Review Insights · App Store
USA TODAY PLAY Crossword+
USA TODAY · 9,108 ratings · ★ 4.5
4.5
★★★★★
9,108 ratings
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Top complaints - extracted from 67 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
"puzzle"
20 negative reviews mention this · 30% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Ads on a paid puzzle. Sucks ya have ads to deal with on a paid app." - H2OHED
2
"crossword"
13 negative reviews mention this · 19% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Subscription through Apple issues!. I subscribed for the year through the USA Crossword+ app and was charged and everything but my account still says i don’t have a subscription. I contacted both Apple and USA Today and no one can resolve the issue. They just point fingers at…" - Alawake
3
"subscription"
12 negative reviews mention this · 18% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Subscription through Apple issues!. I subscribed for the year through the USA Crossword+ app and was charged and everything but my account still says i don’t have a subscription. I contacted both Apple and USA Today and no one can resolve the issue. They just point fingers at…" - Alawake
4
"today"
12 negative reviews mention this · 18% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Subscription through Apple issues!. I subscribed for the year through the USA Crossword+ app and was charged and everything but my account still says i don’t have a subscription. I contacted both Apple and USA Today and no one can resolve the issue. They just point fingers at…" - Alawake
5
"play"
12 negative reviews mention this · 18% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Subscription through Apple issues!. I subscribed for the year through the USA Crossword+ app and was charged and everything but my account still says i don’t have a subscription. I contacted both Apple and USA Today and no one can resolve the issue. They just point fingers at…" - Alawake
6
"puzzles"
12 negative reviews mention this · 18% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Wonky app. I subscribed twice and it charged my iTunes. Every time I open the app to play it goes to an ad that should have been turned off. Then past that it states I have 2 more puzzles this week? Never had a problem till it was updated. I will ca…" - maddashell
7
"every"
10 negative reviews mention this · 15% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Subscription through Apple issues!. I subscribed for the year through the USA Crossword+ app and was charged and everything but my account still says i don’t have a subscription. I contacted both Apple and USA Today and no one can resolve the issue. They just point fingers at…" - Alawake
8
"game"
10 negative reviews mention this · 15% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Ads. I am paying for NO ADS,but I continue to see them. And not just once, but every single time that you play a game of solitaire, you see another ad. This app is worthless if I pay and am still made to see ads. So, I’m canceling my subscriptio…" - tenth33
9
"update"
10 negative reviews mention this · 15% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Subscribed, no access. Enjoyed the free version for months, then I decided to do a subscription. Signed up, paid, and the…nothing. It just did not recognize my subscription. I double checked and confirmed the charge, double checked the correct login info - the ap…" - Amelialh
10
"keyboard"
10 negative reviews mention this · 15% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Keyboard goes away. New update has made the app impossible to use in flight." - anothrt btoken egg
11
"work"
9 negative reviews mention this · 13% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Buyer Beware! USA Today Play Crossword. Subscription Scam. Worn down by the irritating ads, I purchased the app, but it does NOT work. It keeps telling me that I need to subscribe. I have attempted to contact “help” but to no avail. Next stop, my credit card company to void th…" - Vitiminiqui
12
"crosswords"
9 negative reviews mention this · 13% of all complaints
★★★★★ "subscription. Paid and said I haven’t , I have no access to subscriber only page, and now it won’t let me play the crosswords, tech support said it was a Apple issue when it in fact is USA Today’s fault will be cancelled and deleted." - K8theGr8823
📋 All 67 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").
Subscription through Apple issues!
I subscribed for the year through the USA Crossword+ app and was charged and everything but my account still says i don’t have a subscription. I contacted both Apple and USA Today and no one can resolve the issue. They just point fingers at each other! I loved the USA Crossword i had to pay a one time monthly subscription through the website in order to play for one month.
Ads
I am paying for NO ADS,but I continue to see them. And not just once, but every single time that you play a game of solitaire, you see another ad. This app is worthless if I pay and am still made to see ads. So, I’m canceling my subscription.
