Simple chess board vs Chess Board app
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Simple chess board
This app provides a digital chessboard with unrestricted piece movement and a configurable chess clock. Save and load board positions, undo/redo moves, and even use checker pieces. It's ideal for analyzing games or setting up custom scenarios.
- Free piece movement
- Undo/Redo functionality
- Board rotation
- Checker piece option
- Save/load positions
- Configurable chess clock
- Tweet current position
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A simple chess board and a chess clock without movement restrictions. Free movement as a real board. Current features are: • Move pieces freely, add or remove them. • Undo/Redo last movement. • Rotate board and/or pieces. • Use checkers game pieces. • Save/load positions for later use, or delete them when you don't need them anymore (swipe over them). Starting positions for chess and checkers are available. • Use a chess clock where you can configure initial time, move time increment, increment after a number of movement, hourglass time, ... • Set time independent for black and white if required. • Save/load time settings for later use. Already available some common times. • Tweet your current position.
Chess Board app
A straightforward application for playing chess. It allows users to freely move pieces on a digital board, offering a simple and direct chess experience.
- Free chess board
- Free piece movement
- Simple interface
- Digital chess board
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This is the simple chess board app you can move the pieces freely.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Simple chess board at 88% against Chess Board app's 38%. Simple chess board also leads on rating (4.5 vs 3.7) and ratings volume (68 vs 3). Chess Board app's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and ads (none vs shown). On price, update cadence, device support and iOS requirement 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. Simple chess board sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Chess Board app asks for nothing beyond the download.
Simple chess board holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 3.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Simple chess board has 68 ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 88% of Simple chess board's written reviews are positive against 38% of Chess Board app's.
Simple chess board ships an update every 10 months, Chess Board app every 12 months. The most recent releases landed on October 23, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Simple chess board | Chess Board app |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.5 (68 ratings) — better | 3.7 (3 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 88.2% of reviews — better | 37.5% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 68 — better | 3 |
| Update frequency | Every 10 months — better | Every 12 months |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 | 11.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 9 MB | 13 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Luis Lopez | Kazuya Maeda |
Customer experience
Simple chess board
Chess Board app
Bugs and requests
Simple chess board
Reported bugs
7 issues- Keyboard not appearing to enter text/save
- Cannot figure out how to save position
- Pieces shift on their own
- Kings and queens on wrong squares initially
- Save position fails with 'You must insert text' error
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- App froze mid-game
- Write a review tab has trouble
Requested features
20 requests- Add scoresheet functionality
- Export game for analysis
- Move counter
- Portrait view on iPad
- Board expansion to fill screen
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- Ability to turn board around
- More board color options
- Option to hide timers
- PGN save and import facility
- PGN export
- Chess notation feature
- Larger board size (optional timers)
- Change chess set for better viewing
- Fix 'write a review' tab issue
- Delete saved games/setups easily
- Better graphics
- More realistic piece movement enforcement
- Improve piece dragging and selection
- Make piece representations larger
- Add variations
Chess Board app
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Simple chess board
- Remove ads$0.99
Chess Board app
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Simple chess board free?
Is Chess Board app free?
Which has better reviews, Simple chess board or Chess Board app?
Do Simple chess board or Chess Board app have ads?
Which is updated more often, Simple chess board or Chess Board app?
Other comparisons
