# Chess With Friends — user reviews > 53 indexed App Store user reviews of Chess With Friends by Zynga Inc., rated 2.04/5 from 1,145 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/chess-with-friends/id991759859/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/chess-with-friends/id991759859.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 160 · 4★ 67 · 3★ 83 · 2★ 188 · 1★ 647 ## What do users think of Chess With Friends? Overall sentiment: negative **Pros** - 🚀 Smooth gameplay - 👍 Simple and easy to use - 🕹️ Enjoyable chess experience **Cons** - 🐛 Frequent game corruption issues - ⚠️ Unreliable notifications - 📢 Excessive advertisements - 🔒 Lack of security and privacy controls - 🕰️ Opponents taking too long to move **Commonly reported bugs** - Chat text visibility issues in dark mode - Profile picture syncing problems - Screen resizing and layout bugs - Corrupted games with no resolution **Most requested features** - Pre-move option - Game history archiving - Customizable player profiles - Time limit per move - Improved matchmaking and player blocking ## Newest reviews (14 of 53) ### 2/5 — From bad to worse *2022-09-22, version 1.45* This is the second time, and it will probably be my last one, that I decide to remove the game (unload the application ) from my phone. Why? I keep getting invitations to play from people that only want to chat about selling something, and the latest is that a game against a much higher ranked player that I was winning by far was misteriously blocked and assigned as a win to my opponent. I am here to have fun and enjoy the game, but these people need to be controlled and or blocked. I have a handful of games that were abandoned by suspicious players once I decided not to chat nonsense with them. Hackers? Salespeople? I will give the game another chance ### 3/5 — So many scammers on the app *2022-03-07, version 1.45* I really like the app but good lord seems to be about 40% of the players are people trying to get information to get into your financial accounts. The app really needs to have a way to report these users but as with most apps they don’t seem to be doing anything to keep these people off of their platform. If not for this I’d give them 5 stars. Be careful who you accept a game from. ### 2/5 — Crypto scammers *2021-09-02, version 1.45* I have enjoyed chess with friends for years but lately it’s all people who start a game and then message you and ask where your playing from. If you don’t answer in appropriate time they send ???. Every one turns out to be an expert in crypto currencies. It’s amazing! The worst part is, once you call them on it they won’t resign and they don’t play and you have a bunch of open games that won’t end. The only way to get rid of them is resign and take a loss… c’mon…. The funny thing is most of all these scammers can’t spell or misuse words and they are always the same words. Chess with friends…. Stop this please! ### 1/5 — Could be ALOT better *2021-07-11, version 1.45* Both the search and invite Facebook friends to actually play “Chess With Friends” doesn’t work. Which is annoying. What’s more annoying is that you don’t get an app notification when it’s your turn. A notification that alerts me when it’s my turn you’d think would be on the checklist when developing this app. But no my friend and I have to constantly text each other to let each other know it’s their turn. Which is super annoying super inconvenient. Would like to see these issues get fixed ### 3/5 — Lousy turn of events. *2021-06-25, version 1.45* I love this game, but lately I have been having way too many troubles with it. Before a player would have to move within 5 days or lose. I have had players who no longer move, yet they stay onl my game. It is quite irritating. About ten of them tried to sell me on the wonders of Bitcoin Mining. When I said “Not interested” they were somehow able to disable the game. I just tried to dump the app to get rid of these non-players. I must have hit the wrong button, because now my game is active, but it is not on my screen. How do I fix these problems? I want the the game on my phone, but I want these disabled games gone. So annoying. EllieA ### 1/5 — They don’t know chess *2021-05-14, version 1.45* And absolute waste of money if you’re planning on spending is to get rid of the ads. I had numerous games that end up as corrupt games and I’ve even had one that ended as a draw by mutual agreement when I was in a clearly winning position. When I tried to complain about this to the technical support team they could even annotate the game correctly and try to explain the rules of stalemate to me. When they don’t know the rules themselves. Once this game that I’m playing is complete I will leave this app and never come back to it ever again. I do not recommend this to anybody it won’t do nothing but stress you out. ### 1/5 — 3 bugs that ruin games *2021-04-18, version 1.45* 1. Games become “corrupted” for inexplicable reasons, randomly. This has happened numerous times to games where I was winning and where I was losing. Not fun. Please fix these bugs. 2. Chat becomes invisible if iOS is in dark mode. Chat text becomes white text on a white text bubble background when iOS is in dark mode, please fix this bug. 3. Profile pics not syncing. The app does not allow profile pics to be changed (why was this feature removed?) and does not sync properly with Facebook profile pics. Please fix these bugs. ### 1/5 — Terribly glitchy, don’t pay for this. *2021-02-13, version 1.45* I upgraded the app to the paid version to escape the barrage of obnoxious ads. But despite contacting tech support over glitches, they do zero to improve the app. It no longer provides a notification after my opponent’s play, so I have to constantly check back. It will not allow a change of personal