The Sims™ FreePlay
The Sims FreePlay offers an engaging simulation experience, but recent critical update issues and long task times significantly detract from its value, making it hard to recommend paying for at this time.
The Sims FreePlay is a long-standing simulation game with a loyal fanbase, praised for its engaging gameplay and customization options R10R52. However, recent updates have caused widespread issues, preventing many users from accessing the game or losing progress R1R2R5. The game also faces criticism for its long task times and expensive in-app purchases, which many feel are necessary to progress or customize fully R18R43R74.
Free vs paid
The free version of The Sims FreePlay allows players to build cities, create characters, and engage in various life simulations . Many users enjoy the game without paying, citing it as fun and engaging R76. However, progression in the free tier is significantly slowed by long task times, with some tasks taking hours or even days to complete R18R25R43. The paid tier, through in-app purchases ranging from $0.99 to $19.99, offers ways to speed up gameplay, acquire more customization options, and obtain in-game currency like Simoleons, Life Points (LP), and Social Points (SP) R37R62. Players complain that many desirable customizations and items are locked behind paywalls or require excessive grinding R66R138. Some users report losing purchased items or in-game currency due to bugs, further diminishing the value of paid content R48R232.
Value complaints
- Everything takes too long, forcing players to pay to speed up progression.R18R25R43R74
- Many desirable customization options and items are not free and require in-app purchases or extensive grinding.R37R66R138R148
- In-game currency (Simoleons, Life Points, Social Points) is hard to earn, and some items are excessively expensive.R37R62R78R99
- Players report losing purchased items or in-game currency due to bugs.R48R232
- Forced ads for simple tasks, even after buying social points.R24
Where it delivers
Evidence note: Recent reviews are heavily skewed towards negative experiences due to critical update issues, while positive reviews often come from long-term players or those who haven't encountered these specific bugs. The lifetime rating of 4.58 reflects a historical positive sentiment that is not currently matched by recent user feedback.
Frequently asked
Is The Sims FreePlay actually free?
Why can't I download the latest update for The Sims FreePlay?
Does The Sims FreePlay have long waiting times?
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.
- [R18] It’s okay: What I don’t like about this game is that every thing takes more than 3 hours so please make the waiting time shorter
- [R25] Always green: I have food sitting for real weeks, because they never spoil and no one is ever hungry… sometimes I make food to build my hobby then toss them out when I run out of surface space because no sim ever needs food… a lot of the tasks take long real time hours sometimes tasks can take a whole 24 hours or more. So you’re kind of just waiting with nothing to do because the Sims need nothing
- [R43] Too slow: Making this game in real time and requiring money to be spent for alot of things was the worst idea! I love sims and have been played them on PlayStation and pc for over 20 years and I must say Sims FreePlay is the worst. It takes forever to progress making it easy for a lot of the players like myself lose interest.
- [R74] Don’t waste your time: The people that made this game are greedy. Make it free. It’s sims free play. And stop making us bust our butt all day to get ONE progression quest done.
- [R37] New update won’t download: The game is a gotcha - EVERYTHING individually costs money. Even the packs for furniture/build items that you purchase with your real money cost so much in game (whether its simoleans, life points or social points) it’s hard to access. EA seems to think windows should cost 100k EACH. Now, I can’t download the new update. I’ve updated and restarted my device, turned WiFi
- [R66] This game is for you: This game is so chill and fun !If you like the .Sims you will love this game I wish it had more customize that was free but I still love this game.
- [R138] Annoying: I feel like you guys are greedy. Just let us be able to enjoy the game with all the customizations instead of having to earn things. It’d be so much better. Most frustration comes from limited initial options. And paying to get money out? Like cmon.
- [R148] Okay: Needs more clothing and body modification options
- [R62] Sims FreePlay: This game is great! I’ve played it for so many years and I still love it to this day! I just wish that it had a money cheat, because it’s really hard to do certain things in the game without a good chunk of money. Other than that, it’s awesome! I hope this one doesn’t get removed because I have so much progress and I’ve spent hours building and creating things!
- [R78] Very fun just expensive: This is a great and functional project that is really fun to play but it cost your sims income just to raise/age your child which can get annoying but overall it’s a good experience to play
- [R99] Love it: Ok so I really love this game but I feel like some stuff takes forever and it’s a bit pricey to do stuff also I think it would be fun to have mini games like curing patients at a hospital or baking but not like watching your sim do it but like actually doing the stuff also I feel like it takes forever just to level up your sims age like I don’t want to be stuck with a baby sim for ages p
- [R48] READ MORE: GREAT GAME in general but, whenever I buy something using the life crystals or whatever it just took the life crystals, but it did not give me the ring. It was the wedding ring. I didn’t use it right away. I just bought it so what are you gonna fix this? Are you not gonna fix this? What’s gonna happen cause I might delete it and this happens with a lot of things just being clear
- [R232] Sims: I love this game but this new update to the free play may have some glitches. I find too often my cash/coin rewards are not always given to me. I've lost lost a lot of social points I purchased with candles during a crafting challenge. I would buy a capsule with candles and it says I got socials points but when I claim them it's never rewarded to me. Same with simoleon cash. I used keys that
- [R24] STUPID ADS!: They now make you watch an ad instead of using social points for simple tasks??????? WHAT WAS THE POINT OF BUYING THEM?? i hate companies that force us to watch stupid ads to download games that are just full of ads. So disappointed in the creators for the app, shame on you. we just want to build homes and live in a fantasy world with puppies? why do you take advantage of us.
