Apple’s new game is like Wordle (but worse)

Recently Apple sneakily launched its own Wordle-esque word game and so far, it's received mixed reviews. Quartiles is an iOS 17.5 beta feature available for Apple News+ subscribers, giving users an unexpected (and arguably less functional) alternative to the New York Times game, Wordle. 

It seems that Apple is giving us everything but significant innovation after the latest iPhone 15's biggest change was a different charging port. While the Apple rumour mill keeps whispering the promise of AI advancements, so far the evidence suggests that we're a little way off from top-notch integrated AI in our next iOS update. 

Think of Quartiles as a jumbled Frankenstein's monster of Wordle, Scrabble and Spelling Bee. It gives you an empty grid of twenty tiles and a selection of letter snippets that you combine into a four-tile word to make a Quartile. Find all five word combinations and you get a 40 point bonus – how generous. 

Joining Crossword and Crossword mini in the Apple News 'Puzzles' section, Quartiles seems to be part of Apple News' evolution into a New York Times style of outlet combining news with short word games. However, some fans were unimpressed, with one Reddit user commenting "That’s nice but I use the New York Times for free games." Others criticised the need for word games, with another user commenting "I use news apps to…read news. Not sure why we need word puzzle games."

As a big word game fan, I'm intrigued by Quartile but not convinced enough to commit to Apple News+ just for a Wordle knockoff. It seems that Quartile lacks the one thing that makes Wordle so successful – simple, quick and free fun. 

For more Apple updates, check out the iOS 18 concept that could show the stunning future of the iPhone. If you want to keep up to date with the upcoming iPhone news, check out our one-stop shop for all things iPhone 16 with all the rumours in one convenient place.