Head-to-head
Word Collect vs Crossword Jam
Word Collect
65
Winner
Word Collect
Crossword Jam
60
Word Collect and Crossword Jam are both popular free word puzzle games, but Word Collect has a slight edge due to slightly fewer severe complaints about ads and technical issues, despite both suffering from significant ad-related user frustration.
Full reviews: Word Collect · Crossword Jam
Word Collect and Crossword Jam are very similar free-to-play word puzzle games, both highly rated overall but plagued by recent negative reviews regarding excessive ads and technical glitches. While both offer engaging gameplay, Word Collect appears to have a slight advantage in user satisfaction, primarily due to slightly less frequent and intrusive ad complaints compared to Crossword Jam.
Head to head
Word Collect Word Collect is praised for being a great, fun, challenging, and addictive game that helps keep the mind sharp and expand vocabulary R2R5R8. Users enjoy playing it daily and for years . However, some recent updates have been criticized for changing the color scheme, using tiny fonts, and introducing unnecessary features that slow down the game R7. There are also complaints about slang words being accepted .
Crossword Jam Crossword Jam is described as super fun, engaging, challenging, and great for stimulating the mind and expanding vocabulary . It's also noted as perfect for offline play, such as on an airplane, which can reduce ads R71R89. Some users have issues with the background picture being confusing and making it hard to see letters .
Word Collect Word Collect receives numerous complaints about an excessive volume of ads, with users reporting ads after every level, every few seconds, or even mid-typing a word R3R6R9R14. Some ads are full-screen, override background audio, or automatically open the App Store R6R9R14. There are also pop-ups for in-game purchases and side games R14. One user, however, stated it is "not stocked with ads" .
Crossword Jam Crossword Jam is heavily criticized for an overwhelming number of ads, which appear after every game, every few moves, in the middle of puzzles, and even upon opening the app . Many ads are described as too long, crashing the screen, or having intrusive, loud audio that overrides background music even when in-game sounds are off . Some ads are also deemed inappropriate or scam-like .
Word Collect Word Collect users report significant issues with purchased hints disappearing, with support only partially crediting back losses R1. The chat feature is often unusable due to constant refreshing R4. Some players experience game levels resetting R20 or the game freezing and becoming unplayable, sometimes due to forced Game Centre integration R36. There are also complaints about the app draining battery quickly .
Crossword Jam Crossword Jam has numerous reports of glitches, including puzzles repeating after completion, the game shutting down and restarting at whim, or freezing frequently R63. Some users report the game not loading at all or getting stuck on specific levels . Events sometimes stop working, preventing completion .
Word Collect Word Collect support is criticized for taking over two weeks to provide a partial credit for lost purchases and not resolving the underlying issue R1. Users also note a lack of a clear support button R6.
Crossword Jam Crossword Jam receives mixed reviews for support. Some users report excellent service and issues being fixed R86. However, others state they received no reply from customer service after reaching out about issues R91. One user lost all game history after a crash and could not get help R91.
Pick Word Collect if
you are looking for a word puzzle game with a large, active player base and team features, and you are willing to tolerate frequent ads, or consider an in-app purchase to remove them .
Evidence note: Both apps are free with in-app purchases, and the majority of negative reviews for both center on the frequency and intrusiveness of ads, which is a common complaint for free mobile games. The lifetime ratings are high for both, but recent reviews show a significant decline in satisfaction due to these issues. The comparison on ads is nuanced, with Word Collect having slightly fewer severe complaints about ads interrupting gameplay mid-puzzle or being inappropriate, but both are heavily criticized.
Frequently asked
Do these games have a lot of ads?
Can I play these games offline?
Are there technical issues with these games?
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.
- [R2] Word Collect Word Collect:: Great game!!
- [R5] Word Collect Fun: Challenging
- [R7] Word Collect What happened to our 5 star game?: They changed the color scheme and made the word list use a tiny font. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!
- [R8] Word Collect Marge: Best word game ever!!
