Comparison

Chess Timer vs Chess Puzzles & Tactics

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

Head to head
About

Chess Timer

A straightforward chess clock app designed for timing matches. It offers essential functions like pausing and resetting the timer, with customizable time intervals. The app is free and free of ads, in-app purchases, and tracking.

Highlights
  • Countdown timer
  • Pause clock function
  • Reset timer button
  • Customizable time intervals
  • Ad-free experience
Read full description

Simple chess timer with basic functions. Free. No in-app purchases, no ads, no tracking, just a super simple countdown timer. Tap on your side to start your opponent's timer. The screen will turn red once the timer runs out. Features - Pause the clock - Reset timer with the tap of a button - Choose your own time interval

About

Chess Puzzles & Tactics

Improve your chess skills with an extensive library of puzzles that adapt to your level. Analyze positions with a powerful engine and train specific tactics and endgames. Play offline and track your progress with a personalized Elo rating.

Highlights
  • Unlimited free chess puzzles
  • Adaptive difficulty with puzzle Elo
  • Offline play
  • Stockfish engine analysis
  • 56 puzzle themes
  • Review missed puzzles
  • Customizable board themes
Features
Read full description

Unlimited free chess puzzles. The fastest way to get better at chess. • 200,000+ chess puzzles, from beginner to master • Over 4 million puzzles played by 50,000+ players • Your own puzzle Elo that climbs as you improve • Play offline anywhere, no account needed • Analyze any position with Stockfish, the world's strongest chess engine Five minutes a day is all it takes. Chess Puzzles & Tactics serves every rated chess puzzle at exactly your level, so you are always challenged and never bored. Solve, watch your rating climb, and start seeing the winning move before your opponent does. Win more games with chess tactics The tactics that decide real games are all here: forks, pins, skewers, discovered attacks, deflection and sacrifices. Drill checkmate puzzles from mate in 1 and mate in 2 to long mating attacks, then convert winning positions with chess endgame training: pawn and rook endgames, opposition and promotion. Built to make you better • Puzzles that adapt to you. Your puzzle Elo starts at 1000 and moves with every solve. Let the app pick the difficulty, or set your own Elo range. • 56 puzzle themes. Train only checkmates, only endgames, or the exact tactic you keep missing. • Fix your weak spots. Missed puzzles go to your review list, and spaced repetition brings them back until the pattern sticks. • Hints and engine analysis. Stuck? Take a hint, or analyze the position with the built-in Stockfish chess engine and evaluation bar, right on your device. • Watch yourself improve. The Elo graph shows your daily rating gains, and the History tab keeps every puzzle you have played. • Chess puzzles and tactics offline. Download puzzle packs and solve on a plane, on the subway, anywhere. Results sync when you are back online. • Your rating everywhere. Sign in to sync across your phone, tablet and chesspuzzles.io. • Make it yours with 28 board themes, 9 piece sets, and sounds and haptics you control. What you can train • Checkmate puzzles: mate in 1, mate in 2, mate in 3 and longer, back-rank mates, mating nets, smothered mates • Chess tactics: forks, pins, skewers, discovered attacks, double checks, deflection, overloading, zwischenzug, sacrifices • King safety and defense: attacks on the castled king, perpetual check, stalemate tricks, defensive moves • Chess endgame training: pawn and rook endgames, opposition, passed pawns, zugzwang, promotion • Positional patterns: knight outposts, rooks on the seventh, the bishop pair, Alekhine's gun and more Chess training for every level Beginners learn basic checkmates and simple chess tactics with hints. Club players sharpen calculation and pattern recognition. Strong players set a high Elo range and crack hard combinations. It adapts to you like a personal chess trainer. Unlimited chess puzzles, free Download free and solve as many chess puzzles as you want. Open the app and start solving in seconds, whether you have two minutes or a full session of chess practice. Your next rating jump is one puzzle away.

Screenshots

Chess Timer4 screens
Chess Puzzles & Tactics4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Chess Timer at none against Chess Puzzles & Tactics's 1. Chess Timer also leads on ads (none vs shown) and review sentiment (100% vs 76%). Chess Puzzles & Tactics's advantage is ratings volume (490 vs 9). On price, rating, device support and iOS requirement 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. Chess Puzzles & Tactics sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Chess Timer asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.6 for Chess Timer against 4.5 for Chess Puzzles & Tactics. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Chess Puzzles & Tactics has 490 ratings behind it against 9, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 100% of Chess Timer's written reviews are positive against 76% of Chess Puzzles & Tactics's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Chess Timer ships an update every 2 days, Chess Puzzles & Tactics weekly. The most recent releases landed on November 3, 2026 and November 8, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Chess Timer versus Chess Puzzles & Tactics: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterChess TimerChess Puzzles & Tactics
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (9 ratings) — better4.5 (490 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews — better76.3% of reviews
Number of ratings9490 — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 days — betterWeekly
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS14.3 — better15.1
Further details — not scored
Size0 MB76 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperManuel LopezSajed Nahian

Customer experience

Chess Timer

All ratings8 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews5 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Chess Puzzles & Tactics

All ratings490 ratings
Positive85.9%
Neutral4.3%
Negative9.8%
Written reviews38 reviews
Positive76.3%
Neutral5.3%
Negative18.4%

Bugs and requests

Chess Timer

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Chess Puzzles & Tactics

Reported bugs

18 issues
  • Unable to login
  • Application resets to starting value (1000elo)
  • History/review chapters remain unlocked
  • In-application feedback not functioning
  • Rating feature broke
Show 13 more
  • Ability to control puzzle strength broke
  • Scanning thing after opening app continues forever
  • App resets ELO to 1000
  • Undo button disappears
  • Tapping to select a piece stops working
  • Analysis breaks
  • Viewing history doesn’t work
  • App crashes
  • View History tab page never loads
  • App forgets login and starts from ELO = 0
  • Analysis button messed up
  • App hangs after pressing 'log in'
  • Puzzles freeze, no way of moving pieces

Requested features

4 requests
  • Option to mute sounds
  • Ability to disable audio
  • Allow loading custom puzzle sets
  • Better interface and cable

In-app purchases

None

Chess Timer

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

Chess Puzzles & Tactics

One-time1
  • Ad-Free Forever$3.99

Questions

Is Chess Timer free?
Chess Timer is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Chess Puzzles & Tactics free?
Chess Puzzles & Tactics is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Chess Timer or Chess Puzzles & Tactics?
Chess Timer is rated higher. Chess Timer averages 4.6 out of 5 from 9 ratings, while Chess Puzzles & Tactics averages 4.5 from 490 ratings.
Do Chess Timer or Chess Puzzles & Tactics have ads?
Chess Puzzles & Tactics shows ads; Chess Timer does not.
Which is updated more often, Chess Timer or Chess Puzzles & Tactics?
Chess Timer ships an update every 2 days, and Chess Puzzles & Tactics weekly. Most recently, Chess Timer was updated on November 3, 2026 and Chess Puzzles & Tactics on November 8, 2026.

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