- [R10] The #1 game ever!: So I’m like a month in and I’m already at level nine! My friend sam bojangles (that’s her YouTube channel. Go check it out!) and I’ve been playing it non stop for a while now! It’s my favorite game ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
- [R47] So good: you need to get it it’s definitely one of the funniest games I’ve had in a long time
- [R49] Sims: It’s so fun
- [R55] FUNNNNN: This game is literally amazing and sooo fun I could not stop playing it and it teaches you a lot about life and how sometimes it is not perfect butttt there is a bunch of funnn exciting things to
- [R52] Amazing!: The game is amazing! When I first got this game, I played it every day! The customization is amazing, but it would be cool if they added new hair like a pixel cut, wolf cut, bangs, and much more. It would be cute if the game added cute accessories for clothes and other things, but other than that, the game is amazing! Totally worth it
- [R67] good: It’s fun and it’s also appropriate for kids because well a little bit because they were in the shower they blurt it out so they can’t see any thing and you can build house houses build new characters and yeah this is an awesome game .
- [R108] The sims free Play: I enjoy this game a lot it is fun game to play but I Wish it was more options to put more accessories on the sims face like earrings, more tattoos to place at instead of one , More options on piercing belly piercing’s , nose piercing’s and more ear piercing’s like a lot of options for the game to be even better I been playing this game sense I was young , it’s really a interest
- [R76] I love this game so much: I love this game so much and, there is no ads so I can just relax and just play the game without having any distractions or ads this is why I love and rate this game 5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️So I urge you to download and play this game, it is just so fun and amazing and awesome 🤩. Thank me later
- [R85] Soooooo fun: It’s the best time in the whole entire world for everyone and they have no ads but you get to choose if you want ads it’s so fun and also you get to have children in the game
- [R46] Sims FreePlay play: This is the best interactive sims game since Sims4..yes so great, I love new quest, challenges etc.. I play this game everyday… worth downloading…
- [R100] My favorite: I’ve been playing since 2015.. I’ve lost a lot. Put in a lot of money lol.. glad they finally added more levels was stuck on 55 level for yrs.. happy simming simmers…
- [R61] My favorite game: It’s funny fun and good for ages 7 years and up that’s my opinion it’s such a good game and it’s free so great deal
- [R1] Update Doesn’t work!: Definitely not my storage as I have hundreds left. Not my internet either as I have a goos connection. Stuck at error.
- [R2] Bug: Bug,bug,bug. I don’t know what happened with this new update,but now I can’t even open the game fully. The loading screen has now gotten stuck in a loop of telling me there was a load error & my current credentials cannot be accessed.
- [R3] Update issue: I picked this game back up after years of not playing it and it was fun again until this new update came now I can’t even play the app anymore
- [R4] Cannot access after update: I love this game and have been playing for years on my iPad, but recently I cannot access the game with Wi-Fi, I have to connect via Bluetooth to my phone for cellular, now all the sudden it won’t let me even do that so I cannot access years worth of gameplay, such a shame because I absolutely love this game, but if there is no resolution I might as well step away from
- [R77] Building supplies take to long: There needs to be a better way for a player to get building supplies than the painstaking long process of getting them ever so often from the community garden. This slows the game down WAY to much
- [R5] Your update failed: I’m writing this review. I’ve been playing for 20 years. I finally got to level 66. I worked hard on this game and your new recent update would not load it hasn’t loaded in 48 hours. It isn’t doing anything. I cannot report a problem because it’s stuck on the screen I don’t care who designed this game. You do not have the people’s interest at heart it used to be fun to play. Yo
- [R9] One thing after another 😔: I really enjoy the game however what happened to all the romance options? Also I had to start over after the new update. So I essentially lost everything. I could not get anything back. 😭If this happens again in the next update, and the romance options don’t comeback I think it’s sign I should stop playing this game. I was on level 14 and I was on the working on the suns
- [R13] updates: unable to bypass updates, servers shaky. two weeks ago i was demoted from level 17 to level 10 and just worked my way back up in time for the summer updates. now i am unable to bypass the update in an effort to avoid the crowded servers. i am in a loop of incomplete download and have been unable to open the app for the past two hours.
- [R32] New versions just destroyed all my progress: It got updated tonight and since that I can’t open the game
Synthesized from 120 recent App Store reviews · updated July 2026 · View on the App Store