“While there are a LOT of levels, the game is heavily soaked in micropurchases to unlock new plants. It drives me nuts, especially with the fact that if you pay to remove all ads, it only does so for 30 DAYS. I've never seen any other app…”
Independent automated assessment · 6 signal sources · 1,029 reviews scanned · analyzed 2026-10-05.
4.1 ★1,104,117 ratings
10M+Downloads
12+Age rating
196 MBApp size
FreeIn-app purchases
About this app
This game includes optional in-game purchases of virtual currency that can be used to acquire virtual in-game items, including a random selection of virtual in-game items.
Play the award-winning hit action-strategy adventure where you meet, greet, and defeat legions of hilarious zombies from the dawn of time, to the end of days. Amass an army of amazing plants, supercharge them with Plant Food, and devise the ultimate plan to protect your brain.
200 Million Downloads – This app has received more than 200 million overall downloads.
DISCOVER HUNDREDS OF PLANTS AND ZOMBIES Collect your favorite lawn legends, like Sunflower and Peashooter, along with hundreds of other horticultural hotshots, including creative bloomers like Lava Guava and Laser Bean.…
Preview
Real screenshots from the store listing.
Independent evidence report
The evidence behind this assessment
This is where the page changes from an app-store listing into an evidence report: findings, important reviews, pricing and a dated history.
Which version this describes
When we ran this analysis, and what the store lists now.
App Store
This analysis describes version 13.4.1 of the app, analyzed 2026-10-05 . The app may have changed since.
The store currently lists version 13.4.1, updated 2026-08-27.
Google Play
This analysis describes version 13.4.1 of the app (the version number recorded inside the package we inspected), analyzed 2026-10-04 . The app may have changed since.
The store currently lists version 13.4.1, updated 2026-08-24.
What we measured
Each line is a measurement published as a measurement, never a verdict.
Each line is a measurement, published as a measurement. Where we have not looked, the line says so rather than reading as a zero.
Developer replies to reviews
Replies to fewer than 1 review in 20
Price in the store description
States no price and billing period
Cancelling, in the store description
Does not say how to cancel
Themes reported by reviewers
3 or more themes reported
Counted from the reviews we have read for this app. "No theme reported" means no theme reached our reporting threshold — it is not a finding that nothing is wrong with this app, and we do not say it is.
Five-star share of ratings
Under 65% five-star
Arithmetic on the stores' own published rating counts. It says nothing about why the ratings fall where they do.
In the package we scanned
From the package we downloaded and read — version 13.4.1, scanned 2026-09-23.
Permissions Android classifies as dangerous
1–2 requested
Counted against the eighteen permissions listed in collect-package.ts. A dangerous permission is one Android asks the user to grant; requesting one is not itself a finding.
Analytics or tracking SDKs in the scanned package
1–2 found
Advertising SDKs in the scanned package
10 or more found
Counted as distinct SDKs in the package we scanned. One mediation bundle can contribute several, so this is not a count of advertisers.
Graded bands · predicate set 1.4 · how these are measured
What the analysis found
App-specific findings, grouped by what each one rests on. How they are graded lives on its own page.
The catch list 2
Charges we publish at a strength we stand behind: measured from an artefact, agreed by independent sources, or reported by enough users to clear that charge's own published bar.
Multiple ad networks bundled
The package embeds several distinct advertising or mediation SDKs — a stack built for ad volume, not for a single house ad.
What we saw: Bundles 16 distinct ad networks / mediation SDKs: Amazon Publisher Services, AppLovin MAX, BidMachine, Chartboost and 12 more
Reported by users: Aggressive ad load
Advertising volume or placement that interrupts normal use: ads between every action, unskippable or forced full-screen ads.
What we saw: Raised by 49 distinct reviewers — 8.9% of the 549 reviews scanned on this store leg (App Store).
Context 1
Measured and published because a reader would want to know — deliberately not a charge. The measurement alone does not show a harm.
Cheapest and priciest options are far apart
The disclosed in-app purchases span an unusually wide price range. Published as context: the cheapest and priciest items may be different kinds of product entirely, so the spread alone deducts nothing.
What we saw: In-app purchases run from USD 0.99 to USD 19.99 — a 20x spread across 10 items
Positive evidence 1
Things this app does right, published at the same strengths as the catch list.
Developer says data deletion can be requested
The developer's data-safety disclosure on the store states that users can request deletion of their data, or the app's own text offers a way to delete the account. This restates what the developer declares; it is not a test of whether deletion works. Apple publishes no equivalent disclosure, so on an Apple-only listing only the app's own text can support it.
What we saw: The developer's store data-safety disclosure states that data deletion can be requested; we have not seen a deletion control in the app's own text
One source only — shown, not confirmed 3
A single kind of evidence. We publish these because withholding them would be the bigger distortion, and we do not treat any of them as a finding we stand behind.
In the app's own text: Hard to cancel
Cancelling the subscription is blocked, hidden, multi-step, or simply does not take effect.
What we saw: Sells a subscription in-app but ships no cancel or manage-subscription text of its own, leaving the store's settings as the only exit
Reported by users: Pay to progress
Advancement or competition is gated behind spending money rather than playing.
What we saw: Pay to progress: raised by 21 distinct reviewers (3.8% of 549 reviews scanned)
Reported by users: Paywall blocks the basics
The core of the app — not extras — sits behind payment, or previously-free function moved behind a paywall.
What we saw: Paywall blocks the basics: raised by 5 distinct reviewers (0.9% of 549 reviews scanned)
Highlighted reviews
Representative public review excerpts shown as user reports, not Appworthy audit evidence.
“The ads are absolutely ridiculous.. 5 years later I thought I'd give it another try. the ads are the same if not worse. this used to be a fun game and I don't know what changed except corporate greed”
“It's fun but the ads after every single level are very annoying mostly because every time it tries to load the ad it crashes coming back on here after posting this review and still gets ads after every single completed level just makes…”
Assessment & version history
App changes and Appworthy events in one timeline.
Store listing updated to version 13.4.1.
What this app sells
Useful store-disclosed pricing, kept below the app listing.
Items shown0
Lowest—
Highest—
Google Play does not publish per-purchase prices.