# New Chessnut - Elevate Play — user reviews > 40 indexed App Store user reviews of New Chessnut by Xenx Technology Limited, rated 3.25/5 from 36 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/new-chessnut-elevate-play/id6502445067/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/new-chessnut-elevate-play/id6502445067.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 11 · 4★ 4 · 3★ 2 · 2★ 5 · 1★ 8 ## Newest reviews (12 of 40) ### 3/5 — Latest update does not connect to WiFi *2026-02-07* The latest update for firmware does not seem to sync. My chestnut move board worked fine and now it won’t connect to play chess.com games. The board moves will not sync to actual game board, but it works when you move on the app to the game board. Disappointing been messing with it for hours. ### 4/5 — Very good but extremely buggy *2026-01-22* I have a chestnut move and I’m using this app, overall it has many features and gameplay, but it is extremely buggy, such as, when I’m playing puzzles or using analysis, when I open the settings, it imediatly closes and when I’m using puzzles, the puzzle with switch to a different one after it has been chosen and then switches again to a dofferent one which I can solve **Developer response:** This question is a bit vague. Please contact our customer service for more detailed information. ### 4/5 — Add local multiplayer *2026-01-04* With the original app, I played chess with my grandson, but now I noticed that there is no longer the option to do that. Apart from that the app is good, but please add local multiplayer functionality as soon as you can. **Developer response:** The two-player face-to-face chess mode is now called Clock, and you can access it from the app's homepage. ### 4/5 — Excellent App *2025-12-25, version 1.0.18* Very good application! ### 4/5 — Fine app. *2025-12-13* I have a Chessnut Pro board. Two things I’d like to see in the app are 1) A way to turn off all beeps. It beeps loud enough to wake the dead when saving a game or connecting and disconnecting from Bluetooth. I want to use it at my club but don’t want to hear a beep when I start a game or save one. EDITED: Most recent update lets me silence the board completely. This makes it much better! 2) It would be nice to let us set up a position in the board editor. And to correct a position that is imported from the camera. For example if it use the editor and import a position from the camera and it makes a mistake, I can’t fix it. Would be nice to be able to choose and remove pieces like on lichess editor. **Developer response:** 1. A method to completely turn off the buzzer will be released in the next version. 2. Let me think about how to implement this feature. ### 4/5 — Fine app. *2025-10-14* I have a Chessnut Pro board. Two things I’d like to see in the app are 1) A way to turn off all beeps. It beeps loud enough to wake the dead when saving a game or connecting and disconnecting from Bluetooth. I want to use it at my club but don’t want to hear a beep when I start a game or save one. 2) It would be nice to let us set up a position in the board editor. And to correct a position that is imported from the camera. For example if it use the editor and import a position from the camera and it makes a mistake, I can’t fix it. Would be nice to be able to choose and remove pieces like on lichess editor. **Developer response:** 1. A method to completely turn off the buzzer will be released in the next version. 2. Let me think about how to implement this feature. ### 4/5 — Good app needs some love *2025-07-23* App works decently well but could be improved. **Developer response:** We will continue to update the app's features and experience. ### 3/5 — Great but needs some polishing *2025-04-04, version 1.0.12* The app mostly just works and pairs nicely with the Chessnut Air board. One star removed as the game review functionality cumbersome to use. Surprised by so many grammatical errors which knocks off another star for me. ### 2/5 — PLEASE REALIZE this app’s interface Weakens the game experience… *2025-03-16* iOS version is a Major improvement, however a GREAT IMPROVEMENT would have iPad game screen HIGHLIGHT the Opponent’s Last ‘From and To’ Squares!! AND I AM SERIOUS that this Detracts from the game experience!!! Another SORE POINT is the BOARD COLOR ADJUSTMENT is poorly implemented. Another negative to game experience! I do own the electronic Air computer chess board, however the interface weakens the total experience! As a standalone chess on an iPad there are several FAR SUPERIOR chess apps with the Free SMALLFISH as my favorite. Chess Studio is another powerhouse app absolutely filled with overwhelming features! ### 3/5 — PLEASE REALIZE this app’s interface Weakens the game experience… *2025-01-01* iOS version is a Major improvement, however a GREAT IMPROVEMENT would have iPad game screen HIGHLIGHT the Opponent’s Last ‘From and To’ Squares!! And I am serious that this Detracts from the game experience!!! Another point is the BOARD COLOR ADJUSTMENT is poorly implemented. Another negative to game experience. I do own the electronic Air computer chess board, however the interface weakens the total experience! ### 3/5 — Career mode *2024-12-19* Please fix career mode. I have the EVO and the GO. This app needs to have similar features as the EVO ### 4/5 — Updated review - issues fixed! *2024-10-20* This is an update of my previous negative review, as the app now works with my iPad and Chessnut air, and adds great new features not on the first version of the app, such as the option to play Maia. I still can’t make a copy of the FEN cut and paste properly into the chess.com analysis page, but hopefully that’ll be ironed out soon. Well done Chessnut, for continuing to improve the app! ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — Needs improvement *2026-05-29* Sync needs to be better, the pieces recognization is good but not really seamless. For move: Add auto connect, warning if pieces not recognized, if I delete the sync pieces it should actually delete it, support charging board also. ### 1/5 — The app does not work *2026-02-26* Won’t allow me to play online games on lichess or bots on chess.com. Makes me wish I never bought the chessboard in the first place **Developer response:** Hello, we always take the program crash issue very seriously. We hope you can provide more information about the crash so that we can fix it. Thank you. You can send the detailed information to contact@chessnutech.com. ### 1/5 — App won’t let you sign up or use chess.com *2026-01-10* Board is great (I have the move). But this app won’t let me sign up or play against chess.com opponents. The signup screen asks for a verification code but there is no prior step to even get a verification code. Totally broken. ### 1/5 — Very bad, doesn’t record all of game *2026-01-01* Very unfortunate. 