# Puzzmo is Not a Good iOS App [PUZZMO IS GETTING A NATIVE IOS APP MONDAY](https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/05/16/puzzmo-native-app) by John Gruber for Daring Fireball > "My suggestion is check them out now, see how you like it as a web app on your iPhone, and then compare when the app hits the App Store on Monday. Puzzmo is a really good web app. I bet, though, the app is better." This has been living in my head, as the kids say, rent free since I read Gruber's post. I was on Puzzmo at "[[250526_Puzzmo Invite-231019.png|Day One]]."[^1] I love [[‘Like Neo Dodging Bullets’, With Zach Gage – The Talk Show| Zach's games]] and their [[Knotwords “Book talk” and reveal – Zach Gage & Jack Schesinger|design]]. I like what Puzzmo was doing. It got me to actually do crossword puzzles for a spell. Just two months after launch, Puzzmo was [bought by Hearst Newspapers](https://www.gamesindustry.biz/hearst-newspapers-acquires-puzzmo) as a part of the [Newspaper](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/31/business/media/new-york-times-wordle.html) [Game](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/26/crosswords/new-game-connections.html) [Wars](https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2024/05/apple-news-plus-introduces-quartiles-a-new-game-and-offline-mode-for-subscribers/) of [the 20s](https://aftermath.site/new-york-times-wordle-connections-puzzmo-games). I fell off after awhile, sticking with *[[Zack Gage Announces Good Sudoku|Good Sudoku]]* and *Knotwords* before falling off those too. One of the reasons I dropped Puzzmo at large before the likes of the other two, despite Puzzmo having some of Zach's games *inside it* was the lack of a native iOS app. Sometimes you just want that native feel, you know? So when I saw Gruber's post about the native apps impending arrival, I tapped the little "pre-order" button and waited for Monday. Monday came and my excitement went. It's just a web view in an app wrapper. I actually couldn't believe it given Zach's pedigree. If I had followed [Puzzmo app news more closely](https://blog.puzzmo.com/posts/2025/02/06/digging-into-perf/) though, I wouldn't have been surprised by this news. > "The iOS app is going to be a hybrid web-view app, with native Swift code to handle a lot of the Apple integrations. This means that it will feel like a full-screen version of the website in Safari, but with the ability to pay via the App Store and we’ll use native features when it makes sense." I knew the app was not what I expected when [[250524_Download Puzzmo App in the app.PNG|I saw this on the home page]].[^2] I'm in the app. Why am I seeing an ad for the app inside the app? Then you open the crossword and are [[250524_Puzzmo Crossword View.PNG|met with this view]]. Compare that to [[250526_Knotwords View.PNG|the view]] in *Knotwords* on a Sunday puzzle. When you zoom in (as of May 26, 2025), these artifacts linger and tear the screen. ![[250524a_Puzzmo Tear.PNG]] ![[250524b_Puzzmo Tear.PNG]] Sure, the tears are bugs that can be resolved, but really? This is the state you launch your "native" app in? Given the view is so zoomed out, you *have* to zoom in to read and play the puzzle. The tears *will* happen. It's an immediate break in the experience. Of course, in the unpaid tier, you also have ads, which strike me as the cheapo kind. It's [no Taboola ad](https://daringfireball.net/2024/07/apple_taboola_sitting_in_a_tree), but it certainly [[250525_Puzzmo ad.PNG|feels like a web ad]]. I hate to say it, but the Puzzmo app is not a good experience. It is a real shame that Zach and team launched it in this state. What makes the shame heavier is that Zach is a superb designer. I know he works with excellent designers too. The team has fallen short in an off-putting way. Thankfully, Gruber is not a betting man. [^1]: When Puzzmo launched, the only way in was to solve a puzzle online, give then your address, then they'd send you a puzzle in the mail, solve *that* puzzle, and then you'd get a login for the full site. So what does "Day One" mean when the system is like that? [^2]: Image very tall, please hover to see. 😅