If you’ve been on the internet recently, you’ve probably heard of Wordle, a new word game created by Josh Wardle. The minimalist title asks users to guess a five-letter word each day in six tries, like on the 1980s American show, Jargon. The official ” Wordle is only available on the web at the moment and the only way to play it is through a web browser.
However, as is often the case with anything that goes viral on the internet, clones have started appearing in mobile app stores. As several people on Twitter have noted, impersonators jumped at the chance to rake in revenue of Wordlethe popularity of. An example can be seen below:
This guy shamelessly cloned Wordle (name and all) as an iOS F2P game with in-app purchases and brags about how well it performs and how it will fare because Josh Wardle didn’t brand it. . So disgusting. pic.twitter.com/kIs8BypuRA
– Andy Baio (@waxpancake) January 11, 2022
Others have also noted how new applications have added the keyword “Wordle” to their names in order to improve search visibility. Here is an example :
The top performing Word Games # 3, # 7, # 14, # 15, and # 16 right now in the App Store are all Wordle clones that don’t even change their names. It’s disgusting! This guy is unique only insofar as he is the only one to brag about it! pic.twitter.com/F3nWRI0gW1
– Greg Karber (@gregkarber) January 11, 2022
As mentioned previously, Wordle himself borrows from Jargon, so this is not a new concept. But the potential point of contention here is that the clones use the same aesthetic and name as Wardle’s web game. Some scams even charge $ 30 / year to just play them on your iPhone.
Fortunately, MacRumors has now pointed out that Apple has started removing apps with the name “Wordle,” which were released after the online game.
It remains to be seen if other showcases will follow. A quick search of the Google Play Store revealed dozens of apps containing the word “Wordle”. Meanwhile, the Microsoft Store does not appear to be infiltrated by clones based on a quick glance yet, but this is likely due to low developer interest due to the smaller user base of the. showcase.
Anyway, you can check the original Wordle in your web browser here.