinda “practice” for the real thing, but sometimes it takes so long to get a n
  2. [R19] 4/5 · US Enjoyable but…: There is a lot to like about this game, especially the storyline and graphics; however, there is one thing I find very frustrating, to the point where I just close out of it! It’s the ads! Now I do understand why they have them and can actually tolerate some of them, have even added some. The problem is the repetition! Having to watch the same ones over and over again is maddening
  3. [R22] 5/5 · US Excellent Game: I love this game and storyline
  4. [R34] 5/5 · US Fun: Love this game and the story lines are really interesting
  5. [R5] 5/5 · US Fun and challenging: Great game!!
  6. [R24] 5/5 · US Love it so addicting!: Really fun! Love that is challenging but hate it at the same time when I’m stuck on a level for 5 days straight lol it’s a love/hate relationship but fun regardless! :) **Update two years later! Still love the game! Still love/hate relationship but enjoy it! **3 year update! Still love it. Love how the story line is progressing. Can’t wait to see what happens! Gosh *4 year u
  7. [R27] 5/5 · US Love this game!: The puzzles are creative and difficult but just when I think I’ve found one that’s too difficult to solve I see the solution. What fun! I enjoy the narrative as well. My husband, however, after playing over my shoulder, finally downloaded his own version of the game just to play the puzzles. 💕
  8. [R42] 5/5 · US The best I’ve seen: Ok so this is honestly the best game I’ve seen of this type. The puzzles are challenging and fun and different enough to keep you engaged. And the little story line is peppered with history and while it’s not going to win any literary awards, it’s cute. The game graphics are the true star here though - the designs are creative, colorful and just plan entertaining to implement.
  9. [R4] 5/5 · US Miss: This is a great game! Very relaxing and a lot of fun. I have it on my iPhone and iPad. I love it
  10. [R23] 5/5 · US Sherry’s review: Fun and relaxing to play
  11. [R37] 5/5 · US Lily’s Garden: It’s such a relaxing and calming game to play! It gets you invested and determined to finish the areas.
  12. [R209] 3/5 · US MsChi: I enjoy this game it’s very relaxing
  13. [R15] 5/5 · US I’ve been playing for years!: I enjoy this game so much. The customer service is excellent. If you have any questions or problems, just ask them. They are super responsive!
  14. [R38] 3/5 · US It’s fun but aggravating because it hangs and crashes.: It seems like some ads are just thrown on the platform with little to zero testing. When you’re playing and have to watch an ad, the ad will stop mid play, and that’s it. You have to cancel out of the game, then start over. Argh!
  15. [R68] 1/5 · US Love it, but ad glitches: I would give it 5 stars, but nearly every 5th or so ad will make it impossible to close out of it- meaning you have to close the game and reopen it to get out. Meaning you ALSO watched the ad for nothing, and can lose coins, or even progress (like watching an ad for +2 moves on a one shot level). This is frustrating enough to dock the review for me.
  16. [R78] 1/5 · US Lily’s Garden: I have been playing this game for a couple of years and it has just gotten more glitchy with time. It keeps kicking me out and this last time I was playing a hard level and had to spend the 99 cents so I could finish the level, no big deal. But I completed the level and then it kicked me out and when I got back in I was back on the same hard level.
  17. [R79] 2/5 · US Frequent crashes: The game stops repeatedly and I lose my progress. It is annoying
  18. [R2] 1/5 · US broken ads: broken ads blacken the screen and block game progression- extremely frustrating- State Farm ad is broken blocks game and never exits, have to quit game entirely totally aggravated as a frozen ad forced deletion of app- won’t be coming back
  19. [R84] 1/5 · US Don’t waste your time: I’ve been playing this game for years, now after the latest update the numerous adds no longer have a way to close it. I waited 10 minutes and still no exit point. It makes game play impossible so don’t waste your time. Seriously, don’t waste your time!!!!
  20. [R28] 1/5 · US This game is designed to steal your money! BEWARE!: It has a great story line so it sucks you. After every try they present you with cheap enough options so you can win. So you click 2.99 then 9.99. Then 14.99 by a he end of the month you have spent well over 100 dollars or more. There is no way to win unless you click and pay. I take responsibility for playing this game and letting them outrigh
  21. [R53] 1/5 · US Money grab: I’ve been playing this game for three years. The graphics are amazing. They changed it up to keep it interesting. Now the bad news, this is ridiculously expensive to play Even the side games, especially merge, works against you, in that not only do you have to earn energy, you have to buy it, and then as you’re playing, they put up obstacles (bubbles were running out of energy again) e
  22. [R161] 2/5 · US Too much money required: I like the game, but then as you keep playing there’s no way you can keep going without spending. VERY frustrating!
  23. [R188] 2/5 · US Love the game: I agree they don’t give enough coins!!!! They also don’t do a lot of what other games do when you reach higher levels with extra bonuses and have unlimited hours of lives like they use to especially when they constantly update the game! It’s fun to play and can be addictive!! I play other games when I’m bored or have free time & I do a lot of comparing!
