Review Insights · App Store
Code Busters: Word Puzzle Game
Smartronic · 6,217 ratings · ★ 4.6
4.6
★★★★★
6,217 ratings
🎯 Build a better version
Top complaints - extracted from 65 negative reviews
Recurring phrases mined from 1-2★ reviews. The bigger the percentage, the more users have the same problem. Fix the top 2-3 in your version and you have product-market fit on day one.
1
"game"
43 negative reviews mention this · 66% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Nothing like the ad. Game is nothing like the ad. When is someone going to do something about these app companies and their false advertising?" - danbud84
2
"advertising"
10 negative reviews mention this · 15% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Nothing like the ad. Game is nothing like the ad. When is someone going to do something about these app companies and their false advertising?" - danbud84
3
"false"
9 negative reviews mention this · 14% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Nothing like the ad. Game is nothing like the ad. When is someone going to do something about these app companies and their false advertising?" - danbud84
4
"letters"
9 negative reviews mention this · 14% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Buggy and frustrating freemium game that tries to push you to buy temporary boosts. Game is buggy and, like many freemium games, tries to steer you to buy their nonstop cycle of paid upgrades. Would be fun if they got it working well with just their remove-ads fee, but it has many more issues and pushes you to buy a consta…" - phantomius
5
"play"
9 negative reviews mention this · 14% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Buggy and frustrating freemium game that tries to push you to buy temporary boosts. Game is buggy and, like many freemium games, tries to steer you to buy their nonstop cycle of paid upgrades. Would be fun if they got it working well with just their remove-ads fee, but it has many more issues and pushes you to buy a consta…" - phantomius
6
"false advertising"
8 negative reviews mention this · 12% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Nothing like the ad. Game is nothing like the ad. When is someone going to do something about these app companies and their false advertising?" - danbud84
7
"puzzles"
8 negative reviews mention this · 12% of all complaints
★★★★★ "misleading ads, uses ai. ads were/had false advertising; same as all the other phrase-decoding apps, rather than a solve-logic-puzzles-to-find-the-code game, which is what i was hoping for. also uses ai in its icons/assets/art" - grimkeeper64
8
"working"
8 negative reviews mention this · 12% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Buggy and frustrating freemium game that tries to push you to buy temporary boosts. Game is buggy and, like many freemium games, tries to steer you to buy their nonstop cycle of paid upgrades. Would be fun if they got it working well with just their remove-ads fee, but it has many more issues and pushes you to buy a consta…" - phantomius
9
"love"
8 negative reviews mention this · 12% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Daily puzzle doesn’t load. Loved this game, played daily. Ever since the last update however, the daily puzzle when I click on it the puzzle never loads. So daily puzzles are unplayable for me. Takes the fun out of the game when it doesn’t work anymore." - Ruinedpuzzle
10
"clues"
7 negative reviews mention this · 11% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Not what it seems. The ad made it seem like this was a fun picture moving, find the clues game, but it’s just another cryptogram. Not what I wanted." - Shinineko1
11
"games"
7 negative reviews mention this · 11% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Not the game I downloaded. I will never understand games advertising falsely. It is nothing like the ad." - HakeberHooligan
12
"different"
7 negative reviews mention this · 11% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Ad and game are different. Installed based on an ad, absolutely nothing like the ads" - MadQueenMira
📋 All 65 negative reviews
Every 1-2★ review we fetched. Use the copy button to grab them all for your own analysis (paste into ChatGPT/Claude with a prompt like "summarize core user problems, group by theme, ignore bugs, focus on missing features").
Nothing like the ad
Game is nothing like the ad. When is someone going to do something about these app companies and their false advertising?
Nothing like the Ad
I downloaded this based on an ad I saw on Instagram and it’s NOTHING like the game that was in the ad. So misleading, complete waste of time if you’re here from IG
Lies
I’m so annoyed at these advertisements that lie about what the game is to get people to download the game. If you know that is what people want then make that game instead of lying about your boring bs of a game.
Not the game I downloaded
I will never understand games advertising falsely. It is nothing like the ad.
Ad and game are different
Installed based on an ad, absolutely nothing like the ads
Devs: Do YOU think the game is boring?
I can’t figure out a reason that a developer would advertise their game as something it’s not unless they think the game is garbage. This game isn’t even that bad, other than being repetitive and boring, but I will never pay money for a game that has false advertisements. Instead of lying about a game, just develop one that you believe is enjoyable in the first place.
False advertising
Not the same game. Lies and ads
Not the app I downloaded
This is not the same app as advertised. It’s only crypto puzzles.
