# Checkmate! — Play Chess in Messages! > Play chess matches directly within your messaging application. (iPhone/iPad app by BorderLeap, LLC.) - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/checkmate/id1143204905 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`) - Developer: [BorderLeap, LLC](https://appshunter.io/developer/546937507) - Category: Games, Board, Strategy - Price: $0.99 - Rating: 3.64/5 from 223 App Store ratings · 95 written reviews indexed - Age rating: 4+ - Requires: iOS 11.0 · 51 MB - Languages: Czech, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese and 13 more - Released: 2016-09-12 - Data updated: 2026-06-10 - Monetization: free - User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/checkmate/id1143204905/reviews.md ## What is Checkmate!? Add some competition to your conversations with Checkmate! Play chess against family and friends in Messages! Simply start a conversation with someone, select the Checkmate! app and tap “New Match” to begin. You can play multiple matches with other people at the same time - even across all your devices! What are you waiting for? It's time to choose your opponent, make your move and play Checkmate! PLEASE NOTE: To enable and play Checkmate please follow instructions at https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT206906. iOS 11 must fully be installed before sending or receiving a move. Enabling and disabling (installing/uninstalling) the game is done via the App Store for iMessage. If you have any questions please send us an email at support@borderleap.com and we'll do our best to help. Thanks! ## Key features - Play chess in messages - Start new matches easily - Play multiple games simultaneously - Cross-device compatibility - Integrated with messaging app ## What do users think of Checkmate!? Overall sentiment: positive **Pros** - 👍 Easy to use - 💡 Convenient way to play chess with friends - 🚀 Simple and straightforward gameplay - 🎨 Great interface design **Cons** - 🐛 Occasional bugs and glitches - 🔍 Difficulty finding/deleting the app - ⚠️ Lack of key chess features (castling, pawn promotion, draw detection) - 🔄 Automatic move sending without confirmation **Commonly reported bugs** - Rooks/pieces disappearing or reappearing unexpectedly - Issues with board orientation and piece movement - Crashes and freezes during gameplay **Most requested features** - Add option to choose pawn promotion piece - Implement castling and en passant moves - Provide a resign/draw option - Add board rotation and move history features - Improve multi-device sync and continuity ## Recent user reviews (10 of 95) All indexed reviews: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/checkmate/id1143204905/reviews.md ### 3/5 — Needs confirmation and resign! *2022-09-21* Occasionally I'll blunder because I accidentally barely touched the screen while calculating moves. Very frustrating. Also, the ability to resign is fundamental to chess... It gets the job done but only just. ### 4/5 — Great but a little buggy *2022-09-14, version 1.4* App is very simplistic which is great. I do notice iMessage crashing, lagging, or the chess board disappearing in chat sometimes but doesn’t effect the actually gameplay. ### 4/5 — Great App *2022-05-09* This is a great way to play chess with friends and family whilst not being pestered with ‘in app purchases’ . I have come across a bug , in which my Queen changed to a Rook unexpectedly. I would like to report this to the Production team! ### 3/5 — How do you rotate board so black is at bottom? *2022-03-04* Complaint made is that when playing black the pieces are upside down the black player has to view the board from the white players perspective how can board be rotated? ### 3/5 — Great when it works. *2021-06-14, version 1.4* There is a bug that will move your pawn 3 spaces for some reason, it’s happening often on opening moves. When this works it’s great, when it doesn’t you are playing against your opponent and the big, lol! ### 3/5 — Loved until *2021-01-30, version 1.4* I loved the app until suddenly while playing the app would start making moves for both sides without human interaction by me or my son. Apparent the App was hacked either by a person or autoplay computer app and would continue to make moves and remove pieces on its own. I uninstalled and reinstalled with the same result. We would make a few initial moves, then the app would start making it’s own moves. We checked both phones with security software and could find no breaches. The only recourse was to remove the app permanently rather than allow 3rd party control. Too bad, it was a good way to interact with my son from a distance. I can only conclude a malicious actor exploited some feature that allowed access. ### 5/5 — Easy to use *2021-01-26* Works great on iMessage ### 3/5 — Queen switched to rook no reason *2021-01-21, version 1.4* So far it was good but we had one time where the queen actually switched to a rook for