Comparison

Pocket Chess vs Memory Athlete

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

Head to head
About

Pocket Chess

Enhance your chess skills with hundreds of challenging chess problems and puzzles. This app focuses on simplified boards to help you quickly recognize chess patterns and improve your game.

Highlights
  • Hundreds of chess problems
  • Checkmate in 2 and 4 puzzles
  • Simplified boards for pattern recognition
  • Improve chess game
  • Learn chess patterns faster
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

Pocket Chess helps you improve and brush up on your Chess by offering hundreds of thought provoking Chess problems and Chess puzzles. From Checkmate in 2 to Checkmate in 4 and much more! Pocket Chess is a new way to learn and improve at Chess. Featuring boards that are small and simple, important pieces are in focus so that you can learn to recognise Chess patterns faster and quicker. Improve your Chess Game and Download Now for free!

About

Memory Athlete

Enhance your memory and cognitive skills with a champion-inspired training app. Engage in structured exercises, track progress with detailed analytics, and compete globally. Build and share Memory Palaces to optimize recall.

Highlights
  • Memory Palace creation and sharing
  • Structured training modes (numbers, cards, images)
  • Global rankings and leaderboards
  • Advanced progress analytics
  • Daily goals and achievements
  • Adaptive difficulty levels
Features
Read full description

Memory Athlete – -- Train Your Memory Like a Champion! -- Do you want to improve your memory, boost your brainpower, and compete with the best mental athletes in the world? Memory Athlete is the ultimate memory training app, designed for both beginners and experienced memory competitors. Whether you're preparing for memory sports, sharpening your cognitive skills, or just looking for a fun brain challenge, this app has everything you need. -- Inspired by techniques used in the World Memory Championships, Memory Athlete helps you train efficiently with structured exercises, detailed analytics, and global rankings to track your progress. -- How It Works The goal is simple: memorize as many items as possible and recall them as fast and accurately as you can. Memory Athlete features multiple training modes that simulate real competition events: -- Numbers – Memorize and recall long numerical sequences with increasing difficulty. -- Binary Numbers – Improve pattern recognition and mental speed. -- Poker Cards – Train your photographic memory by memorizing full decks of cards. -- Images – Strengthen creativity and recall ability with complex visual patterns. -- Names and Faces – Memorize the names of people shown and recall them accurately. -- Sequences – Memorize sequences of numbers presented in random order. -- Stay Motivated with Daily Goals Memory improvement is all about consistency! Daily goals help you stay engaged and committed to your training, whether you're preparing for a championship or just sharpening your mind. Small daily challenges ensure continuous progress. -- Create and Share Memory Palaces One of the most powerful techniques used by memory champions is the Memory Palace, a method that allows you to store and retrieve large amounts of information by associating it with familiar locations. Now, build and share your own Memory Palaces with users around the world! Expand your collection and optimize recall like professional memory athletes do in competitions. -- Key Features -- -- Global Rankings – Compete with memory athletes worldwide. -- -- Advanced Statistics – Track your progress with detailed analytics. -- -- Medals & Achievements – Unlock rewards for reaching new milestones. -- -- Adaptive Difficulty – Challenges adjust based on your performance. -- -- Proven Training System – Based on real techniques used by world champions. -- Memory Techniques Used by Champions Ever wondered how memory athletes memorize hundreds of numbers, names, or full decks of cards in just minutes? Memory Athlete integrates the most effective techniques used by professionals: -- Memory Palace – Store information in familiar locations for structured recall. -- Major System – Convert numbers into sounds and words to make sequences easier to remember. -- PAO System – Associate numbers and cards with a Person, Action, and Object for rapid recall. -- Linking Method – Create vivid mental stories to enhance memory retention. -- Words – Memorize lists of words in your preferred language. Choose from multiple languages and train like a memory sports pro. -- Why Use Memory Athlete? -- Train like a World Memory Champion -- Improve focus, concentration, and mental agility -- Strengthen long-term memory and recall speed -- Compete with top memory athletes globally -- Unlock new challenges and push your brain to its limits -- Start your journey to becoming a memory expert today! Train your brain, improve your recall, and compete like a pro. Privacy Policy: https://memoryathlete.angelotricarico.com/privacy-policy/ Terms of Service: https://memoryathlete.angelotricarico.com/terms-of-service/

Screenshots

Pocket Chess4 screens
Memory Athlete4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Memory Athlete at 100% against Pocket Chess's 61%. Memory Athlete also leads on ads (none vs shown) and update cadence (weekly vs every 2 months). Pocket Chess's advantage is ratings volume (15K vs 3) and rating (4.6 vs 4.3). On price, in-app purchases, monetization model 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

Both are free to download. Pocket Chess sells 7 one-off in-app purchases and Memory Athlete sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Pocket Chess holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Pocket Chess has 15K ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 61% of Pocket Chess's written reviews are positive against 100% of Memory Athlete's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Pocket Chess ships an update every 2 months, Memory Athlete weekly. The most recent releases landed on November 3, 2026 and October 22, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
Pocket Chess versus Memory Athlete: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPocket ChessMemory Athlete
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (15K ratings) — better4.3 (3 ratings)
Positive reviews61.3% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings15K — better3
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsWeekly — better
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank#93 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.015.0.0
Further details — not scored
Size199 MB86 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperLessmore GmbHAngelo Tricarico

Customer experience

Pocket Chess

All ratings14,583 ratings
Positive92.9%
Neutral2.6%
Negative4.5%
Written reviews1,319 reviews
Positive61.3%
Neutral7.8%
Negative30.9%

Memory Athlete

All ratings3 ratings
Positive66.7%
Neutral33.3%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

Pocket Chess

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Progress data loss
  • Incorrect checkmate solutions
  • Game freezing after certain moves

Requested features

4 requests
  • Ability to review past puzzles
  • More advanced puzzles and levels
  • Option to disable audio/music
  • Sync progress across devices

Memory Athlete

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

7 purchases

Pocket Chess

One-time7
  • Small Coin Bundle$1.99
  • Remove Ads2 variants$4.99
  • Starter Package2 variants$4.99
Show 4 more
  • Event Offer$4.99
  • Medium Coin Bundle$5.99
  • Large Coin Bundle$11.99
  • Super Coin Bundle$25.99
3 purchases

Memory Athlete

Subscriptions2
  • Premium - 1 Month$1.991 Month
  • Premium - 12 Months$17.991 Year
One-time1
  • Premium - Lifetime$24.99

Questions

Is Pocket Chess free?
Pocket Chess is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Memory Athlete free?
Memory Athlete is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Pocket Chess or Memory Athlete?
Pocket Chess is rated higher. Pocket Chess averages 4.6 out of 5 from 15K ratings, while Memory Athlete averages 4.3 from 3 ratings.
Do Pocket Chess or Memory Athlete have ads?
Pocket Chess shows ads; Memory Athlete does not.
Which is updated more often, Pocket Chess or Memory Athlete?
Pocket Chess ships an update every 2 months, and Memory Athlete weekly. Most recently, Pocket Chess was updated on November 3, 2026 and Memory Athlete on October 22, 2026.

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