Comparison

OpenMate vs Chess Acuity

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

Head to head
About

OpenMate

Master chess openings and play against a powerful engine with integrated coaching. This app offers a private, offline experience with visual guidance and strategy tips to improve your game. Enjoy uninterrupted play with no ads or distractions.

Highlights
  • Strong, fast chess engine
  • Fully offline functionality
  • Visual coaching with move suggestions
  • Built-in opening knowledge
  • Strategy tips and explanations
  • Play at your own pace, no clock
  • Undo moves freely
Features
Read full description

Learn chess openings, or play chess against a strong, fast engine with built-in coaching and analysis tools. OpenMate runs entirely on your device. No internet connection, no accounts, and no data collection. Everything is local, private, and instant. Designed for both play and improvement, OpenMate combines engine strength with visual guidance and practical coaching to help you understand the game as you play. Features: • Strong, fast engine with instant responses: ~4M nodes per second on an iPhone 16 (half on Low Power Mode), ~2800 ELO at 3s/move! • Fully offline: no network access required • Hint mode with visual coaching: - Opening guidance with move suggestions and lists (multicolor arrows) - Engine-recommended moves (green arrows) - Threat visualization (red arrows) • Built-in opening knowledge to guide early play • Strategy tips with both chess terminology and plain-English explanations • Play as White or Black • Flip the board anytime • Undo moves freely at any point • No clock: play at your own pace without time pressure OpenMate is designed to remove friction and distractions. There are no ads, no sign-ups, and no interruptions. Just chess. Whether you want to practice openings, analyze positions, or simply play strong games offline, OpenMate gives you a focused and responsive experience. Built for iPhone and iPad, tested across devices, and optimized for smooth performance.

About

Chess Acuity

Features
Read full description

Chess Acuity turns any chess position into insight — entirely on your device. Set up a position and Stockfish 17, running locally on your iPhone, shows you the best moves and lines. No account, no ads, no analytics, no internet connection required. The app is free and open source. FOUR WAYS IN • From a photo — share a screenshot from any chess app or website, or pick one from your photo library. A built-in recognizer reads the board on-device and sets up the position. • From a game — paste a PGN, step through the moves, and analyse any position along the way. • By hand — set up the board in a clean, fast editor. • By FEN — paste a position directly. ANALYSIS • Powered by the Stockfish 17 chess engine, running natively on your device. • Multiple lines (MultiPV) with evaluations, searched by depth or thinking time. • Step through any line move by move on the board. • Plain-language explanation of the engine's choice. PLAY • Play a full game against Stockfish at eight strength levels. • Take a hint when you're stuck, then hand the finished game straight to the analyser. PRIVATE BY DESIGN Everything — board recognition, engine analysis, move explanations — runs on your device. The app makes no network requests and collects no data. Screenshots you import are processed locally and never uploaded. OPEN SOURCE Chess Acuity is free software under the GNU GPLv3. The complete source code is available at github.com/alexostar/chess-acuity-app. FAIR PLAY Chess Acuity is made for study and review. Please don't use it for assistance during live or rated games — that breaks the fair-play rules of every chess site and spoils the game for everyone.

Screenshots

OpenMate4 screens
Chess Acuity4 screens

Verdict

The call

OpenMate and Chess Acuity are too close to call on the numbers: across 6 compared parameters — price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases among them — neither pulls far enough ahead to decide it. What separates them is feature set and interface, not measurable difference.

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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

OpenMate ships an update every 6 days, Chess Acuity every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on September 26, 2026 and October 4, 2026 respectively.

ScorecardNo meaningful differences
OpenMate versus Chess Acuity: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterOpenMateChess Acuity
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (6 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings6 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 6 daysEvery 4 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPad — betteriPhone
Requires iOS17.016.4 — better
Further details — not scored
Size20 MB135 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperRAMINE ROANESigfus Bjarnason

In-app purchases

None

OpenMate

No in-app purchases

None

Chess Acuity

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is OpenMate free?
OpenMate is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Chess Acuity free?
Chess Acuity is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do OpenMate or Chess Acuity have ads?
Neither OpenMate nor Chess Acuity shows ads.
Which is updated more often, OpenMate or Chess Acuity?
OpenMate ships an update every 6 days, and Chess Acuity every 4 days. Most recently, OpenMate was updated on September 26, 2026 and Chess Acuity on October 4, 2026.

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