What is Passwordle?
Passwordle is a password-cracking puzzle game that replaces word guessing with character matching. Instead of finding dictionary words, you decode passwords using a full QWERTY keyboard that includes digits, punctuation, capitals, SHIFT, and DELETE. Each of nine levels opens with an intelligence briefing that describes a target user, their device, and the password rules in place. Below the grid, the target's MD5 hash appears in red, and every guess generates its own hash for comparison.
How to play Passwordle
- Start with the level briefing. It tells you who set the password, what it protects, and which system rules are in effect.
- Tap the icon in the top-left corner to open the on-screen keyboard, including the full QWERTY layout, digits, and punctuation.
- Enter a candidate with the exact number of characters shown by the grid: eight in level 1 and five in level 2.
- Press ENTER, then compare the two MD5 hashes beneath the grid.
- Use the color feedback and hash comparison to revise your guess. Each level gives you six rows.
Reading the feedback
Each character is marked green when it is correct and in the right position, yellow when it appears elsewhere in the target, and gray when it is absent. The on-screen keyboard records these results. Below the grid, the target’s MD5 hash appears in red, with each guess’s hash beneath it. When the two hashes match, a banner reads, “Identity confirmed: ACCESS GRANTED!” The game uses react-wordle, an open-source rework.
The briefing replaces the dictionary.
The intelligence briefing is the word list. In Level 1, Jessie hates computers and is very lazy, pointing to “password,” the world’s most-used password. Level 2 gives you a five-digit PIN with no consecutive repeated digits, ruling out thousands of combinations before you make a guess. Read the briefing as a psychological profile and a set of constraints, not as a vocabulary scan.
Tips for cracking passwords
Take stated rules literally. If a briefing forbids consecutive identical digits, apply that constraint immediately rather than testing it. The grid width announces the answer's length before your first guess, so count the slots before typing. Use the profile details as your starting point: "hates computers and very lazy" is stronger evidence than a mental list of common passwords. The hash comparison below the grid is your verification, not a bonus clue.
The game offers a nine-level campaign with a selector that unlocks after each success, allowing you to replay any level in any order. It is not a daily puzzle.