Digital Chess Clock vs Grandmaster Chess Clock
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Digital Chess Clock
This application transforms your iPhone into a digital chess clock. It displays move counts and remaining time, with customizable settings for delays and sound. Easily adjust clock times and manage game flow with intuitive pause and reset functions.
- Digital chess clock functionality
- Displays move counts and remaining time
- Customizable delay types (None, Bronstein, Fisher)
- Adjustable clock times
- Sound volume control
- Pause and reset functions
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This iPhone application allows the phone to act as a chess clock. The phone is placed to the side of the board with white being at the bottom of the phone, black at the top. The number of moves made is displayed, with the remaining number of moves left to make displayed in brackets. Pressing the start button causes the clock to start depending on whose turn it is to move. Once the clock is started the clock for the person to move starts counting down and the Clock text color changes to Black. The reset button, settings button and clock adjustment buttons are not available whilst the clock is running. Pressing the pause button whilst the clock is running will stop the clock and re-enable the settings, reset & clock adjust buttons (see the initial clock above). There are a number of setting to control the sound, the clock delay type and the initial clock settings. Pressing the settings button (the small letter i to the right of the start button) whilst paused brings up the setting display. The volume of the ticking is controlled by the slider on the settings page, moving it to the left reduces the volume of the clock. There are 3 settings for the delay type None - the clock will count down from the time the player makes a move. Bronstein - the clock will count down until the player makes a move at which point the delay time is added to the display. If the player takes less than the delay amount to make a move then only the amount of time taken to make the move is added. Fisher - the Delay amount is added to the time left and then the clock starts counting down. Each clock can be adjusted separately by pressing the adjust clock button (the small blue chevron at the bottom right of each clock). The clock time can be adjusted by pressing the appropriate amount of time to add or subtract (scroll down to see the times to subtract).
Grandmaster Chess Clock
This app provides precise timing for chess games, supporting various time controls and offering detailed game history tracking. It allows users to record, share, and analyze their games, making it ideal for tournament players and enthusiasts looking to improve their time management.
- Versatile time controls (Rapid, Blitz, Bullet)
- Customizable time settings with increment/delay
- Automatic game recording and detailed statistics
- Share and export game records and history
- Tournament-ready precision timing
- Elegant dark theme and intuitive interface
- Multi-language support
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Grandmaster Chess Clock is the chess clock that remembers your games. It is a precise, tournament-grade chess timer for over-the-board play — and the only clock that automatically keeps a record of every game you play on it, shows you where your time went, and replays the moves for you. Play with any time control, record your moves while the clock runs, and leave every board game with a saved score sheet, head-to-head statistics, and an automatic verdict on how you spent your clock. A CLOCK YOU CAN TRUST • Fischer increment, Bronstein, and US delay timing, implemented faithfully • Blitz, bullet, rapid, and classical presets, plus fully custom time controls • Base time to the exact minute and second, per player — time odds included • The screen never sleeps while the clock is running • Portrait table mode and landscape side-by-side layout, readable from both seats • Crisp tap sounds, haptic feedback, and low-time alerts with a color-blind-friendly mode • Pause, resume, and adjust either clock mid-game TWELVE HANDCRAFTED CLOCK FACES Make the clock yours: Digital, Daylight (bold type for bright rooms), Arbiter (the tournament hall standard), Walnut (wood and brass club clock), Pixel (8-bit voxel world), Ember (dark-fantasy fire), Terminal (phosphor CRT), Neon (synthwave dusk), Royal (gold on lacquer), Cosmos (deep-space starfield), Zen (ink and ivory) and Hero (comic-book energy). Digital, Daylight and Arbiter are free. Each face restyles the whole clock screen. RECORD MOVES WHILE YOU PLAY Open the built-in chess board and enter moves as the game happens: a legal move presses the clock automatically, so notation and timekeeping become one action. The board stays fixed, each player sees their own pieces upright from their side of the table, and every move is validated against the rules of chess. A CLOCK THAT REMEMBERS Every finished game is saved automatically to your game diary — players, result, time control, and the full per-move clock timeline. Open any game for per-player statistics: moves played, average move time, longest think, time used, and time remaining. If you recorded the moves, watch the whole game replay itself with one tap. YOUR TIME, COACHED — CLOCK PRO Your clock knows exactly how you spend your time — something no online chess site can see for your real board games. Clock Pro turns that data into coaching: • An automatic time verdict after every game: did you flag, scramble, or manage your clock cleanly? • Time Coach: your time-trouble patterns across weeks and months • Head-to-head records against every opponent, and your score in every opening • An activity calendar of your playing life and personal time budgets • All nine premium clock faces, voice announcements, and no ads SHARE AND EXPORT • Share any game as a report that replays in any browser — board, clocks, move times • Open a game directly in Lichess for free engine analysis • Clock Pro: export your archive as a shareable insights report • Back up and restore your entire archive as a portable file PRIVATE BY DESIGN No account. No sign-up. Everything works offline and stays on your device. Your games are yours. COMMON QUESTIONS Is it free? Yes — the full clock, move recording, the game diary, and game-report sharing are free. Clock Pro (subscription or a one-time lifetime unlock) adds the time-coaching suite, premium faces, and removes ads. Does it work offline? Completely. Airplane mode, a basement club, a park bench — no connection needed. Who is it for? Club and tournament players who want a serious chess clock, improvers who want to learn from every game, coaches tracking a student's real time usage, parents timing scholastic chess, and friends playing blitz at a café. What is a game report? One file that opens in any browser and replays your game — board, clocks, and each move's thinking time. Send it to anyone; nothing to install. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Digital Chess Clock at none against Grandmaster Chess Clock's 3. Digital Chess Clock also leads on ads (none vs shown) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 15.1). Grandmaster Chess Clock's advantage is update cadence (every 2 days vs every 4 months) and review sentiment (100% vs 89%). On price, rating, ratings volume 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
Both are free to download. Grandmaster Chess Clock sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Digital Chess Clock asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Digital Chess Clock against 5.0 for Grandmaster Chess Clock. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 2 and 1 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 89% of Digital Chess Clock's written reviews are positive against 100% of Grandmaster Chess Clock's.
Digital Chess Clock ships an update every 4 months, Grandmaster Chess Clock every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on October 16, 2026 and October 14, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Digital Chess Clock | Grandmaster Chess Clock |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (2 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 88.9% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 2 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months | Every 2 days — better |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Ad-supported |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 — better | 15.1 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 1 MB | 54 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Philip Bevan | Aras Atakligan |
Customer experience
Digital Chess Clock
Grandmaster Chess Clock
In-app purchases
Digital Chess Clock
No in-app purchases
Grandmaster Chess Clock
- Clock Pro Monthly$4.991 Month
- Clock Pro Annual$24.991 Year
- Clock Pro Lifetime$44.99
Questions
Is Digital Chess Clock free?
Is Grandmaster Chess Clock free?
Which has better reviews, Digital Chess Clock or Grandmaster Chess Clock?
Do Digital Chess Clock or Grandmaster Chess Clock have ads?
Which is updated more often, Digital Chess Clock or Grandmaster Chess Clock?
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