no apparent reason. Queen was sitting in the top right corner. I was trying to get ahold of developer but can’t find their contact info. Please help ### 4/5 — Confirm your Move feature *2020-11-24, version 1.4* A well designed app, no issues except that it could use a confirm your Move feature! ### 3/5 — Take back a move *2020-11-20, version 1.4* It would be nice if you could take back a accidental move. Also there seems to be a glitch with the rooks suddenly disappearing from the corners. Other than that I love it. Oh, and a Halloween themed board would be groovy! ## Frequently asked questions about Checkmate! ### What is Checkmate!? Checkmate! is an application that allows you to play chess directly within your messaging conversations. You can start a new game with a contact, make your moves, and receive your opponent's moves all within the chat interface. ### How do I start playing a game? To start a game, open a conversation with the person you want to play with, select the Checkmate! app within your messaging options, and tap 'New Match'. The app will guide you through the setup process. ### Can I play multiple games at once? Yes, you can play multiple chess matches with different people simultaneously. The app is designed to handle concurrent games, allowing you to keep track of all your ongoing matches. ### Is Checkmate! free to play? Based on the provided information, Checkmate! is a free application. There are no in-app purchases or advertisements mentioned. ### What are the system requirements for Checkmate!? To use Checkmate!, you need to have iOS 11 fully installed on your device. This is a requirement for sending and receiving moves within the messaging app. Installation and uninstallation are managed through the App Store for iMessage. ## Version history (last 5 releases) ### 1.4 — 2018-03-03 This app has been updated by Apple to display the Apple Watch app icon. iOS 11, iPhone X support and a new Classic theme! And... now see the latest move within each message bubble! Also a few bug fixes and improvements. ### 1.3.2 — 2017-02-10 Play chess and share some love with the new Valentine's Day theme! ### 1.3.1 — 2017-02-07 Hello Checkmate fans! This update reverts the app icon back to the non-holiday version and provide some other minor improvements. We hope you're enjoying the game! ### 1.3 — 2016-12-14 New holiday theme available for free! Next year there will be more themes available. Also, fix an issue where a match ending in stalemate had a winner declared. And finally, a new holiday icon! Enjoy the game! PLEASE NOTE: Some users have reported that they only receive an image and that the game is broken. For a move to be playable, it must be received as an iMessage (not text message) AFTER both iOS 10 and the game are fully installed on that device. After the device is ready, simply start a new match to play. ### 1.2.1 — 2016-10-09 PLEASE NOTE: Some users have reported that they only receive an image and that the game is broken. For a move to be playable, it must be received as an iMessage (not text message) AFTER both iOS 10 and the game are fully installed on that device. After the device is ready, simply start a new match to play. In this update... Fix rare bug where a move couldn't be made after receiving move from opponent. ## Apps similar to Checkmate! | App | Rating | Price | Category | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | [Shredder Chess Lite](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/shredder-chess-lite/id343795703) | 3.9 (19) | Free | Games | | [Chess Pro.](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/chess-pro/id561435724) | 4.7 (1,968) | $3.99 | Games | | [Chess - tChess Lite](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/chess-tchess-lite/id296756437) | 4.6 (76) | $0.99 | Games | | [Play Chess for iMessage](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/play-chess-for-imessage/id6443798218) | 3.2 (139) | Free | Games | | [Chess With Friends](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/chess-with-friends/id991759859) | 2.0 (1,145) | Free | Games | | [Chess Time - Multiplayer Chess](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/chess-time-multiplayer-chess/id455602152) | 4.7 (1,659) | Free | Games | ## More apps by BorderLeap, LLC - [har•mo•ny](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/harmony/id686313581) - [har•mo•ny 2](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/harmony-2/id729430378) - [Alpha Omega](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/alpha-omega/id748048441) - [har•mo•ny 3](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/harmony-3/id982805507) - [Word²](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/word/id1030792602) - [Drop Flip](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/drop-flip/id1071154495) All apps by BorderLeap, LLC: https://appshunter.io/developer/546937507 --- *Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-06-10.*