information, screen name, etc. The messaging system is invisible to me as I type a message to my opponent, so I have to hope I typed it correctly before sending. It often takes a long time to update after my opponent has played. It is a great way to enjoy chess with friends and family, but the app is in terrible need of repair. Tech support replies with something like “yes, others are having similar problems, please be patient” but nothing is ever fixed. I need to find a better app for chess. You should too. ### 2/5 — Playing for years but last update is really buggy *2021-02-09, version 1.45* I’ve been playing this app for years. A few weeks back they released the first update they’ve done in a year but it’s littered with bugs. Nobody receives any notifications of moves anymore. Everyone I play says the same thing — no notifications work. And now when trying to use the chat function the text is white on a white background. I can’t tell what I’m even typing until I hit send. 🥴 ### 3/5 — Latest update broke notifications 🥴 *2021-02-07, version 1.45* It is way more reliable now and I haven’t seen a single “corrupted” game since the latest update. However I also haven’t seen a single notification from the app since the update. They fixed one bug and created another one. Honestly I’m OK with that because when you have a lot of games going on at once as I do those notifications get pretty distracting. That said, this is a pretty important feature for most people and a pretty significant bug needing fixed ### 1/5 — Post-Update Woes *2021-02-05, version 1.45* I loved this app before the recent update. I’ve never had an issue with scammers, and I usually have ~20 active games at a time. The only thing I didn’t like was that it prohibits any player from making a move that puts them at risk, but I rather like when opponents don’t see the trap and lose their king. That’s just me. However, the update docked 4 stars just like *that*. Obnoxious ads after every single move, which is absurd when playing against a computer! Not to mention it now costs TEN DOLLARS to remove the ads when there weren’t any previously. Ridiculous. I no longer get notifications when players make a move, so I have to frequently open the app in hopes I have turns to take. Also, the chat feature has a completely white text box when typing so you can’t see anything you write until you hit send. I’ll give this app five stars when it hits the undo button and gets rid of all these new “bug fixes and improvements” *rolls eyes*. ### 2/5 — Major Hacker Scams and fake losses *2021-01-18, version 1.44* I’ve read a few reviews about game crashes and I’ve had it happen a couple of times, but that’s not my biggest issue. My issue is to insane amount of people on here trying to dupe you into a crypto currency scam. And you make matter evens worse, somehow once you flat out tell them no they end up blocking you and you get docked a loss on the match somehow!!! I mean it’s only a game, but I have 8 losses and half of them are from games that haven’t even finished because they scammer hasn’t gone yet but somehow they give me a loss on the record. Y’all need to add a report button so we can report these people and get them off the game, and fix your win loss mechanism. To get these random loses when games aren’t even over seems like the easiest thing to get right. And yet somehow here we are. For anyone looking to download this game... rule #1 to follow. If someone sends you a message... do not respond. They are a scammer 99.9% of the time and you will get a loss for no reason. ### 3/5 — Needs update urgently *2021-01-14, version 1.44* The chess app works fine on older phones but has display issues on the new iPhone 12 Pro. When first starting the app and going into a game, everything seems fine. But then exiting a game and going back to it has the display all distorted and unorganized. Completely exiting out of the app and “quitting it” and then restarting it fixes this. Until you exit out of an active game back to your Home Screen, and then the issues return. Please fix. ### 1/5 — Security issues *2020-12-20, version 1.44* With the new iOS update, I can see that ever single time I switch to this app, it copies the content of what I’ve previously copied. Sometimes it’s my password. It does it EVERY SINGLE TIME if there is anything in the clipboard. Why does it need this info. I like the game and the friends I’ve made all over the world, but I don’t want my information stolen. Thanks to Apple for revealing this issue. I still use it, but I try to clear out my clipboard or add something benign to it before I switch to the Chess with Friends app. You have been warned. ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — RIP Chess W/ Friends *2023-08-05* I’ve been a user/player on this app for YEARS! Finally going to ditch it. The lack of control over your own profile and inability to screen users/players is unacceptable. I’m done. Its chess, that’s all it should be. However, I’ve been harassed repeatedly by ‘players’ on a regular basis. Many of whom are either attempting to solicit bitcoin or themselves. It’s obnoxious and the app offers no solution to report them. I’ve met a few cool people on this app out of the thousands I’ve been played over the years (which I’ll happily converse with on another app). But it’s really unfortunate that I feel the need to find another place to play the game I love because the OG devs have lost sight of the users that this app was intended to serve. RIP Chess w/ Friends….. ### 1/5 — NO NOTIFICATIONS FOR 3 YEARS!!! *2023-07-29* After a recent much-needed update, they still fixed only a small portion of the issues. Notifications still not working although you darn sure get notifications if "Chess Master" wants to challenge you! Or if Tech support has replied to