Checkmate vs dumb MESSAGE
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Checkmate
Discover your compatibility with others by answering questions about yourself and scanning friends. This app uses advanced technology to calculate your long-term odds together, helping you find your best match.
- Answer personality questions
- Scan friends for compatibility
- Calculate long-term odds
- Discover best matches
- Powered by Nobel Prize technology
Read full descriptionHide full description
1. Answer questions about who you are and what you care about 2. Scan someone 3. Calculate your long-term odds together Powered by the Nobel Prize-winning technology behind the Marriage Pact. ▶ 157,300,000+ matches evaluated so far Scan anyone you want... until we change our minds (; Who's your best match? Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
dumb MESSAGE
Collaborate on a shared pixel canvas with friends in real-time. Draw, stamp images, or use dictation to add text to the evolving artwork. Experience a minimalist social interaction without feeds or typing indicators.
- Shared pixel canvas
- Real-time drawing
- Stamp images as pixels
- Dictation to pixel text
- Day and Night modes
Read full descriptionHide full description
The future was supposed to be simpler. dumb MESSAGE is one shared pixel canvas. You draw. Your friends draw. Everyone sees the same thing at the same time. No feed to refresh. No followers to impress. No typing bubble making you anxious. No color because frankly, you’ll cope. There is no feed. There is no typing indicator. There isn't even color. HOW IT WORKS • Start a canvas and get an ID you can say out loud, like MINTFOX42 • Send the link. Friends open it and their ink shows up next to yours • One finger draws, two fingers pan • Point the camera at anything and stamp it as dithered 1-bit pixels • Or talk — dictation turns your words into pixel type on the canvas • DAY mode is reflective gray. NIGHT mode glows green
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: dumb MESSAGE at 5.0 against Checkmate's 4.5. dumb MESSAGE also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 2) and iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.0). Checkmate's advantage is ratings volume (995 vs 1). On price, update cadence, ads 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. Checkmate sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $6.99 per 7 days. dumb MESSAGE asks for nothing beyond the download.
dumb MESSAGE holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Checkmate has 995 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on November 3, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Checkmate | dumb MESSAGE |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.5 (995 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 31.1% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 995 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 days | Every 2 days |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone, iPad — better |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 17.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 42 MB | 1 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Marriage Pact | Matt Jakob |
Bugs and requests
Checkmate
Reported bugs
4 issues- Unable to receive verification codes
- Inability to answer new questions due to errors
- Onboarding issues and lost progress
- Compatibility scans not working for many users
Requested features
5 requests- Add MBTI or personality type feature
- Allow users to search and add friends
- Implement a 'send all' option for questions
- Add privacy controls for scan updates
- Improve retrospective analysis of compatibility
dumb MESSAGE
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Checkmate
- Checkmate Gold$6.997 Days
- Checkmate Gold$39.991 Year
dumb MESSAGE
No in-app purchases
