Apple has made a 'hidden' Wordle rival for iPhone

The puzzle looks and feels a lot like Wordle at first sight
The original Wordle is incredibly popular
Nicholas T Ansell / PA
Nuray Bulbul18 April 2024

Quartiles is a secret game available to Apple News+ members in the most recent iOS 17.5 beta. In order to make the best words, players must match word fragments in five-by-five tiles.

It looks and feels a lot like Wordle at first sight. You are required to construct lengthier words using a grid of morphemes, phonemes, syllables, and word samples. Every morning, the problem changes, presenting a fresh set of five "Quartiles" each day, each consisting of four alternatives from the daily mix.

In addition to the usual ways the daily brainteaser attempts to make each question a little bit more than meets the eye, the crossword requires you to know a good amount of knowledge.

But how can you access the Wordle-like game and how does it work?

Where is Quartiles?

You must subscribe to News+ in order to access Quartiles. If you are subscribed, it should be under puzzles for iOS 17.5 beta testers.

After Crossword and Crossword Mini, Quartiles is the third puzzle game that comes with an Apple News+ subscription. All three of the games work with Game Centre to show leaderboards as of the iOS 17.5 beta.

How to play Quartiles

When you open a Quartiles word puzzle on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac, a tutorial will appear. It describes how a word is made up of one or more tiles, and how words can be formed from one to four tiles.

To create words of one, two, three, or four tiles, you start with 20 tiles in a grid. There are five quartiles in each problem, and you receive eight points for each.

To earn a bonus of 40 points and a total of 80 points, locate all five. Also, you receive one point for words with one tile, two for terms with two tiles, and four for words with three tiles.

To score a word you've built on the Quartiles board, hit the checkmark icon. It will inform you if the word is invalid. A shuffle button allows you to rearrange the tiles and see things from a different angle.

Above the list of words you've found is your overall score for the game, which you can expand to see the words you've already combined.

Select "Rankings" from the menu after tapping the ellipsis (•••) button to view your current ranking in the game. Every game comprises five stages, with scores ranging from 0 to 100.

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