Comparison

SocialChess vs Chess Time

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

Head to head
About

SocialChess

Play chess online with friends or random opponents, with options for fast-paced live games or relaxed daily matches. Improve your skills with game reviews, insights, and strategy tools. Enjoy a clean, ad-free experience with social features like chat and profiles.

Highlights
  • Live and daily chess games
  • Play with friends via invite link
  • Random opponent matching
  • Game reviews and insights
  • Chess960 and premoves
  • Chat and group chat
  • Cross-device syncing
Features
Read full description

Play chess online with friends: fast games on the clock, or relaxed daily games you can move whenever you have a moment. Clean, beautiful, and never any ads. PLAY YOUR WAY • Live games from 1 to 90 minutes, with optional increments • Daily games with 1, 3 or 5 days per move. Keep many going at once • Play a Friend: send your personal invite link and start playing • Get matched with a random opponent, or find players by username • Chess960, premoves, conditional moves and optional takebacks • Push notifications when it's your move • Your account and games sync across all your devices and the web IMPROVE YOUR GAME • Game reviews with an accuracy score and a move-quality chart • Insights: plain-English explanations of why a move worked, or didn't • Second Chance: replay your mistakes and find the better move • Strategy Board: explore any position with engine lines SOCIAL • Chat and group chat • Profiles with photo, comments and a location map • Browse any player's games, and their opponents' games • Elo ratings and player rankings • Watch live games MEMBERSHIP SocialChess is free to play forever, or upgrade to a membership to unlock more features: • Up to 100 daily games at a time • Unlimited game reviews with Insights • Second Chance on any player's games • Elo charts and per-opponent statistics • All board styles • PGN export and a server archive of your games • Unrated games • Chat images and translation OUR PRINCIPLES • No ads, ever • Your privacy and data are respected • Features are chosen carefully and shaped by your feedback Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula

About

Chess Time

Engage in online chess matches with friends or players worldwide. This app supports correspondence play with extended move times and offers features like in-game chat and customizable themes. Track your progress with an auto-calculated ELO rating.

Highlights
  • Online correspondence chess
  • Play with friends
  • Global player matchmaking
  • In-game chat
  • Customizable chess sets and themes
  • Auto-calculated ELO rating
  • PGN export
Read full description

Free online chess - Invite your friends or play against anyone in the world. Chess Time is a full featured online correspondence chess app allowing a player up to multiple days to make a move. Create and play multiple at length chess games. Chess Time features: A global audience of real chess players. Invite friends to play online games. In-game chat. -- Play chess against friends that have other mobile devices. Multiple Chess sets and themes. Play un-rated games to train without affecting your score. -- Auto-calculated ELO chess rating. Export completed games as PGN. Chess Time will send a notification for each move and a reminder for you to move. We recommend enabling notifications. ——————————— -- SUBSCRIPTIONS AVAILABLE --- PREMIUM Membership Subscription Options: - Monthly Premium Subscription - Yearly Premium Subscription Premium Membership features: * No Ads * 75 Simultaneous Active Games — Additional 25! * Compete with Premium Members * Exclusive Premium Leaderboard * Daily PGN Emails — Completed game PGNs are emailed daily! Perfect for players studying their games. — TERMS & DETAILS — Chess Time Premium features are only guaranteed on up-to-date iOS devices. Payment will be charged to your iTunes account at confirmation of purchase. Subscription automatically renews unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Account will be charged the same amount for renewal within 24 hours prior to the end of the current period. You can manage your subscription and turn off auto-renewal by going to your Account Settings after purchase. Any unused portion of a Free Trial, if offered, is forfeited when you buy a subscription. Prices may vary by location. Terms of Use: http://chesstimeapp.com/Terms-and-Conditions.php Privacy Policy: http://chesstimeapp.com/Privacy-Policy.php

Screenshots

SocialChess4 screens
Chess Time4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Chess Time at none against SocialChess's 3. SocialChess's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and ratings volume (7.3K vs 1.7K). On price, rating, review sentiment and update cadence 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. SocialChess sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $14.99 per year. Chess Time asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for SocialChess against 4.7 for Chess Time. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 7.3K and 1.7K respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 82% of SocialChess's written reviews are positive against 86% of Chess Time's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

SocialChess ships an update weekly, Chess Time every 10 days. The most recent releases landed on November 8, 2026 and November 1, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
SocialChess versus Chess Time: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSocialChessChess Time
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (7.3K ratings)4.7 (1.7K ratings) — better
Positive reviews82.1% of reviews86.2% of reviews — better
Number of ratings7.3K — better1.7K
Update frequencyWeekly — betterEvery 10 days
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFreemiumFreemium
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.0 — better15.6
Further details — not scored
Size106 MB42 MB
Age rating12+12+
DeveloperWoodchop Software LLCHaptic Apps LLC

Customer experience

SocialChess

All ratings7,256 ratings
Positive94.0%
Neutral2.8%
Negative3.2%
Written reviews1,226 reviews
Positive82.1%
Neutral4.0%
Negative13.9%

Chess Time

All ratings1,659 ratings
Positive95.1%
Neutral1.9%
Negative3.1%
Written reviews260 reviews
Positive86.2%
Neutral5.4%
Negative8.5%

User reviews

SocialChess

From 7.3K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Excellent app for playing chess
  • 👍 Clean, user-friendly interface
  • 👍 Large player base and easy to find opponents
  • 👍 Ability to play slow or fast games
  • 👍 No ads or distractions

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Occasional glitches and bugs
  • 🔋 Potential battery drain issues
  • 💰 Subscription fees for some features
  • 🤖 Concerns about cheating and bots
  • 🤬 Issues with toxic/abusive players

Chess Time

From 1.7K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Simple and easy to use
  • 🌍 Cross-platform play
  • 📊 Detailed player stats and rankings
  • 💬 In-game chat functionality
  • 🕰️ Flexible time controls for games

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Occasional glitches and bugs
  • 🔍 Limited customization options
  • 💰 Ads can be intrusive
  • 🔒 Lack of robust anti-cheat measures
  • 🖥️ Outdated or basic user interface

Bugs and requests

SocialChess

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Freezing or crashing during gameplay
  • Inaccurate game statistics and ratings
  • Delayed or unresponsive move registrations
  • Inability to cancel or delete games

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add chess analysis and training tools
  • Implement anti-cheat measures
  • Improve game history and statistics tracking
  • Allow customization of board and piece designs
  • Add tournament and team play modes

Chess Time

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Game incorrectly declaring draws on checkmate
  • Inability to castle or move pieces in certain situations
  • Notification issues across different devices

Requested features

5 requests
  • Ability to invite friends to watch ongoing games
  • Option to disable move analysis for rated games
  • Faster move processing and real-time gameplay
  • More diverse chess piece and board designs
  • In-app purchase to remove ads permanently

In-app purchases

3 purchases

SocialChess

Subscriptions1
  • Annual Membership$14.991 Year
One-time2
  • 1 Year Membership$14.99
  • 1 Year Gift Membership$14.99
None

Chess Time

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is SocialChess free?
SocialChess is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Chess Time free?
Chess Time is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, SocialChess or Chess Time?
Chess Time is rated higher. SocialChess averages 4.7 out of 5 from 7.3K ratings, while Chess Time averages 4.7 from 1.7K ratings.
Do SocialChess or Chess Time have ads?
Chess Time shows ads; SocialChess does not.
Which is updated more often, SocialChess or Chess Time?
SocialChess ships an update weekly, and Chess Time every 10 days. Most recently, SocialChess was updated on November 8, 2026 and Chess Time on November 1, 2026.

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