Love & Pies – Merge

About Love & Pies – Merge

So I picked this up because my old merge game, something about gardening, got so full of unskippable ads and paywalls I couldn’t stand it anymore. Love & Pies – Merge looked cute enough, pie shop theme, simple graphics, nothing too flashy. I’ve been on it for a little over a month now, playing on my A54 usually during my lunch break at work or while waiting for my daughter at her piano lessons on Tuesdays. The story is basically you’re running a pie shop, your mom left it to you, and you have to fix it up. It’s silly but it keeps me clicking. What surprised me most? The ads are actually optional most of the time. That’s rare. I expected them to be shoved in my face every three seconds. They aren’t. You can play for ten, fifteen minutes without being interrupted. That alone made me keep it on my phone.

Core Features

The main thing is merging items on a board to create higher-level pies, drinks, decorations, and customer orders. You drag two of the same thing together, they combine, you get something better. That’s the loop. There’s also a little story that unlocks in chapters, and each chapter has a set of tasks. You make pies for customers, earn coins, buy upgrades for the shop. There’s an energy system though, which is the big catch. You get a certain amount of energy, and every merge costs energy. Once it’s gone, you either wait a few hours or pay gems to refill. Gems are the premium currency you can earn slowly or buy with real money. The graphics are simple but charming, pastel colors, no weird animations that lag. It runs fine on my A54, no crashes. The sound is cute but I play with it muted anyway.

Real-World Use

I use this app mostly in short bursts. Maybe ten minutes on the bus, another ten while I’m waiting for coffee at the café near my house. It’s not something I sit down and play for an hour. The energy system actually forces that, which is either annoying or helpful depending on how you look at it. For me, it keeps me from wasting too much time. I’ve gotten through maybe five chapters of the story. The pace is reasonable. You don’t hit a wall where you absolutely have to pay money to progress. I did spend a free weekend afternoon playing for longer, but that was only because I saved up energy from the daily rewards. The game gives you a few daily chests and tasks that refill some energy. It’s designed to be a slow burn. I appreciate that I don’t feel pressured to check it every hour. It’s more like a little treat I open once or twice a day.

Pricing & Value

It’s free to download, but there are in-app purchases. The typical stuff. A pack for $2.99 here, a bigger one for $9.99 there. They offer bundles of gems, energy refills, and sometimes exclusive decorations. I haven’t spent a cent. The game gives you enough free gems through achievements and daily rewards that I’ve never felt stuck. I can see why someone with less patience might drop money, but the game is generous compared to others I’ve tried. The value proposition is fine if you treat it as a casual time-waster. If you’re the type to want to finish everything in a weekend, you’ll either spend money or get frustrated. For a free game with no mandatory ads, I’d say it’s a fair trade.

Updates & Support

I’ve seen a couple of updates since I started. One added a new chapter and some seasonal decorations. It seems like they are still actively working on it. I haven’t had to contact support at all because the app just works for me. No bugs, no crashes, no weird data drains. I did look at the developer’s responses in the app store reviews and they seem to actually reply to people, which is more than most do. That gives me some confidence if I ever had a problem. The game also warns you before a big update, which is nice. I hate when an update breaks everything without warning.

Data & Privacy

Here’s where I get picky. I checked the privacy policy before installing. They collect your device ID, IP address, and some usage data. Standard for a free game. They use third-party analytics and advertising networks, which is how they make money. But I didn’t see anything about selling my personal data to other companies. They do share data with ad partners, which I’m not thrilled about, but I block a lot of that with my phone’s settings anyway. The app asks for permission to your storage for saving game data, which makes sense. No access to contacts, location, or microphone. That’s a green flag. A lot of games ask for way more than they need. This one felt reasonable. I appreciate that they have a clear privacy link in the app settings. I wish more developers did that.