Comparison

Square Off Chess vs Sealed Move

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Square Off Chess

This app offers a comprehensive chess experience for players of all levels. Learn, analyze, and master the game with challenging AI, unlimited game analysis, and online competition. Track your progress and share your gameplay with the world.

Highlights
  • Challenge AI up to ELO 3200+
  • Adaptive AI that adjusts to your moves
  • Unlimited game import and analysis
  • Track performance progress with game history
  • Live broadcasting of gameplay
  • Compete online against global players
  • Thousands of chess puzzles
Features
Read full description

Welcome to the realm of Square Off Chess - a chess app that places you in a royal court of strategists, where you are the king or queen! As you explore the regal rewards of our app, you'll quickly discover why it's one of the best chess apps. Ideal for beginners, enthusiasts, and seasoned professionals alike, Square Off Chess App goes beyond traditional play to help you learn, analyze, and master chess, making Square Off Chess App your perfect chess companion. Key Features: Challenge Our AI and Bots: Up to ELO 3200+ to test your mettle, refine your strategy. Access to the best LiChess bots. Adaptive AI: Square Off’s AI adjusts to your moves, making each game a new adventure. Unlimited Game Import and Analysis: Learn from each move, from pawn to king. Track Performance Progress: Unlimited game history to replay victories and learn from defeats. Live Broadcasting: Share your gameplay with the world and become a chess champion. Compete Online: Square off against millions of global players on chess.com and Lichess for an intense, international challenge. Plus More: Enjoy other features like 1000s of chess puzzles and premium AI levels, game hints, PGN export, personalized feedback, and so much more! Square Off Chess awaits you - Download now and start your epic chess journey! Experience exciting new features, challenge formidable AI, plunge into advanced game analysis, and receive personalized feedback on every game.

About

Sealed Move

This app provides personalized chess coaching by explaining engine evaluations in plain language. It offers interactive explanations, a lexicon of chess terms, and game review features. Practice against an AI that mimics human play and export games as videos.

Highlights
  • AI-powered chess coaching
  • Plain-language explanations of engine moves
  • Interactive lexicon of chess terms
  • Game review timeline
  • Export games as videos
  • Human-like AI opponent
Features
Read full description

Sealed Move is a chess coach on your phone. Stockfish makes every factual claim about your game, and a coach who talks like a person turns those claims into plain speech. The coach never analyzes the board on its own, which means it cannot invent a variation. THE ENGINE JUDGES. THE COACH EXPLAINS. Every evaluation, best move, tactic, and opening name comes from the engine. The coach's job is the words: what your move accomplished, what it missed, and what deserves your attention now. When the game genuinely shifts, the coach steps in with a short recap of the moves that caused the swing, then leaves you to play. FEEDBACK THAT WAITS ITS TURN Coaching arrives as cards docked under the board. Read the newest at a glance, tap to expand it, and swipe back through earlier notes whenever you like. Ask a question and a full conversation opens; close it and the board is yours again. TAP THE COACH'S WORDS Every square, piece, and move the coach mentions is live. Tap f7 and the board shows you f7. Tap a move and an annotation pen draws the same red arrow a coach reaches for at a demo board. A LEXICON WITH MOVING PARTS When the coach names a fork, a skewer, or a Najdorf, the word links into a Lexicon of 153 entries: a plain definition plus the pattern played out on an animated board. Every demo line was checked by the engine before it shipped. HINTS THAT LEAVE THE FIND TO YOU Stuck in a sharp position? The coach will tell you what kind of idea you are missing and let you find it. The eval is the engine's, the nudge is the coach's, and the find is still yours. REVIEW THE GAME AS A TIMELINE After the game, the review lays your moves on a scrubber with a dot at each moment that mattered: green where the game swung your way, red where it slipped. Press play and the coach walks you through the moments, two moves of run-up at a time, at reading pace. EXPORT THE GAME AS A VIDEO Turn any finished game into a vertical video. The moves play out on the board with the coach's red arrows or classic highlights, and the coach's notes hold on screen at reading pace. Trim the clip to the stretch that decided the game, then share it or save it from the share sheet. SCAN A BOARD Photograph a puzzle from a book, a newspaper, or a screenshot. Sealed Move reads the position right on your phone, nothing is uploaded, and puts it on an editable board so you can fix any square. Then play it out, have the coach solve it, ask why the key move works, or export the solution as a video. AN OPPONENT WHO PLAYS LIKE A PERSON Practice games run against Maia, a neural network trained on millions of human games, so your opponent misjudges positions the way people do. The level moves with you as you improve. FREE AND PRO The free coach runs entirely on your phone. Nothing leaves the device, there is no account, and free play stays free. Pro Coach ($5.99 a month, first 7 days free) adds our sharpest coaching through cloud AI, with deeper explanations and richer game stories. Positions reach the cloud only on Pro Coach, and only after you agree. OPEN WHERE IT COUNTS Sealed Move embeds Stockfish 11 under the GPLv3 and honors the license fully: the complete client source is public at github.com/tjameswilliams/sealedmove-app, tagged for every release. The claim that the coach cannot invent a line is one you can audit. The name comes from the adjournment era, when a paused game meant sealing your next move in an envelope and going home to analyze. Secret preparation, deep analysis, the resumed game: that is what your coach does between your moves. Terms of Use (Apple standard EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy policy: https://sealedmove.com/privacy

