Sudoku.com - Sudoku Puzzle

Review by eFreeware

Sudoku.com is the puzzle app that most people picture when they think of sudoku on a phone: a free download from Easybrain with more than 100 million installs and a 4.7 average across over 2.5 million ratings. What stands out to me is the sheer breadth of the puzzle catalog. There are more than 10,000 classic sudoku games inside, spread over six difficulty levels, and the app has been available since November 2017.

It is built for a wide range of solvers. The fast and easy levels give newcomers a way to learn the 9x9 grid without being punished for mistakes, while the hard, expert and giant puzzles give experienced players something to sink into. If you already know the rules and want a large, well-organized supply of grids, the app is clearly aimed at you.

Offline play is supported, which matters for a puzzle game. I'd expect this to be the sort of app you can open on a flight, in a waiting room or anywhere else without a connection, since the developer says the puzzles work without one. Ads and in-app purchases are both present, and the app is free to download.

What sets it apart from a basic sudoku app

Plenty of sudoku apps offer a grid and a timer. What makes this one more interesting to me is the structure around the puzzles. There are daily sudoku challenges that award unique trophies, and seasonal events where solving puzzles earns medals. Those two features give the game a reason to come back beyond simply finishing the next grid, and they are the parts I'd expect long-term players to care about most.

The catalog is also unusually wide. Six difficulty levels, from fast through easy, medium and hard up to expert and giant, means the same app can serve someone learning the basics and someone who wants a long, punishing solve. Each classic puzzle has one solution, so there's no ambiguity about whether a grid is solvable.

The app supports both phones and tablets, and on tablets it works in portrait and landscape. That is a small detail, but it says something about how the game is meant to be used: as a comfortable, sit-down puzzle rather than a cramped one. The design is described as simple and intuitive, which is what I'd want from a game where the grid itself should be the focus.

How the puzzles work

The core is the standard 9x9 sudoku grid. You fill cells with numbers so that each row, column and block contains every digit once. The app adds a few conveniences on top: hints for when you're stuck, auto-check to flag mistakes as you go, and duplicate highlighting to stop you repeating a number in a row, column or block. You can also turn auto-check off and work out your own errors if you prefer the stricter version of the game.

The notes feature is the one I'd expect most solvers to lean on. You can pencil in candidates the way you would with a paper grid, and the app updates those notes automatically each time you fill a cell. That removes the tedious part of note-taking without removing the reasoning. There's also an eraser for clearing mistakes and unlimited undos, so a wrong entry or an accidental duplicate is easy to reverse.

Auto-save is another practical touch. If you leave a puzzle unfinished, it's saved and you can pick it up again later. Combined with row, column and box highlighting around the selected cell, the whole package is designed to keep you oriented in a grid that can get dense at the higher levels. Statistics track your progress per difficulty, including your best time, which gives the harder levels a scoreboard of their own.

Daily challenges, events and tournaments

The daily challenge is the feature I'd expect to shape the app's routine. Completing it earns a trophy, and the developer frames it as a way to start the day with one or two puzzles. For anyone who wants a fixed daily target rather than an endless list of grids, that structure is the main draw.

Seasonal events go further by handing out medals for solving puzzles during a limited window. These are the closest thing to a social layer here: the rewards are individual, but the timing gives them a shared rhythm. The most recent update adds tournaments, which the developer describes as a competitive challenge with a top spot to aim for. That is a genuine expansion of what the app does, and it's billed as thrilling, so I'd treat it as the newest thing to try rather than the reason to install.

Between daily challenges, seasonal events and tournaments, there is more going on than in a plain puzzle collection. None of it changes the underlying game, but it does give the app a reason to stay installed once you've worked through a few dozen grids.

Who it suits

The clearest fit is someone who already plays sudoku and wants a large, dependable supply of puzzles in one place. Six difficulty levels and more than 10,000 grids mean you're unlikely to run out, and the statistics give you something to measure against as you move up. The giant puzzles in particular are for players who want a long session rather than a quick break.

Beginners are well served too. The fast and easy levels are there for learning, and the hints, auto-check and duplicate highlighting lower the cost of a wrong guess. If you've never finished a sudoku and want to understand how the logic works, this is a forgiving place to start, and you can switch off the assists later as you improve.

It also suits people who want a puzzle to carry around. Offline play, auto-save and support for both phones and tablets mean the game fits into odd moments without needing a connection. The trade-off is that the app is free with ads and in-app purchases, so a completely uninterrupted session isn't what you're getting. For most solvers that will be a reasonable exchange for the size of the catalog.

The verdict on Sudoku.com

Sudoku.com is a well-rounded take on a familiar puzzle. The catalog is large, the six difficulty levels cover a wide range of ability, and the assists, notes and undo tools make the grid pleasant to work in. Daily challenges, seasonal events and the newer tournaments add reasons to return that a bare puzzle list wouldn't have.

The compromises are the usual ones for a free app: ads and in-app purchases are part of the package. Beyond that, what you see is what you get. It sticks to classic sudoku, which is fine for a game that knows exactly what it is.

If you want a dependable sudoku app with plenty of puzzles and a difficulty setting for almost any mood, this is an easy recommendation. If you're new to the game, the easier levels and hints make it a gentle entry point. Either way, it's a free download with a long track record behind it.

What's new in version 7.9.0

- Take on the challenge and compete in our thrilling tournaments! We're rooting for you to seize the top spot every time. - Performance and stability improvements. We hope that you enjoy playing Sudoku.com. We read all your reviews carefully to make the game even better for you. Please leave us some feedback to let us know why you love this game and what you'd like us to improve in it. Keep your mind active with Sudoku.com!