If you’re an Apple News+ subscriber and you love daily puzzles, Quartiles is one of the most addictive and cleverly designed word-building games Apple has released. It blends pattern recognition, vocabulary skills, and puzzle-solving strategy — all wrapped in a clean, minimalist interface. Whether you’re a casual word-game player or someone who wants to maximize your daily score, understanding how the game works is essential. This guide walks you through everything: how to start, the rules, strategy, scoring, hidden tricks, and techniques expert players use.
What Is Quartiles?
Quartiles Game is a daily word puzzle available exclusively to Apple News+ subscribers. The game gives you a grid of word fragments — short clusters of letters like pre, tion, ing, mon, er, tri, etc. These fragments represent common:
- prefixes
- suffixes
- phonetic chunks
- one-syllable sounds
- short word roots
Your goal is to combine these fragments to form valid English words. Each valid word earns points, and the biggest scoring words are called “quartiles.”
The appeal of Quartiles is simplicity: no ads, no timers, no interruptions. You can pick it up anytime and stop anytime. But winning consistently takes skill, pattern recognition, and strategy.
How to Access the Game
Before you can play, make sure you meet these requirements:
✔ Have an Apple News+ subscription
✔ Be updated to the latest version of iOS (or iPadOS)
✔ Open the Apple News app
Once you’re inside the app:
- Scroll past Top Stories.
- Find Latest Puzzles — here you’ll see Quartiles.
- Or tap the Following tab → look at the Puzzles section.
- Tap Quartiles to start today’s challenge.
You can also access past puzzles and continue a game in progress.
Understanding the Rules
1. You build words from fragments
Tap on any tile to select it. Then tap other tiles to combine fragments into a complete word. You can choose:
- 1 tile
- 2 tiles
- 3 tiles
- 4 tiles
A valid word must follow English spelling conventions based on how the fragments combine. Once you form what you think is a word, tap ✓ to submit it. If it’s valid, you earn points.
2. Every puzzle contains 5 “quartiles”
A quartile is a word created from four unique tiles.
These are longer words like:
- generation
- wallpaper
- strawberry
- unexpected
- astronaut
Quartiles give the highest score:
- 8 points each
- 40 points total for all 5
- +40 bonus points for finding all five
This means a perfect quartiles round gives you 80 points, but you still need shorter words to reach 100+.
3. You can build smaller words too
Not every word has to use four tiles. In fact, you’ll build many shorter words such as:
- one-tile words: go, do, be
- two-tile words: super, going, broken
- three-tile words: replay, fantasy, motion
These smaller words fill in your score and help you identify potential quartiles.
4. Tools, buttons, and helpers
Quartiles has a few built-in tools that make solving easier:
Shuffle (bottom left)
Rearranges tiles randomly, helping your brain see fresh patterns.
Sort (bottom right)
Moves solved quartiles to the bottom so you can focus on what’s left.
Words Found (top bar)
Shows everything you’ve solved, your score, and how many quartiles remain.
Menu (⋯)
Allows you to replay the tutorial or give up and reveal all solutions.
Back button
Saves your progress automatically, letting you return later.
Strategies to Master Quartiles
To consistently score 100+ points daily, you need strategy — not just guessing. Here are the best expert-level techniques.
1. Start with the easiest words
Rather than hunting quartiles immediately, begin by building:
- 2-tile obvious words
- common prefixes + roots
- roots + suffixes
Examples:
- pre + view → preview
- run + ning → running
- ing endings
- tion endings
- anti beginnings
This warms up your brain and reveals patterns.
2. Look for common English building blocks
Certain fragments appear frequently and are great for forming multiple words:
Prefixes:
pre-, sub-, anti-, inter-, over-, under-, uni-, trans-
Suffixes:
-ing, -tion, -er, -ed, -ly, -ness, -ment
Roots:
port, act, form, spec, play, light, care, press
These pieces often appear in quartiles.
3. Identify quartile tiles by uniqueness
Quartiles always use tricker, less common fragments.
Look for:
- odd letter patterns
- rare consonant combinations
- fragments that fit only a few English words
Examples:
- astro
- sphere
- chrono
- turbo
- cycle
When these show up, they’re often part of quartile words.
4. Use the shuffle button frequently
Shuffling resets your visual perspective.
Tiles that looked useless suddenly line up in a meaningful way.
Pro players shuffle every:
- 1–2 minutes
- after finding a quartile
- when stuck on the last two quartiles
5. Save sorting for the middle/end
Sorting too early can confuse the layout.
Instead:
- play freely first
- find 1–2 quartiles
- then sort
- use the cleaned-up board to focus on the remaining quartiles
6. Reverse-engineer large words
See a suffix like -tion, -less, -ment?
Work backwards:
- ____ tion
- ____ ment
- ____ less
Similarly, if you see:
- astro
- cycle
- photo
- trans
Try connecting them forward.
7. Use elimination
When you find a quartile, those tiles can’t be used in the remaining quartiles.
This helps narrow possibilities:
- If “astro” was used in one quartile, it won’t appear in the others
- If “anti” hasn’t been used yet, it may be part of a remaining quartile
Scoring: How to Reach 100+ Points Daily
Here’s how scoring usually breaks down:
- 5 quartiles × 8 points = 40
- Bonus for all quartiles = 40
- Shorter words = 20–60
Even if your vocabulary isn’t huge, the quartile bonus alone gives you 80 points.
With a few 2- or 3-tile words, hitting 100 is easy.
The highest scores often go above 150 depending on the day’s puzzle.
Extra Tips and Hidden Tricks
✔ Don’t rush the quartiles
They’re worth the most points but also the easiest to mess up.
Let smaller words guide you.
✔ Some tiles can appear misleading
Just because two tiles look like they fit doesn’t mean they form a real word.
✔ The tutorial explains “tile classes”
If you forget the rules, replay the tutorial from the ⋯ menu.
✔ Older puzzles remain playable
Perfect for practicing.
✔ You can safely close the puzzle anytime
Your progress is always saved.
Why Quartiles Is So Popular
Quartiles stands out because:
- it’s calm and relaxing
- there are no ads
- no countdown timer
- no loud sounds or flashy animations
- it rewards logical thinking
- it feels like classic wordplay with a modern twist
Apple is positioning News+ as not just a news subscription but also a premium puzzle hub. With Quartiles, crosswords, Sudoku, and Emoji Game, the News app feels more like a daily puzzle destination.
Conclusion
Quartiles Game is simple to learn but endlessly enjoyable and surprisingly deep. With its daily changing puzzles, approachable design, and clever scoring system, it rewards both casual players and word-game veterans. By following the rules, practicing daily, and using strategies like starting small, identifying tile patterns, and leveraging shuffle and sort tools, you’ll quickly improve your score — and maybe even solve all five quartiles consistently.
If you keep playing, your pattern recognition and vocabulary will grow, making the game even more satisfying every day.
