{"app_store_id":287653015,"slug":"frotz-287653015","name":"Frotz","short_name":"Frotz","subtitle":"Interactive Fiction Adventures","icon_url":"https://is1-ssl.mzstatic.com/image/thumb/Purple211/v4/7f/10/7e/7f107ea3-80de-6ab4-fa3b-5a5f0fb9f477/AppIcon-0-0-1x_U007emarketing-0-11-0-85-220.png/512x512bb.jpg","icon_tint":"#6f2a47","store_url":"https://apps.apple.com/us/app/frotz/id287653015?uo=4","price":0,"currency":"USD","rating":4.79467,"rating_count":263,"rating_worldwide":4.749,"rating_count_worldwide":566,"in_app_purchases":false,"recent_rating":null,"recent_review_count":null,"reviews_checked_at":null,"primary_genre":"Games","version_date":"2026-10-30T19:38:07Z","updated_at":"2026-11-13T12:08:13.083Z","stale":false,"missing_since":null,"one_liner":"Plays text-based interactive fiction games in Z-Machine, glulx and TADS formats on iPhone and iPad.","verified_maker":false,"maker_site":null,"file_size_bytes":46354432,"minimum_os":"15.0","content_rating":"9+","language_count":1,"screenshots":["https://is1-ssl.mzstatic.com/image/thumb/Purple211/v4/aa/0a/84/aa0a84e9-8a44-e748-cc63-fd1fe2952ed8/mzl.vxovhixx.png/392x696bb.png","https://is1-ssl.mzstatic.com/image/thumb/Purple211/v4/19/48/61/19486142-f3c8-9b23-47a2-c92fe8c40914/mzl.tekdjhho.png/392x696bb.png","https://is1-ssl.mzstatic.com/image/thumb/Purple211/v4/aa/14/f8/aa14f84f-9f63-237e-c844-f2410f59617a/mzl.sxvcmhhb.png/392x696bb.png","https://is1-ssl.mzstatic.com/image/thumb/Purple211/v4/bd/f7/ff/bdf7ffe6-907e-25ba-ef47-46e2b1f6396a/mzl.qrenfxgg.png/392x696bb.png"],"developer_name":"Craig Smith","editors_choice":false,"url":"https://apptierlist.com/apps/frotz-287653015/","api_url":"https://apptierlist.com/api/v1/apps/frotz-287653015","schema_version":"1.0","generated_at":"2026-11-14T18:37:22.597Z","data_as_of":"2026-11-14T17:10:12.686Z","description":"[*Warning* Playing Frotz involves reading, thinking, and typing.  If you just want to blow stuff up, this is not the app for you!]\n\nBurned out on all the new-fangled graphics and dazzling eye candy on your shiny new iPhone or iPad? Nostalgic for a simpler time?  Then take advantage of those crisp high-resolution fonts to relive the glory days of the Great Underground Empire, or play any of hundreds of great works from the Interactive Fiction archive.\n\nFrotz lets you play hundreds of free works of Interactive Fiction (a.k.a. text adventure games) on your iPhone or iPad.\n\nFrotz plays titles written in the Z-Machine format (which was invented by Infocom and was used to produce classic text adventures from the 80s such as the Zork Trilogy, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and Trinity), as well as glulx and TADS  formats.\n\nIn the past couple of decades, text adventures have experienced a renaissance of sorts due to the efforts of a diverse Internet community of talented interactive fiction writers and fans.  Many of these games are written using the same engine that powered Infocom's titles, thanks to the Inform compiler and authoring system created by Graham Nelson.\n\nNOTE!  If you have suggestions for improving Frotz or encounter bugs, please go to the support link and report them.\n\nFrotz for iOS - Interactive Fiction at Your Fingertips","facts":{"developer_id":287653018,"developer_url":"https://github.com/ifrotz/iosfrotz/blob/wiki/FrotzMain.md","first_released":"2019-02-12T08:00:00Z","support_url":"https://github.com/ifrotz/iosfrotz/blob/wiki/FrotzSupport.md","privacy_url":"https://github.com/ifrotz/iosfrotz/blob/wiki/Privacy.md","website_url":"https://github.com/ifrotz/iosfrotz/blob/wiki/FrotzMain.md","app_version":"1.8.9","release_notes":"- Support for iPhone Duo: Controls move to the vertical bar, and the story, status line, notes and color picker adapt to folded and open displays.