QuizUp officially headed to Windows and Windows Phone!

By Daniel Rubino
last updated

This morning, Plain Vanilla, Inc. and Gateway Apps, LLC have announced plans to bring QuizUp (QuizUp.com) to Windows and Windows Phone as a universal app. The release is timed with an expected major update to QuizUp for Android and iOS due sometime this year.

More importantly, we are told that the Windows versions include all the features found on competitor platforms with the addition of Live Tiles to make the experience more personal. Cross platform play with Android and iOS is also a planned feature.

QuizUp was previously close to a release on Windows Phone last year, but the project was postponed. It now looks like the company behind the game (Plain Vanilla, Inc) was waiting for a more appropriate time to re-launch the game with a feature refresh and taking advantage of universal programming libraries for Windows. Exact details of the QuizUp update for iOS, Android and Windows have not yet been revealed.

About Gateway Apps

Development of the Windows and Windows Phone versions is being outsourced to Gateway Apps, led by developer Daniel Gary. Gary originally came to Plain Vanilla's attention when he publicly teased his own QuizUp client for Windows Phone in early 2014. Other creations for Windows Phone made by Gary include Instance (the first native Instagram client) and a Snapchat client (ChatSnap). Later, his company Gateway Apps made the official NOAA Hi-Def Radar apps, worked with the Slack team to jumpstart their Windows Phone app and developed a few others that we cannot mention.

There is no ETA for QuizUp for Windows and Windows Phone though we are told that the project is fast-tracked and development has already started. Release for Microsoft's platforms should be "within weeks" of the iOS and Android versions, making this an excellent nab for Microsoft.

About QuizUp

QuizUp is a very popular iOS quiz game that lets friends compete against each other in real-time. Not only can you play against friends, but you can play against strangers and rank up points. Another great feature in  QuizUp is that those games don't have to be played in real-time.

QuizUp has a reported 32 million users  they managed to raise $26 million from venture capital investments in 2014. However, Trivia Crack, a similar Trivial Pursuit style game, is quickly gaining ground on QuizUp having become one of the top downloads in the US and UK in recent months.

Windows Central will keep you posted on the development of QuizUp for Windows and Windows Phone in the coming months. Possible teasers and sneak peeks are very likely. Stay tuned!

Source: QuizUp

Daniel Rubino
Daniel Rubino
Editor-in-chief

Daniel Rubino is the Editor-in-chief of Windows Central, head reviewer, podcast co-host, and analyst. He has been covering Microsoft since 2007 when this site was called WMExperts (and later Windows Phone Central). His interests include Windows, laptops, next-gen computing, and for some reason, watches. Before all this tech stuff, he worked on a Ph.D. in linguistics, watched people sleep (for medical purposes!), and ran the projectors at movie theaters because it was fun.

