Written by Pop, an active Wordscapes player and the editor of Solving Wordscapes. Explainer published on September 4, 2026 and updated as player reports come in. Every factual claim in this article is linked to its source where possible.
Last updated: September 4, 2026. This is a living explainer. It will be updated as more players report back and if PeopleFun, Tripledot, Almedia or Freecash publishes an official announcement.
Since September 3, Wordscapes players on version 3.13.40 have started seeing a new “Rewards” icon on the home screen and a full-screen popup titled “Wordscapes x Freecash”, promising 300 coins for linking an account and “real world money and gift cards” for playing games.
Two threads appeared on r/wordscapes within hours asking essentially the same question: is this legitimate, or did something unwanted somehow make its way into the game?
I spent the day looking at the company records, press coverage, player reports and Almedia’s own product pages. Here is what we know so far, what appears likely, and what remains unconfirmed.
The short version
- Freecash is a real service. It is operated by Almedia, a Berlin advertising technology company founded in 2020, with a public management team and established mobile gaming clients.
- The Wordscapes integration closely matches an Almedia product called Link. Link was launched in March 2026 specifically to let game publishers connect existing players with Freecash through buttons, popups and reward placements inside their games.
- Freecash has had controversy. Its apps were removed from the App Store and Google Play in April 2026 following scrutiny over misleading affiliate advertising and privacy-policy language, then reinstated after review.
- The Wordscapes partnership has not been publicly announced. Only some players appear to have the feature, and I could not find an official announcement from PeopleFun, Tripledot or Almedia. The rollout could be a limited test or phased release.
- My take: there is no reason to rush. The feature is new, the exact rewards are still unclear, and 300 Wordscapes coins is not enough of an incentive for me personally to link another account before we know more.
What players are seeing
The feature appeared with the v3.13.40 update. Players who have it see a new “Rewards” icon on the left side of the Wordscapes home screen. Opening it, or in some cases launching the game after the update, brings up a popup with three promises: 300 coins for linking an account, real-world money and gift cards, and “up to $20 on Freecash for playing games”.
The main button says “Unlock rewards!” and a “Must be 16+” notice appears underneath.
The first report I found was in the Update v3.13.40 thread, where a player asked whether the “Free Cash thing” was legitimate.
A second player then opened a thread specifically about the Rewards icon after being told it might be fake.
I am still on v3.13.30 myself and do not have the icon yet, so the Wordscapes specific observations on this page are based on player screenshots and public reports rather than my own account.
Who is behind Freecash?
Freecash is not an anonymous app. It is the flagship consumer product of Almedia, an advertising technology company headquartered in Berlin and founded in 2020 by Moritz Holländer.
A company profile published by PocketGamer.biz, one of the main trade publications covering the mobile games industry, lists Almedia’s management team, Berlin headquarters and gaming clients, including Playtika, SuperPlay and CrazyLabs. You can read the PocketGamer.biz company spotlight on Almedia for the full profile.
Almedia was also ranked third in the 2025 FT1000 list of Europe’s fastest-growing companies, compiled by the Financial Times and Statista. Searching for Almedia in the official FT1000 ranking shows the company at number three, with a reported compound annual growth rate of 473.6% between 2020 and 2023.
On the consumer side, Freecash belongs to the category commonly called “get paid to” platforms. Users earn rewards by installing games, reaching milestones, completing surveys or trying apps, then redeem those rewards through payment methods such as PayPal, bank transfer, gift cards or cryptocurrency.
The Freecash page on Trustpilot currently shows a very high overall rating and a large number of reviews, but it also contains recurring complaints about offers that failed to track or accounts being restricted around cashout.
For a more neutral explanation of how the platform works and what users may realistically earn, the Freecash review on Finder is one of the more balanced independent walkthroughs I found.
Almedia’s corporate site is almedia.co, while Freecash operates at freecash.com.
The Wordscapes integration closely matches Almedia’s Link product
The most useful clue I found is not actually about Wordscapes.
On March 30, 2026, Almedia announced a monetization product for game publishers called Link. The concept is straightforward: a publisher can place a button, popup or reward hub inside an existing game and invite players to connect with Freecash.
According to Almedia, the publisher can earn money for verified connections, while players can receive real-money rewards for completing eligible activities or milestones.
