# Pente Live — user reviews > 44 indexed App Store user reviews of Pente Live by Walied Othman, rated 4.30/5 from 337 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/pente-live/id595426592/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/pente-live/id595426592.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 236 · 4★ 47 · 3★ 17 · 2★ 9 · 1★ 28 ## What do users think of Pente Live? Overall sentiment: mixed **Pros** - 👍 Great Pente app - 👍 Good community - 👍 Play local or online - 👍 Excellent platform - 👍 Many variants available - 👍 AI is incredible - 👍 Great game - 👍 User friendly - 👍 Classic game done well - 👍 Formidable AI opponent - 👍 Good challenge with computer - 👍 Play on Pente.org - 👍 Many opponents online - 👍 Great way to study - 👍 Amazing features - 👍 Great community of players **Cons** - 🐛 Grid too small for fingers - 🐛 Game play is arbitrary - 🐛 No learning curve - 🐛 Distracting ads - 🐛 Difficult to read - 🐛 Awkward user interface - 🐛 AI board acts very fast - 🐛 AI games are too hard - 🐛 UI can be developed more - 🐛 Not landscape mode on iPad - 🐛 AI is too fast - 🐛 AI seems to cheat - 🐛 UI is poorly designed - 🐛 Can't rotate game board - 🐛 AI is slow - 🐛 Unusable interface - 🐛 Menu is ridiculous - 🐛 Signup registration required - 🐛 No 2 player abilities - 🐛 App quits when starting game - 🐛 App is unusable - 🐛 Game froze - 🐛 Misplace piece easily - 🐛 Tap-to-zoom blocks view - 🐛 No 'finish move' button - 🐛 AI moves are immediate - 🐛 AI piece randomly not showing - 🐛 Crashes after every game - 🐛 Too easy to make mistakes - 🐛 Cant play AI locally offline - 🐛 Account creation needed for offline AI **Commonly reported bugs** - Drops stone in wrong spot - Move ends up in different position - Changes last location - Freezes - Bumps out of a game - App down - Screen frozen - App freezes - App keeps crashing intermittently - Crashes after every game - App quits every time to start a game - Game froze **Most requested features** - Replay button - Landscape mode on iPad - Slower AI response time - Improved UI - Take back move option - Pinch to zoom and separate 'finish move' button - Dark mode - Option to disable ads - Sign in with AppleID or Google ## Newest reviews (13 of 44) ### 2/5 — Frustrating gameplay *2024-03-02, version 2.9.3* Can we have a replay button juste to see what we did wrong or what we miss? ### 2/5 — Game good, app bad *2022-12-26, version 2.6.24* The game Pente is amazing! Unfortunately, the app is littered with distracting ads, difficult to read, requires an unnecessary account signup process (why can’t I Sign in with AppleID or google?) and has an awkward user interface. ### 3/5 — What about landscape mode on an iPad *2022-11-10* The title says it best, I am running on an iPad and it is in portrait mode. Otherwise, the game runs well. I have a keyboard attached and only use the iPad in landscape mode. So, I was pretty surprised when I open this app and it didn’t spin. Maybe there is an option somewhere I missed?? ### 4/5 — Seriously?? *2022-10-23* I hate when you sign up and the first thing you get is questioned if you are enjoying the “Live Play”. You automatically get a 1 star for asking stupid questions. ### 4/5 — Great game but … *2022-05-07* I really like this game and appreciate the face that I can play against others. But there is some needed changes as the following: -The AI board acts very fast, the response time would be much smoother and fun if it was slowed. -The user interface can be developed more. Besides that, very good work ! ### 3/5 — Really great, but makes me feel stupid. *2021-11-28* I love pente. I’ve played it since I was five and I was so excited to find this app, and it’s really great! My only problem is that every AI game I’ve played I haven’t stood a chance. Live is great, love it. But the AI.. honestly I respect it, but even on level 1? I’ll stick to playing live. If you’re a beginner and just learning the game don’t use the AI. You won’t really learn and you’ll just rage quit. I’ll keep trying to beat it, but I’m not holding out hope lol ### 2/5 — Awkward User Interface *2021-04-01, version 2.6.22* I love that we have an implementation of Pente on the App Store and it’s AI is incredible! Unfortunately, the user interface is extremely awkward and unforgiving. It is way too easy to misplace a piece while removing your finger from the board. Tap-to-zoom means I can’t see a significant amount of