The smartphones fill with applications. Gradually, not really taking the device space, but wasting it with one purpose only - and never removing them. The vast majority of them are games which were played a week ago. Each of them takes some space, works in the background, asks permissions and updates forever.

And for a word puzzle game, an installed application is definitely not the right choice.

Comparison of approaches

FactorBrowser gameInstalled appSpace usageEffectively noneTens or hundreds of megabytesTime to start playingSecondsDownload, install, open, usually registerPermissions requestedOnly page accessStorage, notifications, contactsBackground processesNone until tab is openedPossible, depends on appUpdatesAutomatic and silentManual or scheduled, with promptsInvite a friendSend a link to start playingThey still have to install itAccessibility from any deviceFrom any device with a browserPlatform-specific, not always availableRemovalClose the tabUninstall, leaving residuals

When the app is definitely a winner

It should be admitted when an installed application is a better approach, as ignoring that is definitely pointless.

Games with graphics and frame rate requirements run better natively. Offline games are more reliable. Camera- and motion-based applications obviously require an installed application. An icon on the home screen is definitely more effective for retention, and that is why companies encourage installation.

None of those applies to a game with a grid of guesses. The rendering requirements are virtually non-existent, the game is several kilobytes of logic and has nothing to do with your device.

Permissions

This is the issue people tend to overlook and it should be definitely discussed.

An installed application has full access to your device's permission system, and that means that it can request access to your storage, notifications, contacts, location and many other sensitive things. Most word games request access to notifications right away, and the reason for that is to get you back to the game.

A browser page can only do that with an explicit request you can deny, and closing the tab kills the application. The security boundary is definitely stronger, not because of the good behavior of the developer.

In case of a children-friendly game, the issue should be taken very seriously. A browser page cannot collect any data quietly in the background.

Sharing problem

This is the practical advantage that makes the decision clear in case of social experience.

Imagine inviting someone to play with you. With a browser game, you send them a link, they click it and start playing. Time elapsed: around four seconds.

With an installed application, you send them a link, it opens the app store page and they decide to spend two hundred megabytes on your invitation, and most of them will not. Social experience fails here.

That is why multiplayer and social features work better in browser games. Wordle Unlimited utilizes this feature perfectly: you enter a hidden word, create a link and send it via messenger. The opponent starts playing instantly without creating an account and without installing anything. Multiplayer rooms work the same way, through a link leading to a private room.

The offline play objection

This is the common reason to install applications, and it is much more flawed than it seems in case of this type of games.

Browsers cache pages aggressively, so the page you've already loaded will still work with poor connection. Also, most situations mentioned, like flights or underground subway, take a tiny portion of your playing time, and a puzzle you cannot play in twenty minutes is not much of a loss.

Live multiplayer is definitely an exception, as it requires stable connection by its nature. This should be saved for the case when you have the signal rather than reason to install something.

Space usage accumulates silently

The individual amount is not really worth worrying about. A small game is maybe eighty megabytes. Fifteen of them make more than a gigabyte, which is quite an amount of space to occupy in your already crowded phone.

The cost that is less noticeable is your attention. Every installed game is a potential source of a notification, and notifications are the actual cost of most free applications.

A sensible default

Anything you would play for a hundred hours should be installed. A puzzle you will play for four minutes should be a browser page without any overhead.

Wordle Unlimited runs completely in the browser, at wordleunlimited.dev, without downloads and accounts, with daily puzzles, unlimited rounds, timed mode, topics and multiplayer. If you need it to run like an application, most smartphones will allow you to add a page to your home screen, thus giving you an icon without installation.

That is normally the reasonable compromise: the convenience of shortcut without another application silently occupying your phone.