Subscription User
I have a monthly subscription with this that that I’ve been paying for over a year. Now it says I have no account with this and I must start a new subscription. I won’t be paying a second time. Fix your errors.
Buyer Beware! USA Today Play Crossword
Subscription Scam. Worn down by the irritating ads, I purchased the app, but it does NOT work. It keeps telling me that I need to subscribe. I have attempted to contact “help” but to no avail. Next stop, my credit card company to void the transaction.
Subscribed, no access
Enjoyed the free version for months, then I decided to do a subscription. Signed up, paid, and the…nothing. It just did not recognize my subscription. I double checked and confirmed the charge, double checked the correct login info - the app simply wouldn’t update my subscription status to reflect my purchased subscription.
subscription
Paid and said I haven’t , I have no access to subscriber only page, and now it won’t let me play the crosswords, tech support said it was a Apple issue when it in fact is USA Today’s fault will be cancelled and deleted.
Scam
USA Today happily took my money, but are telling me I do not have a subscription even though I can see it under subscription in apple settings and my cc has been charged. What a waste.
Does Not Recognize Subscription
I paid for an annual subscription and the app doesn’t recognize my paid subscription. Tech support is of no help, they said it is an Apple issue even though it is their app and I paid for the subscription through their app.
Ads on a paid puzzle
Sucks ya have ads to deal with on a paid app.
Wonky app
I subscribed twice and it charged my iTunes. Every time I open the app to play it goes to an ad that should have been turned off. Then past that it states I have 2 more puzzles this week?
Never had a problem till it was updated. I will cancel and look for a better game
Never had a problem till it was updated. I will cancel and look for a better game
Subscription problems
Decent crosswords app but after subscribing, it wouldn’t let me play. Tried everything . Cancelled subscription and deleted app.
Crashes
After the update on 12/17, the app just crashes when it trys to load
Keyboard goes away
New update has made the app impossible to use in flight.
Bad
Keeps losing the keyboard while playing
Keyboard issues after update
When doing a puzzle the keyboard disappears and you can’t get it back until you close the app and reopen it.
No Access
My app will not load. Turned off in the middle of a game on Saturday! What the heck?
The app has many problems.
I downloaded the app only to find that I cannot use it with my iPad keyboard. Once you hit the return key to advance to the next clue you cannot type in any more letters. Also, now that I’ve downloaded the app, I cannot access the online version of the puzzle. Too much trouble.
Keyboard
Every time I pause I lose the keyboard
Frustrating
Since the most recent update the app has become very glitchy. For instance if you simply click backspace while in a puzzle you cannot get the keyboard back up.
Also the filters to exclude completed puzzles does not work.
Also the filters to exclude completed puzzles does not work.
Pop up ads block the game
In addition to all the regular extra adds, pop ups now block the games during timed play.
Too Many Adds
The puzzles aren’t worth the wait trying to get through commercials.
Freezes
Using an iPad it takes an additional 5 minutes to finish each crossword puzzle. Once it freezes, it can take an additional 15 seconds per letter to unfreeze. This has been going on at least five months from other comments. Why aren’t you fixing it?
Fun but Frustrating
Love the puzzles and games but the app crashes and it takes multiple attempts to get back to your progress on Sudoku. 7 little words is loads of fun but, continuous crashing makes it frustrating. Please fix this USA Today
Brings my iPad to a halt
Not sure why but lately when I open the app within a few minute my iPad slows to a crawl. When I close the app things return to normal. Until I open the app again. I will be removing it. Not worth the headache for one free puzzle each week
App malfunction
The app is continually asking me to subscribe which I’m already a subscriber and there are several games missing for instance Mahjong,solitaire etc.words on top of each other entire page is advertising ads
Used to be great
I loved doing the sudoku but now all I’m getting are ads even though I am a subscriber and pay $19.99 a year. I shouldn’t see any ads. It has ruined the game for me.
Ripped off . . .