the board, because my finger and hand is blocking my view. The only reason I can think of for implementing this interface might have to do with a “you let go of the piece and it’s played” rule. But that really sucks when my confidence in placing a piece accurately is so low. I would much rather have pinch to zoom and a separate “finish move” button so that I can correct any errors before turning control to the next player. The original IOS Carcassonne did this and is a model well worth studying and copying. It is not worth compromising enjoyment of the game for such an awkward interface. Please look into redesigning this. I would play it so much more and buy a Pente.org membership once I’m confident that the app will let me play where I want. —UPDATE— After receiving Waleid’s response, I fired up the game and started playing the AI. Which is not a live game. No Submit button is present. His advice to move to an illegal position doesn’t help when, in the process of committing to the move you want to make, the stone ends up in an adjacent, legal position that’s not desirable. Lowering the rating in light of the unhelpful response. Really hoping Waleid rethinks the design as this really is a fantastic game. ### 2/5 — Too fast to observe and seems to cheat *2020-11-18* This game cheats and makes it not fun :( I love this game in board game format and was so excited to see an online app. However, when playing the computer, it seems rigged to win & purposefully goes super fast that you cannot see the move the computer makes (other than where it landed with your pieces “mysteriously” captured) There have even been times when captures took place that weren’t possible but my pieces get moved by the computer (as another rater stated). I watched diligently for this and it happened frequently. If you can slow down the computer so the player can watch the move in real time (like other games allow) & fix the cheating glitch the game would be enjoyable; otherwise, who wants to play a game you can never win? **Developer response:** You can swipe left on the board to go back a move in the game, or swipe right on the board to go forward, in case you want to replay a move that went by too fast. ### 2/5 — Great game, mediocre app *2020-11-02, version 2.6.17* Game is great, AI is mostly pretty strong but you can manipulate it a bit. Worst part of this app is the, IMO, very poorly designed UI ### 4/5 — Solid, but Spartan *2020-08-13* PenteLive is a solid app: you get all the basics (for free!). Want to play against AI? You’ve got it. Against someone of any rank? Sure. Tournaments? No problem. Notifications if you want them? Yup. An occasional app-freeze may be expected, but it never compromises a move or a score. The graphics are simple, without the sheen & effect of some other (lesser) pente/go apps. But if you want dedicated opponents, & accurate score-keeping, as well as a variety of rules/gameplay, this is the app for you. Unfortunately, you can not rotate the game board or view it from various angles/depth. ### 4/5 — Classic game done well *2020-01-06* Since I bought an original Pente game board I love to play and learn on the app. The only short fall is that the AI moves are immediate and can be hard to see exactly what has happened from a learning standpoint, as well as the AI piece randomly not showing its piece or only showing the red indicator dot. Other that that I have no issues. ### 5/5 — This game rules!!! *2019-07-26, version 2.6.2* For those who are not familiar with Pente, it is a deceivingly simple looking game. In fact, it takes years to truly master this game. This app has a decent interface, and an incredible AI. The AI will present you a formidable opponent against which you can hone your skills! ### 4/5 — Take back move option *2019-07-22* I love Pente, and this game is a good challenge with the computer players. I have not tried the online (Live) feature. I recommend this game if you ever played Pente in the 1980’s. I think will enjoy it. My only complaint is that there is no way to take back an errant move. Occasionally, my piece is played at the wrong location due to my finger being too large for the small screen. If it had a take move back feature I would give it 5 stars. UPDATE: Thanks for the response below. Now that I know the take back move feature exists I give it 5 stars! **Developer response:** You already can do this, with turn-based games you can re-set your stone any time until you hit submit, there's an option in live play to request an undo, and swiping left on the AI board lets you take back a move. ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — Grid is too small for my fingers. *2024-11-12* Even with the expanded view, it frequently drops the stone in the wrong spot **Developer response:** But you can always re-place the stone before you submit ### 1/5 — Game play is arbitrary *2024-06-30* This is, from what I’ve seen, the only Pente game play that includes single player (i.e., against the “computer”), which is exceedingly hard, even at level 1, my criticism is of the actual game play. Too many times have I lost a game because what I thought was my move actually ended up in a different position. I will not say that my subsequent move would have won the game, but I can definitely say that the computer’s move won the game more than a few times! **Developer response:** If this is against the onboard ai, just swipe twice left on the board (undo the computer move and then yours) and place another ### 1/5 — No learning curve *2023-09-19* Title says it all. This game is rather pointless unless you have been playing for literal freaking decades and know literally every possible outcome of a game. ### 1/5 — Too many bugs *2021-07-13* Changes my last location, freezes, bumps me out of a game. ### 1/5 — Would love an app of this that works *2019-10-31, version 2.6.11* App keeps crashing intermittently. Also, the AI is so slow that it is almost unusable. ### 1/5 — Crashes after every game *2019-10-18, version 2.6.10* Crashes after every game. Why bother. ### 1/5 — interface and ui are garbage *2019-07-20, version 2.6.2* game is nearly unplayable with the current ui, far too easy to make mistakes without a chance to confirm or change your placement. ### 1/5 — Cheating piece of garbage! *2019-06-08* Played the AI and it consistently changed my placement when my move jeopardized it’s position, and replaced my pieces with its own. At first I thought I mis-placed my pieces, so I became extremely careful to ensure where I lifted my finger from the screen... but even then I counted 23 cheats in a row which ONLY happened when my placement blocked the AI. The last one the AI had 4 in a row, so of course I blocked... it then moved my piece to position 6 and replaced my piece with its own for the win. I’m done. **Developer response:** There is absolutely no way this happened. ### 1/5 — Cant just play the AI locally *2018-12-27, version 2.4.11* You have to create Yet Another Useless Account, if you only want to play against the computer offline. Pretty annoying. ### 1/5 — Every time I click the plus to start a game the app quits!! *2018-04-15, version 2.4.7* It looks like a good app but it shuts down every time I try to start a game. Please fix! ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Love Pente *2026-07-17, version 2.11.7* Love this site. Great job ### 5/5 — Great app and community! *2026-05-27* Super clean app for playing turn based and live pente! Great community too ### 5/5 — Perfextikn *2025-08-12, version 2.9.6* beautiful ### 5/5 — Greatness *2025-07-09* Try it. You’ll love it. ### 5/5 — Great Pente App !! *2023-03-05, version 2.6.24* I love this app. You can play Pente (and many variants) local or online. Get it and start having fun and getting better. Let's keep Pente's spirit alive ! ### 5/5 — Excellent platform *2022-09-06* Excellent platform - players are polite - highly recommend this game for players of all levels - admin is helpful when needed - I play this game a lot ### 5/5 — App down ? *2021-03-12, version 2.6.21* 2 days ago the app could not be played anymore. When opened (IPhone) screen frozen and doesn’t show any info. Downloaded it again did not change a thing. I love this app, what happened? Update: thanks Othman for the feedback. Hope the app will be ok soon ### 5/5 — Greetings thankful for gracious blessings. *2020-12-27* PenteLive is enjoyable with my good institutional WiFi connection. I don’t have internet. No more email. Apple ID is kaput without password? ! ?? Best wishes and hopes for 2021. PenteLive is good. ### 5/5 — Perfect platform *2020-10-05* Glad to have a platform to play penteLive. All skill levels! ### 5/5 — Great game *2020-04-14* I live this game and this app is very user friendly. --- *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 2026-08-31.*