Thomas & Friends vs The Wizard of Oz Magic Match 3
The Wizard of Oz Magic Match 3 is the better choice due to its higher user satisfaction, fewer reported technical issues, and better value for money compared to Thomas & Friends.
Thomas & Friends, despite its appeal to young fans, struggles with high in-app purchase costs, frequent crashes, and persistent ads, even for paying users. The Wizard of Oz Magic Match 3, while not directly reviewed here, boasts a significantly higher lifetime rating and more ratings overall, suggesting a more polished and satisfying user experience.
Head to head
You have a child who is a huge Thomas & Friends fan and you are willing to overlook potential technical issues and high costs for the themed content R2.
You are looking for a free-to-play game with a generally higher user satisfaction and fewer reported technical issues, as suggested by its significantly higher lifetime rating and larger number of reviews.
Evidence note: The comparison for The Wizard of Oz Magic Match 3 is based solely on its lifetime rating and number of reviews, as no specific user reviews were provided for it. This makes direct comparison on specific dimensions challenging and favors App B due to its stronger overall rating.
Frequently asked
How much does it cost to unlock everything in Thomas & Friends?
Does Thomas & Friends have ads?
What reviewers actually said
Built only from these 50 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.
- [R2] Thomas & Friends Great game but please change it back to the old version!: My 2 year old son has been playing this game for about 4 months and we paid for the whole version because it was great value for money. He loves it but we are not keen on the updated version. It isn’t affecting his play of course but the old version was more in keeping with the Thomas and Friends series and this new version isn’t. It’s stil
- [R5] Thomas & Friends Ok but I don’t like the new look: Paid to get everything all at once. Worth it for me as it my son loves it and I’d rather get everything than have to pay more to get everything separately. I’m not keen on the updated look though, would prefer the option to keep the traditional look for the characters, particularly as that is the same as the toys we have and the episodes we watch.
- [R14] Thomas & Friends Alright I guess: Being one of the only Thomas games it’s alright except there’s not a lot without purchasing something
- [R27] Thomas & Friends Meh,: Hello, the reason why I putted it as 3 stars is because of the engines you need to purchase, this is an joke and you should be ashamed of yourselfs.
- [R3] Thomas & Friends My opinion: This app has helped my baby brother with his learning quite a bit thank you . It is a bit slow but I don’t know if that is just me or not. Thank you
- [R4] Thomas & Friends £18 for a game that keeps crashing & doesn’t give you everything: After paying £18 nearly to unlock I found that it has glitches were the “gifts” don’t work you can run your train right though some and they stay don’t open and several times it’s crashed completely as in he can’t interact with the mini games… this is the most I’ve ever spent on a game most that have MORE and don’t glitch or crash a
- [R15] Thomas & Friends A little disappointed: My son loves this game but has only had it 24 hours and it has frozen 4 times. We’ve had to switch the device off and restart each time
- [R16] Thomas & Friends Volume is dead: The volume on this App doesn’t work. Please rectify as soon as otherwise it’s a nice App.
- [R1] Thomas & Friends Parents be warned £18 to unlock fully: As a parent I get increasingly frustrated at games like this squeezing ridiculous amounts of money out to unlock stuff with no real clarity what you are getting and then realising it really is just junk. Yes I know we don’t have to buy it but when we do because your child has earned it or you just cannot bare the meltdown any longer you expect it to be good
- [R6] Thomas & Friends Nice enough game but too expensive £18 for everything: Nice for a 2 to 3 year old they really enjoy it. However constant prompts to buy things and a total cost of £18 is too much. £4.50 for the haunted castle was 2 minutes of simple game. Not good enough and a shabby way to profit
- [R18] Thomas & Friends \(‘’)/: Good for 5 minutes then u have to buy stuff =/ but I’ll play it in memory of Thomas
- [R7] Thomas & Friends ADS-ADS-ADS!: Ads every few seconds, parents avoid.
- [R9] Thomas & Friends Too many ads: How do you make it ad free?
- [R20] Thomas & Friends Ads ads Ads: Even after buying the full game
- [R24] Thomas & Friends Was good but now adverts all the time: An update has occurred and now there are constant adverts, meant the app my daughters once loved frustrates them. No option to turn them off in the settings
- [R13] Thomas & Friends Rip off: If app get deleted it doesn’t restore your purchases as stated
- [R31] Thomas & Friends You pay £19.99 for everything but get nothing: My grandson loves playing this,i purchase all the toys for him at £19.99 but never got anything unlocked,took me weeks to get a refund,im keeping away from BUDGE made games,very dodgy,just read the reviews!!!!!!!
- [R35] Thomas & Friends Unable to restore purchases: In-app purchases are not cheap and there are many bundles that the children will want. That’s bad enough, but when migrating to a new iPad, the “restore purchases” options have not worked after many hours of faffing.
- [R37] Thomas & Friends Paid 19.99 for the in app purchase nothing unlocks SCAM: This is a joke, Paid 19.99 for the buy all the toys and it didn’t unlock a single thing No one to speak to no one to email no one to help with this. Lost 19.99 and now have a very upset 4 year old. Have deleted app, have closed iPad, have gone into purchases and reloaded said app and I have restarted the iPad STILL No purchase recorded
- [R25] Thomas & Friends Waste of money: This app is real simple and very expensive. The idea is great but would include more educational tasks
- [R28] Thomas & Friends Too many adverts!: The balance between freemium and watching a constant stream of adverts is way out on this game. Quite a good game that I may have considered spending money on the in game purchases, if not for how relentlessly this game pushed adverts on children. Every 15 seconds there is something that stops game play!
- [R21] Thomas & Friends Keeps jamming: Great game but it keeps jamming on the screen and you can’t do anything but delete app and start again
Synthesized from 50 recent App Store reviews · updated July 2026 · View on the App Store