82 Comments
  • Scared of Trivia Crack, I see. :)
  • No, they numbers and usage is declining for iPhone and android so they bring it then to windows phone. Just like candy crush and other games. We are never cared about until needed. 
  • It's always a cost/benefit. That's how companies work and generally speaking that's how most things work.
  • Wp market share has not increased, but actually decreased Seems like a port to grab 100-200k more downloads so their numbers don't look as bad against trivia crack. Posted via the Windows Phone Central App
  • It hasn't increased because Microsoft had decided to sit the last few quarters out in releasing a flagship and advertising Windows. I think with the Nokia merger behind them and W10 on the horizon they figured they could take the blow. I'm positive we'll see Microsoft bring it all together in the summer and into the fall with their new product portfolio and the maturity of their ecosystem.
  • Market share and total number of users are two different things.  Any company focused solely on market share is short sighted. 
  • Rudy Gary Rudy Gary...:P
  • Congrats Daniel Gary! Always nice to add a major app to your portfolio and nice to see companies embrace the third party developer community. Also I really liked Instance before 6tag came along, so grateful for his work there too.
  • Universal apps for the win. We have some great devs in our community who do a great job of showing the potential of apps on Windows.
  • Thanks!  I appreciate the support!
  • So when it will available to me ?? Or "When in India"
  • All due respect, I think the title is a bit misleading. I expected a download link reading that title, not waiting for a release in the future.
  • It does say "headed to" not "out now on." You've mislead yourself.
  • Actually, the title says "officially headed" not "now officially available" sooooooo....
  • All due respect, the problem is yours
  • So so stoked! Congrats to Daniel Gary!
  • Hi sam!!!
  • Hey Sam my man!! How are you doing?? Sleeping in Seattle? :P
  • Yaay. It's Sam ^^ how are you ?
  • Add Rudy Huyn and this will be great
  • hey sam so great to see you here :)
  • Sweet, I'll definitely support this app. Any app that lets me play cross platform against friends with iPhones or Android phones gets my attention.
  • It's finally happening :D
  • I'm curious about his others apps that Windows central can't mention
  • Well keep being curious. Because we can't talk about it!
  • You can't even tell why cause i didn't find any other app except instance in the store??
  • It's part of the agreement. The dev can't say that he wrote the code. Rudy made some apps too that we don't know about it.
  • That makes sense.
  • Yeah, part of the deal is alot of stuff can't be advertised.  :-/
  • I've never heard of this. Curious to see how it compares to Trivia Crack. Which I have been playing a ton.
  • I am waiting for QuizCross (from makers of Ruzzle)-that is the best quiz game for my Android phone and I really want it for Windows.
  • When people stop playing it on Android, it'll be out for WP, so just wait a year. :)
  • They said a while ago (something like 8 or 9 months) that they probably wouldn't bring QuizCross to WP but they'd consider it.
  • OMG YES YES YES
  • SWEET!!!!  Thanks for this heads up.  Whatever helps to limit my game play on my android is welcomed. This and Trivia Crack on my 1520 are some favs. This and That is still my number one time waster.
  • awesome.........I really hope other developers out there realize the benefits of "Universal Apps", and port their apps over.  Well, all except Google that is.
  • Congrats to Gary! Hopefully we can get Heads Up! some day too.
  • Daniel Gary?? The same guy that updated Instance to 2.0 version and never updated this after?? Thanks, but no thanks.
  • No need with official instagram and 6tag
  • Haha, you're right.  In the meantime, I've been building a business delivering quality apps for companies for Windows Phone.  Thanks for your support!
  • Thanks for being a fan! :)
  • No need to listen to these whiners, we appreciate all your hard work.
  • Yes, we appreciate your hard work. So glad to have talented developers for windows like you , Rudy.. Best of luck for the future
  • Umm, don't you mean Daniel?
  • Hi guys! I have a problem. When I talk to Cortana,she responds to me but she doesn't talk back.She only writes her reply
  • I would suggest you to discuss it in the forums. Someone might help you out with it there. Cheers xx.
  • Will be a nice Christmas present...There will be plenty of room on the servers for us by then, cuz everyone will be playing something else that's trending.
  • :D
  • ;):):/:|:(:'(:D:P
  • I'm interested
  • I really hope universal app adoption takes off. This alone can do wonders for the ecosystem. I do believe in MSFT to release top devices for each price segment. We'll have to wait and see.
  • We will bounce back. :D
  • This this still exist, don't remember the last time I played. It's been ages
  • Now that ive broken my N7 ... hopedully my last android device ... on my transition to WP i hope more and more apps and games come to WP store :) this is exciting :) WP is winning ! I have even convinced my android friends to switch over to WP and they are moving :)
  • My family are switching to WP too. Their 2013 Samsung Android devices are total POS, super slow and laggy with no updates(still stuck on 4.0 or 4.1.) My Lumia 620 from 2012 still gets the Windows 10 update :)
  • It only took them more than a year. }:|
  • Congratulations, Daniel Gary, and thank you. I cannot adequately express my gratitude towards those who passionately develop for the Windows mobile platforms.
  • Thanks Darren!
  • Great! I like this much more than Trivia Crack.
  • I asked them last year with a message to their FB page about their plans for windows phone.. They said they arent gonna make one for us . Seems strange now that they have agreed to make one!! :)
  • They gotta stay competitive with trivia crack!
  • Daniel Gary!!! I remember him :)
  • He just went underground
  • Yö
  • Heading to Windows Phone when nobody is playing it on iOS or Android anymore. Very cool...
  • Although really late, I still will enjoy and play this game! Hope it comes soon!
  • Haha, about time! Love it, give me them apps people!
  • Excited! Hey Dan how's your kid? His hipster impression was spot on!
  • YESSSSS!!!! :) +520 +520 +520
  • Finally quiz up :D:D
  • So it's like Trivia Crack? Nice, I'd love to play game like this
  • Like Trivia Crack, but with MANY more categories. You won't regret it, I've played it before and it's really good.
  • Hell yeah!
  • Wow that's some news. Now we need trivia crack full featured update.
  • Was waiting for this eagerly!!!!
  • Ikr? When I saw this article, I literally threw both my hands in the air.
  • When?????????
  • Thank you so much for the support Daniel Gary! I was beginning to lose hope when news of QuizIt fizzled out, but now it's officially coming. Yay!
  • Not for 512MB ram i guess its not available :(
  • Hasn't released yet, still in development. When it comes out, it should be available for 512 MB devices, as the developer is aware of the memory problem of Windows Phone users.
  • It is a good game
  • YES! I love ❤ quizup! It's one of my favorite IOS games.