Start by hitting the shuffle button to disrupt your visual pattern recognition. If that fails, read the words aloud to identify hidden phrasal connections, or step away from the screen for a few minutes to reset your cognitive focus.

Yes, Connections is designed with distractors. The editors intentionally place words that could plausibly fit into multiple categories to tempt players into making incorrect selections. Always verify that your chosen group leaves behind a valid set of 12 words.

Look for words that share a common context, such as being part of a specific industry, a linguistic pattern like a shared prefix, or cultural references. If four words seem to fit a category but you have a fifth word that also fits, one of those is a distractor.

The shuffle button forces your brain to re-evaluate the spatial relationships between words. Because we often group words based on how they appear on the screen, changing their physical position can help you notice connections that were previously obscured by the original layout.

Currently, you cannot prevent someone from pointing a camera at you or using facial recognition software to identify you in public. Because the scanning happens on the device of the person wearing the glasses, you have no technical control over the data collection process.