Apple has decided to launch Emoji Game in the News app on the iPhone, iPad and Mac ahead of time to coincide with World Emoji Day.
The game supports Game Center scoreboards, so you can compare your score with other players around the world and see how you rank against other players. Apple says that Emoji Game will receive new puzzles every day.
To play, open the News app on your iPhone, iPad or Mac and select the “Following” tab, then choose “Emoji Game.” The game requires an Apple News+ subscription to play and is available for English-speaking users in the United States and Canada.
How to play Emoji Game on Apple News+
Emoji Game is a puzzle that provides short sentences with blank spots instead of certain words that you must complete by choosing the right emoji from the emoji combinations offered below using as few moves as possible.
For example, the phrase “Pedal to the metal” would require dragging a bicycle emoji to the blank spot in the word “pedal” and the rock-on emoji to the word “metal.” The game uses the Apple Intelligence feature Genmoji to offer unique emoji.
Each phrase is accompanied by a clue which you can reveal at the expense of your total number of moves. You can play both daily and archived puzzles.
“Emoji Game is the perfect addition to the Apple News+ suite of word and number puzzles, turning the emoji we use every day into a brainteaser that’s approachable and fun,” Lauren Kern, editor-in-chief of Apple News, said in a press release.
Emoji Game coming to Apple Games this fall
The company said that Emoji Game will also be available this fall through the new Apple Games app coming to the iPhone, iPad and Mac alongside Apple’s new iOS 26, iPadOS 26 and macOS Tahoe 26 operating systems.
Using emoji to complete short phrases is a familiar concept to anyone who has used the built-in feature that lets you emojify your chats in the Messages app, where you type a message and then switch to the emoji keyboard to tap orange words to replace them with appropriate emoji characters.
Apple originally announced Emoji Game during the WWDC25 keynote in June. It was originally supposed to arrive this fall alongside the new iOS 26, iPadOS 26 and macOS Tahoe 26 operating systems. However, Apple’s marketing department has decided to embed it into iOS 18.4, iPadOS 18.4 and macOS 15.4, and push it live on World Emoji Day, which is today.
Who can play Emoji Game on Apple News?
Emoji Game is limited to Apple News++ subscribers. Apple News+ is priced at $12.99 per month, but the whole family can use the service. Apple has been aiming to increase the number of games that are available, and the app also features Crossword, Quartiles, and Sudoku. Aside from digital magazines and newspapers, an Apple News+ subscription includes dedicated Sports and Food sections.
Apple News+ costs $13/month as a standalone service. Apple News+ is also available in the most expensive Premier tier ($38/month) of the Apple One subscription bundle. Apple News+ subscribers have access to other games, like Crossword, Crossword Mini, Quartiles and Sudoku.
Apple News is currently available in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada. If the service is unavailable in your country, use the regional settings trick to work around the restriction.