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Updated July 2026 · real, multi-region App Store reviews
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The verdict on

Plants vs. Zombies™ 2

45
User verdict / 100 High confidence Divided

Plants vs. Zombies 2 is a fun and addictive game with new plants and time travel mechanics, but it is currently plagued by frequent crashes, excessive ads, and aggressive microtransactions that detract from the overall experience.

4.7★ lifetime (432,162) Free + in-app purchases since 2013 by PopCap updated 1.3 mo ago recent negative 55% 120 reviews across 4 regions
Crashes & Bugs Ads & Microtransactions Enjoyable Gameplay Lost Progress
5★201
4★126
3★120
2★118
1★435
recent reviews across 4 regions, vs the 4.7★ lifetime average

Plants vs. Zombies 2 offers engaging gameplay with new plants and time-traveling worlds, appealing to fans of the original. However, recent user reviews highlight significant issues including constant app crashes, an overwhelming number of ads, and a strong push towards in-app purchases for premium content.

What users like

  • Fun and engaging gameplay with new plants and time travel mechanicsR10R17R32R35
  • Offers challenges and strategic elementsR71R8
  • Good design and animation for plantsR27R35

What users complain about

  • Frequent and persistent app crashes, making the game unplayable for many usersR2R4R9R11
  • Excessive and intrusive advertisements, often buggy and requiring app restartsR1R18R25R31
  • Aggressive microtransactions and 'pay-to-win' elements, with many plants locked behind paywallsR1R6R7R25
  • Loss of game progress or purchased items after crashes or updatesR21R37R50R51
  • Difficulty claiming rewards like gems due to bugsR16R18R69R252
  • Game can be too easy or repetitive for some players, especially early onR111R340
  • Lack of customer support or in-app bug reporting optionsR137R139R252

Latest update · v13.2.1

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

The plants have come up with a bold plan - they’re taking over ZCorp! Zomboss has turned the office into a brain-hungry battlefield! Fight through tricky zombie tactics, power up your plants, and show Zomboss who’s boss! NEW PLANT: Thorn Whip - Early Access - 6/8/26 - 6/21/26 ARENA: Thorn Whip Season - 6/22/26 - 7/12/26 Tournament of Champions! - 7/13/26 - 8/9/26 THYMED EVENTS: ZCorp Takeover - 6/8/2026 - 6/28/2026 Summer Nights - 6/29/2026 - 7/19/2026 UPDATES: Bug Fixes, & more!

Recurring themes

Crashes & Bugs negative
Many users report the game frequently crashes, often when trying to load levels, claim rewards, or access features like the almanac or shop. This issue is widespread across various iOS devices, including newer models, and renders the game unplayable for some. The developer's notes mention a new plant and events, but do not address these critical stability issues, which users report as ongoing despite updates.R2R3R4R9
Ads & Microtransactions negative
Reviewers are highly critical of the overwhelming number of ads, which appear frequently between levels and often bug out, preventing users from closing them without restarting the app. Many also express frustration over the aggressive push for in-app purchases, with numerous 'premium' plants and content locked behind paywalls, making the game feel 'pay-to-win' and greedy.R1R6R7R18
Lost Progress negative
Several users report losing significant game progress, including purchased plants and accumulated items, after game crashes, updates, or reinstallations. This issue is a major source of frustration, as there appears to be no easy way to recover lost data.R21R37R50R51
Enjoyable Gameplay positive
Despite the issues, many players still find the core gameplay fun, addictive, and a good continuation of the Plants vs. Zombies franchise. They appreciate the new plants, time-traveling worlds, and strategic challenges.R8R10R17R32

Who it's for

This game is for players who enjoyed the original Plants vs. Zombies and are looking for a similar experience with new plants and worlds, provided they are patient with frequent crashes and willing to tolerate numerous ads and in-app purchase prompts R10R17R32. It is not for users who expect a stable, ad-free experience or who are unwilling to spend money on premium content R4R25.

Evidence note: The recent reviews heavily skew negative, primarily focusing on crashes and monetization issues. While the lifetime rating is high, the recent sentiment indicates a significant decline in user experience. The developer's notes for the latest update do not address the most critical issues reported by users, such as crashes and excessive ads.

