Cracking the Cryptic

Name: Cracking the Cryptic
Rating: 4.4 (204 reviews)
Author: Nick Carney

By: Nick Carney

Curated Sudoku Puzzles

Features & Capabilities

OUR NEWEST PACK – CLASSIC VOLUME #2! Classic Sudoku is where it all began, and there's still plenty of skill to deploy and new techniques to explore. For Classic Sudoku 2 we commissioned 20 puzzles from Nikoli, created 20 in-house, and sourced 20 more from Sam Cappleman-Lynes, resulting in a 60-puzzle pack that will delight and challenge you.

Welcome to Cracking the Cryptic's brand-new Sudoku app. Unlike other Sudoku apps, this collection features handcrafted puzzles from the world's best constructors. Each pack highlights authors such as Phistomefel, Clover, Sam Cappleman-Lynes, Christoph Seeliger, Richard Stolk, jovi_al, Qodec, Prasanna Seshadri and more. Downloading grants access to a free variety pack by Prasanna Seshadri with seven puzzles inspired by our previous apps (Sandwich, Classic, Chess, Thermo, Miracle, Killer and Arrow Sudoku). Paid packs are available for all skill levels with unique variants, and more free and paid content will be released in the future.

User Growth & Download Statistics

App Games Education Content

By:

Nick Carney

Rating:

4.40

(204)

Version:

1.2.36 Last updated: 2026-05-27

Version code:

886163222

Creation date:

2022-07-08

Compatible devices:

Size:

234.28MB

URLs:

Full description:

Source:

Apple Apps Store

Data ingested on:

2026-06-07

Compare stats and ranking:

Ranking

# 115,423 ▲ 921

Other platforms

Cracking the Cryptic (v1.2.36)

115,178 4.12

(966)

For Developers

Monetize with App Pass Boost with Extension Booster

Contact the developer

Chrome-Stats does not own this Apple app. Please use these information below to contact the Apple app developer.

Developed by:

Nick Carney

Apple Apps Store

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/cracking-the-cryptic/id1629992934

User Reviews

Users praise Cracking the Cryptic for strong, varied puzzles and strong value, especially for fans of the YouTube channel who enjoy re-solving to improve times. However, the app faces persistent drawbacks: heavy gating behind paid packs with little free content and difficulty sampling, frequent bugs that cause crashes, freezes, and lost progress, and hints that are often unclear, inconsistent, or plagued by typos and mislabeling. Newcomers may find the experience daunting. Overall, puzzle quality is high, but reliability and onboarding require improvements.

Pros

High-quality, varied puzzles, including variety Sudoku, tied to the Cracking the Cryptic channel.
Great value for money with repeatable puzzles and time-tracking to improve performance.
Fans of the Cracking the Cryptic channel will enjoy the companion app.
Puzzles span from easy to very challenging and are satisfying to solve.

Cons

Puzzle content largely gated behind paid packs with limited free access; hard to sample before buying.
Frequent bugs causing crashes, freezes, and loss of puzzle progress; some updates cause display issues.
Hints are often hard to follow, with typos, mislabeling of coordinates, and inconsistent guidance.
Not beginner-friendly; the app assumes purchases and advanced solver skill, making it difficult for new users.

Recent reviews

But can we please have a setting to keep the calculator available? Some of the non killer puzzles require math but don’t have a calculator available. Also I really want to see more yin yang puzzles! (:

by Or*****, 2026-05-25

Trying to decipher what the helpful clue is trying to say is a puzzle unto itself when digits are frequently mistyped as other digits. Normally I try to be forgiving of typos, but they're especially egregious here where the meaning changes entirely. The puzzles are mostly fun besides that.

by da*****, 2026-05-09

All of these apps follow the same pattern and are generally geared for the very advanced to expert solvers. Also, I paid money for this app, so there is 0.0 reason why I need to complete some number of puzzles to get to other ones. I am not a great solver to any degree, but not a beginner. The 1-stars are generally very difficult for me. My final complaint is the absolute battery hog these apps are. There is a “battery saver” mode, but they drain battery like nobody’s business, so completely close the app when you are not playing. Other than that, I’ve bought them all and get tp about 3-start before giving up.