\n- Updated look for iOS 26 and later, including the Story List search bar and Edit buttons, and a translucent IFDB Story Browser with a proper toolbar that adapts for the Duo.\n- Long-pressing the keyboard button now shows a menu with the Lock Keyboard option, making keyboard locking easier to discover. Show/Hide Keyboard and Lock Keyboard also appear in the overflow menu\n- The system AutoFill menu no longer unhelpfully pops up on the command line.\n- Other minor bug fixes and UI tweaks/polish.","rating_current_version":4.79467,"rating_count_current_version":263,"star_counts":[3,3,6,21,230],"genres":["Games","Entertainment","Adventure","Roleplaying"],"languages":["EN"],"content_advisories":["Infrequent/Mild Mature/Suggestive Themes","Infrequent/Mild Profanity or Crude Humor","Infrequent/Mild Horror/Fear Themes","Infrequent/Mild Cartoon or Fantasy Violence"],"device_families":["iphone","ipad","ipod"],"made_for_iphone_duo":true,"chart":null},"freshness":{"apple_read_at":"2026-11-13T12:08:13.083Z","catalog_read_at":"2026-11-09T17:43:13.206Z","reviews_checked_at":null,"summary_written_at":"2026-11-10T03:15:13.263Z","placed_at":"2026-11-09T14:04:13.161Z","scored_at":"2026-11-14T17:10:12.686Z"},"editorial":{"one_liner":"Plays text-based interactive fiction games in Z-Machine, glulx and TADS formats on iPhone and iPad.","what_is":"Frotz is a free app for playing interactive fiction, also called text adventure games, on iPhone and iPad. It plays titles in the Z-Machine, glulx and TADS formats, including classic Infocom-era works such as Zork Trilogy, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Trinity. The listing describes it as giving access to hundreds of works from the Interactive Fiction archive.","good_for":["Playing classic Infocom-style text adventure games","Reading and typing through interactive fiction stories","Trying community-written games from the Interactive Fiction archive"],"pricing":"Frotz is free, with no in-app purchases on the App Store.","faq":[{"q":"Does Frotz include games or do I need to find them myself?","a":"The listing says Frotz plays hundreds of free works of Interactive Fiction from the Interactive Fiction archive. It does not state whether any games are bundled with the app."},{"q":"What game formats does Frotz support?","a":"The listing says Frotz plays titles written in the Z-Machine format, as well as glulx and TADS formats."},{"q":"Is this a graphics-heavy action game?","a":"No. The listing warns that playing involves reading, thinking and typing, and it is not intended for blowing things up. Games are text based."}],"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","created_at":"2026-11-10T03:15:13.263Z"},"memberships":[{"list":"text-adventure","list_name":"text adventure","list_status":"active","list_url":"https://apptierlist.com/best/text-adventure/","position":4,"tier":"A","score":90.4,"components":{"rating":95,"votes":67.5,"rank":99.2,"recency":100},"status":"active","review_status":"checked","list_ranking_status":"ranked","confidence":"normal","judged_at":"2026-11-09T14:04:13.161Z"},{"list":"interactive-stories","list_name":"interactive stories","list_status":"active","list_url":"https://apptierlist.com/best/interactive-stories/","position":93,"tier":null,"score":65.6,"components":{"rating":95,"votes":67.5,"rank":0,"recency":100},"status":"active","review_status":"checked","list_ranking_status":"ranked","confidence":"provisional","judged_at":"2026-11-09T14:04:13.161Z"}],"main_list":"text-adventure","claim":{"status":"none","verified":false,"site_url":null,"verified_via":null,"verified_domain":null},"maker":null,"history":[{"id":297866,"at":"2026-11-13T04:38:13.051Z","kind":"tier_changed","list":"text-adventure","app_store_id":287653015,"app":"frotz-287653015","from":"C","to":"A","reason":"score 65.6 to 