11 games played in our New Year’s Eve, on Chessnut go, and went to transfer to today via this, this app did not grab the full match of many games, it would just mid match. This is very unfortunate. **Developer response:** This issue will be optimized later. ### 1/5 — Access Denied *2025-02-01* Can’t even play online with chess.com because it doesn’t comply with googles secure browser policy. I bought it for that purpose. How disappointing. ### 1/5 — Doesn’t Work on iOS 17 *2025-01-04* When using Chessnut on our kids’ iPad, the screen goes black right when the computer makes its first move on chess.com and then doesn’t recover. And this Apple iPad 6 cannot be updated past iOS 17. Note, this app works fantastically on my iPhone 15 with iOS 8! However, I do not want to buy a new Apple device for my kids just to make this work, so I’ll be returning the Chessnut board. **Developer response:** The minimum required version of our app is IOS13. We are unable to provide support for lower systems due to software development limitations. ### 1/5 — App won’t let me recover password *2024-12-31* Can’t use app at all. Can’t sign in and can’t recover password. Customer service unresponsive. ### 1/5 — Not ready for release *2024-06-16* This will be great when it works, but as it stands it doesn’t connect to the board. Chessnut makes great products, and I’m sure they will sort this out, but they should not have released a product that does not yet function. Stick with the old app until this one is functional. ### 2/5 — Difficult to use *2025-12-08* Far more complicated to use than it should be. ### 2/5 — Buggy and unpolished *2025-10-12* Really surprised that a $700 piece of hardware can have such poorly made software. This app is definitely half baked. Bluetooth connection often has to manually be connected. The voice recognition simply doesn’t work. Feels like an alpha version of an app coded in a week. ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Love it *2026-04-08* I have a chessnut move. Worth the price but the app would be so much better if it had a browser that could see chess boards. For example while Chessreps has an app they also have a website, if I could open the new chessnut app go to a browser and learn my openings on the physical board that would be a game changer. Definitely recommend buying the board. And the app is great ### 5/5 — Add local multiplayer *2026-03-08* Multiplayer is called clock for anyone who is confused **Developer response:** The two-player face-to-face chess mode is now called Clock, and you can access it from the app's homepage. ### 5/5 — Fine app. *2026-01-22* I have a Chessnut Pro board. Two things I’d like to see in the app are 1) A way to turn off all beeps. It beeps loud enough to wake the dead when saving a game or connecting and disconnecting from Bluetooth. I want to use it at my club but don’t want to hear a beep when I start a game or save one. EDITED: Most recent update lets me silence the board completely. This makes it much better! 2) It would be nice to let us set up a position in the board editor. And to correct a position that is imported from the camera. For example if it use the editor and import a position from the camera and it makes a mistake, I can’t fix it. Would be nice to be able to choose and remove pieces like on lichess editor. **Developer response:** 1. A method to completely turn off the buzzer will be released in the next version. 2. Let me think about how to implement this feature. ### 5/5 — Not a review but a question *2026-01-02* How would I be able to buy chestnut VIP? ### 5/5 — Does the job! *2025-02-04* Full disclosure, I mainly used the app to connect the board, and then connect to chess.com. I haven’t used the features in the app itself much. Chess.com provides all the features I require. This app has adequate features on its own, comparable to lichess. ### 5/5 — Please change stockfish difficulty to low levels *2025-01-17* Are you guys able to make the stockfish bots? Go a bit lower because the maximum goes up to 1320 I love to see more lower difficulties as well. Hope this help for future updates.😇 ### 5/5 — Please fix time controls *2025-01-14* This app is great, but the time controls don’t display or work correctly when interacting with a bot like Maia. Please fix this issue as it’s very important to me. Thanks. ### 5/5 — Only thing missing is a clock mode for online games *2025-01-01* The interface is clean, the connection is stable, and the overall experience is smooth. The only thing missing is a clock mode for online games. It would be great to have a feature that simply shows the player’s and opponent’s remaining time without displaying the current board position. This would add a nice touch for those who prefer focusing on the board itself during play. ### 5/5 — Very good experience *2024-12-21* This app, along with the Chessnut Air board, is a really great tactile chess experience. I love that that app includes several engines (including Maia) and I’ve had no issues connecting with the board. Overall I would highly recommend the app and the board to anyone that likes playing chess but wants a real “over the board” experience. ### 5/5 — Good new feature! *2024-07-23* I love the addition of extracting recorded games from the board directly. It makes analyzing the games played OTB so much easier. Good job! I wish the developer can do the same for games played against the bot. Currently, we can only see the moves played but can’t copy the PGN directly. I need to screenshot it, and then OCR the screenshot to get the PGN out. I hope it will be added in future updates. Edit: I just found out that we can actually copy the PGNs from the bot matches. It’s just not clear in the first place. What a life saver! --- *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 2026-07-23.*