If you’re a Wordle obsessive, you’ll be pleased to know that the latest iOS 17.5 software update included more than a critical bug fix. In its latest major software update, Apple released a new word puzzle game called Quartiles.
Quartiles join two other daily puzzles available on Apple News+: Crossword and Crossword Mini. In statistics, quartiles are used for dividing a dataset into four equal parts, with each part comprising 25% of the data. They are useful for analyzing the distribution of a dataset and pinpointing its central tendencies and variations. When this principle of division is applied to a word, it creates an engaging and challenging spelling game.
This game challenges players to form words by selecting tiles containing two to four letters, and users collect points based on word length. New puzzles are available each day, and players can also choose to share a Quartiles puzzle with other News+ subscribers.
You can use one to four tiles to form words. Apple gives you 20 tiles in a grid and combines them to form words of one, two, three, or four tiles. Each puzzle features five quartiles, and each will give you eight points. If you get them all right, you can get up to 80 points (which includes a 40-point bonus). The game also gives you one point for one-tile words, 2 for two-tile words, and 4 for three-tile words.
Once you finish, Apple will tell you if the words you have formed are valid. The game can even help you to sort found quartiles or shuffle titles to give you a new perspective.
This game is available for Apple News+ subscribers (standalone or with an Apple One subscription) with an iPhone or iPad running iOS 17.5/iPadOS 17.5 or newer. In this update, Apple also added Offline Mode to automatically download Top Stories, Apple News Today audio briefings, full magazine issues, and narrated articles from News+ publishers.
In addition to this new game, Apple added a Scoreboard feature to Apple News+, where you can compare your scores with friends and more.
