Wordle online8/13/2023 ![]() Progressive web apps (PWA), a set of standards that allow websites to function similarly to native apps, are only half-heartedly supported, broken, or plain ignored on iOS and iPadOS. Wordle is tech born of love that asks nothing in returnĪpple has a longstanding history of intentionally ignoring or degrading open web technologies that could compete with its incredibly successful, lucrative, closed app store. It could be argued that Wardle didn’t trademark Wordle-let alone invent the actual gameplay given that it’s based on a 70’s gameshow-but that isn’t the point: because Wordle is web-based, it’ll continually open itself up to clones until Wardle develops an official app. If he wanted to defend his game on the Play Store when a clone does appear there, he’d at least have a choice to do so. Google actually does allow developers to upload some kinds of progressive web apps to the Play Store, though at time of writing Wardle doesn’t appear to have chosen to do this. There’s no way for a developer of a fully functional, capable web app like Wordle to claim their name in the App Store, nor is there a way for them to list their website to get users to the right place and defend themselves from copycats. Not only is this type of behavior allowed by the Apple App Store, there’s little recourse-because as far as Apple is concerned, Wordle doesn’t exist, given it wasn’t built a native app. Wordle is facing a threat we haven’t seen play out yet: the game’s developer is essentially being punished by app stores for choosing to build using open web technologies, rather than a native app. In the past, we’ve seen cloning behavior like this play out on app stores with viral games like Threes and Flappy Bird, both of which were cloned by developers and rejigged slightly with extra fees or advertising on top in the hope of fooling a few users and making a quick buck. ![]() After widespread backlash, however, Shakked appeared to have removed the game from sale, and late on Tuesday published a lengthy apology and partial justification for his actions via Twitter. Shakked bragged on Twitter about how many users he was converting to paid customers as well as running ads against the search term “Wordle” on the App Store. This guy shamelessly cloned Wordle (name and all) as an F2P iOS game with in-app purchases and is bragging about how well it's doing and how he'll get away with it because Josh Wardle didn't trademark it. One developer, Zach Shakked, cloned the game in its entirety down to the exact game play and user interface, called it Wordle, and uploaded it to Apple’s App Store, charging $30-per-year to play a game that was intended to be free. Now, however, opportunistic developers have smelled this and are creating almost exact clones of Wordle in order to generate money where Wardle has eschewed doing so. Part of Wordle’s charm is that the posts of colorful squares you see everywhere don’t really feel like advertising there’s no link back to the game or cheesy copy trying to convince you to install it: you’re on your own to find it via a quick Google search.Īs a result, the average iPhone or Android owner is likely to assume Wordle is an app and head right to their respective app store to find it-which is exactly what I did when I first discovered it, only to find a dead end when I started playing a month ago before realizing I should just Google it. A side effect of that choice, however, is that Wordle is suddenly being ripped off in app stores by other developers who smell a quick way to make money off of unsuspecting users that either don’t care or don’t know any better. ![]()
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