Apple’s New Daily Puzzle Game: Emoji Wordle Edition

Oh hey, it’s World Emoji Day—probably not marked on the calendar, but somehow significant. And Apple, doing its Apple thing, decided to drop this new puzzle game on its Apple News+ app. Only in the U.S. and Canada, though, which feels oddly exclusive. Anyway, it’s called Emoji Game. Basically, it’s this original word game where you drag emoji around to fill in phrases. Sounds simple, right? Let’s not get too cocky.

So, apparently Apple cooked this up in-house. It’s like the fifth puzzle game thrown into the Apple News+ playground. Joining the likes of Crossword and Sudoku—wait, wasn’t Quartiles added last year? Yep, forgot about that one. Emoji Game’s like the oddball here, purely because it’s all about the emoji and tweaking iOS features.

Now, imagine this: Each day, you get a brand new puzzle with six words or phrases to crack. Emojis are lining up at the bottom, waiting for action. Let’s say your clue is Disap_ _ _ _ and there’s a pear hanging out among the emoji. You’d grab that little fruit and voila—Disappear. Pretty slick, right? Feels a bit like Blue Prince—anyone else getting those vibes? Emojis can be tricky little beasts, having multiple meanings, hence the “fruit” angle with the pear.

Here’s where it makes your brain sweat a bit. Picture this puzzle: _ _ _ _ _ _ Year _ _ _ k. You need the fish and ghost emoji to piece it together. Ghost drops into place, making “Yearbook” (thanks to its “boo” factor), while the fish brings “School” to life. Yeah, School Yearbook. Doing these mental gymnastics not your thing? Don’t worry, there’s a quick hint button if your brain decides to take a day off.

Oh, and they have this grouping thing with emojis—makes you play detective. Gotta decide what these clumped images mean. Speaking of clever—there’s iOS 18’s Genmoji thingy going on here too. One puzzle had an eaten apple emoji filling in for “core” in a phrase. Specific much?

Can’t help but feel Apple’s chasing that Wordle phenomenon. Daily formats, archives, streaks, social tangents—you name it. They even throw in this six-turn puzzle challenge. Wordle, anyone? Maybe it’s not enough to make you wanna cough up for a new app, but another shiny distraction if you’ve already got Apple News+.

Anyway, if this tickles your fancy, Emoji Game is ready to roll on iOS devices via Apple News+ today. Go emoji wild!