Frequently asked

Does Plants vs. Zombies 2 have a lot of ads?
Yes, many recent reviews indicate that Plants vs. Zombies 2 has an excessive number of ads, often appearing after every battle and sometimes bugging out, requiring users to force quit the app R1R31R34R58.
Why does Plants vs. Zombies 2 keep crashing?
Many users report that Plants vs. Zombies 2 frequently crashes, often when trying to load levels, claim rewards, or access various in-game features like the almanac or shop, making the game unplayable for some R4R9R13R15.
Can I get my old progress back in Plants vs. Zombies 2?
Some users have reported losing their game progress and purchased items after updates or crashes, with no clear way to reclaim them R21R37R50R67.

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. [R10] 5/5 · US I love it!!!!!!!!!!!!!: I recommend this game if you have played the first one because there’s lots of new plants and stuff :P and you can time travel:o I’m on only onAncient Egypt still tho.
  2. [R17] 5/5 · US Love it: Why is this so good a mix of plants killing zombies
  3. [R32] 5/5 · US Good game: Im on pirate seas and i had a lot of fun with pvz 2 i love this game its really good!
  4. [R35] 5/5 · US It’s a very great game: All the plants are better than the first one I love the design and animation of the plants. Keep coming up with new plants they will be better than the copycats.
  5. [R71] 4/5 · US Nice but has a major problem: The game is pretty well made and is fun with challenges, but the game is really pay to win. With buying special plants and buying more coins for power ups. So if you plan to play this game then think about if you want spend money or play normally and struggle with how much they throw at you when not everyone wants to spend money.
  6. [R8] 5/5 · US Cool: The dark ages night 18 it’s so hard I spent 36 hours straight trying to beat it
  7. [R27] 5/5 · US Animation: Fixed in update!
  8. [R2] 1/5 · US Why did u scam me: I WANTED TO PLAY THIS GAME AND IT WONT LOAD FIX IT NOW OR IM GOING TO GO CRAZY ABOUT YOU CHEAP CHINESE FRANCHISE THAT SCAMS PEOPLE WITH YOUR FREE LAGGY GAMES THAT BREAK EVERYONES HEART!!!!!
  9. [R4] 1/5 · US Dumb: The game keeps crashing randomly when I do anything that involves internet I hope anyone working on the game get severe paycuts until the game is fixed the paycuts should send their family into poverty
  10. [R9] 2/5 · US Pls fix the game: Every time I kept joining the game it kick me out when I press PLAY it kicks me out just pitch BLACK and CAN YOU PlS FIX THE GAME NOW!!!!! I WANT TO PLAY pls and when I put Wi-Fi it kicks me out but when I don’t put Wi-Fi and to world 2 pirates it kicks me out when I just want to PLAY Please fix the game pls 🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬
  11. [R11] 5/5 · US The game’s a good game but…: The game keeps crashing for whatever weird reason, and it’s very annoying otherwise the game itself, great.
  12. [R1] 1/5 · US Ads and world keys: Too many ads, too many in app purchases and no world keys anymore
  13. [R18] 3/5 · US I hate Marigold in this game even more than PvZ 1: Aside from the adverts, this game is good, but there is one issue that I have, see when I was about to get my 20 gems, that Marigold REFUSED to give me the gems, in 1 hour and 4 minutes, this game and EA owes me 20 gems
  14. [R25] 1/5 · US Gross Greed: Asking users to pay $3 to remove scummy ads for only 30 days? That’s the real crime here. This franchise used to be amazing and now it’s just fallen to greed from every angle.
  15. [R31] 3/5 · US Adds are buggy: I really like playing this game just some of the ads that play definitely the king shot ad bugs to where the X button never shows up and you have to force quit the app every time. There’s just a black bar up Top and the ad doesn’t fit the screen completely blocking the button. Really annoying.
  16. [R6] 5/5 · US Good Game: Everything is great, but the Premium and Seedium plants really bother me. It really pushes you to buy those just to get by a few levels. Still, absolute CINEMA game even to the OST. 5/5 stars all day every day
  17. [R7] 1/5 · US Microtransactions: The newer plants and their animations are lazy, and this game is loaded with microtransactions, if you want to play a better pvz 2, just download a fan game version like refurnished.
  18. [R21] 1/5 · US I lost 10 dollars: I spent $10 in this game and then I went to update it When I updated it. It logged me out, and I can’t play it anymore.