You can read the Link announcement on Almedia’s blog.
The resemblance to what Wordscapes players are now seeing is difficult to ignore: an in-game Rewards button, a Freecash-branded popup, a reward for connecting, and the promise of additional cash rewards.
That does not prove that Wordscapes is using Link. PeopleFun, Tripledot and Almedia have not publicly confirmed the implementation. But based on Almedia’s own description, Link is a strong candidate for the system behind it.
How the model would work if Wordscapes is using Link
- 1. You linkWordscapes displays the Freecash placement and you connect or create a Freecash account.
- 2. The connection is verifiedAlmedia’s Link model allows publishers to be compensated for eligible verified connections.
- 3. You complete eligible activitiesFreecash can present games, offers or milestones tied to rewards.
- 4. Freecash pays rewardsEligible rewards can potentially be redeemed as money, gift cards or other supported payout methods.
Two pieces of context make this type of partnership less surprising than it initially looks.
First, PeopleFun is no longer an independent studio. It has belonged to Tripledot Studios since June 30, 2025, when AppLovin completed the sale of its mobile gaming business, including Wordscapes, to Tripledot. The transaction is described in the AppLovin completion press release.
Second, Wordscapes has experimented with external reward monetization before. PeopleFun previously integrated rewarded surveys and reported a 50% increase in engaged ARPDAU in a TapResearch case study.
So the idea of monetizing Wordscapes players through optional third-party rewards is not completely new. What is different here is the apparent connection to a platform built around cash and gift-card rewards rather than only in-game currency.
The spring 2026 Freecash episode you should know about
This is the part that turns a simple “yes, Freecash is real” into a more qualified answer.
Freecash spent part of the first half of 2026 under scrutiny before returning to both major mobile app stores.
- Almedia is ranked third in the FT1000 list of Europe’s fastest-growing companies.
- Security company Malwarebytes publishes an investigation into advertisements claiming users could “get paid to scroll TikTok”, which were directing people toward Freecash, as well as concerns about language in Freecash’s privacy policy. Almedia’s response was later added to the Malwarebytes article. The company said the misleading ads came from third-party affiliates and that the privacy-policy language had since been rewritten.
- Almedia launches Link, the game-publisher monetization product described above.
- Freecash is removed from Apple’s App Store and then Google Play following scrutiny of its marketing and data practices. The episode is covered in this PocketGamer.biz report.
- Freecash is reinstated on Google Play following Google’s review.
- Freecash returns to Apple’s App Store. In its comeback announcement, Almedia said Freecash had more than 80 million users and had paid more than $300 million in rewards.
- The Wordscapes x Freecash popup begins appearing for some players on Wordscapes v3.13.40.
Read together, the timeline paints a fairly clear picture: Freecash is a real, fast-growing rewards platform that has faced legitimate criticism over how it was marketed and how its privacy terms were written.
Its return to both app stores after review does not erase those concerns, but it is also very different from the pattern you would expect from an anonymous fake rewards operation.
What we do not know yet
- The partnership has not been officially announced. I could not find a public statement from PeopleFun, Tripledot or Almedia specifically confirming a Wordscapes-Freecash partnership.
- We do not know whether this is an A/B test or a phased rollout. Players on the same Wordscapes version appear to report different experiences. That pattern is consistent with either a limited test or a gradual rollout, but PeopleFun has not confirmed which.
- We do not know how widely it is available. Country, platform, account age, level, spending history or another segmentation rule could potentially affect eligibility. There is not enough public data yet to tell.
- The exact reward structure is still unclear. The popup says “up to $20 on Freecash for playing games”, but the screenshots alone do not tell us exactly which games, tasks or milestones qualify.
- We do not yet know how Wordscapes activity is shared. If Wordscapes is using Almedia’s Link system, some information needed to verify eligible connections or milestones would have to be exchanged. The exact implementation has not been publicly documented.
Should you link your account? A five-point checklist
- You must be 16 or older. The Wordscapes popup says so. Freecash may also require identity verification for certain withdrawals or account checks.
- Do not read “up to $20” as an automatic $20 reward. Rewards platforms typically attach different amounts to different tasks and milestones. Higher-value offers may require considerably more time or progress.
