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Crossword Explorer
PlaySimple Games Pte Ltd · Games

What’s the catch? Aggressive ad load — reported by 103 users.

Analyzed automatically from 3 independent signals that had to agree — not a hands-on test, and not human-reviewed.

1 on the catch list · analyzedConfidence: Low3 signal sources511 reviews scannedNot human-reviewedas of 2026-10-05
 Which version this describes

This analysis describes version 1.160 of the app, analyzed 2026-10-05 . The app may have changed since.

The store currently lists version 1.160, updated 2026-09-08.

What the analysis found

Each finding shows what agreed and how strongly. Automated analysis

The catch list 1

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.

Reported by users: Aggressive ad load
Reported by 103 usersReported by users, not measured — nothing we can inspect could show this either wayview evidence
Advertising volume or placement that interrupts normal use: ads between every action, unskippable or forced full-screen ads.
What we saw: Raised by 103 distinct reviewers — 20.2% of the 511 reviews scanned on this store leg (App Store).

One source only — shown, not confirmed 1

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: Reports that the ads misrepresent the app
One source onlyShown, not confirmed — the only source is user reviews.view evidence
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: Misleading advertising: raised by 12 distinct reviewers (2.3% of 511 reviews scanned)

What reviewers said

Verbatim excerpts from public store reviews, shown as corroborating user reports. They are not Appworthy audit evidence, and a quotation is not proof of the finding it sits under.

Aggressive ad load

Ads — Can’t even play for pop up ads. Sad

1★ · App Store · 2026-09-25

Ad popping up every second — The ad has started popping up in less than a second. It will close and before you can select anything it comes back preventing playing the game!! Prior to this issue kI have enjoyed playing the Crossword

2★ · App Store · 2026-09-24

What happened to FREE — Been using the app for many months. Now I can’t use it with adds that don’t go away.

1★ · App Store · 2026-09-24

Reports that the ads misrepresent the app

Disappointing ad-free lie — I just paid $30 to go ad-free for a year and the next thing I see is an ad. Now I have seen several ads in just 1/2 hour so clearly I wasted my money. Don’t bother paying for the ad-free option. It is a bait…

1★ · App Store · 2026-01-11

Bait and switch — The previews of the game grab your attention and make you want to download it. Once downloaded, you see none of the categories advertised. Classic bait and switch. Deleted.

1★ · App Store · 2025-05-14

Cacky — I’m deleting this game since one of the ads is not even available in my area. Boo hiss. 🤬

1★ · App Store · 2025-02-11

How the automated analysis works

Automated, corroborated, and never human-reviewed without a person.

This assessment is produced automatically. Three independent signals are read — user reviews, the store listing and the store privacy disclosure — and each candidate finding is filed under the sources that support it.

No charge stands on one kind of evidence — with one published exception. A finding is either a measured fact that anyone can reproduce (an ad SDK is in the package; every subscription bills weekly; the privacy label omits a tracker we can see), or it is an interpretation — and an interpretation needs independent sources to agree before it reaches the catch list. The exception is a harm only users can see: a charge may publish from reviews alone, as “Reported by N users”, once enough reviewers raise it to clear that charge’s own published bar. That agreement rule is what replaced the human reviewer, not a model’s confidence.

There is no overall score, on purpose. A 0–99 number was published here until 2026-09-15. It was withdrawn because it discriminated too weakly to be the instrument — 44.7% of every pair of apps tied — and because a single number is a verdict where a count is an observation. What publishes instead is a row of measurements, each of which says what was counted and, where we could not look, says that instead.

Findings under One source only are real reports we do not stand behind as findings. They are shown because withholding them entirely would hide a genuine complaint, and labelled because publishing them as charges would be an accusation off a single source.

 Not yet human-reviewed

Several measurements above say “Not assessed” because no artefact we hold can answer them. A human review is what resolves those — and it can remove a favourable band as easily as add one.

Hands-on inspections are not yet open.

 How this page was produced
Analyzed 2026-10-05 Version analyzed: 1.1603 independent signals511 reviews scannedConfidence: LowNot human-reviewedVocabulary v1.13Methodology v1.3
Signals run: user reviews, the store listing and the store privacy disclosure. Not yet checked: SDKs in the app package, the app's own on-screen text and the app manifest.