Help and support

On iPhone or iPad (the app): The game follows your Ring/Silent switch. If the switch on the side of your iPhone shows orange, the phone is on silent and so is the game — flip it back. Then turn the volume up with the side buttons while the game is open. On an iPad or a newer iPhone without a switch, open Control Centre and check that silent mode is off and the volume is not all the way down. If you use Bluetooth headphones or a speaker, the sound may be going there instead.

On the website: Browsers do not let a page make sound until you have touched it, so the sound starts on your first tap or click on the board. If you switched to another tab and came back, tap once more. Open ☰ Menu at the bottom of the game and check it says 🔊 Sound on. Then check your device volume, and that the browser tab itself is not muted (look for a crossed-out speaker on the tab or in the address bar).

In the app: Open Menu → Settings and untick Sound. The Ring/Silent switch and the volume buttons quieten it too.

On the website: Open ☰ Menu at the bottom of the game and choose Sound off. The website remembers your choice on that device. On an iPhone or iPad the website plays even with the silent switch on, so use the menu or the volume buttons.

A tile is free when nothing is lying on top of it and its left or right side is open. Tiles you cannot take yet are dimmed. Tap two free tiles that match to clear them.

Every tile matches its identical twin — the same number and suit, the same wind, the same dragon. Flowers are the exception: any Flower matches any other Flower.

Every board is checked to be winnable before it reaches you, so a way through always existed — an earlier choice closed it.

Choose Rescue, which takes the board back to the last point it could still be won (25 points, only if it has to go back). Or use Undo as many times as you need, or start the board again. If you have set a tile aside on that board, Rescue is not offered — use Undo.

Both, as often as you like. Hint shows you a good pair for 10 points, and a board finished without one earns the “No hints” star. Undo takes a match back and costs no points — it gives back exactly what that match scored — though a board finished without it earns the “No undo” star.

The two boxes under the board, for parking a tile while you look for its match — useful when the tile you need is lying under another one. They are on unless you turn them off: in the app’s Menu → Settings → Set a tile aside, or on the website in ☰ Menu → Set a tile aside. Using one means that board does not earn the “No undo or hold” star; having them there costs nothing. How setting a tile aside works, step by step.

No clock runs while you play. Your time is shown when you clear the board, and playing quickly can only add points — taking your time never costs you any.

There are 100 levels across five destinations — Charleston, Lexington, Palm Beach, Newport and New York — and they open in order: finish a level and the next one opens. The tile pictures change every ten levels, and finishing each destination earns you a new mat or table.

The first ten levels are free. Levels 11 to 100 open with one purchase of the whole Journey, made in the iPhone and iPad app while you are signed in. The App Store shows the price in your own currency. The Daily board is free every day, in the app and on the website.

Make sure you are signed in to the same account you bought it with, then open the app’s Menu → Restore purchases. This is also how you bring the Journey to a new iPhone or iPad. Once it is on your account it opens on the website too — sign in there with the same account. If it says there is nothing to restore, you may be signed in to the App Store with a different Apple Account — write to us below and we will sort it out.

No. You can play without one. An account keeps your Journey and best scores safe and lets you pick them up on another device you sign in on.

Yes, when you are signed in to the same account on both. Your Journey, best scores, Daily boards and settings are kept on your account, and so is the Journey if you bought it in the app. A board you are in the middle of stays where you are playing it.

On that device only — in the app on your phone, or in that one browser on the website. Deleting the app or clearing your browser’s data removes it, so sign in if you want to keep it.

No. What you played before signing in is added to your account, and a best score is never lowered.

Codes usually arrive within a minute. Check your junk or spam folder, make sure the address or number you typed is right, and ask for a new code if it still hasn’t come.

On this website, sign in and open the menu on any board, then Delete your account (or go straight to Delete your account). In the app, open Menu → Delete your account. Either way it removes your account from Mahjong Solitaire and Friends at Mahjong together. You can also write to us below and we will do it for you.

The pictures on the tiles are downloaded as you play, so on a weak connection or none at all they can appear blank. Connect to Wi-Fi or mobile data and open the level again.

In the app: Yes — the game and your progress are on your phone. The tile pictures may not appear until you are back online.

On the website: No, the website needs a connection.

The app works on iPhone and iPad with iOS 16.4 or later. On iPhone it stays upright; on iPad you can hold it either way, and each way up has a board shaped to fill the screen. Turning your iPad in the middle of a game keeps the game you are playing.

Only for when something is genuinely waiting for you — never a reminder to come back, and never anything about a day you missed. They are offered once you sign in, and you can change them in the app’s Menu → Settings or in your iPhone’s Settings.