11 Best Chess Apps For Android & iOS + BONUS

Chess apps are a great way to continually improve your game on the go and have a good time in the process. The Google Play Store and Apple Store are packed with chess apps for you to download for free and enjoy the game on the go. However, only a few chess apps are worth installing on your phone.

The best chess apps provide an excellent interface to play chess with your friends, online, or against the computer. They also offer a wide range of services such as tactics trainer, lessons, game analysis, and tournament broadcasting so that you never get bored of chess and improve continuously.

In this post, we will look at eleven of the best apps out there for chess players of all levels. We’ll go over a brief description of each one of them with some of their strengths and weaknesses. I added a bonus at the end of the post that it’s a must-have to keep up with the chess world and have fun at the same time. Without any more to say, let’s get to it.

1. Chess by Chess.com

The best well-rounded chess app

Platforms: Android & iOS

The chess app by chess.com is a well-rounded app in which you can do almost any chess-related activity. You can play chess for free against one of its millions of users at any time control and chess variant. It also offers puzzles, lessons, videos, computer analysis, and articles that are available in both the chess.com app and the website.

However, the usage of the app is limited without paying a membership. You are only allowed to solve five chess puzzles and one puzzle rush a day. Video lessons and game reports and analysis are only available to gold and diamond members.

As of May 2020, the gold and diamond memberships cost 6.99 USD per month or 49.99 USD per year and 14.99 USD per month or 99.99 USD per year, respectively.

In my opinion, the Gold membership is just enough for most chess players. It offers 25 puzzles and five puzzle rushes per day. Some other perks are the three available lessons per week and the game report and analysis feature, which lets you analyze your online games. Unfortunately, the video libraries are only available to Diamond members.

On the other hand, if you are an avid chess player that plans to spend hours a day doing tactics and watching educational video lessons, you are more than welcome to scale up to the Diamond membership. Chess.com also rewards its members if they become better chess players since Diamond memberships are offered for free to FIDE titled players.

I have used chess.com, as a Diamond member, for a while, and I have to say that it is worth it for most chess players. I recommend you to give it a try and make use of their free Premium membership trial to test the waters before making any purchase decision.

2. lichess

The chess app built for the love of chess

Platforms: Android & iOS

The lichess app is open source and free for every chess player in the world. You can play online and offline at any time control and chess variant including Crazyhouse, Chess 960, King of the Hill, Three-check, Antichess, Atomic Chess, Horde, and Racing Kings.

It also offers chess puzzles and game analysis if you want to improve your game on the go. The lichess app is also equipped with an opening and endgame tablebase explorer and a standalone chess clock with multiple time settings.

As anything free, lichess has its downsides. Their video library lacks the quality of other chess apps listed on this post. Its playing interface doesn’t allow multiple premoves and the server goes down quite often due to maintenance work.

I started using lichess app about a month ago, and I absolutely love it. I like the minimalistic style of the app and its dark mode. I also enjoy playing tournaments and doing tactics on the app. I would 100% recommend it to any chess player out there. You’ve got nothing to lose; it’s free.

If you enjoy lichess, don’t hesitate to donate to keep the server up and running since lichess.org survives out of donations!

3. Chess24

The chess app with the best video library and tournament coverage

Platforms: Android & iOS

The chess app by chess24 is another well-rounded app in which you can do almost any chess-related activity. Its users can play online against other chess24 users and analyze your games at the end. You are also able to play offline against a chess engine. The app also offers a tactics trainer and analysis tools similar to what you can find in the chess.com and lichess apps.

Chess24 also offers interactive video lessons from their massive video library. You can find educational chess videos in which top grandmasters such as Viswanathan Anand, Peter Svidler, and Jan Gustafsson teach you how to improve your game. It also offers live broadcasts in which top grandmasters (including Magnus Carlsen) commentate games live. They also offer videos and broadcast in other languages such as Spanish.

Chess24 offers two different subscriptions the Mobile Premium and Premium for 2.49 USD per month and 21.99 USD per year and 12.99 USD per month and 129.99 USD per year, respectively.

