Chessable

Sean Oakley

2 years ago

NOT VERY INTUITIVE!! While I do like the idea of repetition when learning new things, this app falls short when a new concept is taught. Instead of teaching you the opening sequence first and then practicing the moves in order, the chessboard is presented with moves already made and a timer counting down to zero. With the expectation I am to make the next move correctly. I find this is a major flaw that should be corrected. Please teach me first, then quiz me later.

Aaron Wilson

2 years ago

2 year chessable user here with a 350 day streak going. I use chessable every day. The mobile app is nice for the reading pane adjustability. They just added the ability to download videos which is really nice if you have limited internet. You can't buy any paid courses via the app (yet). I still find the web app in Chrome to be snappier, when you finish a position it automatically jumps to the last read position, that functionality definitely needs to be added to the mobile app.

Gus Logozar

1 year ago

If I could critique one thing, there should be an analysis option or button which let's you consult the engine while studying openings from specific positions. This is a feature on the website version, and it's annoying when I want to quickly understand why certain moves fail/succeed and don't have that resource available. Please add this feature soon.

Zachary Bruner

1 year ago

Going from total beginner to now intermediate strength, it helped me learn alot. I saw some people criticize how it teaches you the moves you've gotten wrong, as it plays the move over 3 times. I'm 50/50 with that because the repetition did help me learn the moves, but I can understand how it's beneficial to start over from the beginning opposed to just continuing. Right now the app is not letting me access any lessons at all. Not sure why. I can't search new lessons. Please fix. Til then 4 star

Faye Hickam

2 years ago

It's a great app for learning chess, but it provides very little in the way of direction or suggestions of what to do beyond the tutorial lesson. This makes it a bit inaccessible for newer chess players, as there's no real explanation of how to get new courses, how to tell if a course is right for your skill level, how courses are meant to be taken (some come with videos, and it's not really made clear if you should watch the hours long video first) or an idea of where to get started.

Stella Cluff

2 years ago

I'm a long time user of chessable on mobile and the primary function of this app of alleviating the pain points of using the mobile site is successful. There are some complaints of some lag/delays but that has always been an issue with the chessable api and is occasionally present on all platforms; but more often there is no lag and the app feels very responsive. I also really like the small design changes of the app versus the mobile app and the presentation of the UI.

Mister Mister

1 year ago

I use the website and the concept is solid. However, the app falls short. Crashes and gets stuck multiple times. For instance, the "daily streak reminder" countdown screen bugs out and you have to restart the app. 4 stars, hoping they fix it.Update 03/02/23: The app is so clunky. Even if the course is downloaded, it still freezes and bugs out after completing a variation. This doesn't fix the issue. Inconsistent and buggy. 1 star.

Jacob McDevitt

6 months ago

great app if you're willing to work hard and use it to its potential. Edit: app is sometimes unreliable and is missing nice features, but if you use the mobile website and just add to homescreen you get all features and don't have to deal with occasional app failures. Still 5 stars cause chessable is awesome.

Sterling Albury

10 months ago

Pretty sure I just lost my streak after updating the app. I wish there was a way to review a random set of variations whenever I wanted. I also don't like landing in the middle of a variation when reviewing... I'd rather play the line from the start. I bought a subscription but the app just hung...only saw the spinner. Now after restarting the app, it's not seeing my subscription. If I try to buy the subscription again, it gives an error.

Jason Walker

2 years ago

You can spend $100 on a video course, and still have to pay a monthly subscription fee to cache your video for online viewing. There's also no way to jump to the video timestamp for a variation. Rating the app as a companion to the two courses I splurged and purchased the video for, I have to rate 1 star. Given that those video purchases were so expensive I think it's fair to ask to view them offline without an additional subscription.

Brad Knutson

1 year ago

Too many bugs and app crashes. Clunky interface and inconsistency between the browser version and the app. I love chessable, but the app has issues and is very clunky. It's not a good sign if I prefer to use the browser version on my phone over the app. I'm happy to submit the occasional bug report, but at a certain point you start to feel like the QA team you wish they had. Will update this review when I see improvements.

Ori Livneh

2 years ago

Got this to practice on the subway, but the app doesn't handle intermittent connectivity well. You can't download courses for offline use, and if you solve a problem while disconnected, the app often gets into a bad state that does not let you go to the next problem even after connectivity is restored. UI latency is also quite high: moving the pieces feels sluggish. Three stars because the content is great, but the app needs work.

Eli Williams

3 years ago

Reasonably imitates the chessable website, and chessable is a great learning tool. However there are some features that are not implemented, or could be implemented better. 1) There is no offline mode. 2) Pieces do not make a sound when moved. 3) Video player does not use entire screen when maximized. 4) Video player does not prevent screen lock. 5) Missing features such as opening explorer found on the website. 6) Cannot access reviews or discussion pages of courses. 7) Cannot buy new courses.

Dan Heins

8 months ago

It's pretty good but could be better. I'd like to choose an opening to study. I don't like when it skips past the moves I know and goes straight to the one I have forgotten. I'd prefer the reinforcement of repetition storing known with known. It is however possible to learn from the app and for that I'm grateful.

Pierre Espenan

8 months ago

This is not really the fault of chessable but playing on a small screen on my phone is not as good as on a 4K screen with my computer. Also I use Stockfish 16 to assess the positions on my computer which I find difficult to do with the Android app. On the computer I extract and save the variations into a pgn database which is also difficult with Android app. With these specific limitations, the app is still good and certainly more portable.

Brandon Ellison

6 months ago

I really like this app, but it badly needs an analysis feature like the online version has or at a minimum a way to export positions to a FEN for analysis in another app. I find myself in a lot of positions where I want to explore an idea with an engine, and the only option is to open the website or screen shot and import it to another program.

neozuki

4 months ago

The app always briefly shows my to-dos and streak then I need to manually reload to get it to display correctly. The app runs very poorly. Incredibly poorly. My phone that can run 3d apps like Pokemon Go would struggle with chessable. Moving images should be silky smooth. A chess app should be silky smooth. Poor UX, poor performance. Should probably switch to using the site.