- You are creating or connecting an account with another company. Freecash is operated by Almedia, not PeopleFun. If you would rather not connect another service to your gaming activity, you can simply ignore the popup.
- Reward tracking can fail. Complaints about completed offers not being credited appear regularly in user reviews of rewards platforms, including Freecash. If you try a higher-value offer, screenshots of the requirements and your progress may be useful.
- There is no evidence that you need to decide immediately. The feature is brand new and the rollout is still poorly documented. Waiting for more player reports gives us a better chance of understanding what the rewards actually look like in practice. Personally, I am not linking my account for now.
What is confirmed so far
| Status | What we know |
| Confirmed | Wordscapes v3.13.40 is showing a Wordscapes x Freecash Rewards screen to some players. |
| Confirmed | The screen advertises 300 Wordscapes coins for linking an account. |
| Confirmed | Almedia operates Freecash and launched its Link monetization product for game publishers in March 2026. |
| Not confirmed | PeopleFun, Tripledot and Almedia have not publicly announced the exact Wordscapes-Freecash partnership or implementation. |
| Likely | The Wordscapes implementation closely resembles Almedia’s Link product. |
| Unknown | Countries included, rollout percentage, exact player milestones, data exchanged and how long the current rollout will last. |
Player reports
This section will be updated as more reports come in from players here and on r/wordscapes.
If you have the Wordscapes x Freecash feature, please leave a comment with as much of the following information as you are comfortable sharing:
- Wordscapes version
- iOS or Android
- Country
- Whether the Rewards icon appears
- Whether you linked your account
- Whether the 300 coins were credited
- What Freecash offers or milestones appeared
- Whether any cash or gift-card reward was successfully credited
The goal is to build a clearer picture of how widely the feature is rolling out and what players actually receive.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Wordscapes x Freecash popup real or fake?
The popup itself appears to be legitimate: players are reporting it inside Wordscapes after the v3.13.40 update, and the screenshots show it integrated into the game’s interface.
Freecash is also a real rewards platform operated by Almedia. What remains unconfirmed is the exact commercial and technical arrangement between Almedia and PeopleFun or Tripledot.
Why don’t I have the Rewards icon?
You may still be on Wordscapes v3.13.30 or an older version. But even among players on v3.13.40, the feature does not appear to be universal.
That suggests either a phased rollout or a limited test. There is not enough information yet to know whether eligibility depends on country, platform, account or another factor.
Do I get the 300 coins immediately?
The popup advertises “300 coins just for linking your account”. Public reports are still too limited for me to say whether the coins arrive instantly and consistently for every eligible player.
If you link your account, please report what happened in the comments so I can add it to the tracker above.
Does linking change anything in my Wordscapes game?
There is no indication from the screenshots that simply ignoring the popup affects normal Wordscapes progress.
If Wordscapes is using Almedia’s Link product, linking would involve connecting your Wordscapes experience with a Freecash account so eligible activity can be attributed correctly. The exact data exchanged has not yet been publicly documented.
Is Freecash safe to use?
Freecash is a legitimate rewards business operated by Almedia, but legitimate does not mean risk-free.
The platform was removed from both major mobile app stores in April 2026 following scrutiny of affiliate advertising and privacy-policy language, then reinstated after review. User complaints about failed reward tracking and account restrictions also exist.
If you use it, read the offer requirements carefully and document higher-value offers with screenshots.
Is Wordscapes officially partnered with Freecash?
The Wordscapes x Freecash branding strongly suggests a commercial integration, but as of September 4, 2026 I have not found a public announcement from PeopleFun, Tripledot or Almedia explicitly confirming the partnership.
This page will be updated if that changes.
Will you update this page?
Yes. The update log below records meaningful changes. If PeopleFun, Tripledot, Almedia or Freecash publishes an official announcement, it will be added prominently to the article.
Update log
- September 4, 2026: Page published after the first Wordscapes v3.13.40 reports and screenshots appeared on r/wordscapes.
Sources used on this page are linked inline where the relevant claim is made: PocketGamer.biz, Statista and the Financial Times FT1000 ranking, Trustpilot, Finder, Malwarebytes, Almedia, BusinessWire, TapResearch, PR Newswire and player reports on r/wordscapes.