Word Tortoise

Word Tortoise, for Apple Watch and Wear OS

Six letters and no clock.

A calm anagram game for your wrist. You get six letters in a ring and a few empty lines, and the only clue to each hidden word is its length. Take as long as you like. The tortoise certainly will.

  • Free
  • No ads
  • No account needed
Word Tortoise on Wear OS: six letters in a ring, with LOV spelled in the middle and the tortoise partway round its inner ring.
Wear OS
Word Tortoise on Apple Watch: six letters in a ring, with ACC spelled in the middle, a tick to play it, and the tortoise on its inner ring.
Apple Watch

Where to find it

  • Coming to the App Store, for Apple Watch. In review now.
  • Coming to Google Play, for Wear OS. In review now.

How it plays

How a board works

Each board is six letters and a list of empty lines, one line for each hidden word. The length of a line is the only clue.

  1. Tap letters in order to spell a word. Words need at least three letters.
  2. Tap the middle to play it. If it is one of the hidden words, it fills its line and the tortoise walks a little further round its ring.
  3. Tap a lit letter to take the word back to just before it.
  4. Swipe up or turn the crown to see your word list.

With nothing spelled, tap the middle to shuffle the letters. It is all tapping and no tracing, because on a screen this small a swipe goes astray too often.

Today's word list on Apple Watch, 8 of 15 found. PIG, RIG, SIN, SIR, GRIP, SIGN, SPIN and SPRING sit among blank lines for the words still hidden, with Hint · 3 below.
Apple Watch
Today's word list on Wear OS, 7 of 15 found and grouped by length, from PIG and PIN up to SPRIG and SPRING, with blank lines for the rest.
Wear OS

Two ways to walk

Today, and The Long Road

Today

A fresh board every day. It turns over at midnight, and you can come back to it as often as you like before then.

The Long Road

Hundreds of stops, from Burrow to Far Meadow. They begin easy and slowly grow harder, and the tortoise walks the path as you clear them. The road waits as long as you like.

Every word is saved the moment you find it, so you can play one word now and the next one later. Finish Today or rest on it, and that day counts toward your days in a row. Miss a day now and then and your walk carries on.

Home on Apple Watch: the tortoise on a dotted path of stops, then Today showing 8 of 15 and 6 days, and The Long Road at Stop 12.
Apple Watch
The Long Road on Wear OS: Stop 70 is marked You are here, with Stone Wall, Old Orchard, Reed Pond and Sand Track further on.
Wear OS

When you are stuck

Getting stuck is allowed.

A hint shows one letter of a word you have not found yet. You start with three. Clearing a board earns another, and so does every third new bonus word: a real word from the letters that is not one of the hidden ones. If you run low, your hints come back up to three each morning.

If a board still will not give, you can leave it. Under the word list on The Long Road, tap Set aside: the board waits on the map, and you walk on to the next stop. On Today, tap Rest here to see the words you missed. The day still counts.

A hint on Apple Watch at Stop 12: SAC and SEA are found, a four-letter line now starts with C, and a note says One letter shown. Hint · 2 and Set aside sit below.
Apple Watch
A hint on Wear OS at Stop 70: a four-letter line now starts with L, next to the found word YELL, with One letter shown and Hint · 2.
Wear OS

On your watch face

Today, at a glance

The complication shows today's board and your stop on the road, so you can see how far you have got without opening the game. On Wear OS there is a tile as well. It shows the same, and a tap takes you back in.

Add the complication

Apple Watch and Wear OS

  1. Touch and hold your watch face.
  2. Tap Edit.
  3. Pick a slot.
  4. Choose Word Tortoise.

Add the tile

Wear OS

  1. Swipe across your tiles.
  2. Scroll to the end.
  3. Tap Add tile.
  4. Choose Word Tortoise.
The Word Tortoise tile on Wear OS: a progress arc around the tortoise, 7/15 and 6 days, and a Continue button.
The tile on Wear OS

Free, no ads, no account needed

It needs nothing but the watch.

Word Tortoise is free and has no ads. You do not need an account, a phone or a connection to play, and your progress lives on the watch.

If you would like a little company on the road, there are optional public leaderboards. See the leaderboards