Fastest route for a problem inside the app: Settings → Help shape Gister. Tell us your iPhone model, iOS version and roughly what you were doing. A screenshot helps.
Playing
How do I play?
Find the five-letter secret word in six rows. Every guess must be a real word. The letters colour to show where they belong: teal means right letter, right spot; gold means right letter, wrong spot; grey means not in the word. The pill on each row says how close your word is in meaning: Cold, Cool, Warm, Hot, or Bullseye.
What does the meaning pill actually measure?
How close your word is to the secret word in meaning, as judged by a language model built into the app. "River" is warm for "water". "Table" is cold for "water". Even a guess with no matching letters can tell you what to think about.
What is the gist?
After your third row, the board shows three words that live next to the answer in meaning. It's free, it's automatic, and it turns a wall into a puzzle.
What does a hint do?
It drops one correct letter into its spot, and it stays there for every row after. Free players get one hint a game; Plus gives three. A hint never reveals the last missing letter.
What is Dead centre?
A Bullseye in three rows or fewer with no hints. It's gold on the target, in your stats, and on your share card.
"Not in word list" — but it's a real word!
Gister's list has about six thousand five-letter words. Very rare words, names and abbreviations are left out on purpose so the game stays fair. If you think a common word is missing, email us the word.
The secret word was obscure or unfair.
Tell us which day. The list is hand-checked and we take out words that don't earn their place.
Streaks and stats
How does the streak work?
Solve today's word and the streak grows by one. Miss a whole day and it resets. Running out of rows pauses the streak for that day but doesn't reset it. Unlimited games and the archive never change your streak.
Do I get my stats on a new phone?
Your games live on the device, so they move with a standard encrypted iPhone backup restore. There is no account and no cloud copy. Your Plus purchase follows your Apple account — tap Restore purchases in Settings on the new phone.
Plus and billing
What do I get for free?
Today's word, one Unlimited game a day, the last seven days of the archive, one hint a game, your streak and stats, sharing. No ads, ever.
What does Plus cost?
$4.99, once. No subscription, no trial, no renewal. It unlocks endless Unlimited games, every past word since launch, three hints a game, and the deeper word list.
I paid but Plus isn't unlocked.
Open Settings inside Gister and tap Restore purchases. That re-checks your Apple account and fixes the great majority of cases. If it still doesn't unlock, email us with the date of purchase.
Can I get a refund?
Refunds are handled by Apple, not by us — we have no way to issue one. Go to reportaproblem.apple.com, sign in, and request it there.
Reminders and sound
The daily nudge isn't arriving.
Check iOS Settings → Notifications → Gister is allowed. The nudge only fires on days you haven't played yet, at the time you set in Settings.
How do I turn the sounds off?
Settings → Feel → Sound. Haptics have their own switch right above it. Gister's sounds never interrupt your music.
Still stuck?
Email [email protected]. Telling us your iOS version, your iPhone model and roughly what you were doing when it went wrong gets you a useful answer much faster.