Pocket Chess vs Chess Deluxe
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Pocket Chess
Engage in classic chess battles anywhere, anytime. Challenge a sophisticated AI with adjustable difficulty or play against a friend. The app offers helpful features like move highlighting and board rotation for an enhanced experience.
- Challenging AI engine
- Three difficulty levels
- Play as White or Black
- Show legal moves
- Special move support
- Board rotation
- Save game state
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Play chess on the go against the computer or a friend with Pocket Chess. - Challenging A.I. engine with three levels of difficulty - Quick A.I. response time - Play as White or Black - Option to show legal moves - Perform special moves such as castling and pawn promotion - Board rotation for two player games - Game state is saved if you quit the app
Chess Deluxe
Engage in classic chess matches against AI opponents across four difficulty levels, a local friend, or players worldwide. Beginners benefit from highlighted legal moves for each piece.
- Play against computer AI
- Local multiplayer mode
- Online multiplayer mode
- Four AI difficulty levels
- Highlight possible moves
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Play chess against the computer, a friend on the same device, or someone over the internet. When playing against the computer, you can choose between four different difficulties. This game uses the international rules. To help beginners, when a piece is selected the possible moves are highlighted.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Chess Deluxe at 4.0 against Pocket Chess's 2.5. Chess Deluxe also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 1). Pocket Chess's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and ratings volume (22 vs 6). On price, review sentiment, update cadence 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. Pocket Chess sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Chess Deluxe asks for nothing beyond the download.
Chess Deluxe holds the better App Store score, 4.0 against 2.5. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 22 and 6 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 24% of Pocket Chess's written reviews are positive against 32% of Chess Deluxe's.
Pocket Chess ships an update every 10 months, Chess Deluxe every 7 months. The most recent releases landed on October 26, 2026 and October 21, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Pocket Chess | Chess Deluxe |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 2.5 (22 ratings) | 4.0 (6 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 24.5% of reviews | 32.3% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 22 — better | 6 |
| Update frequency | Every 10 months | Every 7 months — better |
| 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 | 14.0 | 14.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 10 MB | 115 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Steven Barnegren | MOBILEFUSION APPS LTD |
Customer experience
Pocket Chess
Chess Deluxe
Bugs and requests
Pocket Chess
Reported bugs
24 issues- Computer makes wrong moves
- Computer cheats by moving pieces
- Board flips for no reason
- Hard mode is too easy
- Option to castle is hard to find
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- Computer says stalemate instead of win
- Computer AI is odd
- Cannot move where I want
- Computer makes ridiculous mistakes
- Board is set up wrong
- Queen and king are reversed
- En passant doesn't work
- Cannot win in 2 player mode
- Black queen on white space, white queen on black space
- Pawn promotion only gives Queen
- Squares are mixed up
- Bottom right corner should be white
- Queen goes on her own color
- En passant move missing
- Board setup backwards
- No undo button in 2 player mode
- No submit button in 2 player mode
- App charged without prompting
- Pieces are reversed
Requested features
9 requests- Make medium difficulty easier
- Add undo button
- Add submit button
- Option to fix board orientation in 2 player mode
- More variety in AI moves
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- Make computer mode easier
- Make game harder
- Add more colors
- Level for kids
Chess Deluxe
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Pocket Chess
- Remove Ads$0.99
Chess Deluxe
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Pocket Chess free?
Is Chess Deluxe free?
Which has better reviews, Pocket Chess or Chess Deluxe?
Do Pocket Chess or Chess Deluxe have ads?
Which is updated more often, Pocket Chess or Chess Deluxe?
Other comparisons
