Comparison

Piccolo vs Glyph+

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

Head to head
About

Piccolo

Experience the classic strategy board game with a powerful AI and a polished interface. Customize your game with beautiful themes, play online with friends or strangers, and enjoy a seamless experience across devices. Includes fun iMessage stickers.

Highlights
  • Strong, customizable AI engine
  • Polished native user interface
  • Variety of beautiful themes
  • Local and online multiplayer
  • Automatic game saves and move undo
  • iMessage stickers
Features
Read full description

• #1 Most Downloaded Game (April, May, June, July 2021) — Japan Mac App Store! • Featured in Apple's "What We're Playing", "Games We Love" and "Best Games Made in France"! • "Beautiful, minimalistic and highly addictive." — TouchArcade • "A simple but captivating game." — Mac4Ever • "From us, this small but fine application therefore receives an absolute recommendation." — Appgefahren • "Whether you're a fan of the game or not, Piccolo will make you love Othello." — MaxiApple Piccolo® is the best Othello app for iPhone®, iPad® and Mac®. It features a strong, fast AI on top of a polished user interface, with beautiful themes, advanced features, online play and more. Piccolo is available in 20 languages and comes with no ads or tracking. It's an Othello app made for Othello players by Othello lovers. • Strong AI: Piccolo features a custom Othello AI engine written in the Rust programming language, designed to be fast, challenging and customizable. The AI's default Level 1 difficulty can be beaten by beginners, while its Level 8 difficulty is likely to challenge even top Othello masters around the world. Designed from scratch, the Piccolo AI engine is sure to give seasoned Othello players a new type of opponent to play against, with often surprising and creative strategies. • User Experience: Piccolo features a native user experience designed for iOS and macOS. A modern design lets you focus on the game, with helpful move indicators, the ability to undo moves, and automatic game saves between every move in case you close the app by mistake or your phone's battery runs out. Multiplayer play is supported both locally and online. • Themes: Piccolo features a variety of beautiful themes to customize and breathe fresh life into your Othello experience. Othello veterans might enjoy sticking to the Classic theme, while others might prefer the handsome Seasoned Wood theme, the adorable Sailor Moon theme or even the Persian Spray theme, inspired by traditional Iranian ceramics. Additional themes designed by guest artist Aline Corrêa are also available, giving you access to an Othello game on top of an alligator lake, inside an ancient castle, next to Egyptian pyramids, and more! • Play Online: Piccolo Online is a free online service that lets you connect with friends via easily exchangeable Game Codes to play friendly Othello games wherever you are around the world. Piccolo Online also supports automatic matchmaking so that you can quickly play games with random opponents worldwide. Piccolo Online features quick, stable connections, and benefits from a strong privacy policy. • Cute iMessage Stickers: Send cute “chibi”-style iMessage stickers to your friends with Piccolo's bundled iMessage Sticker Pack! Featuring 36 custom illustrations drawn by anime artist Erica Li, the stickers feature Piccolo's adorable mascot in different relatable situations. • No Ads, No Tracking: Unlike a majority of games on the App Store today, Piccolo has no terms you need to accept before playing. Piccolo will never show you a single ad, and will never track you. The app is entirely a labor of love for the game of Othello, made by players for players. • Available in 20 Languages: Thanks to contributions from players around the world, Piccolo has been translated from English into Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Hebrew, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Turkish and Vietnamese. No matter where you are, Piccolo's interface will be easy to understand. Othello® is a registered trademark of MegaHouse Corporation. Piccolo: Othello is an independent implementation of the underlying game, which is placed in the public domain.

About

Glyph+

Strategically place letter tiles to form words and achieve high scores. Collect permanent scoring modifiers to enhance your gameplay and create powerful combos.

Highlights
  • Tile placement
  • Word building
  • Multiplier chaining
  • Collectible glyphs
  • Permanent scoring modifiers
  • Combo system
Features
Read full description

Place tiles, build words, chain multipliers. Spend gold at the bazaar to collect glyphs, permanent scoring modifiers that stack and combo across rounds.

Screenshots

Piccolo4 screens
Glyph+4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Piccolo at Free against Glyph+'s $4.99. Glyph+'s advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 2) and review sentiment (100% vs 77%). On update cadence, ads and device support 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

Piccolo is free to download; Glyph+ costs $4.99 up front. Piccolo sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. Glyph+ asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on October 16, 2026 and October 6, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Piccolo versus Glyph+: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPiccoloGlyph+
PriceFree — better$4.99
Rating4.7 (603 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews76.6% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings603 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 4 daysEvery 4 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases — betterPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPad, MaciPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS26.015.1 — better
Further details — not scored
Size61 MB53 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperSymbolic SoftwareSharan Narasimha

Customer experience

Piccolo

All ratings603 ratings
Positive92.2%
Neutral4.1%
Negative3.6%
Written reviews175 reviews
Positive76.6%
Neutral8.6%
Negative14.9%

Glyph+

Written reviews6 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

Piccolo

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • AI getting extra moves in certain situations
  • Settings button not functioning properly
  • Game freezing or crashing on some devices
  • Inconsistent piece size on different screen sizes

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add online multiplayer mode
  • Implement an undo move feature
  • Add a tutorial or tips section for new players
  • Introduce a 'watch AI vs AI' mode
  • Allow customization of game board and piece themes

Glyph+

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Piccolo

One-time2
  • Theme Pack: Around the World$2.99
  • Theme Pack: Great Painters$2.99
None

Glyph+

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Piccolo free?
Piccolo is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Glyph+ free?
Glyph+ costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.
Do Piccolo or Glyph+ have ads?
Neither Piccolo nor Glyph+ shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Piccolo or Glyph+?
Piccolo ships an update every 4 days, and Glyph+ every 4 days. Most recently, Piccolo was updated on October 16, 2026 and Glyph+ on October 6, 2026.

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