Comparison

ChessHut vs Chess Call

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

Head to head
About

ChessHut

Features
Read full description

Chess for everyone. No account, no ads, no internet needed. ChessHut is a complete chess game that runs entirely on your device. Pick an opponent, choose a clock, and play. Every game, puzzle and rating stays private on your phone. EIGHT OPPONENTS WITH CHARACTER Face Pip the Hatchling (rated 400) through to Ember, the Hut Master (1900). Each one plays in its own style โ€” attacking, defensive or unpredictable โ€” and has plenty to say about your moves. A COACH THAT WATCHES EVERY MOVE After each of your moves you get instant feedback: Best move, Great, Good, Not the best, Mistake or Blunder, plus the move that would have been stronger. Finish a game to see your accuracy and a breakdown of how you played. 3,700+ PUZZLES THAT MATCH YOUR LEVEL Rated puzzles from the Lichess open database, from beginner to master. Your puzzle rating adjusts as you solve, so the puzzles keep pace with you. Choose Easier, My level, Harder or Hardest, practise a single idea (forks, pins, sacrifices, discovered attacks, endgames, defence) or solve today's puzzle to build a streak. CHESS JOURNEY Beat the eight opponents in order to unlock the next. Win without take-backs or hints to earn all three crowns. EVERYTHING ELSE - Full rules: castling, en passant, promotion with your choice of piece, stalemate, repetition, the 50-move rule and insufficient material - Rating, rank titles, win streaks and 13 achievements - Hints, take-backs and a move list, in every game - Clocks from 3-minute blitz to 30-minute classical, including added time per move - Drag or tap to move, with smooth animation, sound and vibration - Two-player mode on one device - Four app themes, including a light one, and five board styles - Continue an unfinished game whenever you come back - iPhone and iPad, with VoiceOver support No sign-in. No ads. No tracking. No data ever leaves your device. Puzzles come from the Lichess.org open puzzle database, released into the public domain. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

Chess Call

Features
Read full description

ChessCall is the easy way to play chess with the people you already know. It works like a chat app: pick a contact, send them a link, and once they join you play a real game of chess while messaging back and forth with text and voice. CHALLENGE YOUR CONTACTS Start a chat with anyone in your contacts and challenge them to chess. They tap your invite link and you're playing, no usernames, no sign-ups, just your Apple devices and iCloud. A REAL GAME, WITH A CLOCK Full chess rules, castling, en passant, promotion, check and checkmate, plus a proper chess clock. Choose 3, 5, or 10 minutes, or play with no clock at all. CHAT WHILE YOU PLAY Send text and voice messages right inside the game. Voice notes can play automatically so you never miss a word, and you can turn that off whenever you like. YOUR PRIVATE RIVALRIES There's no global leaderboard. Instead, ChessCall quietly keeps the head-to-head score between you and each contact, so you always know who's ahead. PRACTICE ANY TIME No one around to play? Practice offline against the built-in opponent and set the strength anywhere from beginner to expert. ON YOUR WRIST ChessCall runs on Apple Watch too. Play a full multiplayer or practice game right on the watch, no iPhone needed. And when it is your move in a real game, the watch shows the board so you can answer from your wrist with or without the iphone near by. WORKS EVERYWHERE A universal app for iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch. Your games sync through your own iCloud. PRIVATE BY DESIGN ChessCall has no servers of its own. Your games and messages live in your iCloud and are shared only with the people you play. No ads, no tracking, no analytics. Requires an iCloud account. Playing with others requires each player to have ChessCall and be signed into iCloud.

Screenshots

ChessHut4 screens
Chess Call4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Chess Call at every 2 days against ChessHut's every 15 months. Chess Call also leads on device support (6 vs 2). On price, ads, in-app purchases and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price ยท Rating ยท Positive reviews ยท Number of ratings ยท Update frequency ยท Ads ยท In-app purchases ยท Monetization ยท Best chart rank ยท Devices ยท Requires iOS

CostPrice ยท In-app purchases ยท Ads ยท Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

ChessHut ships an update every 15 months, Chess Call every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on October 17, 2026 and October 4, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences ยท 4 level
ChessHut versus Chess Call: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterChessHutChess Call
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 15 monthsEvery 2 days โ€” better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, Apple Watch, Vision Pro โ€” better
Requires iOS17.017.0
Further details โ€” not scored
Size7 MB10 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperDharmaraju PilliJan Cordes

In-app purchases

None

ChessHut

No in-app purchases

None

Chess Call

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is ChessHut free?
ChessHut is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Chess Call free?
Chess Call is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do ChessHut or Chess Call have ads?
Neither ChessHut nor Chess Call shows ads.
Which is updated more often, ChessHut or Chess Call?
ChessHut ships an update every 15 months, and Chess Call every 2 days. Most recently, ChessHut was updated on October 17, 2026 and Chess Call on October 4, 2026.

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