The popular Wordle puzzle game was sold to The New York Times in January.
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wordle has exploded in popularity since its introduction late last year. Wordle is simple: deduce a five letter word in six guesses each day, with a new puzzle dropping at midnight local time.
Recently purchased by The New York Times, Wordle moved to NYT website, where it’s still free. Some people think it’s harder now (it’s not). Others noticed that their win streaks and guessed distributions were not imported (fixed later). Yet there are fears that the subscription-based Times will end up hiding the game behind a paywall – that’s why you might want to download Wordle to continue playing it for free.
twitter user Aaron Rieke posted a thread explaining how Wordle works entirely in your web browser. Technically, you don’t need the internet to play Wordle, as all of the game’s future daily words are included right in the webpage (even on the NYT). If you download a Wordle web archive, the game only needs your device’s current date to deliver a new word puzzle every day.
If you want to continue playing Wordle for free, read on to learn how to download Wordle to your computer or smartphone.
Also, if one puzzle a day isn’t enough, try a few Wordle clones like Absurdle and Nerdle or consult every wordle puzzle ever made in the wordle archive.
How to download Wordle to your computer
Whether you use Mac or Windows, or whatever web browser you use (Chrome or Safari, for example), you can easily download Wordle to your computer.
1. First, go to the official Wordle website in your web browser of choice.
2. Next, right click anywhere on the web page.
3. Finally, save the page to your computer using one of the menu options that appears.
Depending on the web browser you are using, it may display Save as (Chrome) or save page as (Safari). Either option should download the Wordle web page as an HTML file.
Here’s how to download the Wordle webpage in Chrome.
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Now all you have to do is click on the downloaded HTML file to open the saved Wordle web page. You can now access it when you are offline. However, it won’t import your previous series, so it’s like you’re playing it for the first time.
How to Download Wordle on Android
On an Android smartphone or tablet, you can also download a web page to your device like on a desktop computer. The download process may vary between web browsers, but we’ll be using Chrome for this example because it’s downloaded on most Android devices. To download Wordle on Android:
1. First, go to official Wordle website in Chrome app.
2. New, press the three dot menu in the upper right corner.
3. Finally, press the download icon (arrow pointing down on a line) to download the Wordle webpage.
At the bottom of Chrome, you will see a notification that the Wordle webpage has been downloaded to your Android. To play Wordle offline, press the three dot menu in Chrome and go to Downloads. There, you should see the Wordle webpage, which you can then access, even if Wordle is paid for or shut down in the future.
You can easily download Wordle webpage in Chrome on Android.
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How to Download Wordle on iOS
Finally, you can download Wordle offline on your iPhone or iPad, but this option requires you to use the free Microsoft Edge web browser, which you can download from the App Store. After downloading Microsoft Edge, follow these steps:
1. Open Wordle official website in Safari.
2. Press the Share button.
3. Strike Choice next to the web page URL.
4. Select the Web Archive and press Ended.
5. Press Save to files in the share sheet.
6. Choose a folder and press to safeguard.
First you need to save a web archive version of Wordle to files.
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This will save the Wordle webpage to your Files app, but now you need to find the file itself and open it in Microsoft Edge (this doesn’t work in Safari or Chrome).
To do this:
1. Press and hold on the Wordle webpage in Files to display the quick actions menu.
2. Select To share from the options that appear.
3. Choose Edge.
4. Press Open in Microsoft Edge.
Next, you need to open the web archive file in the Microsoft Edge web browser app.
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Wordle will open as an offline webpage in Microsoft Edge, which you can play without being connected to the internet, although it will not transfer your wins or streaks.