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Guide · Updated October 2026 · Free options first

The best chess apps for iPhone
picked by what you need them for.

Most "best chess app" lists are six one-line blurbs that all say "Chess.com" and stop. This one covers what each app is best at, what is free, and which job you need the app for, because "play online", "learn openings", and "understand why I keep losing" lead to three different apps. One disclosure up front: Chessful is our app. We say so every time it appears, and we tell you when something else is the better pick (for online play, it is).

The short version

Best free: Lichess
Open-source and free: online play, unlimited Stockfish analysis, unlimited puzzles, studies, and tournaments, with no ads and no paywall. If you install one chess app, install this one. lichess.org →
Best all-in-one: Chess.com
The biggest community, with the most polished matchmaking, lessons, puzzles, bots, and events. Free to play; computer analysis is capped at one Game Review a day unless you subscribe. chess.com →
Best for understanding your losses: Chessful (ours)
Runs Stockfish on-device, explains each mistake in plain language (the hung piece, the missed fork, the weak back rank), and builds daily training from your own mistakes. Play, analysis, and lessons work offline. Free with daily limits and all 156 lessons; Premium from $2.99/mo, $29.99 lifetime. Full details →
Best for openings: Chessable
MoveTrainer drills curated Grandmaster opening courses with spaced repetition until the lines stick. It is the standard tool for building a repertoire you remember at the board. How it compares →

How all six compare

Summarised from each app's public listing and our own testing on iPhone, June 2026. Pricing changes often, so check it before you buy.

App Best for Offline Free option Price
LichessFree play, analysis, puzzles, studiesPartial (bots, puzzles, and analysis in-app)Everything, freeFree / donation
Chess.comAll-in-one: play, lessons, bots, communityPartial (bots in-app)Generous (1 analysis/day)Free; Premium ~$9.99 to $14/mo
Chessful (ours)Understanding your mistakes + adaptive trainingYes (purchases need a connection)All 156 lessons; 2 analyses + 3 puzzles/day; first 10 botsFree; Premium $2.99/mo, $29.99 lifetime
ChessableMemorising an opening repertoireNoFree + Short & Sweet coursesFree; paid courses + Pro
Magnus TrainerBite-sized lessons & theoryNoLimited freeSubscription (or lifetime)
ChesslyGuided video opening coursesNoLimited freeSubscription

Chessis, an analysis app that puts Android first, is no longer in this list because we couldn't find it in the US App Store on 29 October 2026.

Deeper one-on-one comparisons: Chessful vs Chess.com · vs Lichess · vs Chessable · vs Magnus Trainer · vs Chessly · vs Chessis

Why "best chess app" has no single answer

Every "best chess app" list feels unsatisfying because it assumes there is one job. There are four, and they point at different apps:

Play other people
Chess.com or Lichess. This job depends on the network: you want millions of opponents at your level, ratings, and matchmaking. Nothing offline competes here, and Lichess does it entirely free. If "best chess app" means "where do I play", the answer is one of these two.
Drill openings until they stick
Chessable. Spaced-repetition memorisation of curated Grandmaster repertoires. It is a specialised tool for a specialised job, and most improving players reach for it once tactics stop being the problem.
Understand why you keep losing
An analysis app. This is Chessful's job, and the opinion is ours. A rating graph won't tell you that you keep weakening your own king on move 20; plain-language analysis will. The engine number is where it starts, and the sentence explaining it is what changes your next game.
Be taught, lesson by lesson
Magnus Trainer or Chessly. A structured, authored curriculum of bite-sized theory or video courses, for when you'd rather be walked through ideas than dig through your own games. It complements the analysis job and does not replace it.

Most people who stick with chess end up running two apps: a platform to play and get puzzles (Lichess or Chess.com), and a tool to fix what's costing them games. Expecting one app to do both well usually disappoints.

A sensible path from beginner to improving player

1. Learn the rules by playing
Start free against easy bots on Lichess or Chess.com, with unlimited, untimed games and no stakes. If you'd like the moves taught first, Chessful's free lessons (ours) start from the board. You learn how the pieces move and coordinate far faster by playing than by reading. Lose a lot of games on purpose.
2. Do tactics every day
Most games under 1500 are decided by a hung piece or a missed two-move tactic. Lichess Puzzles (free, unlimited) and Chess.com puzzles both train this. Ten minutes a day beats an hour once a week.
3. Understand your losses
Almost everyone skips this step. After a loss, find out why: the reason, which the centipawn swing doesn't give you. Chessful (ours) was built for this job, with Stockfish on-device and mistakes explained in sentences and then drilled. That opinion is ours, and we say so.
4. Build a repertoire
Once you've stopped hanging pieces, openings start to matter. Chessable drills a repertoire into long-term memory with spaced repetition. Do this after tactics, because openings won't save a game you lose to a fork.