a message. But NOPE! Not a single notification if a player moves or sends you a chat!!!!! It's such a shame that in 2010 the app worked fantastic. Then it slowly degraded and with an update in February 2020 it all really went to heck in a hand basket!!!!!!! ZYNGA is sorry for not caring. How difficult can it be to repair notifications? They sure work in their "Words With Friends" app!!!! Ridiculous and takes the joy out or playing chess!!!!! ### 1/5 — Anybody Home? *2023-05-24* Hey Zynga, are you guys still moderating and updating this app? Doesn’t look like it! About 3 years ago this app used to be really fun and reliable. Now it’s trash. Two major problems need to be fixed ASAP: 1) The app doesn’t send you notifications when it’s your move. 2) Your opponent can just abandon the game and leave you hanging there waiting for him to make a move. There is no time limit for making moves. Easy for Zynga to fix that. Just set a day limit to five days and if the player doesn’t make a move the app should automatically resign him. The app used to do this. Now it doesn’t. Super annoying. If Zynga fixes these two problems this app has the potential to be fun again. But right now it’s just frustrating. Because you never know when it’s your move. And games can last forever because there is no day limit. Because nobody is receiving move notifications. Hey are there any Zynga employees reading this? You guys have ads that pop up during game play so you must still be making revenue. How about you listen to your customers and make some simple fixes to make your product more enjoyable. A response would be appreciated. Or maybe this negative review will just be lost amongst the dozens of other negative reviews for this app… Hey Zynga anybody home?? ### 1/5 — Rife with scammers *2022-12-21, version 1.45* This used to be a good, casual game to play chess. Now it is loaded with scammers. Unfortunately you can’t look at a players chess profile (games played, losses, etc) prior to playing to try to assess if they are a real player. Then when you get stuck with one and you block dr harassment then it counts as a loss. If they stop playing for some reason it doesn’t time them out so their profile sits there for months as waiting to play. I’ve watched the profile picture change from men to women and back. That has screwed up my ranking and is definitely not worth playing new people anymore. 99% will be hello what’s your name? Where are you from? I want to get to know you better? Where can we talk? Ridiculous. I have 3 people I’ve played against for many years now and that is only reason im still on the game. Don’t get started on this one because the app developers have done nothing about this along with some of the weird bugs that crop up where it is your turn but you can’t move your pieces as well as a few other annoying glitches. ### 1/5 — Please fix this game! *2022-08-24, version 1.45* I have played nearly 1000 games on this app with dozens of opponents. I play every day for years. Whatever you guys did on this most recent update totally blows. In my first ~900 games over many years I had exactly one corrupted game. In the last three weeks I have had 8-10. It keeps happening. I also invited two friends to play with me, had them download the game, and my first three games with each of them corrupted. They are no longer playing the game. Please Fix!!! When it is fixed I’ll give a new review. ### 1/5 — Scammers and System Problems *2022-06-23, version 1.45* If you want scammers to constantly try to sell you crypto currency, or you want to lose games because of system issues, this is the app for you. I played on the app for about 8 years and finally deleted it because I couldn’t stand it any longer! When you tell the scammer you are not interested, they quit playing and they remain in a “pending their move” purgatory as an unfinished game. While they are not help accountable for their time to move, you are held to a strict time period. I lost games because my time ran out when the system didn’t advise me that it was my time to move (no visible evidence on the screen that it was my move). ### 1/5 — Buggy dark mode and heats iPhone *2022-04-23, version 1.45* I’ve been using Chess with Friends for 3+ years now and while I’m happy with how many people I get to play, the app itself is terrible - and Zynga doesn’t appear to give a hoot. I reported the “invisible” text bug when trying chat while phone is in dark mode (their developer appears to have forgotten to invert it from the background) over a year ago - it’s still there. But more worrying, I think Zynga must be using my phone as some sort of CPU node for something not related to the game. Moving chess pieces around should not take any cpu whatsoever, but whenever I am in this app, my iPhone gets hot as heck! They’re doing *something* not chess related! ### 1/5 — Glitchy App / No Bug Fixes / No Support *2021-10-29, version 1.45* App has several bugs: - When typing on chat board, you cannot see the text you’re typing until you click send. - Notifications do not work. You just have to occasionally check the app to see if it’s your move. - Bogus accounts start games and try to chat/scam. When you don’t fall for it, they stop playing. The game never times out. It just stays in your game queue for eternity. Reached out for help, but they said the games don’t show on their end. - When submitted a Help Request, the feature to add a photo/screen shot does not work. It’s nearly impossible to get to the place to submit a request, so it’s frustrating to have it not work once you get there. All this is quite disappointing for an app that I PAID FOR and used to work. ### 1/5 — Crypto salesmen ruined the game. *2021-08-22, version 1.45* I have been playing this game since 2012, and I love it. But recently there are a lot of new