Report updated May 21, 2026

I Love Crosswords 2 is an established games app that is free with in-app purchases. With a 4.4/5 rating from 1.5K reviews, it shows polarized user reception.

What is I Love Crosswords 2?

I Love Crosswords 2 is a casual puzzle game featuring video and picture-based clues for iOS and Android.

Users hire this app for low-stakes brain training that uses visual media to break the monotony of traditional text-only crossword grids.

Current Momentum

v1.0 · 4mo ago

Zombie
  • Last major update October 2022.
  • No new features added recently.

Active Nemesis

Cruzadas Classicas

Cruzadas Classicas

By GLBW Consultoria de Engenharia e Inform?tica ltda

Other Rivals

Ez Bulmaca: Kare Bulmaca
Bulmacaaa
Wordgrams - Crossword & Puzzle
Cryptic Crossword
Arrow Crosswords
Crossword Online: Word Cup
Crossword Wheel Search Master
Funzpo

7-Day Rank Pulse 🇺🇸

Games

No ranking data

PuzzleGrossing

Rating Pulse 🇺🇸

What makes this app unique?

What Does It Look Like?

Loading...

What Are The Key Features?

Video and Picture PuzzlesDifferentiator

Crossword clues presented as visual media or video clips requiring zoom-in interaction

Multi-language SupportDifferentiator

Puzzle content available in English, French, German, Russian, Italian, and Spanish

How much does it cost?

Freemium
  • Free-to-play with ad support

Monetization relies on ad-supported gameplay with in-app purchase availability.

What is the competitive landscape for I Love Crosswords 2?

Where is it available?

Localized markets (6)

United StatesGermanySpainFranceItalyMexico

How's The Games Market?

How does it evolve in the Games market?

The app maintains a 4.51 rating on iOS and 4.36 on Android, but the lack of recent feature updates relative to competitors signals a risk of stagnation in the casual puzzle category.

Rank progression

1 active ranking tracked — 30-day window

The rivals identified

Nemeses(1)

Cruzadas Classicas icon

GLBW Consultoria de Engenharia e Inform?tica ltda

0

This app directly competes for the same crossword-solving audience by offering a standardized, grid-based puzzle experience that mirrors the core utility of I Love Crosswords 2.

Differentiators

  • Offers a broader variety of grid layouts compared to our visual and video-centric puzzle focus
  • Provides expandable content libraries that allow for a more traditional, long-form crossword solving experience

Head to head

The target should lean into its unique multimedia features to differentiate from the traditional, static grid approach of this nemesis.

Contenders(2)

Bulmacaaa icon

Mustafa Tolga DALBUDAK

0

It captures the same regional market segment by providing specialized puzzle formats that compete for the user's daily word-game time.

Differentiators

  • Features specific Çengel Bulmaca formats which cater to a distinct regional preference for crossword styles
  • Maintains a focus on continuous content updates to keep the user base engaged with new puzzles

This app competes by offering a structured, demo-driven puzzle experience that targets the same casual puzzle-solving demographic.

Differentiators

  • Provides a dedicated demo content library that lowers the barrier to entry for new players
  • Implements a user feedback loop that allows for rapid iteration based on specific puzzle difficulty

Same space(4)

This peer competes by offering high-production value, Scandinavian-style puzzles that directly challenge our user base.

Differentiators

  • Features a virtual instructor named Sophie to guide players through complex Scandinavian-style crossword clues
  • Includes turn-based competitive puzzle modes that significantly increase social retention compared to our solo experience

It serves the more advanced segment of the crossword market, competing for users who seek intellectual challenge.

Differentiators

  • Includes a comprehensive cryptic puzzle tutorial that helps onboard users to complex clue-solving techniques
  • Provides robust answer checking and cheat features that allow users to learn while they play
Crossword Online: Word Cup icon

Clever Apps Pte Ltd

4.7(37)

This app competes by gamifying the crossword experience through multiplayer and social leaderboards.

