Wordle hard mode adds an extra layer of challenge – here’s how to turn it on

Wordle is the word-a-day game taking the internet by storm. The popular word game present a daily challenge in which you must guess a five-letter word in six guesses or fewer. Wordle will then keep track of your stats, including win rate percentage, and a breakdown of the number of tries it takes you to reach the correct answer each day.

While Wordle's strict ruleset already makes the game quite challenging, there's actually a secondary mode tucked away in the options menu – for those wanting an even greater challenge. It doesn't change up the words you'll be guessing in any way, but it does impose further restrictions that could make your Wordle experience that much tougher.

Under normal rules, Wordle will notify you of letters you've guessed correctly. A green tile indicates you've got the right letter in the right place, while a yellow tile tells you that letter is in the word, albeit in a different spot. Meanwhile, a greyed out tile tells the player that letter isn't in the word at all.

That's also the case on hard mode, but there's one big difference. With hard mode, you're forced into using all the yellow tiled letters you've accrued so far. So for example, if you've guessed the word to be “CHIMP” and “I” and “M” flag as yellow, you'll be required to use those letters in your next guess.

To many of you, this may not seem like much of a restriction. After all, using the correct letters gives you a better chance of guessing the word, right? Well, yes and no. The more yellow letters you have in your guess, the fewer new letters you'll be able to play with on subsequent guesses, and this can be especially strict when you consider you only have six guesses to begin with.

Wordle on iOS

(Image credit: Wordle)

How to access Wordle hard mode

Activating hard mode on Wordle is simple enough, and just requires you to head into the site's settings menu. You can do so by tapping or clicking the cog icon in the top right of the screen. It's just right of the title, and next to the option to view your overall statistics.

Once you're in the settings menu, the very first option, “Hard Mode,” is what you're after. By turning that on, you'll now be required to use all correct letters you've uncovered in subsequent guesses.

The settings menu also contains options for a dark theme and a color blind mode for those who may need it. The former might be a good option to reduce eye strain if you tend to spend a lot of time thinking about each guess.

And that's it! With hard mode activated, you can back out of the settings menu and experience your daily Wordle challenge with added restrictions. Do note that there doesn't seem to be any added benefit to playing on hard mode, and it can be turned off at any time by simply re-entering the settings menu and tapping the option once again, reverting Wordle to its default rules.

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Telegram’s 12th update for the year is out – Adds reactions, hidden text and more

The thing about the instant messaging platform Telegram is that it is always on the ball when it comes to rolling out updates. As 2021 winds to a close, they have come out with the 12th update for the year and the second in  December. Now users can add iMessage-style reactions, translate messages, get themed QR codes and even have an option to hide texts such as spoilers. 

This update is Telegram 8.4, and is being rolled out to all Android users. With each new update, Telegram seems to take a new leap. The previous one significantly improved user privacy, both for individual and group chats.

iMessage-style reactions now on Telegram

Telegram Update December 2021

(Image credit: Telegram Blog)

Telegram, it may be recalled, was the first messaging app to add animated and interactive emojis. Now, six of these emojis — thumbs up, thumbs down, heart, fire, party, and star-eyes — are being made available as reactions to share feelings and feedback – without sending any messages. Basically, Telegram would now allow users to send reactions that attach to specific messages instead of sending as their own messages. 

This is a feature that Android systems are still to crack with conviction. It is popular on iMessage, and on platforms like Slack. 

To send a quick reaction, users need to simply double-tap a message. Users can also change their default reaction to another emoji in Settings.

“While Reactions are available in private chats, in groups and channels, the admins decide whether to turn on reactions and choose which reaction emoji are available in the chat,” Telegram said.

How to hide text and kill spoilers on Telegram

Telegram Update December 2021

(Image credit: Telegram Blog)

Another interesting update is the one to hide particular part of a message in the chat, as well as in the chat list and notifications. 

This hidden text update to help mask spoilers. So if you want to hold forth about say about Minnal Murali and his epic fight with the antagonist Shibu but others in the group have still not caught the film, all you need to do is select any part of your text when typing and choose the new 'Spoiler' formatting. When others in the group are ready to read it, they just need to tap the spoiler text to read it.

One more interesting new feature that is available for Telegram users now is they can translate any message into another language, right within the app. Users can enable Translation in Settings > Language and a dedicated Translate button will be added to the context menu when selecting a message. The list of available languages for translation depends on your phone's operating system. Users can also exclude any language they speak fluently – which will hide the translate button for those messages.

The latest update also adds the ability to generate QR codes for any user that have a public username. Tap the new QR code icon next to the username of a person (or from a chat's info page), choose the colors and the pattern of your choice, then print, post or share the QR code to other apps.

Telegram has also redesigned all the context menus for macOS with new shortcut hints and animated icons for every single menu item in the app.

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