⋆Sudoku vs Apparent Sudoku
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
⋆Sudoku
This app offers a classic Sudoku puzzle experience with a modern design and intuitive controls. It features five difficulty levels, a smart hint system that teaches logic, and daily challenges to keep your mind sharp. Track your progress and enjoy a customizable and relaxing gameplay.
- Smart hint system teaches logic
- Five difficulty levels
- Daily puzzle challenges
- Customizable board and themes
- Progress tracking and statistics
- Auto-fill and auto-check options
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Sudoku by Brainium has updated the classic Sudoku puzzle game you know and love, with a clean, modern design, calming backdrops, and intuitive controls. With endless number puzzles and five levels of difficulty, our Sudoku is perfect for players of all skill levels. Whether you’re in the mood for a quick game to help you relax, or an expert level logic challenge to train your brain, there’s a board for you. Brainium Sudoku also features the first and best smart hint system available. It goes beyond simply giving you the answers. Instead, it helps you learn and improve your skills by teaching you “why” the answer is what it is. With every puzzle, our “Hint” button provides the techniques you need to make progress even when it seems like your path is blocked. The instructions are easy to understand, unique for every puzzle, and presented with easy to follow, helpful animations and colorful visuals. This feature will improve your Sudoku skills whether you’re a first-time player or a seasoned expert. It’s the perfect companion for anyone looking to take their number game or logic puzzle skills to the next level. Enjoy a clear, easy to read, and customizable Sudoku board with visual guides that make reading the board and figuring out where to place your next numbers a breeze. Our input system is designed to make entering numbers and notes simple, and our user-friendly scoring system makes it easy to compete with yourself or friends. Starting and keeping a daily habit of mental exercise is easy by playing Sudoku’s Daily Puzzles, which are sure to keep your mind sharp and at ease. Track your progress with onboard statistics and unlock fun achievements along the way. Brainium’s Classic Sudoku Features: • The world’s most advanced Sudoku learning tool and hint system • Hints that teach you the logic behind the answer • Five perfectly balanced difficulty levels from beginner to expert • Daily Puzzle Challenges - complete them to earn points and gold checkmarks • Two beautiful grid styles • Nine relaxing backdrops • Light or dark grid fonts with adjustable size • Auto Light/Dark mode adjusts the theme based on your device settings • Unlimited collection of brain training logic puzzles • Game Statistics to track progress • Auto-Fill Notes option • Auto-Clear Notes option • Auto-Check Errors option • Number Painting option allows you to rapidly fill open squares with a selected number or note • Universal App looks great on iPhone and iPad • Global and friend leader boards • Portrait and landscape play options • Right or left-handed option in landscape • iPad keyboard compatible We hope Sudoku by Brainium brings you endless fun, relaxation, and a challenge for your mind. More Fun & Free Logic and Classic Card Games from Brainium: • Solitaire • Mahjong • Spider Solitaire • FreeCell • Pyramid • Blackjack Like us on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/BrainiumStudios Follow us on Twitter @BrainiumStudios Visit us on the web https://www.Brainium.com/
Apparent Sudoku
Experience classic Sudoku puzzles without any distractions. This app offers a clean interface, multiple difficulty levels, and advanced features like pencil marks and smart highlighting. Track your progress and compete globally with Game Center leaderboards.
- Four difficulty levels
- Game Center Leaderboards
- 50,000+ puzzles
- Clean, intuitive interface
- Pencil marks and smart highlighting
- iCloud sync
- iPad Apple Pencil support
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Take a break, clear your mind, and solve the puzzle of the day. Apparent Sudoku pairs classic Sudoku with a calm, carefully made experience on iPhone and iPad. Version 2.5 lets you race your friends on every puzzle. FOUR DAILY CHALLENGES • The Daily: solve the day's board and keep your streak. • Daily Mini: a quick, nearly complete puzzle. • Daily X: every row, column, box and diagonal holds all nine digits. • The Twist: replay the Daily's board with one extra rule. It unlocks when you finish the Daily. RACE YOUR FRIENDS • See your Game Center friends' times on every puzzle you've both played: before you start, while you play and when you finish. • New games start on a puzzle a friend has solved, and the clock shows the next friend to beat. • Send a friend your time in a tap, see who's ahead this week, and keep a record against each friend. • Challenge friends on each Daily, and share any puzzle as a head-to-head race. • Each hint adds 30 seconds, so everyone gets a time. PLAY YOUR WAY • Choose a cell and then a digit, or pick up a brush and fill cells with a single tap. • Add pencil marks and erase mistakes easily. • On iPad, write right on the board with Apple Pencil. • On iPhone Duo, the board and keypad each take their own half, and your game carries across as you open and close it. • Larger text, VoiceOver, Increase Contrast and Reduce Motion are supported throughout. • Try Hardcore, 3 Strikes or Zen in regular games. A NEW LOOK Paper, ink and one bold color for each difficulty. Every Daily has its own geometric composition, and your win card shows the order you finished the boxes. UNLOCK SUDOKU PRO A one-time purchase unlocks the full library of 51,400 puzzles, Extreme difficulty and more board styles, including shapes, fruit and Wordoku, on iPhone, iPad and Mac. No ads and no tracking. No account needed to play. Game Center and iCloud are optional. Your puzzle times are shared with your Game Center friends, and you can turn off Share My Times anytime. Feedback is optional and sent only when you tap Send.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: ⋆Sudoku at 4.7 against Apparent Sudoku's 3.4. ⋆Sudoku also leads on ratings volume (161K vs 10) and review sentiment (64% vs 43%). Apparent Sudoku's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and update cadence (every 10 days vs monthly). 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
Both are free to download. ⋆Sudoku sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Apparent Sudoku sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
⋆Sudoku holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 3.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: ⋆Sudoku has 161K ratings behind it against 10, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 64% of ⋆Sudoku's written reviews are positive against 43% of Apparent Sudoku's.
⋆Sudoku ships an update monthly, Apparent Sudoku every 10 days. The most recent releases landed on October 27, 2026 and October 26, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | ⋆Sudoku | Apparent Sudoku |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (161K ratings) — better | 3.4 (10 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 63.8% of reviews — better | 42.9% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 161K — better | 10 |
| Update frequency | Monthly | Every 10 days — better |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Freemium |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, Mac |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 26.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 316 MB | 15 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Brainium Studios LLC | Apparent Logic, LLC |
Customer experience
⋆Sudoku
Apparent Sudoku
Bugs and requests
⋆Sudoku
Reported bugs
5 issues- Puzzle completion status not updating correctly
- Floating number feature not working as expected
- Scores not displaying properly on leaderboard
- Game freezing or crashing on certain devices
- Inability to play music in the background
Requested features
6 requests- Option to disable auto-check for errors
- Ability to customize number colors and backgrounds
- More granular difficulty settings between Hard and Expert
- Ability to access past daily puzzles
- Family sharing for ad-free version
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- Clearer explanation of scoring system
Apparent Sudoku
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
⋆Sudoku
- Remove Ads$11.99
Apparent Sudoku
- Sudoku Pro$4.99









