Lagerland Apps

Guide · Updated October 2026 · Ad-free picks first

The best logic puzzle games for iPhone
for people who want a real answer.

Search the App Store for "logic puzzle" and most of what comes back is free, endless, and paid for by ads and lives. This guide is about the other kind: puzzles you can reason your way through, and what each one costs you in money, ads, and data. One disclosure first: Tare and Millrace are our games. We say so every time they appear, and we say when something else is the better pick.

The short version

Best premium puzzle game: Baba Is You
Every level's rules are word blocks on the board, and you push them around to rewrite what winning means. An App Store Editors' Choice from Hempuli, with free New Adventures and Museum level packs. It costs $6.99 once, with no in-app purchases, no ads, and a Data Not Collected label. If you haven't played it, start here. App Store →
Best free collection: Simon Tatham's Puzzles
38 classic puzzle types in one app, from an open-source collection, with each game generated fresh. It is free, with no in-app purchases and a Data Not Collected label. The iOS port was last updated in 2020, but nothing free gives you more kinds of puzzle. App Store →
Best for sudoku: Good Sudoku
Zach Gage's sudoku runs a solver as you play and uses it to teach the next technique, with more than 70,000 puzzles and daily leaderboards. Free with ads, a $4.99 Full Game Unlock, or Good Sudoku+ on Apple Arcade. App Store →
Best for nonograms: Nonograms Katana
1001 free picture-logic puzzles from 5×5 to 50×50, each tested by a program for a unique solution, plus player-made puzzles and RPG-style extras. The free version shows ads; a $2.99 VIP upgrade removes them. App Store →
Best wordless deduction puzzle: Tare (ours)
Hang numbered weights on a mobile until every beam balances. Some weights are hidden, and a beam carrying one sways instead of tilting, so you deduce them from picture cards. There are 200 levels, each machine-checked to have exactly one answer. The first 20 are free and $2.99 once unlocks the rest. It has no ads and plays offline. Full details →
Best exact number puzzle: Millrace (ours)
Slide and merge tiles to build one exact value on one marked cell within a move budget, with every arriving tile visible before your first move. It has 64 levels, each with a proven shortest solution, plus an endless Freeplay board. The campaign, Freeplay, and the Daily Challenge are free, with no ads, and it plays offline. Full details →

All ten compared

Summarised from each app's public US App Store listing and release notes; prices checked 9 October 2026. Prices, ads, and privacy labels change, so check the current listing before installing.

Game The puzzle How much Ads Price Privacy label
Baba Is YouRewrite the rules with word blocksMain game plus free packs (150+ and ~200 levels)None$6.99 onceData Not Collected
Simon Tatham's Puzzles38 classic puzzle typesGenerated fresh every gameNone listed; no in-app purchasesFree, open sourceData Not Collected
Good SudokuSudoku, with hints that teach70,000+ generated, plus your ownIn the free versionFree; $4.99 unlock; or Apple ArcadeData Not Linked to You, incl. third-party advertising
Nonograms KatanaNonograms (picross)1001, plus player-made puzzlesYes; $2.99 VIP removes themFree; VIP and hint packsData Not Linked to You
Tare (ours)Balance a hanging mobile; deduce hidden weights200 handcrafted, one proven answer eachNone20 levels free; $2.99 once for 180 moreData Not Collected
Millrace (ours)Build one exact tile value within a move budget64 levels with proven shortest solutions, plus endless FreeplayNoneFree; optional themes and undosNo account, no tracking
Threes!Endless slide-and-merge, 1 + 2 = 3One endless modeNone in the paid app; the free Freeplay edition has ads$5.99 onceData Not Collected (paid app)
Flow FreeConnect colour pairs and fill the board2,500+ free, plus paid packsYes; $4.99 removes themFree; or Flow Free+ on Apple ArcadeData Used to Track You
KAMI 2Flood a paper sheet to one colour in the fewest moves100+ handcrafted, a daily challenge, thousands of player puzzlesBetween puzzles, per player reviewsFree with in-app purchasesData Used to Track You
DragonBox AlgebraSolve equations as a game by isolating the box200 puzzles in 10 chapters, plus daily puzzlesNot statedFree to start; Kahoot! Kids $5.99/mo or $35.99/yrData Linked to You, incl. analytics

Deeper one-on-one comparisons: Tare vs Baba Is You · vs Simon Tatham's Puzzles · vs Good Sudoku · vs Nonograms Katana · vs DragonBox Algebra · Millrace vs Threes · vs Flow Free · vs KAMI 2 · vs Two Dots · vs Suika Game

Which games check for one right answer

The difference between a logic puzzle and a guessing game is whether the answer can be reasoned out. For grid puzzles that means a unique solution: a sudoku or nonogram with two valid fillings forces you to guess at some point. Nonograms Katana says each of its puzzles is tested by a program for exactly that. Tare (ours) checks more for its own genre: before release, a solver checks that each of its 200 levels has exactly one balanced arrangement, that the clue cards alone are enough to name every hidden weight, and that every decoy piece fits nowhere. How to solve a balance puzzle, and how Tare proves all 200 levels walks through a real level. Millrace (also ours) takes a different line: its levels can be solved more than one way, but an exhaustive search proves each level's shortest solution and shows it to you afterwards, as described in how Millrace finds and proves its puzzles. Endless games work differently. Threes!, Two Dots, and Suika Game all have random elements, so there is no single answer to find, only a better or worse score.