Deceptive Advertising
Saw a video on social media where you match up shapes to get letters to solve a puzzle. This game is not that at all. It’s a regular old cryptogram, which is fine but NOT what was portrayed in the videos.
False Advertising
Ad showed a completely different set of puzzles. Not what was advertised.
Scam
I paid $5.99, lost a game and now have to pay more to continue playing. What a rip off.
Keyboard in the app os designed to make you fail.
Too many times I’ve typed a letter and it doesn’t register. If I’ve figured out a word I keep going and suddenly it’s two mistakes in a row because the game keyboard just doesn’t keep up.
Bad
Half of the hints are just stupid, not every game has hints. Awful game
way too hard
i don’t like how this game is so hard, even with the clues it’s hard.
Lost everything
I had credits I paid for etc and it stopped working. Had to reinstall and lost everything including credits
My opinion
Very bad game
Aggressive Ads
Fun until the app kept opening my browser. I was really enjoying it so I’m pretty bummed I had to delete.
Misleading
The ads show something different. Very disappointed
Crashed and loss money !
Your game got stuck and I loss 200 coins.
No way to complain! I go into website and it will not let me tell anyone!!
No way to complain! I go into website and it will not let me tell anyone!!
Not working
Right now if you click on daily puzzles it locks you out it was great when it was working but now it won’t open
Doesn’t work anymore
As other reviewers have said the daily games aren’t working. I emailed the developer, didn’t get an answer. I checked the app store and updated my app as it said there were recent bug fixes. It fixed the daily games aren’t working for one day and it’s not working again. I wouldn’t bother downloading as it seems like they can’t get their stuff fixed.
Can’t see the clues
I can’t play the game because I can’t see certain numbers. The number clues are too small and pale. The font toggle only changes the letter size. It would really help if we could zoom in or if the numbers were larger or darker.
Glitches and no app support
I kept getting the same puzzle and it wouldn’t mark as done. There is no in app support and only a foreign phone number on website.
Not working
Every time I open a new level now the letters disappear even though I have not played or lost that level.
False advertising.
I’m sick of games advertising what they are, but, when you actually get the game, it’s not the way it was advertised at all!! It’s a letter guesser without the cute clues that were advertised. :/
Bad developers
It’s fun to play obviously. But they barely give you lives and when you lose all your lives it takes too long to get them back. Trying to force you to spend money. And if you fail a level they don’t replace the letters they gave you to start it out. So after your forever wait period, you then get no help and they are super vague on the topic of said level. Very poorly made. Going to hop over to a different creator, maybe they got it right.
Dang!
Not anything like the add!
I’m sick of this!
I truly enjoyed this game. However after a while it became too expensive so I deleted the app. I am still getting money taken out Apple Pay weeks later!! How do I fix this and get my money back?
Not as advertised
Advertisement shows one game. I download it and the game is completely different
SCAM SCAM
SCAM SCAM
I deleted this
Most games of this type upon the third mistake, you can watch an ad to get another chance. Not this one. While there are no ads during the game if you make a third mistake, you have to buy your additional chance for two dollars.
False advertising
game doesn't play the same as in the ad I saw
stops working
the tutorial wouldn’t let me move forward
Don’t get
This is the worst game ever they make it impossible by the time you get to the super hard levels and barely give you any lives, like do you not want me to play? Terrible game.
Fake
Fake add, fake game!
When it works…
It’s a great game. But I find it doesn’t work more often than it does work. Between the blank page ads that make me force close the app and reopen it to the pauses during the game that cause me to get Xs and HAVE to watch ads (that are sometimes blank page ads) to continue.
Buggy, with two minute long ads
The daily puzzle calendar crashes if you try to open it after completing all available puzzles. Fix it.
Also, be consistent with your citations. If you’re going to say Mary Poppins said something rather than PL Travelers or the Sherman brothers then don’t say a quote is from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle rather than Sherlock Holmes.
And look. We all get it. You need ad revenue. But there is no such thing as a mobile game so compelling it is worth sitting through multiple two minute long unskippable ads in order to play. All games which allow these extensive ads get one star. No exceptions.
Also, be consistent with your citations. If you’re going to say Mary Poppins said something rather than PL Travelers or the Sherman brothers then don’t say a quote is from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle rather than Sherlock Holmes.
And look. We all get it. You need ad revenue. But there is no such thing as a mobile game so compelling it is worth sitting through multiple two minute long unskippable ads in order to play. All games which allow these extensive ads get one star. No exceptions.