- [R3] Word Collect Two little game, too much junk: When a game requires me to spend more time watching ads and looking at self-promoting information (“join a club! Start one of your own!”) than I spend playing the game, I quickly lose interest. I tried this game once quite a while ago. Came back to see if it had improved. Very disappointed.
- [R6] Word Collect Excellent Game: This is a great game for passing the time. I’ve enjoyed playing it, but unfortunately there’s a little bar at the bottom of the page showing adverts and if you spend too long trying to figure out the next word the damn advert pops up and fills your screen then you have to hit x to exit. It’s the only thing spoiling the game. It would be nice to have a support button too.
- [R9] Word Collect Great game, advert sound is intrusive, overriding podcast / music: The game has a simple but pleasing mechanic, and is a nice way to relax. Obviously the free game has adverts, I have no problem with ad-funded games, but the advert audio overrides whatever else is playing at the time. Beyond level 100 or so, there is an advert in between every level, and after bonus levels, so it’s not possible
- [R14] Word Collect Shocking: Spend more time closing ads and the auto open App Store than actually using the game . Literally couldn’t even finish 1 puzzle without an add popping up ! Then there’s the constant hounding for buying boosts , side games …. It’s ridiculous
- [R1] Word Collect Hints are disappearing: PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR PURCHASES!!! This game cheats!! When you purchase hints they will initially show in you bank but as soon as you log off and back on they are gone!! It took support over 2 weeks to finally provide me with a credit but it was only half of what I lost. They still have no reasoning as to why this is happening and have not resolved the issue. I p
- [R4] Word Collect Fix chat refreshing: I love chatting with my fellow team members but for the past two months that has been impossible because your chat feature is UNUSABLE pretty much. The chat refreshes and takes us to the most recent chats after every few seconds. It’s impossible to read earlier messages having to constantly scroll up. This seems like a simple code fix. I’m really perplexed as to why you are RE
- [R20] Word Collect Game levels reset: I have been playing this game for quite some time and reach til level 958. My phone dies and after my phone is charged I open this app just to see that the game has taken me all the way back to level 793.
- [R36] Word Collect Frozen on Game Centre: All was going well , reached level 3700 now can't play as I have to join the game centre! Why? I've seen the adverts etc why are you forcing me to join the game centre?? No option but to delete after 3 years of fun.
- [R86] Crossword Jam Response time and assistance: Whenever I have an issue or question about the game, I contact you and have always had excellent service and fixing the issue. Thank you and I really enjoy playing crossword Jam
- [R91] Crossword Jam No customer service: I loved this game and did beautifully until it crashed. I lost all my history even after reinstalling it showed no games won and no countries completed, the only things it continued to show was my 125,000+ games and my 12,000 coins. I tried to get some help to no avail. I decided to keep playing, until I woke up yesterday and had lost over 1000 points in one if the challenges
- [R30] Word Collect Why the change?: I’ve been playing there for a few months. 2 days ago I started getting an ad after every game. Today it’s an Apple ad after every 3 moves. That’s it I’m done. I’m on level 366. Why now? It was such a great game to keep my mind ticking over. Nobody will play this if the adds come up every 3 answers. Hoping this isn’t a greedy developers and is an error. I won’t play again until it’
- [R71] Crossword Jam perfect for the airplane: this works perfect for if you’re on an airplane, or if you have just no Wi-Fi at all instead of most people scrolling through their photos or scrolling through some drafts playing this game. It helps wake up sometimes when I first wake up in the morning, I usually click on this game. It wakes me up a little bit. This has to be the perfect game for me and this definitely w
- [R89] Crossword Jam My go to game: I have been playing this word search for a couple of years. It is my go to game every day. I’ve tried other word puzzles but hated them because too many ads popping up after every game. Totally annoying! This one has ads but not near as many… You can also play offline which is great because then you have no ads whatsoever!
- [R63] Crossword Jam Game is fun but…: There are so many glitches in this game. It’s super frustrating. You complete an entire puzzle, stop to do something else and come back and the same puzzle appears and you have to do it all over again in order to proceed. This happens over and over.
Synthesized from 120 recent App Store reviews · updated July 2026 · View on the App Store