accounts who just want to sell you Bitcoin, and when they find out you won’t bite, they stop playing, and you end up with many dead games still active, clogging up your list. There is no way to get rid of them without taking a loss. They used to expire. But now they just stick around forever. Zynga should fix this because it used to be a great app. ### 1/5 — Not what I expected *2021-07-27, version 1.45* After playing words with friends for so long, I expected much more from this. Upon download, I chose to link to Facebook so I could play with friends( like the name suggests) and was severely disappointed. I linked Facebook only to find not a single one of my friends was available. Nor could I invite Facebook friends. The only person on my list of friends was some random photoless entity named Brandon. Although I do know a few Brandon’s…. This was none of them. Additionally, the user interface and options are not as customizable as one would think reading the description. I will say that the game itself works as a chess game if that’s all you want. If you expect to play with your friends, this game isn’t it. The game needs a serious overhaul if Zynga plans on this game becoming even a tiny fraction of what WWF has become. Please address the connection and crashing issues immediately. What a shame. ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — The Best Chess App👍 *2018-11-13, version 1.43* It’s simple and easy to understand. You get leaderboards from skill to wins, and you get to play unlimited games with people. It’s simple, easy to play and learn chess multiplayer, and has options to play a solo match’s against computerized opponents to strengthen your skills on both white and black. I’ve honestly strengthened my skills at this board game just from this app. The only money you’ll pay for it would be to remove ads or get another board for 99 cents, which is a lot better than spending 8 dollars on just boards, stats, etc. The only thing I crave to be added to the app is more positive ratings☑️ ### 4/5 — New scam *2021-06-11, version 1.45* Someone claiming to be a nice old lady that has a rating of 1200 with 575 wins and 43 losses but who only started playing 32 days ago is currently trying to sell me information on crypto currency that she generated with her “AI bots” designed to make my profit grow 500% “more faster”. I’ve told her I’m interested in buying her bots. This could get interesting. Will update ### 4/5 — Please fix badge notifications *2021-04-11, version 1.45* My dad and I have been playing this game for years. We love it!! But the latest update made it so that badge notifications no longer work, which obviously makes it difficult to see when it’s your turn. If that gets fixed, then I’ll gladly give this a 5 star review!! ### 4/5 — Note to developers *2021-04-11, version 1.45* The game is great and would be perfect only if it has time limit per move, I’m pretty sure everyone is tired of waiting five days for their opponent to make the next move. It gets frustrating sometimes seeing people taking advantage of it by intentionally not playing for days. ### 4/5 — Better but too much spam *2021-02-16, version 1.45* The game used to freeze and you’d lose your game but they fixed that. Sometimes when you would hit the back button it would show you a tiny little chessboard and you would have to close out and come back in to get the chessboard back to full size. They fixed that too! Now I keep getting invitations from people that either want to sell me bitcoin or want me to join hangout. I wish they had some way to block these folks. So freaking annoying. ### 4/5 — Start as black option *2021-01-27, version 1.45* I really like this app because I can play with my grandpa and play random people casually, but I really wish they had an option where you can start as black! Whenever you initiate a game it always puts you as white but if someone invites you to a game, then they are white and you are black. There is no way to ask someone to play a game and also start as black which is very annoying. Other than that this is an absolutely amazing app, 9/10 would recommend. ### 4/5 — Love the app but updates made it worse *2021-01-26, version 1.45* First off, I’m addicted to the game and I wake up and go to bed on this app. Corrupted games happen, but Not that often. (Possibly more with people who don’t have an iphone?). The latest update made the screen smaller and wastes precious phone space. And the notifications aren’t working anymore so people take a lot longer to make a move. Please fix these two issues! ### 4/5 — Pre move *2020-09-25, version 1.44* I think the option to pre move would make this app so much better. I like daily games and I think I speak for a lot of people when I say opening the app to capture back a piece is kind of annoying and slow moving. It’d be cool to simply make a move and set your next move if you choose too. I hope you guys read this and add that feature!! ### 4/5 — Suggestion *2019-11-09, version 1.43* It would be nice if there was a way to keep certain games in an archive, so that if there are any games you really enjoyed/learned from, you can save them and go over them if need be. Also I like the app, but it was glitching a bit (working fine now). It’s worth mentioning that some people are trying to use it as an app to meet other singles, rather than playing chess. ### 4/5 — Good app *2018-12-22, version 1.43* I really enjoy this app! I do hate that I started off connected to Facebook so it used my profile name and picture and now I can’t change that information. There are some creeps who use the app and i would like to be able to hide my personal information. Had I known I wouldn’t be able to do so I never would have connected it to my Facebook. --- *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.*