New Spelling Game Comes To Apple News Plus With iOS 17.5 Update

Crosswords were apparently just the beginning for Apple News+. With the recent iOS 17.5 update, Apple has now added a brand-new puzzle experience to the subscription service called Quartiles.

The spelling game sees players trying to create words from two- to four-letter tiles. For example, you might put together "pon" and "der" to make ponder in Quartiles. However, stringing together longer terms leads to high point totals, and new puzzles will become available daily.

Quartiles follows Crossword and Crossword Mini, the first puzzle games for Apples News+ that were introduced with the iOS 17 update. These experiences are separate from Apple Arcade, another subscription that can be bundled (called Apple One) with Apple News+ starting at $20 per month. Apple News+ is $13 monthly standalone, while Apple Arcade costs $7 monthly.

The App Store also altered its policies in response to the European Union's Digital Markets Act. This change has meant game emulators are popping up on the App Store for iPhones and iPads, though that doesn't necessarily mean loading them with ROMs is legal.

Meanwhile, the new iPad Pro looks like Apple's best--and thinnest--gaming console yet. The device has an OLED screen and Apple's M4 chip, which should make it great for mobile gaming. It launches today, May 15, with a starting price of $999.