Words With Friends

Word

7.1~~/10~~

Our score

★ 4.1 Google Play·10M+ installs

Reviewed by Editorial Team, ScoredApps editorial · updated 2026-09-06

Screenshots

Word board mid-match with multipliers and a tile rack

Two logic puzzles shown side by side with coloured guesses

Themed word search with instruments to find in a grid

Word wheel puzzle with letters connected into words

Daily crossword grid with numbered clues

Solo challenge screen with a progress counter

About Words With Friends

The asynchronous word board: fifteen by fifteen squares, letter and word multipliers, a rack of seven tiles, and turns taken whenever each player opens the app. Around it sit daily crosswords, word searches and logic puzzles. It is free with advertising, an ad-free bundle costs $9.99, and coin packs reach $49.99. Ten million people have it on Android.

Game information

DeveloperZynga Inc.

Version59.00.04 (Android) · 60.00.02 (iOS)

Size256.8 MB (Android) · 384 MB (iOS)

Price / In-appFree

Contains adsYes

In-app purchasesYes

Content rating4+

Requires (Android)Android 7.1+

Requires (iOS)iOS 15.0+

Offline modeNone — matches and daily puzzles both sync through the server

Interface languagesEN, FR, DE, IT, PT, ES

Store rating (Google Play)4.1 from 525,840 ratings

Installs10M+

Updated by developer2026-09-03

Data checked2026-09-07

Specs come from the official store listings and were last checked on 2026-09-07. Developers change pricing and requirements — check the store page before installing.

Words With Friends Review: A Turn a Day, $9.99 Ad-Free

One Turn Whenever You Like

The board is the familiar one — double and triple letter squares, double and triple word squares — and the difference from a physical set is that nobody has to be present. You play a word, the app notifies your opponent, and they answer in an hour or tomorrow. Tile counts remain visible, so 87 letters left is public information both players can use. That format is why the game has outlasted a decade of competitors: it survives being interrupted, and a match with a relative in another time zone is exactly as playable as one with a neighbour.

Four Other Puzzles Ship Alongside

The app has grown into a puzzle collection: a daily crossword, a word search with themed answer lists, a word wheel of connected letters, and a guessing puzzle that colours letters by correctness. Solo challenges give a single-player route for anyone with nobody to play, and lightning rounds compress a match into a fixed number of turns. None of them replace the board, but together they give a reason to open the app on a day when every opponent is thinking. Everything shares one account, so progress in the side puzzles counts toward the same profile as the board.

Adverts, Coins and a $49.99 Pack

Google Play carries an advertising badge against 10 million installs and 4.1 stars from 524,000 reviews; Apple shows 4.6 from 751,000 ratings and rates the app 4+. Purchases run from a $0.99 coin pack to a $49.99 bag, with an ad-free bundle at $9.99 and season passes at $9.99 and $12.99. Coins buy hints, word suggestions and tile swaps — assistance that matters in a competitive word game, which is the real objection rather than the advertising. The install is 383.7 MB. That half-point gap between platforms is consistent with how the adverts behave on each.

Pros

Turns taken whenever each player is free
Daily crossword, word search and logic puzzles included
Solo challenges for playing without an opponent
Rated 4.6 on the App Store across 751,000 ratings
The board rules need no explaining to anyone

Cons

Coins buy hints and word suggestions mid-match
Removing the advertising costs a further $9.99
Coin packs reach $49.99 a purchase
Rated 4.1 on Play, half a point below Apple

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Verdict

Still the best way to play a word board with someone who is not in the room, and the asynchronous format remains the reason — a game with a relative abroad runs at whatever pace suits you both. The reservations are the coins, which buy word suggestions in a competitive game, and the $9.99 needed to silence the adverts.

Gameplay7.5The classic word board, with the asynchronous format doing the real work.

Controls8.0Drag tiles onto squares with a shuffle and a recall button; predictable.

Replay value7.5Endless matches plus four side puzzles refreshed daily.

Graphics & sound7.0Functional board and tiles, with an interface crowded by offers.

Monetisation5.5Adverts, $9.99 to remove them, and coins that buy in-match word help.

7.1out of 10 · weighted average of the five scores above

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Frequently asked questions

Can it be played offline?

No. Matches are synced through the servers so both players see the same board, and the daily puzzles are fetched as well. A move made without a connection waits, which in an asynchronous game is less disruptive than it sounds.

What does it sell?

Coins from $0.99 to $49.99, an ad-free bundle at $9.99, and season passes at $9.99 and $12.99. Coins buy hints, word suggestions and tile swaps, so spending affects play rather than only appearance — the main criticism levelled at the game.

What does it need to run?

383.7 MB and iOS 15 or later, which is heavy for a tile board and mostly accounted for by the extra puzzles, events and advertising libraries. It runs on modest hardware, which suits an audience that skews older than most mobile games.

How do you play with friends?

By username, by contact list, or by accepting a random opponent. Several matches can run at once, each waiting for its own turn, which is how most people use it — four or five games in progress with different people at different speeds.

How long does a match take?

One turn takes a minute; a full game can stretch across days depending on how often both players open the app. Lightning rounds compress that into a fixed short match for anyone who wants a result in one sitting.