Verithiathe honest score on any app
Updated July 2026 · real, multi-region App Store reviews
Head-to-head

Lily’s Garden vs Merge Gardens

Lily’s Garden 4.8★ · Free + IAP 65
Winner Lily’s Garden
Merge Gardens 4.6★ · Free + IAP 55

Lily's Garden is the better choice for players seeking a more stable experience with responsive customer support, despite its aggressive monetization and ad issues, while Merge Gardens struggles with recent technical glitches and a less forgiving free-to-play model.

Full reviews: Lily’s Garden · Merge Gardens

Lily's Garden offers an engaging story and graphics, but is plagued by frequent ad-related crashes and aggressive in-app purchases. Merge Gardens, while also having an enjoyable core gameplay, has recently suffered from significant technical issues, particularly with Apple Pencil functionality, and a perceived shift towards a less free-to-play friendly model.

Head to head

Features & Gameplay tieR2R4R6R7
Lily’s Garden Users praise Lily's Garden for its engaging storyline, beautiful graphics, and challenging yet fun gameplay, with some enjoying the mini-games R2. However, many are frustrated by the game's increasing difficulty, which often pushes them towards in-app purchases, and misleading ads that promise mini-games not present in the app R4R6R7. There are also complaints about the game becoming too focused on side quests and purchases .
Merge Gardens Merge Gardens is described as fun, relaxing, and addictive, with players enjoying the core merge mechanics and story . However, players report that progression becomes extremely slow and difficult at higher levels, often requiring significant spending or making tasks feel 'cruel' R64R73. Some also find the game visually cluttered and overwhelming, with annoying bird movements .
Ease of Use & Stability tieR1R3R10R13
Lily’s Garden Lily's Garden is frequently criticized for stability issues, including crashing, freezing, and ads that prevent game progression R1R3R10R13. Some users also report losing progress or purchased items due to these glitches R13. There are also complaints about too many updates and periods of no new content .
Merge Gardens Merge Gardens has recently faced widespread issues with Apple Pencil functionality, preventing users from moving objects, which significantly impacts gameplay for many long-time players R65. The game also suffers from frequent crashes, especially after merging items or completing puzzles, leading to lost bonuses and progress .
Price/Value & Monetization edge: Lily’s GardenR1R3R4R7
Lily’s Garden Many users feel Lily's Garden is a 'money grab' and 'ridiculously expensive,' with levels designed to push players into spending money, sometimes hundreds of dollars R4R7. Pop-ups for in-app purchases and side quests are frequent and insistent . Ads are a major source of frustration, often breaking the game or being unskippable, making ad-watching for rewards counterproductive R1R3R10.
Merge Gardens Merge Gardens is criticized for becoming less free-to-play friendly over time, with later levels and essential features (like opening baskets or hangers, or getting mystery eggs) requiring gems, which are scarce for free players R64R73. The removal of previously free features, like the magnifying glass, in favor of paid alternatives (magnets) is a point of contention . Ads also malfunction frequently, disrupting gameplay and negating rewards R62.
Customer Support edge: Lily’s GardenR12R33R34R41
Lily’s Garden Reviews for Lily's Garden are mixed regarding customer support. Some users praise it as 'excellent' and 'super responsive' R41. However, others report no response to emails or problems, or difficulty finding contact information R12R33R34.
Merge Gardens Merge Gardens users report that customer support often provides generic, unhelpful responses to complaints . There is no specific feedback on response times or alternative contact methods, but the lack of resolution for persistent issues like the Apple Pencil bug suggests a less effective support system.
Pick Lily’s Garden if

You prioritize an engaging storyline and graphics, and are willing to tolerate frequent ad-related glitches and aggressive monetization in exchange for potentially responsive customer support R41.

Pick Merge Gardens if

You enjoy merge-style gameplay and are comfortable with the challenges of a less free-to-play friendly progression, provided recent technical issues, especially with Apple Pencil support, are resolved .

Evidence note: Both apps are free with in-app purchases. The negative reviews for both apps largely stem from free-tier friction, particularly concerning ads and the push towards spending money. Merge Gardens has a significant number of recent negative reviews related to a specific technical bug (Apple Pencil not working) which heavily skewed its recent user sentiment.

Frequently asked

Do Lily's Garden and Merge Gardens have technical issues?
Yes, both games have significant technical issues; Lily's Garden is frequently reported to crash, freeze, and have non-closing ads R1R3R10, while Merge Gardens has recently experienced widespread problems with Apple Pencil functionality and frequent crashes, especially after updates R65.
Are these games expensive to play without spending money?
Both games are perceived as expensive to play without spending money, with users reporting that Lily's Garden often pushes players to make in-app purchases to progress R4R7 and Merge Gardens becoming less free-to-play friendly at higher levels, requiring gems for essential features R64R73.
Do the ads in Lily's Garden and Merge Gardens cause problems?
Yes, ads in both games frequently cause problems; Lily's Garden users report ads blacking out the screen, blocking progression, and forcing game restarts R1R3R10, while Merge Gardens users also experience malfunctioning ads that break the game and destroy streaks R62.

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. [R2] Lily’s Garden 5/5 · US Cute Game!: This is a fun and entertaining game!
  2. [R4] Lily’s Garden 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
  3. [R6] Lily’s Garden 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.
  4. [R7] Lily’s Garden 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
  5. [R1] Lily’s Garden 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
  6. [R3] Lily’s Garden 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!
  7. [R10] Lily’s Garden 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.
  8. [R13] Lily’s Garden 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.
  9. [R12] Lily’s Garden 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.
  10. [R33] Lily’s Garden 3/5 · GB Please: I was completely enjoying this game until I got kicked from it. Some kind of error and when I message tactile about it, no response
  11. [R34] Lily’s Garden 1/5 · US Once again, trapped by ads that WILL NOT go away , locking up game: LIARS saying bugs fixed!: Nice game but ads suck and have prevented me from playing game by locking up screen for extended periods of time . Ready to delete in frustration AnD No CUsTOMER SUPPORT EVER. No way to contact, just more advertising. Shame on you.
  12. [R41] Lily’s Garden 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!
  13. [R65] Merge Gardens 4/5 · US Long time player: Why can’t I use my apple pen to move objects 😭I rarely play anymore just because of this!
  14. [R64] Merge Gardens 2/5 · US the more you play, the more it’s not free to play friendly: at later levels you need to open basket or hangers WHICH need gems to open OR you can pay gems to skip it… then other levels you need mystery eggs which (who would’ve guessed) needs gems… between using gems on levels and quest to level up, there’s just not enough as a free to play player to use without paying which is why the game require
  15. [R73] Merge Gardens 1/5 · US It used to be fun but…: I used to enjoy playing the game, typical merge game but with a purpose. I was progressing through the game until I got to a section that I couldn’t open unless I paid for it, $20.00. Nope. Then the updates came along, now to figure out where the mergable items are, you have to pay for that option. Nope. I’ve played this game for about three years. I’m deleting it. I d
  16. [R62] Merge Gardens 4/5 · US Broken ads: Fun game, but extremely frustrating to have streak rewards and incentivize streaks and ads to continue the level when half of the ads break the game and force you to exit the game, destroying your streak

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