  19. [R37] 1/5 · US Too bad, it was a great game: If this review was last year I would give it five stars. But I had to upgrade my iPad and now it’s says I have two profiles. I hit the one that said I had 175 plants, etc. some of which I purchased. But it wants me to start over with no plants. So I tried the second one, just in case, and same thing. I spent a lot of years collecting plants and upgrading them, I have
  20. [R50] 3/5 · US Updates: Hi I deleted this game years ago and I was all the way up to the future level and had lots of plants that I had and purchased. Now I redownloaded it but it won’t bring it back. Is there a way that I can get that reclaimed?
  21. [R51] 3/5 · US THIS GAME STOLE MY PLANT FOOD EFFECT!: this game is fun.. i know it, but it ended with this… i was playing extra hard modern day, you find it in the event tab of quests. I made a defense for the brick head zombies, i placed a row of primal walnuts, that had free plant food effect ( from zen garden ) but when i placed it and began, IT DIDNT GET THE PLANT FOOD EFFECT! and when i restarted, boom! The
  22. [R16] 1/5 · US Can’t claim the gems: Fix your game I’ve lost quite a lot of gems because it refuses to let me claim the fricken 10 gems that I earned from completing all the daily tasks I am owed those gems
  23. [R69] 1/5 · US Bug but can’t report so: This is just so the devs can see it but there’s a bug where I can’t collect the 10 gems for doing 8 daily activities and yeah as someone who uses his gems for stuff it’s kinda crummy so till they fix it 1 star booooo bad game bug hurry up ea and fix it
  24. [R252] 3/5 · GB Good game but bungs: The game is good but doesn’t always give you your rewards. There isn’t anywhere to ask for help
  25. [R111] 3/5 · US underwhelming: game’s good, but feels WAY too easy, so easy that it’s boring, js started the game so I can’t say much, but dude, the gargantuar is literally a basic zombie but with a little more hp, idk what pvz1 did, but they did something right! this game has been heavily nerfed for little tiny kids, anyone know who says this is hard just has a insane skill issue, why did they need to add a upgr
  26. [R340] 3/5 · GB Good game, gets boring after the first couple of worlds: Pvz2 is a great sequel to pvz1 but after playing the first couple words I get so bored and the main negative thing with most of not all of the 2D pvz games if they’re terribly repetitive!! I swear I would literally be fried if I played any 2D pvz games for more than 2 hours at most
  27. [R137] 3/5 · US Has a bug/ can’t contact anyone about it.: I really enjoy playing this game! Unfortunately, it has been kicking me out of the game and it’s really annoying! I can’t seem to contact anyone about it! It’s a nice pass time but with this bug I’m going to delete it!
  28. [R139] 3/5 · US Crashing in Arena level 6/9/26: Great game, but unfortunately, it has been crashing this week at the arena and experimental arena levels on my iPad. The game itself is one of my favorites, but these crashes are annoying and interrupt the experience. I also found that there is no way to report the issue in the app itself, and the website,s support page only offers a list of topics unrelated to my p
  29. [R3] 4/5 · US Bug: It keeps kicking me out when I try going into the almanac for the first time.
  30. [R34] 1/5 · US advertisement: Too much advertisement
  31. [R58] 4/5 · US No “x” on Ads: I love this game but a lot of the ads don’t have an x button, making me close the app and open it again. It’s getting annoying
  32. [R13] 1/5 · US This game is good but..: This game is very fun to play but it has its cons… And the thing I’m focusing on is the lack of attention to some bugs that have not been fixed for years! Sometimes my game randomly crashes and I don’t know why. I have the ninth generation of iPads. If the OG owners of this game were here still I think they would do better of a job of fixing big bugs than you would ever do
  33. [R15] 3/5 · US This game has pros and cons: One of the pros are that the game is extremely fun but in contrary, the game crashes way too much to enjoy properly. Please fix this for mobile. Thanks!
  34. [R67] 1/5 · US I want my account back: Love this game but my account randomly dissapeared and all the stuff that I got and spent my money on is gone horrible.

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