The best mobile “time-wasting” games are addictive, keeping you glued to the screen for hours on end. Some are mindless, like Candy Crush (though some would argue there’s strategy involved with that repetitive game), others make you think, like Wordle. Apple’s new entry into the space called Quartiles, available through the Apple News+ app, falls into the latter category. You might spend hours on the game, but it put your brain into overdrive.
The original spelling game, which joins already available crosswords, displays tiles featuring anywhere from two to four letters each. Put them together in as many ways as possible to form words. The larger the word, the more points you receive. Sounds easy enough, right? That is until your brain tricks you into thinking that “chi,” “ic,” and “kn” spells chicken. You might find a few words quickly, but the obvious ones dry up quickly and you’re left scratching your head, determined to find another, and another, and another. You can mix up the tiles to get a different perspective, but the game is more challenging than it looks.
There are new puzzles daily, so if you get stumped with one, the game resets the next day with a fresh new set of letter combinations. You can also share a Quartiles puzzle with other News+ subscribers if desired. There’s a Puzzles Scoreboard where you can see your personalized stats and streaks for each puzzle, your solve rate, and your longest streak.
If you subscribe to Apple News+, you can access Quartiles once you download the latest iOS 17.5 update. I’d recommend playing but expect to either get stuck on a puzzle for hours or getting frustrated and checking your phone out the window.
Also new for Apple News+, available with iOS 17.5, is an Offline Mode that provides recent and personalized News content for subscribers when you’re not connected to Wi-Fi or a cellular network. Available for both iPhone and iPad, you can download Top Stories, Apple News Today audio briefings, full magazine issues, and narrated articles from News+ publishers, as well as puzzles you want to access later, without Wi-Fi or a cellular connection. When the device is back online, downloaded content will automatically refresh, and downloads will be optimized to maximize space on the device.
Apple News offers content from a variety of top publications, curated by its team of editors. A subscription to Apple News+ is $16.99 per month in Canada and includes access to hundreds of top newspapers and magazines, including The Wall Street Journal, Vogue, The New Yorker, People, The Athletic, and more; a catalog of narrated audio articles from Apple News+ publishers, available to listen to in the Apple News and Apple Podcasts apps; and a daily crossword and mini crossword puzzle created in partnership with The Puzzle Society, along with now also the original spelling game Quartiles.
Apple News+ is also included with the Premier Apple One subscription, which is $44.95 per month and includes Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, iCloud with 2TB storage, Apple News+, Apple Music, and Apple Fitness+.
So, read your news offline or engage in a fun game of Quartiles. Whatever the case, these enhancements are worth using if you already subscribe to Apple News+, have an Apple One Premier subscription, or you have been considering getting one.