Differentiators

  • Integrates competitive multiplayer modes that allow users to challenge others in real-time word solving
  • Utilizes a social-driven bonus system to incentivize daily logins and consistent app usage

It is a major peer that combines picture-based clues with cooperative gameplay, overlapping heavily with our visual puzzle features.

Differentiators

  • Offers two-player cooperative crossword modes that allow friends to solve puzzles together in real-time
  • Provides a massive library of picture-based clues that directly mirrors our visual-first puzzle strategy

New entrants(1)

Funzpo icon

Roman Melnykov

4.4(52)

This newcomer targets the educational puzzle space, competing for users interested in fact-based word grids.

Differentiators

  • Integrates educational facts into word grids to provide a learning-focused experience alongside standard puzzle solving

Compare I Love Crosswords 2 against every rival

All rivals in one side-by-side table — identity, store metrics, ratings & sentiment, and strategic intel — plus a head-to-head page for each.

Go deeper

The outtake for I Love Crosswords 2

Strengths to defend, gaps to attack

Core Strengths

  • Multimedia clue integration differentiates the core loop from static grid-based competitors
  • Multi-language support enables broader international market penetration than single-language peers

Critical Frictions

  • Android-iOS rating gap of 0.15 stars suggests inconsistent performance across platforms
  • Lack of social-cooperative modes limits retention compared to Wordgrams

Growth Levers

  • Integration of social leaderboards could increase daily active usage
  • Expansion into wearable platforms would capture the quick-play puzzle segment

Market Threats

  • Tetris-branded puzzle entries pull social-feature attention away from solo-grid games
  • High-production value Scandinavian-style puzzles from competitors erode the casual user base

What are the next best moves?

highInvest

Ship social-cooperative modes because Wordgrams uses them to drive retention → increase daily active usage

Wordgrams' cooperative mode is a key differentiator that threatens our solo-play retention model.

Trade-off: Pause the multi-language expansion sprint — social features have 2x the impact on daily retention.

mediumMaintain

Audit Android performance because of the 0.15 rating gap vs iOS → stabilize platform-specific retention

The rating delta between platforms indicates a technical or UX friction point on Android.

Trade-off: Same-quarter capacity available — no major lever displaced.

A counter-intuitive read

The app's lack of social features is not a weakness but a deliberate choice to serve solo-play purists, yet this segment is too small to sustain top-tier chart growth.

Feature Gaps vs Competitors

  • Real-time cooperative multiplayer (available in Wordgrams)
  • Scandinavian-style puzzle tutorials (available in Arrow Crosswords)
  • Social leaderboards (available in Crossword Online)

Key Takeaways

I Love Crosswords 2 holds its category niche through multimedia clues but bleeds casual players to social-first competitors, so revenue growth hinges on integrating cooperative play to increase session depth.

Where Is It Heading?

Mixed Signals

Casual puzzle traffic is consolidating around social-first entrants that offer cooperative play and high-production value. Maintenance-mode updates leave I Love Crosswords 2 exposed to rivals with faster release cadences, so the app must pivot to social features to remain relevant.

The lack of feature updates since 2022 suggests maintenance mode, which allows competitors with 2-week release cadences to capture the casual audience.

The multi-language library remains a stable differentiator, but it requires new content drops to prevent churn among international users.

Disclosure: Independent intel to help mobile builders succeed.

AI-powered analysis with editorial review, built from publicly available sources. Marlvel.ai is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by I Love Crosswords 2, its developer, the app publisher, Apple, or Google Play. All trademarks, logos, and screenshots referenced remain the property of their respective owners.

What's new

The app has pivoted its strategic focus toward social-cooperative features to address retention gaps, while the competitive landscape has been updated to reflect new grid-based and social-first rivals.

shifted

Strategic Roadmap Pivot

removed

Sentiment Data Availability

shifted

Competitive Threat Re-assessment

shifted

Nemesis Re-classification

Cite this report

Marlvel.ai. “I Love Crosswords 2 Intelligence Report.” Updated May 21, 2026. https://marlvel.ai/apps/i-love-crosswords-2

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