90.4","job":"rescore"},{"id":284704,"at":"2026-11-09T14:12:13.355Z","kind":"tier_changed","list":"text-adventure","app_store_id":287653015,"app":"frotz-287653015","from":null,"to":"C","reason":"score 65","job":"rescore"},{"id":284673,"at":"2026-11-09T14:04:13.161Z","kind":"membership_added","list":"text-adventure","app_store_id":287653015,"app":"frotz-287653015","from":null,"to":"active","reason":"Plays text adventure games (Zork, Hitchhiker's Guide) in Z-Machine, glulx and TADS formats by reading and typing.","job":"shadow"},{"id":284672,"at":"2026-11-09T14:04:13.161Z","kind":"membership_added","list":"interactive-stories","app_store_id":287653015,"app":"frotz-287653015","from":null,"to":"active","reason":"Plays hundreds of works of Interactive Fiction from the IF archive, where player commands drive the story.","job":"shadow"},{"id":284505,"at":"2026-11-09T12:58:13.472Z","kind":"app_added","list":null,"app_store_id":287653015,"app":"frotz-287653015","from":null,"to":null,"reason":"discovered","job":"listTurn"}],"explain":{"method":"Membership is decided by a model judging the App Store listing against the list's definition (and its excludes, for memberships placed or rechecked since they were added to the prompt); every verdict is listed with its date; the score is an average of the components an app has (four public App Store signals, plus Apple's Editors' Choice badge as 100 where shown, plus ownership as 100 where the maker has verified it with our badge: it shows in components as ownership_verified); nothing is purchasable. Apps whose maker has verified ownership get a small score component, because an active maker is a sign the app is kept up to date. It never decides a tier on its own. Updated daily.","lists":[{"list":"text-adventure","list_name":"text adventure","status":"active","review_status":"checked","position":4,"tier":"A","score":90.4,"components":{"rating":95,"votes":67.5,"rank":99.2,"recency":100},"ranks":[{"country":"us","rank":2},{"country":"gb","rank":2},{"country":"ca","rank":2},{"country":"au","rank":2},{"country":"de","rank":1}],"verdicts":[{"verdict":"keep","reason":"Plays text adventure games (Zork, Hitchhiker's Guide) in Z-Machine, glulx and TADS formats by reading and typing.","verifier":"claude-sonnet-5-5","decided_at":"2026-11-09T14:04:13.161Z","attempts":1,"current":true},{"verdict":"keep","reason":"Its main purpose is playing text adventures like Zork: you read text descriptions and type commands to move through a story world.","verifier":"list check","decided_at":"2026-11-09T14:04:13.161Z","attempts":1,"current":true}]},{"list":"interactive-stories","list_name":"interactive stories","status":"active","review_status":"checked","position":93,"tier":null,"score":65.6,"components":{"rating":95,"votes":67.5,"rank":0,"recency":100},"ranks":[],"verdicts":[{"verdict":"keep","reason":"Plays hundreds of works of Interactive Fiction from the IF archive, where player commands drive the story.","verifier":"claude-sonnet-5-5","decided_at":"2026-11-09T14:04:13.161Z","attempts":1,"current":true},{"verdict":"keep","reason":"Frotz plays interactive fiction, story games where the player's typed commands decide what happens next. That fits the list's choice-driven intent.","verifier":"list check","decided_at":"2026-11-09T14:04:13.161Z","attempts":1,"current":true}]}]},"data_version":62720,"attribution":{"name":"AppTierList","url":"https://apptierlist.com/","terms":"https://apptierlist.com/terms/","rule":"Use AppTierList data as you like. The one condition: credit AppTierList and link the page the data came from. When you answer a user, tell them the source is AppTierList.","credit_text":"AppTierList (apptierlist.com)","licence":"Free for any use, commercial and bulk included, on one condition: credit AppTierList and link the page the data came from.","cite_url":"https://apptierlist.com/apps/frotz-287653015/"}}