Common Sense Media Review
By Erin Brereton
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Easy puzzles -- but if kids get stuck, they're out of luck.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 8+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Download
Videos and Photos
Pictoword Free
What's It About?
In PICTOWORD FREE, kids identify words based on two photos that are shown -- for example, football, based on pictures of a foot and a ball -- and choose from a list of letters to submit a guess. They earn coins for each correct answer and can use them on hints to reveal or remove a letter or have one of the photos identified. Kids can also use coins to skip a puzzle.
Is It Any Good?
This puzzle experience is easy to get into and play, but if players get stuck, there's no solution available to them. The Pictoword Free experience is pretty simple; users enter a guess and can keep trying until they get it right. The puzzles aren't too complicated, so kids should be able to solve many of them. If they can't, they can use some of the coins they've accumulated by playing to get a hint. Kids earn coins as they finish puzzles and can also get them by playing three days in a row, finishing five puzzles a day, or watching advertisements.
The app gets points for offering positive encouragement when you solve a puzzle; issues could arise, though, if kids haven't earned enough (or have spent their saved coins) and can't figure out an answer. You need a fair amount -- $150 -- of coins to be able to skip a puzzle. If you can't afford that and don't have enough for a clue, there's no way to move on and keep playing the game without entering the correct response. Incorporating free clues or the ability to skip puzzles would ease the risk of kids becoming frustrating and potentially giving up if they can't identify one of the words.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about screen time. How much time should they spend playing app-based games, even if they offer some educational benefits such as practicing verbal skills? How much time each day is too much?
Discuss picture recognition. Can you draw two images to represent a short list of words?
App Details
- Devices : iPhone , iPod Touch , iPad , Android
- Subjects : Language & Reading : letter or word recognition , vocabulary
- Skills : Thinking & Reasoning : logic , solving puzzles
- Pricing structure : Free
- Release date : February 24, 2017
- Genre : Word Games
- Topics : Numbers and Letters
- Last updated : October 1, 2025
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