Comparison

Little Go vs Go Problems

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

Head to head
About

Little Go

Play the strategic game of Go on your iPhone or iPad. Challenge a human opponent or test your skills against a powerful AI. Customize game settings, analyze moves, and save your progress.

Highlights
  • Multiple board sizes (7x7 to 19x19)
  • Play against AI or human opponent
  • Adjustable AI strength
  • Score calculation (area/territory)
  • Handicap stone placement
  • Customizable rulesets
  • Save and load games
Features
Read full description

Little Go is a free and open source iOS application that lets you play the game of Go on the iPhone or iPad. You can play against another human (on the same device), or against the computer. The computer player is powered by the open source software library Fuego (http://fuego.sf.net/). The minimum requirement for running this version of Little Go is iOS 16.0. Features: - Board sizes between 7x7 and 19x19 (start a new game to change the board size) - Let the computer player suggest a move or immediately play the move for you - Calculate the score at any time during the game (area scoring is the default, territory scoring can be selected at the start of a new game) - Adjust the computer's playing strength and resign behaviour by selecting from a number of presets, or by fine-tuning advanced settings - Play even games, or games with 2-9 handicap stones (fixed stone placement) - Select from 5 pre-defined rulesets when you start a new game, or adjust game rules to your preference (komi, ko rule, area/territory scoring system, number of passes to end game, resume play by alternating/non-alternating play, four passes end game) - Optionally play with time limits (Main time only, Overtime only, Main time + Overtime), with a choice from 5 Overtime systems - Place arbitrary black and white stones for initial board setup before a game starts - View board positions for moves played earlier during the game - View and create game variations - Discard moves (aka "undo") - Display move numbers and coordinate labels - Zoom & scroll board - Create and edit board and move annotations (e.g. good/bad move, good position for black/white, etc.) and add textual notes to a position - Mark intersections on the board with symbols, markers and labels, and draw arrows or lines on the board - Display player influence (aka territory statistics) for an estimate who owns an area - Computer vs. computer game for entertainment - Save & load games to/from the archive using the SGF file format - Support for almost all properties of the SGF file format, with strict conformance to the specification - Use file sharing to transfer saved games from your iOS device to your computer, and vice versa - Import/export game files from/to other apps on your device (e.g. Mail, DropBox) - In-app user manual - Submit bug report email from inside the app (yes, this *is* a feature :-)) - For the technically inclined: Watch what happens behind the scenes when Little Go and Fuego talk to each other over the Go Text Protocol (GTP) Your contribution in any form (coding, UI design, testing, bug reports, creating an app video preview, website design) is welcome - please contact me or visit the support website to find out more. A note about the project state: Several years of development have gone into Little Go since its inception in January 2011. The app now has a feature set that is, I believe, quite nice :-) for a free program. My main focus therefore lies on fixing any remaining bugs (of which I am sure there are plenty) and keeping the app running under future versions of iOS. Little Go is released under the Apache License 2.0 (http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0).

About

Go Problems

Sharpen your Go skills with a vast collection of hand-picked problems. Track your progress, solve life and death, and tesuji challenges, and receive personalized problem recommendations based on your skill level. Daily practice is made easy with this app.

Highlights
  • Over 4,500 Go problems
  • Life and death and tesuji problems
  • Automatic rating calculation
  • Bookmarking favorite problems
  • Auto-problem mode adjusts to skill
  • Progress tracking by difficulty
Features
Read full description

Improve your go by solving go problems. All problems hand-picked from the goproblems.com database. Over 4,500 problems to start, and more will be added over time. This app will automatically calculate your rating as you attempt the problems. Life and death and tesuji problems are the fastest way to get stronger at go. This app will help you practice every day. App features: * Over 200 free problems * Retina display on iPhone and iPad * Bookmarking your favorite problems * Auto-problem mode finds problems at your level and adjusts to your skill * Track your progress at each problem difficulty level * Two-finger swipe to quickly change between problems

Screenshots

Little Go4 screens
Go Problems3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Little Go at none against Go Problems's 10. Little Go also leads on ratings volume (120 vs 15). Go Problems's advantage is update cadence (every 2 months vs every 4 months) and iOS requirement (7.0 vs 16.0). On price, rating, review sentiment and ads 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. Go Problems sells 10 one-off in-app purchases. Little Go asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 3.3 for Little Go against 3.2 for Go Problems. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Little Go has 120 ratings behind it against 15, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 50% of Little Go's written reviews are positive against 45% of Go Problems's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Little Go ships an update every 4 months, Go Problems every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 4, 2026 and October 7, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Little Go versus Go Problems: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterLittle GoGo Problems
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.3 (120 ratings) — better3.2 (15 ratings)
Positive reviews50.0% of reviews — better44.8% of reviews
Number of ratings120 — better15
Update frequencyEvery 4 monthsEvery 2 months — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS16.07.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size51 MB36 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperPatrick Naf MoserAdumbration, Inc.

Customer experience

Little Go

All ratings118 ratings
Positive53.4%
Neutral9.3%
Negative37.3%
Written reviews74 reviews
Positive50.0%
Neutral20.3%
Negative29.7%

Go Problems

All ratings15 ratings
Positive46.7%
Neutral26.7%
Negative26.7%
Written reviews29 reviews
Positive44.8%
Neutral27.6%
Negative27.6%

Bugs and requests

Little Go

Reported bugs

9 issues
  • Cannot pass to end the game
  • Human player cannot place stones (sometimes)
  • AI makes illegal moves
  • AI resigns too early
  • Undo button glitches
Show 4 more
  • Game crashes
  • AI plays the same game repeatedly
  • Scoring inaccuracies
  • Forward/fast forward buttons too close

Requested features

7 requests
  • Add a tutorial for beginners
  • Improve UI clarity and intuitiveness
  • Add a demo board for teaching
  • Add a rematch option
  • Add Game Center support for turn-based matches
Show 2 more
  • Option to turn off auto-scoring
  • Add a Windows program version

Go Problems

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Little Go

No in-app purchases

10 purchases

Go Problems

One-time10
  • Carpenter's Square Problem Set$0.99
  • Standard Problem Set 9$1.99
  • Standard Problem Set 1$2.99
Show 7 more
  • Standard Problem Set 2$2.99
  • Standard Problem Set 3$2.99
  • Standard Problem Set 4$2.99
  • Standard Problem Set 5$2.99
  • Standard Problem Set 6$2.99
  • Standard Problem Set 7$2.99
  • Standard Problem Set 8$2.99

Questions

Is Little Go free?
Little Go is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Go Problems free?
Go Problems is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Little Go or Go Problems?
Little Go is rated higher. Little Go averages 3.3 out of 5 from 120 ratings, while Go Problems averages 3.2 from 15 ratings.
Do Little Go or Go Problems have ads?
Neither Little Go nor Go Problems shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Little Go or Go Problems?
Little Go ships an update every 4 months, and Go Problems every 2 months. Most recently, Little Go was updated on October 4, 2026 and Go Problems on October 7, 2026.

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