The Mobile Premium membership is optimized for utilizing the Chess24 server on your phone or tablet. It offers unlimited analysis on top tournaments, a good opening tree, computer analysis, tactics trainer. However, you are going to be tied down to your mobile device, and their video library is not available if you don’t get the Premium membership.

On the other hand, you get everything that Chess24 has to offer on your mobile phone and desktop with the more expensive premium membership, including its superb video library.

The downside of this app is its colluded interface. It is resource-intensive, and it lags a lot on my Pixel 3a. I’m not a fan of the playing interface neither because I like more simplistic approaches for playing online. I would not recommend this app if your phone is not good enough to support its graphics.

In my opinion, getting the mobile premium is not worth it since there are other better options for your buck on this list. However, if you want to improve at chess and learn from the best for little to no money, I recommend getting the premium membership to enjoy and learn from their video library.

4. Chess by Chess Prince

A visually appealing chess app

Platforms: Only Android

Chess Prince is an app for fans of good quality graphics and animations. It lets you play against the computer with ten different levels. You can also play against your friends on the same phone. It also offers a hundred different chess puzzles, a game assistant, and hints of moves while you are playing at the game of chess.

It doesn’t have other more advanced features to improve your game like other apps on this list. However, Chess Prince really shines on its realistic graphics and its simplicity to have a fun time playing chess with your friends or the computer. You can choose from seven different board designs that look amazing if you have a screen big enough to get the most from it.

I recommend downloading this app if you are a casual chess player that wants to have a more realistic approach when it comes to the playing interface. You may also need a wide phone or a tablet to get the most from this app. You can make a one-time payment of 3.49 plus taxes to enjoy the Chess Prince app without ads.

5. Play Magnus

The Chess App of the 16th World Chess Champion, Magnus Carlsen

Platforms: Android & iOS

The Play Magnus chess app is very appealing to the eye when launched on a mobile device. It lets you play a custom chess engine tuned to play like Magnus Carlsen from age five to the current 29-year-old world champion. It also offers a training program with video lessons, minigames, and solve tactics puzzles.

There are several add-ons you can buy through the app like brain power, upgrades, training packs. “Brain Power” is the app’s currency that you can either purchase or obtain when you beat Carlsen at any age. Several things can be done with brain power, including buying different board designs, extra levels, and getting hints and takebacks when playing Magnus.

You may also purchase lessons to watch from the app. I watched the free videos so far and they seemed good for beginners to intermediate chess players. However, if you are interested in chess puzzles and other alternatives to regular chess training, you need to download a couple of apps that compliment Play Magnus.

I recommend checking the Play Magnus chess app out and try to beat Magnus a couple of times to understand the business model of the app. I like how the Play Magnus team designed the app to be fun and enjoyable with goals to achieve and the possibility to share such accomplishments with your friends.

6. Follow Chess

Follow top international chess tournaments in your pocket

Platforms: Android & iOS

Follow Chess makes it easy to follow top tournaments. You can see all the games and results of past and current chess events. It can also remind you of the start of upcoming events that are going to be broadcasted on the app. My favorite attribute of the Follow Chess app is the possibility of following many games at the same time.

You are also able to analyze the games yourself within the app or utilize a chess engine downloading the complimentary Analyze This App. I recommend getting Follow Chess if you are a chess fan that is continuously following the chess world and likes to see the games live while at work or school.

The only downside is that the free version of the app only allows you to watch all current games and past games that ended in a draw. If you want to be able to get the most from it and check out any game at any time, you only need to pay for a subscription that costs 0.99 USD per month or 5.99 per year. In my opinion, it is worth it to spend six bucks for watching chess games on my phone all year long.

7. DroidFish Chess

The power of Stockfish on your android phone

Platforms: Only Android

The Droidfish app is the pocket version of the Stockfish chess engine. It allows you to input games to analyze them with its very strong chess engine or play against the computer with adjustable playing strength.

It also offers an excellent opening book to improve your opening repertoire further while analyzing your games. While Stockfish is the only engine included in the app, it also supports “open exchange” engines like texel and Komodo 8.

