Wordle' clones are taking over the App Store

If youve spent any time on Twitter in the last week, chances are youve seen the grids of emoji boxes taking over your feed. Thats thanks to Wordle, a new puzzle game thats become somewhat of an obsession for many since The New York Timeswrote about it just over a week ago.

Like other viral games, Wordle is deceptively simple: you have six chances to guess a new five-letter word. And thats pretty much it. Theres just one puzzle a day, and its free to play with no ads . Its creator, a software developer named Josh Wardle, is apparently overwhelmed by his games popularity. But the fact that the game doesnt have an app has allowed developers to create their own knockoff version of the game.

One particularly egregious example comes from developer Zach Shakked who created an app called Wordle - The App. At first glance, the app, which is subtitled Word Game Everyone's Playing! could easily be mistaken for the original. The word grid looks almost the same, and it even uses the same color scheme. But Shakkeds version also asks players to sign up for a pro subscription that costs $29.99 after a three-day free trial.

But between naming the app Wordle and running search ads against the term in the App Store, Shakked seems to have succeeded in profiting off the popularity of the game originally created by Wardle. This is absurd. 450 trials at 1am last night, now at 950 and getting a new ones every minute, he wrote in a tweet that has since been made private. 12K downloads, rank #28 word game, and #4 result for "Wordle" in the App Store. We're going to the fucking moon.

Screenshot via Twittet

Shakked and Wardle didnt respond to questions from Engadget. But Shakked isnt the only developer trying to cash in on the popularity of Wordle. His app is one of at least six Wordle clones launched in the App Store in the eight days since the original New York Times article about Wordle. Another, called What Word - Wordle which charges a $0.99 in-app purchase to remove ads, claims to be the No. 1 Word game in its App Store screenshots. (It is actually ranked No. 7 in word games, according to its App Store listing.)

Scammy knockoff apps capitalizing on the popularity of a viral game is nothing new, of course. Game developers have been complaining about the practice for years. Apple didnt immediately respond to questions about Wordle clones in its store. But, thanks to emails released during the Epic v. Apple trial, we do know that copycat apps have long been a source of frustration for Apple executives as well. Is no one reviewing these apps? Is no one minding the store?" Phil Schiller wrote in a 2012 email. Three years later, he complained that I cant believe we still dont have automated tools to find scam apps.