My Favorite Chess App

HIARCS is now my favorite app. I use an iPhone SE with iOS 12. HIARCS is beautifully intuitive to run, and it shows you it’s Elo rating right on the display based on the processing power of your device. I believe it actually recognizes your phone’s CPU power. It displays 3075 elo on my smartphone. As with most chess apps, the phone can get warm or hot but this just shows the power being used. It can be reduced by features on the app to reduce power used, or by setting the phone to low power mode, or both. Naturally this will reduce it’s playing strength. Very much worth the low price!

Great but not "fun"

This is a really great chess program, as far as I, an extremely casual and occasional player, can tell. If I was avid, if I wanted to improve my game dramatically, etc., this would probably be my go-to app. I am no longer willing to invest that many mental resources in a game, however, which makes HIARCS a bit more serious and bare-bones than I'd like. I like knowing that HIARCS can achieve an Elo rating of 3125 on my iPhone 13 Pro Max even though I'll never need it to be anywhere near that strong. For my purposes, though, I'd prefer a "friendlier" app, that I can adjust to move the pieces more slowly and humanlike which would help me keep up with the action without having to regularly step back a move or two to see what just happened; that will show captured pieces, as that's one of my most basic ways to quickly gauge how the game is going; and while I'm at it, my ideal app will not have a forbidding, evil-looking icon (HIARCS's icon is just about as creepy as an iPhone icon can be). If you're looking for pure chess-playing power in an app that has a fair chance of beating a world champion, HIARCS is for you. If you would prefer something friendlier and better suited to the casual player, Then I'd recommend chess(dot)com or a different app. 🙏🏻

It has improved my playing in an enjoyable way.

This program is great fun and a painless way to become a better player. My only complaint was that Hiarcs should concede, and wasn’t. By the time I was finished expressing frustration to my wife, and fellow player, it had conceded. It is a wonderful opponent, so much so that I gave my electronic chess player a name. Last, certainly not least, “Jack” is open to a game, at my playing level, anytime, anywhere. I am indebted to the developers of this delightful device. Peter L.

Most Human-Like Engine There Is

I love to play chess but as busy as I am it can be hard to find a solid 30+ minute block to play uninterrupted. HIARCS adapts to my level in a way no other engine ever has, and I’ve tried a bunch of them. It is just like playing a human, although it does fall into patterns that you eventually get used to. This program scratches the itch until I have time to play OTB or online with a human.

Best By Far

I’ve tried several chess apps over the years but this one is the best for me by far. The coaching has taken me forward from beginner and has given me the self confidence to continue learning and growing while having a great deal of fun along the way. All of this without intrusive tracking or ads. Try it, you’ll never need another one.

I like

Very pleased with this app. I thought I had enough chess apps. (Been playing Shredder , it seems, forever. ). Only reason I purchased this was it can be used with my Millennium m820 and the link for Bluetooth . How great is that?Now that I have it I see what a terrific all around app it is. Well worth the price. It gives a battle even at the lower levels. Highly recommend.

Beautiful chess app

I love Hiarcs. Used it on an iPad Pro for many years, never a hitch. Now I use it on an iPhone 11, and sometimes it gets stuck ‘thinking’, and the only way to make it move is to close the app and open it again. That is the only flaw I found.

Fantastic engine but annoying animations

This chess app is fantastic, I plan to buy the desktop version soon. The adaptive rating makes it feel like you’re playing another real person, and it improves as you do. The only issue is the in-app animations, they flip the whole screen around and look super old and dated. Please fix this in the next update!

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AppAdvice Thu Sep 18 2025