What is the best match-3 game app for iPhone?

Royal Match, S tier, ranked #1 of 40, rated 4.7 by 3,861,869 people.

Which match-3 game apps are free?

40 of 40 are free to download: Royal Match (S), Cookie Jam: Match 3 Games (S), Best Fiends - Match 3 Puzzles (S), Candy Crush Saga (S) and more. 36 of them sell in-app purchases.

Which match-3 game app has the best App Store rating?

Castle Crush-Match 3 at 4.9 from 17,908 ratings.

AppTierList › All lists › Match-3 Games

Best Match-3 Game Apps for iPhone (2026)

40 apps ranked S through F · Updated 2026-10-19 · Ranked by AppTierList, computed, never sold · JSON

Part of Matching Games.

Royal Match is the top-ranked of 40 match-3 game apps on iPhone, at S tier with 4.7/5 from 3,861,869 ratings.

1
Royal MatchS
Free + IAP · ★ 4.7 · 3,861,869 ratings · score 98
2
Cookie Jam: Match 3 GamesS
Free + IAP · ★ 4.7 · 496,688 ratings · score 98
3
Best Fiends - Match 3 PuzzlesS
Free + IAP · ★ 4.8 · 309,708 ratings · score 97
4
Candy Crush SagaS
Free + IAP · ★ 4.7 · 4,027,048 ratings · score 97
5
Cookie Jam Blast™ Match 3 GameS
Free + IAP · ★ 4.7 · 194,667 ratings · score 97

What belongs in this list

Play a match-3 puzzle game where I swap or connect pieces to make rows of three or more.

Not here: Matching pairs of cards alone; Triple tile stacking alone; Any puzzle game with a 3 in its title alone; Casual game with colorful gems and no match rule alone; A sports game with a match theme 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

1
Royal MatchS
Free + IAP · ★ 4.7 · 3,861,869 ratings · score 98 · best in class
2
Cookie Jam: Match 3 GamesS
Free + IAP · ★ 4.7 · 496,688 ratings · score 98 · best in class
3
Best Fiends - Match 3 PuzzlesS
Free + IAP · ★ 4.8 · 309,708 ratings · score 97 · best in class
4
Candy Crush SagaS
Free + IAP · ★ 4.7 · 4,027,048 ratings · score 97 · best in class
5
Cookie Jam Blast™ Match 3 GameS
Free + IAP · ★ 4.7 · 194,667 ratings · score 97 · best in class
6
Piggy Kingdom - Match 3 GamesS
Free + IAP · ★ 4.9 · 78,343 ratings · score 96 · best in class
7
Match MastersS
Free + IAP · ★ 4.7 · 189,426 ratings · score 96 · best in class
8
HomescapesS
Free + IAP · ★ 4.6 · 2,177,831 ratings · score 96 · best in class
9
Match VillainsS
Free + IAP · ★ 4.7 · 181,960 ratings · score 95 · best in class
10
Bejeweled Stars: Match 3 GameA
Free + IAP · ★ 4.6 · 76,625 ratings · score 95 · excellent
11
Dream Mania - Match 3 GamesA
Free + IAP · ★ 4.8 · 51,431 ratings · score 95 · excellent
12
Empires & Puzzles: Match-3 RPGA
Free + IAP · ★ 4.7 · 102,281 ratings · score 94 · excellent
13
Gummy Drop! Match 3 PuzzlesA
Free + IAP · ★ 4.6 · 80,982 ratings · score 94 · excellent
14
Candy Crush Soda SagaA
Free + IAP · ★ 4.7 · 778,080 ratings · score 94 · excellent
15
Clockmaker: Match 3 PuzzlesA
Free + IAP · ★ 4.6 · 185,418 ratings · score 94 · excellent
16
Castle Crush-Match 3A
Free + IAP · ★ 4.9 · 17,908 ratings · score 94 · excellent
17
Toy BlastA
Free + IAP · ★ 4.7 · 1,204,993 ratings · score 93 · excellent
18
The Wizard of Oz Magic Match 3A
Free + IAP · ★ 4.7 · 137,350 ratings · score 93 · excellent
19
Cradle of Empires・Match 3 gameA
Free + IAP · ★ 4.6 · 35,175 ratings · score 93 · excellent
20
Manor Cafe: Match 3 PuzzleB
Free + IAP · ★ 4.6 · 63,445 ratings · score 93 · good
21
Royal KingdomB
Free + IAP · ★ 4.7 · 1,151,988 ratings · score 92 · good
22
Farm Heroes SagaB
Free + IAP · ★ 4.6 · 94,930 ratings · score 92 · good
23
Mundus - match 3 puzzle gamesB
Free + IAP · ★ 4.7 · 8,675 ratings · score 92 · good
24
Jewels of Egypt・Match 3 PuzzleB
Free download · ★ 4.6 · 16,118 ratings · score 91 · good
25
FishdomB
Free + IAP · ★ 4.6 · 1,151,010 ratings · score 90 · good
26
Jewels Magic: Mystery Match3B
Free + IAP · ★ 4.7 · 27,546 ratings · score 90 · good
27
Wonka's World of Candy Match 3B
Free + IAP · ★ 4.8 · 84,361 ratings · score 89 · good
28
Monster Busters:Match 3 PuzzleB
Free + IAP · ★ 4.8 · 15,648 ratings · score 89 · good
29
Harry Potter: Puzzles & SpellsB
Free + IAP · ★ 4.7 · 238,549 ratings · score 89 · good
30
Gems of War: Match 3 StrategyC
Free + IAP · ★ 4.7 · 10,324 ratings · score 89 · situational
31
Angry Birds HatchlingsC
Free + IAP · ★ 4.6 · 159,507 ratings · score 89 · situational
32
Call of Antia: Match 3 RPGC
Free + IAP · ★ 4.7 · 22,193 ratings · score 89 · situational
33
Genies & Gems: Puzzle & QuestsC
Free + IAP · ★ 4.7 · 143,670 ratings · score 88 · situational
34
Jewel Fever - Match 3 GamesC
Free + IAP · ★ 4.7 · 27,325 ratings · score 87 · situational
35
Jewels of Rome・Match 3 GemsC
Free + IAP · ★ 4.5 · 46,148 ratings · score 87 · situational
36
Solitaire Match 3 Puzzle GameC
Free download · ★ 4.7 · 15,893 ratings · score 87 · situational
37
Storyngton Hall: Match 3 gamesC
Free + IAP · ★ 4.7 · 11,118 ratings · score 87 · situational
38
Candy Valley - Match 3 PuzzleC
Free download · ★ 4.8 · 3,274 ratings · score 86 · situational
39
Game of Thrones: Legends - PVPC
Free download · ★ 4.8 · 7,340 ratings · score 86 · situational
40
Toon BlastC
Free + IAP · ★ 4.7 · 2,817,808 ratings · score 85 · situational

Beyond the top 40

206 more, not ranked yet

New in the last 30 days

Questions people ask

What is the best match-3 game app for iPhone?: Royal Match, S tier, ranked #1 of 40, rated 4.7 by 3,861,869 people.
Which match-3 game apps are free?: 40 of 40 are free to download: Royal Match (S), Cookie Jam: Match 3 Games (S), Best Fiends - Match 3 Puzzles (S), Candy Crush Saga (S) and more. 36 of them sell in-app purchases.
Which match-3 game app has the best App Store rating?: Castle Crush-Match 3 at 4.9 from 17,908 ratings.
How many match-3 game apps reach S or A tier?: 19 of 40. 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.