ANGO: Cryptogram Puzzles

A line of symbols. The same symbol always means the same letter. Fill one in and the sentence opens up. A new cryptogram every day.

A line of symbols. The same symbol always means the same letter. Fill in one, and every copy of it opens at once, right across the sentence.

ANGO is a classic substitution cipher — a cryptogram, the same kind of puzzle as the newspaper cryptoquote. Tap a symbol, choose the letter you think it stands for, and watch the rest of the line fall into place.

AT A GLANCE

• Free to start, no subscription
• No third-party ads
• Your records stay on your device

HOW TO PLAY Every letter of a hidden sentence has been swapped for another. Assign a letter to a symbol and every copy fills in together. That is the only rule.

THREE FOOTHOLDS

• Word shapes: spaces are never enciphered, so the outline of each word stays visible
• One-letter words: in English there are only two
• Frequency: the most common symbol is usually E, T or A There is no luck involved. Follow the clues and the first letter comes into view.

FEATURES

• Daily cipher: one message a day, set by the date. Your streak is kept on a calendar
• Archive: every message you crack is filed by category, with its meaning, to read again
• Ranks: earn points with each solve and rise from Apprentice to Legendary Codebreaker. Harder puzzles count for more
• Five difficulties: Easy, Normal, Hard, Brutal and Master, where even the word breaks vanish and letters arrive in blocks of five
• Frequency table: see how often each symbol appears
• Cascade feedback: see how many places one letter filled, and feel it through haptics
• A Japanese kana edition is built in. Switch your device language to Japanese to play it

THE MESSAGES

• Proverbs: 128 traditional proverbs
• Sayings: 121 everyday idioms
• Case Files: 112 original lines from small detective stories
• Japanese edition: 379 messages Every message is a traditional, public-domain saying or was written for this app. There are no copyrighted quotations or song lyrics.

WHO IT IS FOR

• Anyone who has worked the cryptoquote in a newspaper
• Crossword and word puzzle solvers looking for something new
• Readers of detective fiction
• Anyone who wants a puzzle decided by reasoning rather than reflexes
• Anyone with ten quiet minutes and a coffee

PRIVACY

• No account, no sign-up, no email address
• Solve history, streaks and your archive are stored on your iPhone or iPad only
• Your records are never sent to any server
• No third-party ads, no tracking
• Puzzles are generated on the device, so you can play anywhere, even offline
• To show the list in Settings > More apps by TORANKIRITE, and the small promotion in the free version, the app loads public App Store information