Sign in to 2048: what an account adds to the game

To sign in to 2048 you press the Sign in button in the top bar of Evolved 2048, but you do not have to. You can play without an account, and the game says so itself: "You can play without an account. An account puts your games on the leaderboard." So what an account adds is mostly one thing, a place for your games on the board.

Evolved 2048 is the 2048 puzzle on a cube you turn like a Rubik's cube, free in your browser on a computer or a phone. Open it and start a game now, and add an account later only if you want your results to count.

Can you play 2048 without signing in?

Yes. The whole game works signed out: you slide the front face, twist a row or column, turn the cube, and aim for a 2048 tile and beyond. The game's own line is "Playing without an account is still fine."

The site's Privacy page says the same from the server's side: "You can play without an account, and then nothing about you is kept by the game's server." Your game in progress, your best score and your settings are saved in your browser, on your device only.

That save held up in one test. In a fresh browser, signed out, 14 slides gave Score 64, Moves 14 and six tiles. After a page reload the same score, moves and tiles came back. It is one test, so treat it as one data point, not a promise for every browser.

What an account adds to the game

The game is short on promises here, so this section stays short too. The top bar has a Sign in button and a trophy button. Settings has the line "Sign in to put your games on the leaderboard." and a "Sign in or create account" button.

The top bar of Evolved 2048 on a first visit: Score, Best, Moves, New game, the trophy, Sign in, How to play and Settings.

That is the stated purpose: an account puts your games on the leaderboard. The game does not list other perks, and this post will not invent any. In particular, it does not say that an account moves your game from one device to another, so do not count on it.

Signing in also does not change how the puzzle plays. The slides, twists and turns are the same signed in or signed out.

What stays on your device either way

Settings says: "Your game, best score and settings are saved on this device." That is true whether or not you create an account, and a few things follow from it:

• Reloading the page keeps your game.
• A different browser or a different device starts with its own game and its own best score.
• Each mode keeps its own best score. In a test, a new game in Edge mode showed Best 0 after a game in Evolved mode reached 20. The post on where your record went shows this in full.

For the saving side, how to save a 2048 game covers where a browser game keeps its state, and 2048 best score covers when that number resets.

The leaderboard, in the game's own words

The trophy button opens the leaderboard box. It has three choices:

• Mode: Evolved, Edge or Fun.
• Board: Fewest moves, Biggest tile or Score.
• When: All time or This week.

Signed out, the box reads: "Sign in to put your games on the board. Playing without an account is still fine." The How to play box adds that each mode has its own best score and leaderboard, so a good Evolved game does not appear on the Edge board.

The game also says how scores are treated: "Every ranked game is checked: the server replays its moves with the game's rules and works out the score itself." For the full story of that check, read 2048 leaderboard: how ranked games are checked.

Ranked and not ranked: sign in first

One detail is easy to miss. A signed-in player's new game asks the server for a ranked game, and the game tells you: "This ranked game is going on the leaderboard: the server is checking your moves." A game you started before signing in is "not ranked", and the box says: "This game was not ranked. Start a new game to be on the leaderboard."

Here is a worked example for a player who wants a score on the board:

1. You open the game and play a few slides signed out.
2. You decide you want the result on the leaderboard and press Sign in.
3. The game you already started stays unranked.
4. You press New game and pick a mode. This new game is the one that can go on the board.

So sign in first, then start the game you care about. These lines come from the game's own script; this post's author read them but did not play a signed-in game, so check the boxes yourself when you try it.

Is it safe to sign in?

This post can only report what the site states. Signed out, the server keeps nothing about you. Visits are counted with PostHog, with no cookies and no browser storage, and the site explains this on its How visits are counted page. The footer links Terms, Privacy and Refunds.

What an account stores, and how the sign-in itself works, are not described in the parts of the game this post could read. Read the Privacy page before you create one.

How to sign in to 2048, step by step

1. Open evolved2048.vlvd.net in your browser.
2. Press Sign in in the top bar. You can also open Settings and press "Sign in or create account".
3. Follow the prompts to sign in or create an account.
4. Press New game and pick a mode, so the game is a ranked one.
5. Play. To see the board, press the trophy button and choose a Mode, a Board and a When.

Pressing New game can sometimes show a full-screen ad for another vlvd.net site first. It has a cross at the top right and is not part of the game.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need an account to play Evolved 2048?

No. The game says you can play without an account. Signed out, your game, best score and settings are saved in your browser, on your device.

What does an account add?

The game states one thing: an account puts your games on the leaderboard. It does not list other features, and this post does not guess at any.

Will my game move to another device if I sign in?

The game does not say so. Your game is saved on the device you play on, so do not rely on it appearing elsewhere.

Why is my game not on the leaderboard?

A game started before you signed in is not ranked. Start a new game after signing in so it can be.

Get started with Evolved 2048

Start without an account and see if the cube suits you. If you want your results on the board, sign in and begin a new game. Play Evolved 2048: it is free and plays in your browser on a computer or a phone.