Screenshots

Square Off Chess4 screens
Sealed Move4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Square Off Chess at 4.4 against Sealed Move's 2.0. Square Off Chess also leads on ratings volume (3K vs 2) and iOS requirement (11.0 vs 17.0). Sealed Move's advantage is update cadence (weekly vs every 3 weeks). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Square Off Chess sells 6 one-off in-app purchases and Sealed Move sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $5.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Square Off Chess holds the better App Store score, 4.4 against 2.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Square Off Chess has 3K ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Square Off Chess ships an update every 3 weeks, Sealed Move weekly. Both last shipped on October 29, 2026.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Square Off Chess versus Sealed Move: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSquare Off ChessSealed Move
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.4 (3K ratings) — better2.0 (2 ratings)
Positive reviews35.2% of reviews—
Number of ratings3K — better2
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFreemium
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS11.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size703 MB10 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperInfiVention, Inc.Tim Williams

Customer experience

Square Off Chess

All ratings2,887 ratings
Positive83.2%
Neutral5.1%
Negative11.7%
Written reviews253 reviews
Positive35.2%
Neutral12.6%
Negative52.2%

Sealed Move

All ratings2 ratings
Positive0.0%
Neutral50.0%
Negative50.0%

Bugs and requests

Square Off Chess

Reported bugs

6 issues
  • App crashes frequently
  • Board loses connection during games
  • Piece movements not registered properly
  • Firmware update issues
  • Incorrect game state tracking
Show 1 more
  • Opponent moves not showing up

Requested features

8 requests
  • Landscape mode for iPad
  • Ability to stream games to the board
  • More timer options
  • Parental controls
  • Game history and analysis features
Show 3 more
  • Integration with popular chess platforms
  • Improved AI difficulty scaling
  • Ability to take back moves against AI

Sealed Move

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

6 purchases

Square Off Chess

One-time6
  • 100 Diamonds$0.99
  • 200 Diamonds$1.99
  • 500 Diamonds$4.99
Show 3 more
  • 1000 Diamonds$8.99
  • 5000 Diamonds$29.99
  • 10000 Diamonds$49.99
1 purchases

Sealed Move

Subscriptions1
  • Pro Coach$5.991 Month

Questions

Is Square Off Chess free?
Square Off Chess is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Sealed Move free?
Sealed Move is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Square Off Chess or Sealed Move?
Square Off Chess is rated higher. Square Off Chess averages 4.4 out of 5 from 3K ratings, while Sealed Move averages 2.0 from 2 ratings.
Do Square Off Chess or Sealed Move have ads?
Neither Square Off Chess nor Sealed Move shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Square Off Chess or Sealed Move?
Square Off Chess ships an update every 3 weeks, and Sealed Move weekly. Most recently, Square Off Chess was updated on October 29, 2026 and Sealed Move on October 29, 2026.

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