If you came from another board game

A lot of people install a chess app right after discovering shogi, go, or xiangqi, or the other way round. If chess didn't stick because you couldn't tell why you lost, what helps is feedback you can read. That idea is behind Chessful, and our journal covers it: the 30 mistake motifs that decide club games, how we turn a Stockfish evaluation into training, and why deeper engine analysis actually makes club-level feedback worse. And if you're curious the other direction, our best shogi apps for iPhone guide does the same job for shogi.

Our entry, for transparency

Chessful Chess that explains your mistakes, then trains you on them. Chess app that explains every mistake in your games, then trains you on them. On-device Stockfish, 156 lessons, 15,000 puzzles. iPhone, iPad, Mac. Free · ProRated 4.2 · 16 ratingsiPhone · iPad · Mac

Questions

FAQ

What is the best chess app for iPhone?
It depends on the job. Lichess is the best free app, with online play, server analysis, and unlimited puzzles, and it is open-source and ad-free. Chess.com is the best all-in-one with the biggest community, lessons, and bots. Chessful is the best for understanding why you lose: it runs Stockfish on your device and explains each mistake in plain language (disclosure: Chessful is made by the publisher of this guide). Chessable is best for drilling openings. Most improving players end up with two apps, one to play and get puzzles and one to understand and fix their mistakes.
What is the best free chess app?
Lichess. It is fully free and open-source, with online play, unlimited server analysis, unlimited tactics puzzles, studies, and tournaments, no ads and no paywall. Chess.com's free tier is generous for playing but caps computer analysis at one Game Review per day. Chessful's free tier includes all 156 lessons, two Stockfish game analyses and three puzzles a day, and the first 10 of its 40 AI opponents, with no account.
What is the best chess app for beginners?
To learn the rules and start playing, Chess.com and Lichess both have Learn sections, friendly bots, and unlimited games against easy AI, so start free on either. Chessful (ours) also starts from zero: its 156 free lessons begin with the board, and its first opponents play at 400 Elo. Once you know how the pieces move, the fastest improvement comes from understanding your own losses, which is where Chessful's plain-language analysis helps (it explains mistakes in sentences, where an engine gives numbers). If you want to play people from day one, start with Lichess or Chess.com.
Chess.com vs Lichess: which is better?
Both are excellent and most serious players keep both. Lichess is free, open-source, and ad-free, with every feature unlocked (play, unlimited analysis, unlimited puzzles, studies), so it is the best value. Chess.com has the larger community, more polished lessons and bots, and more events, but gates computer analysis and some features behind a subscription. Pick Lichess if you want everything free; pick Chess.com if you want the biggest community and the most structured lessons.
What is the best chess app for analyzing my games and improving?
For raw analysis, Lichess (free server analysis) and Chess.com (Game Review, mostly paid) both run Stockfish. For understanding that analysis, meaning turning the engine's centipawn lines into plain-language reasons you lost and then training on those exact patterns, Chessful is built for the job, on-device and offline (disclosure: Chessful is ours). If your specific weakness is openings, Chessable's spaced-repetition courses are the better tool. Many improving players use a play platform plus one of these to fix their mistakes.
Can I play chess offline on iPhone?
Yes. Chessful's 40 AI opponents, its Stockfish analysis, its lessons, and its training all run on-device with no connection (only purchases and Game Center go online). Chess.com and Lichess also let you play their bots offline in their apps, and the Lichess app can run Stockfish on your device and has offline puzzles. Their online play needs a connection. If you want offline analysis that explains each mistake in words, Chessful is built for that.

Start here

Curious why you keep losing?

Chessful analyzes your games with Stockfish on your iPhone and explains each mistake in plain language (the hung piece, the missed fork, the weak back rank), then trains you on it. It is free to try with daily limits, needs no account, and plays and analyzes on a plane.

See Chessful Or compare it with Chess.com

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