Chess with Friends: Online

This app is very nice but there’s some issues. The computer doesn’t play their move. Either they don’t at all, or takes forever, which a ai shouldn’t need to think. Which leads me to think there’s a error in the Script which makes the AI not work at all, or LocalScript which makes the AI’s decision making malfunction. Love the customization, But the bots need updating. This app, Anywho, is good for playing your friends but that’s about it. The other features are pretty much broken, not too good. A lot of changes are very, very much needed. Lastly, I don’t understand why names cost money. It feels so un-needed and greedy to make players pay around 5 dollars for a name! That’s flat out insane. Names are a fun gimmick to let people know who their playing against. Not some Ai name! And 5$ for that privilege is just a excuse for money. I know you need money from your apps but this is not it! It’s not the way.

This is a good way to teach my cousin how to play, pretty soon my cousin will beat me!

I chose to download this chess app in particular, because the company’s privacy policy claims to not track or collect/access personally identifying information, beyond log-in info used just to connect players so that they can play over the internet. I was excited about that, because I thought it would make it a safe option for playing chess remotely with an elderly family member and my younger nieces and nephews. Yet, the first ad I received immediately after setting up an account to play remotely was a malicious ad for phone cleaning software claiming my phone would shut down in 30 sec if I didn’t hit the download button. I’ve now received this malicious ad multiple times, despite only having played a few games… In general, I don’t mind ads because I understand that is how apps can be free. But app developers can control which ad networks can advertise through their apps, and this type of ad is notoriously used to trick people into downloading malware. The fact that I received this phishing ad immediately upon logging in (and multiple other times now) really bothers me; while I know not to click, some of those I previously planned to invite to use the app with me might not. To the developers: I commend your stated privacy policy, but please be more selective about your allowed ad networks, or it’s purpose is defeated! Other than that, I like the app so far for the most part, with a couple notes. I love that there’s a local 2-player mode that doesn’t require logging in. Also, contrary to another review, I like the fact that the opponent bot for single player mode is set up to make the best move; I’ve been using a different chess app that’s artificially designed to make errors that match the user’s skill level, and I feel like this app might be better than that one for improving my skill level as a result (I’m more interested in improving than winning when playing alone)… As for cons, mainly, I agree with another reviewer who pointed out that when one completes a practice puzzle, there’s no acknowledgement of that fact, rather, one needs to exit the game manually without an indicator that the solution was correct/incorrect, which is mildly annoying, and there’s the malicious ad issue. If it weren’t for the latter, I might’ve given a higher rating, but due to those particular ads, I won’t be using the app to play remotely with family members, which was my original goal.