Ads, lives, and what the privacy label tells you

Pay once
Baba Is You ($6.99) and Threes! ($5.99) charge up front, with no in-app purchases and a Data Not Collected label. Tare asks $2.99 once after 20 free levels. If a puzzle game is how you wind down in the evening, a one-time price usually bothers you least.
Free with ads
Flow Free, KAMI 2, Nonograms Katana, Good Sudoku, and Threes! Freeplay are free because they show ads. Some sell a one-time purchase that removes them ($4.99 for Flow Free, a $2.99 VIP upgrade for Katana), which is often worth it for a game you play daily.
Apple Arcade editions
If you already pay for Apple Arcade, Threes!+, Flow Free+, and Good Sudoku+ are included, with no ads and no purchases.
Read the label before you install
Scroll to App Privacy on any App Store listing. "Data Used to Track You" (Flow Free, KAMI 2) means data from the app may be linked with other companies' data for advertising. "Data Not Collected" (Baba Is You, Simon Tatham's Puzzles, Tare) means the developer says nothing leaves the app. Labels are self-reported, but they are the quickest check you have.

For children, families, and any language

Tare (ours) has no words in the puzzle itself and no ads, chat, or account, so a child or a grandparent can play it in any language. If the goal is maths rather than play, DragonBox Algebra is the better tool: it teaches solving equations as a game and is recommended from age five, though it runs on a Kahoot! Kids account and subscription and collects data linked to that account. Baba Is You suits teenagers and adults, but its rules are written as words.

Popular, but a different kind of game

Two games turn up in every "puzzle" search that this guide leaves off the main list, because they are built around chance rather than deduction. Two Dots is a long-running saga with more than 5,000 levels and constant live events, played with five lives, power-ups, and ads. Suika Game is a physics drop-and-merge chase for the watermelon, $2.99 with optional skins, or Suika Game+ on Apple Arcade. Both do what they set out to do well, but neither has an answer to work out.

Our entries, for transparency

Tare A wordless balance puzzle. Hang the weights, balance every beam, and deduce the hidden ones. Wordless balance logic puzzle for iPhone and iPad. Deduce hidden weights from picture cards. 200 handmade levels, 20 free, offline, no ads. FreeiPhone · iPad Millrace A tile puzzle where every level has a proven shortest solution. A tile logic puzzle for iPhone and iPad: 64 levels, each with a proven shortest solution, plus Freeplay and a Daily Challenge. Free and offline. FreeiPhone · iPad

Questions

FAQ

What is the best logic puzzle game for iPhone?
It depends on the kind of puzzle. Baba Is You is the best premium puzzle game: $6.99 once, no in-app purchases, no ads, and an App Store Editors' Choice. For sudoku, Good Sudoku teaches the next technique as you play; for nonograms, Nonograms Katana has 1001 free puzzles; for variety at no cost, Simon Tatham's Puzzles has 38 puzzle types. For a puzzle where every level has exactly one answer you can prove, Tare (balance) and Millrace (exact tile delivery) are both machine-checked level by level (disclosure: both are made by the publisher of this guide).
What is the best free puzzle game with no ads?
Simon Tatham's Puzzles is free and open source, with 38 puzzle types, no in-app purchases, and a Data Not Collected privacy label. Millrace is free in full with no ads; its optional purchases are themes, undo bundles, and a tip. Tare has no ads either: its first 20 levels are free for good and one $2.99 purchase unlocks the other 180. If you subscribe to Apple Arcade, Threes!+, Flow Free+, and Good Sudoku+ are ad-free editions of those games.
Which puzzle games work offline on iPhone?
Tare and Millrace play fully in airplane mode; only purchases, and Millrace's Game Center scores, need a connection. Most puzzle games let you play installed levels offline, but their online features need a connection: KAMI 2's Daily Challenge and player-made puzzles are online, and Suika Game's rankings need a connection even though the paid app has an offline mode. If offline play matters, check for daily puzzles, leaderboards, and cloud saves, which are usually the parts that stop working.
Which puzzle games have exactly one solution per level?
Nonograms Katana says each of its puzzles is tested by a program for a unique solution. Tare checks every one of its 200 levels with a solver before release: exactly one balanced arrangement, every hidden weight fixed by its clue cards alone, and every decoy fitting nowhere. Millrace levels can be solved more than one way, but a breadth-first solver has proved every level's shortest solution, and the result card shows that best possible move count after you solve it. Endless games such as Threes!, Two Dots, and Suika Game have random elements, so there is no single right answer to find.
What is a good puzzle game for kids or for people who don't read English?
Tare has no words in the puzzle itself and has no ads, chat, or account, so it plays the same in any language and at any age. DragonBox Algebra is built for teaching: it turns solving equations into a game and is recommended from age five, though it runs on a Kahoot! Kids subscription and account. For teenagers and adults who enjoy rules that change, Baba Is You is the classic, but its rules are written as words.
Are Tare and Millrace free?
Millrace is free in full: all 64 levels, the endless Freeplay board, and the daily board, with no ads. Its only purchases are optional theme packs, undo bundles, and a tip, and no level needs any of them. Tare is a free download whose first chapter of 20 levels is free for good; one $2.99 purchase unlocks the other 180, with Family Sharing. Both are made by Lagerland Apps, the publisher of this guide. Tare's privacy label reads Data Not Collected, and Millrace has no account and no tracking.

Start here

Two puzzles with an answer you can prove

In Tare you balance every beam and deduce the hidden weights, with 20 levels free. In Millrace you deliver one exact tile within a move budget, and the whole game is free. Neither has ads or an account, and both play on a plane.

See Tare See Millrace

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