Comparison

Microsoft Sudoku vs Apparent Sudoku

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

Head to head
About

Microsoft Sudoku

Enjoy classic and irregular Sudoku puzzles with multiple difficulty levels and daily challenges. Customize your experience with various themes and input methods. Sign in to save progress and earn achievements.

Highlights
  • 6 difficulty levels for classic and irregular Sudoku
  • 3 new daily challenges each day
  • Multiple themes including symbol-based
  • In-game note-taking feature
  • Xbox Live achievements and cloud saving
  • Detailed statistics tracking
  • Customizable game settings
Read full description

Relax and keep your mind sharp with a game of Microsoft Sudoku, the world’s best Sudoku app. Classic: Play puzzles you’ve come to love now with 6 difficulty levels to choose from! Elegant, clean and intellectually stimulating. Play at your leisure where every puzzle is freshly generated giving you a never-ending supply of unique classic Sudoku games to play. Irregular: Try a whole new take on Sudoku! Rules are the same but the blocks have irregular shapes. You might not ever go back to the classic way of playing again! It’s cool to be Irregular. Daily Challenges: Play 3 unique challenges every day, collect coins and win badges! Classic, Irregular and an all new Ice Breaker game mode! In Ice Breaker placing correct numbers sends shockwaves across the board that break the ice. Give it a try, it’s a breeze! Features… • Freshly generated puzzles every game across 6 levels of difficulty for Classic and Irregular Sudoku • 3 new Daily Challenges every day • Multiple different themes to choose from. Are you a visual person? Try the Charms theme that uses symbols instead of numbers and can be played in any game mode! • Take notes like you would like you did on paper that get automatically updated each time you fill in a cell. • Made a mistake? No problem just erase it • Sign in with a Microsoft account to earn Xbox Live achievements and save your progress in the cloud across all your Apple devices. • Track your Statistics for all game modes including your Best Time, Average Time, and Games Played. • Customize the way you play with tons of settings including Block Duplicates, Show Mistakes, Show All Notes, and more! • Play by choosing a square first or a number first. Any input method works! • Pick up right where you left off, your classic and irregular puzzle progress is saved when you close the app! Upgrade to Premium on iPhone and iPad. You can purchase the Microsoft Sudoku Premium Subscription for $1.99 per Month or $9.99 per Year. Benefits that come with a Premium Subscription include: • Removing advertisements from your game • Play Daily Challenges from previous months NOTE: Premium Subscription grants premium experience on mobile only. It is non-transferrable to other platforms. Payment will be charged to your iTunes Account on confirmation of purchase. Subscription automatically renews monthly or annually depending on the subscription type purchased. Payment will be charged to your iTunes Account within 24-hours prior to the end of the current period ($1.99 monthly, or $9.99 annually, depending on the subscription type purchased). You can turn off your auto-renewal by going to your Account Settings after purchase. If auto-renewal is turned off at least 24-hours before the end of the current period, you will not be charged for the next period. All cancellations will take effect at the end of the current period. © Microsoft 2025. All Rights Reserved. Microsoft, Microsoft Casual Games, the product logos and Sudoku, and the Sudoku logos are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Acceptance of Microsoft Services Agreement and Privacy Statement are required to play. (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/servicesagreement, https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/privacy/privacystatement) Microsoft account registration required for cross-platform play. Game offers in-app purchases. Persistent internet connection required. Features, online services and system requirements may vary by country and are subject to change or retirement over time.

About

Apparent Sudoku

Experience classic Sudoku puzzles without any distractions. This app offers a clean interface, multiple difficulty levels, and advanced features like pencil marks and smart highlighting. Track your progress and compete globally with Game Center leaderboards.

Highlights
  • Four difficulty levels
  • Game Center Leaderboards
  • 50,000+ puzzles
  • Clean, intuitive interface
  • Pencil marks and smart highlighting
  • iCloud sync
  • iPad Apple Pencil support
Features
Read full description

