“Don't Bother. Its fun and actually ad free for the most part, but its virtually impossible to advance past level 30 without purchasing stuff in the app. It takes entirely too long for energy to replenish and then the tasks are so advanced…”
Independent automated assessment · 6 signal sources · 1,968 reviews scanned · analyzed 2026-10-05.
4.5 ★229,583 ratings
10M+Downloads
9+Age rating
688 MBApp size
FreeIn-app purchases
About this app
Embark on a culinary journey in Tasty Travels: Merge Game, where your passion for cooking meets the excitement of exploration! Merge ingredients to create mouth-watering dishes as you travel the world!
Unlock the secrets of world cuisine, master regional specialties, and share your gastronomic tales with friends everywhere!
Stay connected with Tasty Travels: Merge Game on Facebook for exclusive offers and updates! Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61551040873010
Merge Ingredients • Discover and merge over 500 unique ingredients across different levels! • Drag and merge ingredients in your home kitchen to whip up fabulous new dishes! • Complete quests for tourists to unlock new recipes and destinations, from renowned culinary capitals to quaint town squares!…
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 65.0 of the app, analyzed 2026-10-05 . The app may have changed since.
The store currently lists version 65.0, updated 2026-10-02.
Google Play
This analysis describes version 64.0.0 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 64.0.0, updated 2026-09-29.
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 at least 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
80–89% 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 64.0.0, scanned 2026-10-03.
Permissions Android classifies as dangerous
None 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 3
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 11 distinct ad networks / mediation SDKs: Amazon Publisher Services, AppLovin MAX, BidMachine, Fyber / Digital Turbine Exchange and 7 more
Reported by users: Progress pauses until you wait or pay
Use is rationed by an energy/hearts/lives meter that runs out and forces a wait or a purchase.
What we saw: Raised by 46 distinct reviewers — 3.3% of the 1,378 reviews scanned on this store leg (Google Play).
Reported by users: Reports that the ads misrepresent the app
Reviewers repeatedly report that the app is not what its advertising showed. We never see the ad creative itself, so nothing we collect can corroborate or refute this — it is published as an attributed user report: what reviewers say, and how many of them said it.
What we saw: Raised by 172 distinct reviewers — 12.5% of the 1,378 reviews scanned on this store leg (Google Play).
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 5
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.
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: Aggressive ad load: raised by 11 distinct reviewers (0.8% of 1378 reviews scanned)
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 9 distinct reviewers (0.7% of 1378 reviews scanned)
Reported by users: Price keeps rising
The price of the paid tier has been raised on existing users.
What we saw: Price keeps rising: raised by 6 distinct reviewers (0.4% of 1378 reviews scanned)
Reported by users: Upgrade prompts use guilt-trip wording
Declining an upgrade is written as a loss ('No thanks, I don't want to improve'), or users report being repeatedly pushed to subscribe during normal use.
What we saw: Constant upsell pressure: raised by 5 distinct reviewers (0.8% of 590 reviews scanned)
Highlighted reviews
Representative public review excerpts shown as user reports, not Appworthy audit evidence.
“It's a fun game. But nothing at all like it was advertised. came to play the sushi game, literally where is that? I thought you maybe unlocked it as you went on but no. what's the point in false advertising if you don't host that on the…”
“Misleading. I came from the ad where there are sushi items that go round and round. that's the gameplay I wanted and their images in the app store also show that, the first 2 images in particular. But upon download, it's the usual boring…”
Assessment & version history
App changes and Appworthy events in one timeline.
Store listing updated to version 65.0.
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.