Pocket Ninja Journal
Inkwell or Wordfly: Which One Is for You?
· 5 min read
Short answer: take Wordfly if you want four word games and a score to beat, and Inkwell if you want one calm puzzle a day with no clock and nothing to lose. Both are ours, both are free, and this page is written to send you to the right one rather than to both.
The honest version
We are a two-person studio in Stockholm with two word games on the App Store, and they are not variations of each other. Wordfly is a collection: four different word games, a daily puzzle, points, stars and a personal best to chase. Inkwell, which came out in September 2026, is the opposite by design — one kind of puzzle, no clock, no score and no way to fail.
If you know which of those two sentences describes you, you can stop reading and go and get that one.
Side by side
| Wordfly | Inkwell | |
|---|---|---|
| What you do | Four different word games in one app | One kind of puzzle, done well |
| A clock | Only in Letter Grid: 90 seconds | Never |
| Score | Points, stars and a personal best | Stars only |
| Losing | Groups ends after four mistakes | Nothing to lose; a board cannot dead-end |
| The daily puzzle | A daily Groups puzzle from a pack bundled with the app, which repeats | A new board built on your phone each day, plus a harder Master board |
| The long game | A 400-level Tile Board campaign and 400 Word Drop levels | A 500-level adventure across ten worlds, plus events |
| Best for | Variety, a bit of pressure, chasing a score | Winding down, one puzzle at a time |
Choose Wordfly if…
- You get bored of one puzzle. Four modes sit behind one icon: sort sixteen words into four groups, hunt words in a 4×4 grid against a 90-second clock, play a tile rack against a target score, or clear a stack of letter bubbles.
- You like a number at the end. Points, three stars per level and a personal best in Letter Grid, with optional Game Center leaderboards.
- You want a daily puzzle to talk about. The daily Groups puzzle is the same for everyone playing in your language that day.
- A little pressure helps you focus. The clock in Letter Grid and the four-mistake limit in Groups are the point, not a flaw.
Choose Inkwell if…
- A timer ruins it for you. There is no clock anywhere in the game, and no score either. Stars are the only measure, and three stars means you cleared a board without help.
- You want to be unable to fail. A board can never dead-end: if none of the remaining words can still be traced, the letters rearrange into a layout that can be solved.
- You play in bed or on the bus. One board takes a few minutes, it is portrait and one-handed, and it needs no connection.
- You like a new board every day. Inkwell builds its daily board on your phone from the word list of the language you play in — gentle on Monday, longest at the weekend — with a harder Master board beside it.
What is the same in both
- Free to download on the App Store, with ads and optional in-app purchases.
- iPhone only, iOS 16 or later. No account, ever.
- Everything plays offline; a connection is only needed for ads, purchases, Game Center and iCloud sync.
- Nine language options, each with its own word list.
- The same ad rules: no full-screen ad during your first eight rounds, then at most one every three rounds and never less than three minutes apart. Rewarded ads only if you choose to watch one. No banners.
- An optional Plus subscription that removes ads and adds five hints a day, the full archive and up to two streak freezes a month.
One thing worth knowing about the dailies, because it is the clearest difference between the two: Wordfly's daily Groups puzzle comes from a pack that ships with the app and repeats once you have been playing long enough, while Inkwell generates its board fresh each day on the device. Both work without a signal; only one of them is genuinely new every morning.
Or take both
They do get on well together, if we are honest about our own bias here: Wordfly for the morning puzzle and a quick score, Inkwell for the evening when a clock would be the last thing you want. Both are free, so the only real cost of trying them is the download.
Frequently asked
What is the difference between Inkwell and Wordfly?
Wordfly is four word games in one app — a daily Groups puzzle, a 90-second letter grid, a tile-rack campaign and a word hunt — and it keeps score. Inkwell is one kind of puzzle with no clock, no score and no lives: find the listed words in a stack of letter bubbles. Wordfly suits variety and a bit of pressure, Inkwell suits winding down.
Which one should I start with?
If you like daily puzzles you can compare with friends, or you want several games in one app, start with Wordfly. If you want something to play in bed without a timer pushing you, start with Inkwell. Both are free, so trying both costs nothing but space.
Do both games work offline?
Yes. Every mode in both games plays without a connection, because the word lists ship with the apps. Inkwell even builds its daily board on the phone. A connection is only needed for ads, purchases and restoring them, Game Center and iCloud sync.
Do I need two subscriptions?
They are separate apps with separate subscriptions, so Wordfly Plus does not cover Inkwell Plus or the other way round. Both games are free to play without either, and both show ads unless you subscribe.
Are they available on Android?
Not at the moment. Both are iPhone games and need iOS 16 or later. If that changes we will say so on the game pages.
More reading: both apps side by side · how a word search works · all four Wordfly modes explained.