Take a break, clear your mind, and solve the puzzle of the day. Apparent Sudoku pairs classic Sudoku with a calm, carefully made experience on iPhone and iPad. Version 2.5 lets you race your friends on every puzzle. FOUR DAILY CHALLENGES • The Daily: solve the day's board and keep your streak. • Daily Mini: a quick, nearly complete puzzle. • Daily X: every row, column, box and diagonal holds all nine digits. • The Twist: replay the Daily's board with one extra rule. It unlocks when you finish the Daily. RACE YOUR FRIENDS • See your Game Center friends' times on every puzzle you've both played: before you start, while you play and when you finish. • New games start on a puzzle a friend has solved, and the clock shows the next friend to beat. • Send a friend your time in a tap, see who's ahead this week, and keep a record against each friend. • Challenge friends on each Daily, and share any puzzle as a head-to-head race. • Each hint adds 30 seconds, so everyone gets a time. PLAY YOUR WAY • Choose a cell and then a digit, or pick up a brush and fill cells with a single tap. • Add pencil marks and erase mistakes easily. • On iPad, write right on the board with Apple Pencil. • On iPhone Duo, the board and keypad each take their own half, and your game carries across as you open and close it. • Larger text, VoiceOver, Increase Contrast and Reduce Motion are supported throughout. • Try Hardcore, 3 Strikes or Zen in regular games. A NEW LOOK Paper, ink and one bold color for each difficulty. Every Daily has its own geometric composition, and your win card shows the order you finished the boxes. UNLOCK SUDOKU PRO A one-time purchase unlocks the full library of 51,400 puzzles, Extreme difficulty and more board styles, including shapes, fruit and Wordoku, on iPhone, iPad and Mac. No ads and no tracking. No account needed to play. Game Center and iCloud are optional. Your puzzle times are shared with your Game Center friends, and you can turn off Share My Times anytime. Feedback is optional and sent only when you tap Send.

Screenshots

Microsoft Sudoku4 screens
Apparent Sudoku4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Microsoft Sudoku at 4.7 against Apparent Sudoku's 3.4. Microsoft Sudoku also leads on ratings volume (7.5K vs 10) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 26.0). Apparent Sudoku's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and update cadence (every 10 days vs every 2 months). On price, review sentiment, 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. Microsoft Sudoku sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month and Apparent Sudoku sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Microsoft Sudoku holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 3.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Microsoft Sudoku has 7.5K ratings behind it against 10, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 38% of Microsoft Sudoku's written reviews are positive against 43% of Apparent Sudoku's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Microsoft Sudoku ships an update every 2 months, Apparent Sudoku every 10 days. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and November 3, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Microsoft Sudoku versus Apparent Sudoku: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMicrosoft SudokuApparent Sudoku
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (7.5K ratings) — better3.4 (10 ratings)
Positive reviews37.6% of reviews42.9% of reviews — better
Number of ratings7.5K — better10
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 10 days — better
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFreemium
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, Mac
Requires iOS15.0 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size162 MB15 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMicrosoft CorporationApparent Logic, LLC

Customer experience

Microsoft Sudoku

All ratings7,543 ratings
Positive93.7%
Neutral2.3%
Negative4.0%
Written reviews502 reviews
Positive37.6%
Neutral15.5%
Negative46.8%

Apparent Sudoku

All ratings10 ratings
Positive60.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative40.0%
Written reviews7 reviews
Positive42.9%
Neutral0.0%
Negative57.1%

Bugs and requests

Microsoft Sudoku

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Daily challenge progress not syncing across devices
  • Levels and scores resetting unexpectedly
  • App getting stuck on loading screens
  • Ads hijacking device controls and interrupting background audio

Requested features

5 requests
  • Landscape mode support for tablets
  • More customization options for notes and highlighting
  • Ability to replay past daily challenges
  • Improved undo/redo functionality
  • Autofill or auto-complete options for advanced players

Apparent Sudoku

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Microsoft Sudoku

Subscriptions2
  • Premium Monthly Subscription$1.991 Month
  • Premium Yearly Subscription$9.991 Year
1 purchases

Apparent Sudoku

One-time1
  • Sudoku Pro$4.99

Questions

Is Microsoft Sudoku free?
Microsoft Sudoku is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Apparent Sudoku free?
Apparent Sudoku is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Microsoft Sudoku or Apparent Sudoku?
Microsoft Sudoku is rated higher. Microsoft Sudoku averages 4.7 out of 5 from 7.5K ratings, while Apparent Sudoku averages 3.4 from 10 ratings.
Do Microsoft Sudoku or Apparent Sudoku have ads?
Microsoft Sudoku shows ads; Apparent Sudoku does not.
Which is updated more often, Microsoft Sudoku or Apparent Sudoku?
Microsoft Sudoku ships an update every 2 months, and Apparent Sudoku every 10 days. Most recently, Microsoft Sudoku was updated on November 6, 2026 and Apparent Sudoku on November 3, 2026.

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