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Best Chess Learning Apps for iPhone (2026)
Chess.com - Play and Learn is the top-ranked of 24 chess learning apps on iPhone, at S tier with 4.8/5 from 846,342 ratings.
- 1
Free + IAP · ★ 4.8 · 846,342 ratings · score 99 - 2
Free + IAP · ★ 4.7 · 5,512,178 ratings · score 97 - 3
Free download · ★ 4.7 · 101,630 ratings · score 96 - 4
Free + IAP · ★ 4.8 · 27,055 ratings · score 95 - 5
Free + IAP · ★ 4.8 · 5,972 ratings · score 93
What belongs in this list
Learn the rules of chess and how to play it, starting from beginner level.
Not here: a chess clock or timer alone; a chess board for playing against others with no lessons alone; a chess engine or game that offers no teaching alone; lessons for math, reading or language alone; a general chatbot that could be asked about chess alone
How we pick
For this list we ask the App Store the same searches a person would, in several countries, and keep every app it returns. A model reads each app's listing and rejects the ones that only mention the use case. Every app that stays is scored out of 100 from four parts, each 0 to 100 and averaged with no weights: its App Store rating, how many people rated it, where the App Store itself ranks it for this list's searches, and how recently its current version shipped. An app showing Apple's Editors' Choice badge gets a fifth part of 100, which can only lift its score. Tiers follow fixed score bands: S from 90, A from 80, B from 70, C from 60, D from 50, F below. The list's leader is S if it scores 80 or more. On a list of 20 or more ranked apps, a tier from S to D takes in new apps only up to a quarter of the top 40: an app pushed out of a full tier falls to the next tier with room, and F takes the rest. An app already in a tier keeps its place while the tier is at most 2 apps over a quarter; past that, only the apps over that margin go down, lowest score first. Equal scores share a tier, and no app has a better tier than an app ranked above it. An app keeps its tier until its score passes the band edge by more than 1 point, or a full tier or the order above moves it. Only the top 40 of a list get a tier. Read the full method →
Compare every app
- 1Free + IAP · ★ 4.8 · 846,342 ratings · score 99 · best in class
- 2Free + IAP · ★ 4.7 · 5,512,178 ratings · score 97 · best in class
- 3Free download · ★ 4.7 · 101,630 ratings · score 96 · best in class
- 4Free + IAP · ★ 4.8 · 27,055 ratings · score 95 · best in class
- 5Free + IAP · ★ 4.8 · 5,972 ratings · score 93 · best in class
- 6
$9.99 + IAP · ★ 4.9 · 23,638 ratings · score 93 · best in class - 7
Free + IAP · ★ 4.7 · 38,594 ratings · score 92 · best in class - 8
Free download · ★ 4.8 · 5,035 ratings · score 91 · excellent - 9
Free + IAP · ★ 4.5 · 20,221 ratings · score 91 · excellent - 10
Free download · ★ 4.7 · 29,144 ratings · score 89 · excellent - 11
Free download · ★ 4.7 · 26,947 ratings · score 88 · excellent - 12
Free + IAP · ★ 4.7 · 6,322 ratings · score 88 · excellent - 13
Free + IAP · ★ 4.7 · 161,674 ratings · score 86 · excellent - 14
n/a · ★ 4.7 · 6,577 ratings · score 84 · excellent - 15
Free download · ★ 4.7 · 3,704 ratings · score 84 · good - 16
Free + IAP · ★ 4.6 · 14,707 ratings · score 80 · good - 17
Free download · ★ 4.4 · 3,035 ratings · score 78 · good - 18
Free download · ★ 4.8 · 12,696 ratings · score 67 · situational - 19
Free download · ★ 4.8 · 2,502 ratings · score 67 · situational · provisional - 20
Free download · ★ 4.7 · 4,025 ratings · score 63 · situational - 21
Free + IAP · ★ 4.6 · 647 ratings · score 63 · situational - 22
Free download · ★ 4.7 · 2,893 ratings · score 63 · situational - 23
Free download · ★ 4.6 · 3,536 ratings · score 62 · situational - 24
Free download · ★ 4.5 · 3,633 ratings · score 54 · weak
New in the last 30 days
- Chessable: Study Chess Smarter (S)
- Chess Tiger Pro (S)
- Chess Tactics and Lessons (A)
- Chess Royale (A)
- Chess Online - Clash of Kings (A)
- Chess Online + (A)
- Chess Universe - Play Online (A)
- Chess Universe+ (A)
- Chess Tactics Pro (Puzzles) (B)
- Pocket Chess (B)
- Square Off Chess- Play & Learn (B)
- Magnus Trainer - Train Chess (C)
- Chess King - Learn to Play (C)
- Play Magnus - Play Chess (C)
- Chess + (C)
- 3D Chess Game (C)
- Chess Adventure for Kids (D)
Questions people ask
- What is the best chess learning app for iPhone?
- Chess.com - Play and Learn, S tier, ranked #1 of 24, rated 4.8 by 846,342 people.
- Which chess learning apps are free?
- 22 of 24 are free to download: Chess.com - Play and Learn (S), Duolingo: Learn Languages (S), Chess for Kids: Learn to Play (S), Learn Chess with Dr. Wolf (S) and more. 10 of them sell in-app purchases.
- Which chess learning app has the best App Store rating?
- Chess Tiger Pro at 4.9 from 23,638 ratings.
- How many chess learning apps reach S or A tier?
- 14 of 24. Tiers follow fixed score bands: S from 90, A from 80, B from 70, C from 60, D from 50, F below. The list's leader is S if it scores 80 or more. On a list of 20 or more ranked apps, a tier from S to D takes in new apps only up to a quarter of the top 40: an app pushed out of a full tier falls to the next tier with room, and F takes the rest. An app already in a tier keeps its place while the tier is at most 2 apps over a quarter; past that, only the apps over that margin go down, lowest score first. Equal scores share a tier, and no app has a better tier than an app ranked above it. An app keeps its tier until its score passes the band edge by more than 1 point, or a full tier or the order above moves it. Only the top 40 of a list get a tier.
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