Best Chess Apps To Learn and Play Chess [Ultimate Guide]

In today's world, we can use the internet to find information about chess. If you play chess or are just starting, a chess app can be really helpful.

Good chess apps have many features, like puzzles, tactics, and strategies to improve your game.

You can also play chess with your friends using these apps. Wouldn't it be great to have a list of chess apps to choose from?

The good news is that I'm going to share some of the best and lesser-known chess apps that you can check out in this article! Enjoy!

Here Are The Best Chess Learning and Playing Apps Today

To give you a quick overview here are the chess apps that you can use right now:

1. Chess.com
2. Play Magnus
3. Magnus Trainer
4. Learn Chess with Dr. Wolf
5. ChessKid
6. Chess King Learn

I have only used one app to play chess online. I started playing on my computer, not even on my phone.

Later, I found out that this chess app is called chess.com. Many top chess players use it, and so do beginners who want to learn and play chess.

Now, let’s check out the best apps for playing chess!

Recommended Reading: If you want to learn if online chess learning is better than reading chess books, read this article.

Best Chess Playing Apps

1. Chess.com

This app has a user-friendly interface and many options to choose from. It is great for both beginners and experienced chess players. To play chess, you can pick a computer opponent and choose the difficulty level you want.

You can also play chess online with your friends, which is amazing!

2. Play Magnus

This is Magnus' official chess app, and it's really great! Both beginners and experienced chess players will enjoy using it. The user interface is easy to understand, but there will be some ads that pop up now and then.

Overall, if you just want to play chess, this free app is a lot of fun. You can even play against Magnus Carlsen, starting from when he was 5 years old up to 29 years old.

You can use this app to play chess anytime, even without internet access. However, some features will need the internet to work.

Best Chess Learning Apps

Chess teaching apps are very much popular not only to a beginner or more experienced chess player…

But for people who teach chess to kids or for chess coaches that want to gain more knowledge in chess.

Here are the best apps to learn chess and my favorite learning chess apps you can install on your phone!

1. Chess.com

If you haven't check this one yet, chess.com offers a lot of tutorials for beginners and intermediate chess players to learn chess!

You may have noticed that this chess app is also on my list of the best app to play chess, well its because this app has this feature of learning chess. 🙂

And you can learn a lot of excellent lessons and have fun at the same time. Yes, learning chess can be so much fun too… 🙂

I would also say that this is the best app to learn chess openings!

Although there are some lessons that you need to become a member and but I believe the free version is going to be very useful for chess beginners to learn the basics!

2. Magnus Trainer

This is not the same as the Play Magnus app, but they are both created as Magnus Carlsen's ultimate chess application.

I have already tried this chess app, and it is easy to navigate – you can start the course in the basics, easy, medium and hard.

The course will explain the history of chess, and whichever topic you are or level in the course you are going to have more information about it.

This chess app is worth checking out! I still have it installed on my iPhone! 🙂

The only issue I can find about this app is that it won't be free for long! You need to pay monthly to access some of the more important lessons.

3. Learn Chess with Dr Wolf

This is another chess learning app that teaches you like a bot in a messenger.

You will be asked a series of questions, and depending on your answer, the app or Dr Wolf will guide you accordingly.

For example, I ask about the rules of chess by selecting the options available, and then the answers will be further reduced to a specific move, tactics, etc…

After that, this chess app will finally show you the chessboard, and then at the top of the screen, there will be an explanation given by Dr Wolf himself! Cool huh!

I tried to click the back arrow of the app, and I can't seem to go back to the most previous question or option to play chess.

But…

The option that you would most likely to choose is the “Let's move on” option – once you select that option to choose “Play a game”! You can play from a beginner to advanced option absolutely free, and Dr Wolf explains every move as well! This is another fantastic chess app to have on your phone! 🙂

4. ChessKid

You can look for this app on your iPhone using the ChessKid or Chess for Kids…

The creator of this app is the same creators of Chess.com, so the setup and user interface will have some similarities, and this is an excellent chess app for kids (obviously)…

ChessKid app makes it fun for your kids to learn chess, but you need to guide them at the same time. This chess app can also be played on a computer, my daughter uses this application on her computer, and she enjoys it a lot!

Your kids can play with a bot, by selecting “Play a Bot” or with learning chess they can select “Learn to Play”, and the app will give them instruction that they need to accomplish like “Capture the Star”, and they need to move the chess piece till they can capture the star on the chessboard!

I let my daughter play with this app anytime, besides this app is very educational for kids, and they will learn to think strategically, and learn to analyze situations!

Best Chess Puzzles, Chess Analysis and Chess Tactics Apps

1. Chess.com

You can find training tools that include puzzles which is new in the dashboard menu of this chess app.

Also, go through a series of puzzles, tactics, etc., and the app will help you analyze the game too!

After that access the puzzles and tactics for free!

But…

I do recommend you check out the membership plan for this app to get more advanced lessons and also this could be the best chess app to play with friends which is an excellent multiplayer chess application!

2. Chess King Learn

This chess app is the one I use to create my youtube videos, well the chess app in computer…

I installed the free version of this app on my phone, and you will find a lot of option, especially for the puzzles or tactics that you can study using your phone.

When you play with the “Mate in 1” tactics in Chess King Learn, for example, you will go through a timed and series of mate puzzles! You can have perfect practice time with this feature, especially for beginners; this is very useful for chess analysis.

It does have a buy version of this app and will give you more access, but the free version is more than enough!

Best Chess App for Android and iPhone

Here are some great chess apps you can download on both Android and iPhone:

1. Chess.com – Available on both Android and iPhone.
2. Magnus Trainer – Available on both Android and iPhone.
3. Play Magnus – Available on both Android and iPhone.
4. Learn Chess with Dr. Wolf – Available on iPhone and coming soon to Android.
5. ChessKid – Available on both Android and iPhone.
6. ChessKing Learn – Available on both Android and iPhone.

These apps are some of the best for beginners who want to play and learn chess right away!

Best Chess Learning Apps Available for iPhone and Android

Finding the best chess app for iPhone and Android can be fun! The right app should help you learn how to play chess easily while also being enjoyable.

When I looked for a chess app, I wanted two main things: the first was the ability to play offline on my iPhone, and the second was to have chess tactics or lessons included in the app.

I want to share a list of chess apps that I found helpful for my chess journey.

1. Analyze this!
2. Chess24
3. Chess.com
4. Chess Clock by Chess.com
5. Chess Genius
6. Chess Light
7. Chess Pro with Coach
8. Chess Studio
9. Chess Tactics Pro (Puzzles)
10. Chess Time
11. Chess Trainer
12. Chess Viewer by Everyman Chess
13. DroidFish
14. FollowChess App
15. Forward Chess
16. iChess – Chess Puzzles
17. Lichess
18. Scid on the go
19. Ultimate Chess Clock
20. Warfare Chess 2

Recommended reading: If you want to find out about the best way to learn chess, read this article.