Deep Green vs Chess Journal, Clock & Puzzles
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Deep Green
This app provides a classical chess experience with a clean, native interface and customizable piece designs. It supports open game formats, offers a unique chess engine with adjustable strength, and features a private, ad-free environment.
- Clean, native user interface
- Customizable chess piece designs
- Open game format (PGN/FEN)
- Adjustable strength chess engine
- Private and ad-free experience
- System-level integration
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A no-nonsense classical chess app. - CLEAN UI: Deep Green offers a distraction-free experience in a clean, native user interface, with Liquid Glass on iOS 26 and later. - CUSTOM PIECE DESIGN: Beautiful chess set designed specifically for Deep Green and rendered at high resolution in both outline and 3D throughout the app. - MADE FOR IPAD: Dedicated menu bar, multiple windows, and refined trackpad, mouse, and Apple Pencil support. Squares highlight as you hover over the board. - MADE FOR IPHONE DUO: Adapts to both displays and every pose. The board centers on the fold like a folding chess board, and the game controls follow the system into the vertical bar. - TIGHT SYSTEM INTEGRATION: System-level sharing, drag and drop, AirDrop, undo/redo, contextual menus, Quick Look previews of chess files, Dark Mode, high contrast support and more. - OPEN GAME FORMAT: Games can be shared, saved, copied, pasted, imported, exported in the ubiquitous, open source PGN and FEN formats. Deep Green can open chess files straight from the Files app. - UNIQUE CHESS ENGINE: Enjoyable opponent with adjustable strength, praised for its humane gameplay, developed for Deep Green on the Apple Newton more than 25 years ago. - TWEAKABLE APPEARANCE: Engage the knights in the game by having them turn towards the center of the board, apply a humane, slightly random placement of the pieces. - IN YOUR LANGUAGE: Available in English, German, and Danish. - MODERN ARCHITECTURE: Written in Swift as a fully native app – modern, maintainable, and prepared for the future. - PRIVATE, AD-FREE: No ads, no tracking, no analytics, no nonsense. If you like Deep Green, please rate it favorably on the App Store.
Chess Journal, Clock & Puzzles
Easily log and organize your chess games with an intuitive interface. Track your win rates, export games in standard formats, and solve puzzles from Lichess. Ideal for players and coaches to manage and analyze their matches.
- Intuitive game recording
- Standard game export
- Win rate statistics
- Match organization
- Lichess puzzle solver
- Minimalist design
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Take your chess record-keeping to the next level with Chess Journal. Whether you’re a casual player or a tournament competitor, this app is designed to help you log your chess games quickly and efficiently, with some extra features sprinkled all over. Key Features: • Game Recording Made Simple: Make the moves of your chess games in an intuitive and easy-to-use interface without needing to write down the notation • Export with Ease: Export your recorded games in standard formats for sharing or analysis. • View Statistics: Check how often you crushed your opponent or what your win rate is. • Organize Your Matches: Keep all your chess games neatly organized and accessible at any time. • Solve puzzles: Sourced from Lichess, you can solve as many puzzles as you want in different game modes. • Minimalist Design: Focused on functionality, with a clean and distraction-free interface. Ideal for players and coaches looking to track progress, revisit past matches, or share games with friends and colleagues. Chess Journal is your chess game companion, simplifying the way you record and manage your games.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is monetization model: Chess Journal, Clock & Puzzles at free against Deep Green's paid. Chess Journal, Clock & Puzzles also leads on review sentiment (100% vs 66%) and update cadence (every 9 days vs every 4 months). Deep Green's advantage is ratings volume (77 vs 1) and iOS requirement (16.4 vs 18.1). On price, rating, ads and in-app purchases 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 3.9 for Deep Green against 4.0 for Chess Journal, Clock & Puzzles. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Deep Green has 77 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 66% of Deep Green's written reviews are positive against 100% of Chess Journal, Clock & Puzzles's.
Deep Green ships an update every 4 months, Chess Journal, Clock & Puzzles every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on October 31, 2026 and November 4, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Deep Green | Chess Journal, Clock & Puzzles |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.9 (77 ratings) | 4.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 66.0% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 77 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months | Every 9 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 16.4 — better | 18.1 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 24 MB | 17 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Cocoa Stuff | ORFEO ISAIAH KAPLOW |
Customer experience
Deep Green
Chess Journal, Clock & Puzzles
Bugs and requests
Deep Green
Reported bugs
4 issues- App crashes when promoting pawns
- Board orientation issues when rotating device
- Unresponsive UI elements
- Compatibility problems with newer iOS versions
Requested features
5 requests- Game saving and loading functionality
- Online/multiplayer mode
- Customizable board/piece themes
- Difficulty settings for beginners
- Indicators for check, checkmate, and draw
Chess Journal, Clock & Puzzles
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Deep Green
No in-app purchases
Chess Journal, Clock & Puzzles
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Deep Green free?
Is Chess Journal, Clock & Puzzles free?
Which has better reviews, Deep Green or Chess Journal, Clock & Puzzles?
Do Deep Green or Chess Journal, Clock & Puzzles have ads?
Which is updated more often, Deep Green or Chess Journal, Clock & Puzzles?
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