Need major updating. Frustrating more then brain working
I love a good cryptogram and this one kept being advertised. I got it and I hate it. The game freezes constantly so you land up putting a letter in the wrong place. Lord forbid you need to step away from the game for a second. It logs you out then you lose all letters and clues and lose a life. This should be a fun game brain teaser but it is honestly just a stressful mess that needs more work on the game and less on marketing
False advertising
The ad mentions how gameplay will have no ads. Yet immediately upon playing, I had some
Not what it seems
The ad made it seem like this was a fun picture moving, find the clues game, but it’s just another cryptogram. Not what I wanted.
misleading ads, uses ai
ads were/had false advertising; same as all the other phrase-decoding apps, rather than a solve-logic-puzzles-to-find-the-code game, which is what i was hoping for. also uses ai in its icons/assets/art
Buggy and frustrating freemium game that tries to push you to buy temporary boosts
Game is buggy and, like many freemium games, tries to steer you to buy their nonstop cycle of paid upgrades. Would be fun if they got it working well with just their remove-ads fee, but it has many more issues and pushes you to buy a constant stream of paid boosts. Many puzzles are designed to be very difficult if not impossible to solve without them.
Unlike normal cryptograms, you can't solve by trial and error; instead you have to manually type in every letter in the puzzle and if you guess wrong or make a typo on your tiny phone keyboard, it counts as a "mistake" of which you only get two before the puzzle is forfeit. It is very easy to tap the wrong letter by mistake, even if you have figured out the right one.
Three mistakes ends the puzzle, and there's a huge penalty for losing. The puzzle is restarted with no starter letters, any boosts spent are lost, and a solution nearly impossible without spending more of those boosts. Any hope of getting a free boost for the day by solving enough puzzles in a row is also gone.
You also must end every puzzle you start in a single phone session, without putting down your phone. If you set your phone down for more than a minute or so, the game resets and shows that puzzle as lost along with any boosts that had been used. If you don't remember exactly which letters you already had when you try again, it can become nearly impossible to solve without spending more boosts.
If you haven't yet paid for the "no ads" fee, the ads are VERY intrusive. They take over the whole screen and lock up your phone at times, until you force quit the app. And they repeatedly send you to fraudulent web sites or download pages for new apps without your consent. I'm surprised that passed Apple's review.
It's all geared to make this very frustrating to play without paying extra for those boosts.
Unlike normal cryptograms, you can't solve by trial and error; instead you have to manually type in every letter in the puzzle and if you guess wrong or make a typo on your tiny phone keyboard, it counts as a "mistake" of which you only get two before the puzzle is forfeit. It is very easy to tap the wrong letter by mistake, even if you have figured out the right one.
Three mistakes ends the puzzle, and there's a huge penalty for losing. The puzzle is restarted with no starter letters, any boosts spent are lost, and a solution nearly impossible without spending more of those boosts. Any hope of getting a free boost for the day by solving enough puzzles in a row is also gone.
You also must end every puzzle you start in a single phone session, without putting down your phone. If you set your phone down for more than a minute or so, the game resets and shows that puzzle as lost along with any boosts that had been used. If you don't remember exactly which letters you already had when you try again, it can become nearly impossible to solve without spending more boosts.
If you haven't yet paid for the "no ads" fee, the ads are VERY intrusive. They take over the whole screen and lock up your phone at times, until you force quit the app. And they repeatedly send you to fraudulent web sites or download pages for new apps without your consent. I'm surprised that passed Apple's review.
It's all geared to make this very frustrating to play without paying extra for those boosts.
False advertising
It’s a plain word game. I played 4 levels. Yet, it wasn’t what I saw on the ad. Getting someone to download completely different game is just evil.
Too many ads
Fun, but way too many ads.
Rewards non existent
This game gives cheap rewards, it takes forever to earn enough points for a redo. It is touchy. So if you type faster than your chest opens you have lost the game. Not cool
“Ka Ching”$$$$$$$
Very very expensive
It was a good game but……
How do they expect us to get the answers right but we have that little mistake and we can’t even get to finish the level so it kind of ruins the game and that’s why I’m debating if I should delete the game.
Not as described.
The game is not as described in the advertisement. There are no real clues. You basically are guessing which letter makes sense.
Daily puzzle doesn’t load
Loved this game, played daily. Ever since the last update however, the daily puzzle when I click on it the puzzle never loads. So daily puzzles are unplayable for me. Takes the fun out of the game when it doesn’t work anymore.
Daily challenge not working
Daily challenge is broken and they said it was fixed but it is not. Also lots of issues with double selecting letters causing you to lose bonus items.
not the same game
when you download it, it doesn’t even have the “clues” riddle part. 🫤
+ 15 more in the clipboard copy
Sentiment summary
90%
Positive (4-5★)
6%
Neutral (3★)
4%
Negative (1-2★)