Only gives you ONE free puzzle per week instead of TWO like it used to. Not cool…
Print size
Played for years none everything is in bold print cannot see grid
No dark mode
No dark mode
Useless
I downloaded the app because the Crosswords section of the USA Today app would randomly lock up and stop working at all. This app does the very same thing, locks up every other puzzle and cannot be re-started. It’s junk
Chat is useless
Used chat to cancel and was charged today only to find out I need to reconfirm via email that it was canceled correctly. Good games but not happy with service
So glitchy now
Usually excellent and casually fun crossword got some kind of makeover and is frustrating as heck suddenly. Second day like this! Driving me crazy! Squares won’t respond, keyboard disappears, freezes!!! Please fix it!
Not formatted for Apple SE
I really enjoyed these crosswords on my iPhone 13 mini, but on my iPhone SE they don’t work. The puzzles aren’t formatted for this phone I guess.
Crossword puzzle
This crossword puzzle app has not worked in 6 months. I’m dumping it!!!!!
Just OK
When this App works like it’s supposed to it’s great but way too often it won’t open at all or when I’m playing a game it bumps me back to advertising even though I saw the ad before the game was started. I assumed by purchasing this App I would not get advertising at all, or at least a minimal amount but that is not the case… very annoying! Will not renew unless it’s fixed!
Crossword puzzle
I prefer the old puzzles. The numbers on the new puzzles are very hard to read. Go back to the original!!!
Broken for iphone 15 pro
You can’t see the questions, the display is overlapping!
App update is the worst
I used to play this puzzle every day. The updates make the puzzle smaller on my phone, the bold letter is the worst and the clues at the bottom are distracting. Get rid of the new update!
I Hate It Now
It has changed, and not for the better. Playing right now I can’t click into any cells. I have to go out of the game and recenter to continue.
Bad App
Not a good crossword app. The puzzles are fine but when compared to other apps USA Today doesn’t stack up. Current issue is the font is too big to read the entire clue on my iPhone. I literally can’t read any clues that are more than one sentence which makes it a bit more challenging to solve.
Problem
Every day I play your puzzle. It used to work well on my phone but something has changed that makes it difficult to play on my phone. It is easier on the iPad because the screen is bigger. This was never a problem before.
Broken
Can only get first line of the clue. It’s in bold letters and you can’t access the whole clue. Really needs a fix.
Terrible!
This used to be the best crossword app, now with the last 3 updates, it’s pure garbage.
Annoyingly clumsy app
Compared to the effortlessly-operating New York Times crossword puzzle app, this seems like it was developed by middle schoolers. Every time I move to the next clue, the puzzle jumps to reorient itself. The keyboard disappears at will and has to be recalled, but there’s no clear instruction about how to do that. The app requires a lot of trial and error instead of operating seamlessly as it should. I’ll keep it so I can do the crossword, but it will still be annoying.
Updates broke app
The last update broke the jump to next clue AND scroll the clue so it is visible along with the clue on the other axis like it used to. The puzzle grid randomly flashes big and blocks input requiring you to skip to another clue to allow input again. Even though you play daily the stats keep getting set to a streak of 0 days. The time used can’t be accurate since it blocks input requiring the skipping of clues and not scrolling the clue into the visible area.
This went from a pretty good app, 4+ to very bad 1-. Either fix it or put the older version that works back.
This went from a pretty good app, 4+ to very bad 1-. Either fix it or put the older version that works back.
Game won’t launch!
Bought it, loved it, now gone! Feel ripped off!!!
Terrible!
Clues are ridiculous! No longer fun. App is buggy for iPhone! Do not recommend.
Could be WAY better.
Most of the words don’t even make sense. Do not recommend.
Can only see part of the clue
I like figuring crosswords out, but come on! Why can’t I see the entire clue? I guess I need to subscribe for the full clue after all these years?
Broke
Paying for a crossword puzzle that went broke over a week ago. FIX IT!
Three weeks and my subscription for this puzzle is worthless!
Three weeks and my subscription for this puzzle is worthless!
+ 17 more in the clipboard copy
Sentiment summary
88%
Positive (4-5★)
3%
Neutral (3★)
9%
Negative (1-2★)