Chess Online

Review by eFreeware

What sets Chess Online apart from most chess apps I look at is its age and its scale. Chess Friends released it in January 2013, and it has since passed five million installs with a 4.6 average from more than 181,000 ratings. That combination of a long shelf life and a large, satisfied audience is unusual in the board category, where many titles come and go within a year or two.

The app is free, carries ads and offers in-app purchases, and it is rated Teen. The developer points to a community of 1.6 million registered players on its chessfriends.com site, which is the pool you draw from when you sit down for an online game. If you want opponents at any hour, that figure matters more than any single feature.

This is a chess app for a wide range of people. The developer pitches it at amateurs, professionals and children alike, and the mix of rated play, unrated play and a computer opponent with 20 strength levels backs that up. Whether you are learning your first openings or chasing a rating, the app tries to meet you where you are.

How a game actually plays out

The core loop is straightforward. You pick an opponent, choose a time control, and play. Chess Friends offers Classic, Blitz and Bullet formats, so a game can be a long, thoughtful session or a two-minute scramble depending on what you select. That range is one of the more practical things about the app, because it means the same account serves both your serious games and your quick breaks.

It is designed to stop misclicks and obvious blunders before they are committed, which is a genuinely useful safety net on a phone, where a finger can land on the wrong square. I would expect this to matter most to newer players and to anyone playing Bullet, where there is no time to double-check a move.

Games are rated or unrated, and the difference is meaningful. That split gives you room to try things without consequences, which is not something every chess app bothers to provide.

Ratings, statistics and a persistent profile

The app keeps a player account with a real rating attached to it. Rankings and detailed statistics are part of the package, presented with charts, so you can look back at how your results have moved over time rather than just seeing a single number. For anyone who plays regularly, that history is often the reason to stay with one app instead of hopping between several.

Your account is not tied to one device. It runs in web browsers and on mobile devices. That kind of continuity is convenient if you play in more than one place during the day.

You can also change the board and piece designs. It is a small thing, but a board you like looking at makes long games easier on the eyes. Multiple languages are supported as well, so the interface is not locked to English.

Playing alone and reviewing your games

Not every session needs an opponent online. Twenty levels is a wide spread, so the same engine can serve a beginner learning how the pieces move and a club player looking for a real fight.

The export feature is the one I would highlight for anyone trying to improve. You can send your games out to video analysis, which turns a finished game into study material rather than a result you forget. Combined with the unrated mode for testing openings, that gives the app a training angle beyond simply playing more games.

You can also play with friends, and the unrated mode is explicitly framed as a place to train openings and work on your results. Between the computer levels, the unrated games and the export option, there is a reasonable path here for someone who wants to get better rather than just pass the time.

Ads, purchases and what the app costs

Chess Online is free to download. It contains ads and it offers in-app purchases, so the experience is supported by more than one revenue stream. That is worth knowing before you install.

The developer does not lay out what the purchases cover, so I would treat them as something you will discover in the app rather than something you can plan around in advance.

The Teen rating is the other practical detail. It reflects the fact that this is an online game with a real community attached, which is normal for the category but worth noting if you are handing a device to a younger player.

The player this suits best

I would point this app at two groups. The first is the casual player who wants a game on demand without fussing over setup, and who values the ability to switch between a slow Classic game and a fast Bullet one. The second is the improving player who wants a rating to track, statistics to review and a way to export games for study.

The large registered community is what makes the first group viable. An online chess app lives or dies on whether there is someone to play, and 1.6 million registered players on the developer's platform is a strong answer to that question. The 4.6 average from a large body of ratings suggests the app has kept enough of those players happy over the years.

If you mainly want to play against an engine on your own terms, the 20 computer levels cover that too. The app does not force you into one style of play; it offers online games, computer games, rated and unrated, and lets you choose depending on your mood and how much time you have.

A long-running chess app that still earns its installs

Chess Online has been on the store since 2013 and was updated as recently as August 2026, which tells you the developer is still tending to it. The recent changes are mostly design improvements and bug fixes, the kind of housekeeping that keeps an app usable rather than transformative. For a chess app, that is exactly the right kind of maintenance.

My recommendation is straightforward. If you want a free chess app with a real player base, a computer opponent with plenty of levels, and enough statistics to make your progress visible, this is a sensible place to start.

It suits players who want one app to cover casual games, competitive rated play and solo practice. If you are looking for a single, focused way to play chess against other people and track how you are doing, Chess Online offers all of that in one place.

What's new in version 5.9.5

Chess Online - The most advanced Online Chess game - Design improvements - More chess fun - Minor bug fixes Don't forget to leave a review and let us know your opinion!