  24. [R121] 3/5 · US Graphics are scrambled: Currently the game is inoperable. I couldn’t report the problem under the gear icon so thought I would try here. I’ve sent an email but after three days, it’s still not fixed. Not sure if anyone else is experiencing it. Other Tactile games are fine.
  25. [R149] 1/5 · US Trying to report a problem…..: I have been trying to open my game for a week now, but there is a window that pops up stating there is a problem and that it’s been sent to the developers and that the game will close. I try the “report a problem” link below. But there is no option to report an actual problem. No way to contact the developer on their website. They want you to go on to their instagram
  26. [R153] 1/5 · US Fun game until it stops loading after you’re pretty far into the game.: I was enjoying this game and I’m pretty far into it when it suddenly stopped loading. A search on the Internet indicated that numerous people have had this issue over the years. Don’t bother playing you as can’t finish the game.
  27. [R155] 1/5 · US No good: App not loading .its frozen - so much for bug fixes yesterday.- its weeks later-now this garbage game doesn’t work at all - just quit
  28. [R71] 3/5 · US Add lies: I would have given five stars but I’ve been playing this game for years and it does not have mini games, I don’t know why the adds say there are. But other than that it’s a great game and I love playing it and reading the story.
  29. [R125] 1/5 · US Clickbait all the way: The game is nothing like the ads. This plays like any other merger game…also what the heck is with the plot-line for the ads? It doesn’t make me wanna play the game, it just seems like they do whatever and pray it gets attention.
  30. [R194] 3/5 · US False ads, for a great game: This is a great game. Why am I being bombarded with ads (on other games) that have ZERO to do with Lily’s actual storyline or gameplay. Show your actual game. It stands on its own merit.
  31. [R564] 3/5 · CA Why use ads that lie!!: I like this game , it did get monotonous ask the game progressed. Same thing over and over! However I am not writing this review for the game itself, I am writing this review because I just saw the advertisement that every other game is using and I think it’s despicable that the game has to lie about its own game, just goes to show they don’t care, as long as it is played??
  32. [R186] 1/5 · US Annoyed: Been playing this game for years. I liked the simplicity and storylines. I’ve finally reached the point where they changed the combos system (to make them hit hardly anything) and lowered the moves significantly. They created a power flask that you have to activate by winning ten levels in a row. Then they also started dropping the amount of moves per level the later you go. I’m over 15k
  33. [R541] 3/5 · CA Boosters: Game has changed a lot as boosters don’t work like they use to. Trying to force you to pay more money for extras. There are nice things about the game but they are getting greedy
  34. [R546] 3/5 · CA Changed the way power ups work 😡: I’ve played this game for years and matching a potion with a rocket or bomb has always worked great to blast through levels…. But they changed the way they explode (all at once instead of one at a time) and now it is SO hard to win levels! Why did this change after years of game play??? I guess I’ll have to give up on Lily after over 14000 levels. 😩
  35. [R141] 1/5 · US Game Crashes: I’ve been playing this game for years and have accumulated a lot of stars. 3 days ago the game crashed for 2 days (Error in game, developers notified). After it was up and running again, all my stars were gone! The game has been crashing a lot and this is not the first time I’ve lost items that I’ve won or purchased.
  36. [R154] 1/5 · US Update wiped out years of progress !!!: Over level 15,000 and boom did an update and it wiped me out!!!!
  37. [R463] 3/5 · GB A bit annoyed: After playing this game for months I upgraded iPhone and found myself back at the beginning. Not happy
  38. [R124] 3/5 · US Just stop: The amount of pop ups to side quests and to make in and purchases and forcing me to side gaming is ridiculous,
  39. [R152] 3/5 · US Lilly’s garden: A real fun game, but has more ads then I’ve ever seen!!
  40. [R189] 3/5 · US Ok game: Keeps me occupied at times going through chemotherapy it gets annoying when you run out of something and they want you to purchase something but I just ignore it and keep playing.
  41. [R267] 3/5 · GB Too many updates, very annoying: Almost everyday there is a new update, what’s with that. Also, it is not continuous, too many times when I’ve finished a task, there is nothing to do for a few days, until they load more. Adverts are too long too.
  42. [R29] 4/5 · US What Happened To The Ads?: Is it just me or did everyone else lose the capability to watch ads for two extra moves or for extra coins after beating a level? I purchased something ONE time about a month ago and ever since, I’ve lost the option to watch ads. If this weren’t the case, I’d have given this game 5 stars. I’ve been playing this for years!!
  43. [R33] 5/5 · US Good Game: The only problem I saw with this game is I actually paid $3.99 to keep that little dog in the yard and I think it took away my ability to get extra boosters by watching ads. But I think you can play this game without having to spend money I would like it if I could watch ads to get extra coins and boosters.
  44. [R9] 5/5 · US No new Levels: Apparently the game has no new levels for me to earn the stars I need to complete tasks
  45. [R25] 5/5 · US It is really fun to play and it is free to download: I love to play Lily’s garden it fun,easy and last but not least also teaches you new words and it is free
  46. [R96] 1/5 · US Latest update: Game keeps crashing.

Synthesized from 120 recent App Store reviews · updated July 2026 · View on the App Store