The only drawback of this app is its confusing layout and interface. It could take time to understand how to use it effectively. I use this app a lot when I want to quickly analyze my games just after I finished a tournament game.

8. StockFish Chess

The power of Stockfish on your iPhone

Platforms: Only iOS

The StockFish Chess app is the iOS version of Droidfish Chess. It allows you to use the Stockfish chess engine to analyze games or play against to improve your chess skills. A variable opening book is also available to improve your openings. If you are a fan of playing against the computer, Stockfish Chess allows you to adjust its playing strength and mold its playstyle from “passive” to “suicidal.”

The StockFish Chess app also lets you to set up positions easily and is compatible with PGN files. You can upload games to the app or share your analysis with your friends. I recommend to download this app to your iPhone to analyze and find mistakes in your games quickly.

The only drawback of this app is that it can consume your battery pretty quickly if the option of thinking during the opponent’s time is activated. However, you can deactivate it at the cost of performance if you wish.

9. Chess King

Years of educational chess material put into one single app

Platforms: Android & iOS

Chess King is one of the best (if not the best) chess teaching app out there. It offers a lot of courses to improve your tactics, strategy, opening middle-game, and endgame. These courses are also divided by levels and are useful from beginners to expert players.

It is worth mentioning that most of the courses offered in the Chess King app are courses that coaches around the world utilize as a complement to lessons for their students. Some of the most popular books/courses that you can buy through the app are CT-ART 4.0 (Chess Tactics 1200-2400 ELO), Chess Endgame Studies, Total Chess Endgames, and Manual of Chess Combinations.

You have two purchasing options in the app. You can either buy each of the 64 courses separately for 7.99 USD or subscribe for 10.99 USD per month or 64.99 USD per year. If you are committed to spending some serious time training chess, I recommend getting the yearly subscription. You will get a lot by going through all the material provided by Chess King tailored to your chess level.

10. Chess Tempo

The mobile and tablet interface for Chesstempo features.

Platforms: Android & iOS

The Chess Tempo app is perfect for utilizing the Chess Tempo website features on the go. Chess Tempo offers to play chess online against people around the world. It also provides tactics, endgames, and opening training if you want to improve your game utilizing the app. You can also analyze games with their premium cloud engines.

However, the strength of Chess Tempo is its tactics trainer. I have used it for a while now, and I believe it is an excellent complement to your chess training. I like it because it shows puzzles in which there is only one move that works. Some of the tactic trainer in other apps in this list fail to provide 100% accurate puzzles.

Chess Tempo is mostly free but a premium memberships are offered. You have the option to get a silver, gold, or diamond membership for 2.99 USD, 3.99 USD, and 8.99 USD, respectively. Depending on the membership, you are allowed to use cloud chess engines, endgame, openings, database storage within their services.

I recommend going for the free version on this one as you get the most from it from the free tactics trainer.

11. Chess Clock

The best free game timer app out there

Platforms: Android & iOS

Chess Clock can replace your regular chess clock or any timer (if you play other game that requires a timer) for a portable free timer app. It handles any time control, and it is straightforward to use. The app supports both Fischer and Bronstein increments, as well as simple delays.

The Chess Clock app is perfect as a game timer. However, it doesn’t have any other utility. You need a board game to play to make use of the timer. Having said that, I have used it plenty of times when playing with friends in the absence of physical chess clocks.

This is an app to have on your phone to use at the right moment. It is light and not intrusive at all. I recommend you check it out!

Bonus: Twitch & Youtube

Platforms: Android & iOS

As we finally approach the end of the list. I want you to think about Twitch & Youtube as apps that could help you improve your chess while having some fun at the same time. In both apps, you can watch live broadcasts of top tournaments, watch educational chess videos and streams.

A lot of strong chess players have spent a lot of time uploading quality content to Twitch & Youtube. GM Hikaru Nakamura is one of my favorite Twitch streamers as it is always instructional watching him play while commentating on his games. You may also find a lot of good Youtube chess channels like Agadmator, ChessTalk, and ChessNetwork.

If you are looking for quality video content, I recommend you check out streams and videos on both apps!