Tactics vs iPlay Chess
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Tactics
Sharpen your chess skills by solving tactical puzzles. The app offers hints and tracks your progress, with positions repeating for practice. Compete for a high score and play as a guest or with your PlayChess account.
- Solve chess tactic positions
- Get hints for solutions
- Guest or PlayChess account login
- Repeat unsolved positions
- High score list
- Universal app support
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Master the game of Chess by solving tactic positions. - Get a hint if you don't know the solution - You can solve tactics as guest or login with your PlayChess account - Positions which you haven't solved, will appear again later - High score list - Universal application
iPlay Chess
Engage in chess matches against powerful AI engines with customizable difficulty and playing styles. Enhance your skills with opening books, move hints, and detailed play statistics. Enjoy a personalized experience with custom boards, pieces, and sounds across multiple devices.
- Play against 6 top chess engines
- Customizable boards, pieces, and sounds
- Variety of opening books for all levels
- Adjustable opponent playing style
- Move highlights and hints
- Play statistics tracking
- iPad split screen support
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Play against 6 of the best chess engines, including Stockfish 13 and Leela Chess Zero. More engines will be added with next updates. Great interface for all platforms with custom boards and pieces, sounds and spoken moves. A variety of opening books for all levels can help you improve your game. You can customize your opponent's playing style by adjusting various options like engine strength, move time and increment, opening books variations. Other features: - highlights and hints for moves - support for multiple opening books - play stats - iPad split screen Constant updates will bring more features. Discover the planned roadmap in settings.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: iPlay Chess at 4.2 against Tactics's 3.0. iPlay Chess also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 1). Tactics's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 25 months). On price, 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. Tactics sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. iPlay Chess asks for nothing beyond the download.
iPlay Chess holds the better App Store score, 4.2 against 3.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 3 and 5 respectively.
Tactics ships an update every 3 weeks, iPlay Chess every 25 months. The most recent releases landed on October 10, 2026 and October 8, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Tactics | iPlay Chess |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.0 (3 ratings) | 4.2 (5 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 14.3% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 3 | 5 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks — better | Every 25 months |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Ad-supported — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 5.2 — better | 14.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 9 MB | 200 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | ChessBase GmbH | BEYTEK MUHENDISLIK SANAYI VE TICARET ANONIM SIRKETI |
Customer experience
Tactics
iPlay Chess
In-app purchases
Tactics
- 100 tactics positions$0.99
iPlay Chess
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Tactics free?
Is iPlay Chess free?
Which has better reviews, Tactics or iPlay Chess?
Do Tactics or iPlay Chess have ads?
Which is updated more often, Tactics or iPlay Chess?
Other comparisons
