Square Off Chess- Play & Learn

I got stuck with an old firmware version for my Square Off Pro and the app (which is up to date) doesn’t offer me the option to upgrade. It’s been more than a year like that. Deleted app, and reset board, but nothing.

Even just to place face to face with a friend requires you to spend $30 a year on a subscription. That’s outrageous considering the cost of the board. The AI’s are rubbish and very difficult or way too easy. Overall very disappointed and will probably sell my board.

I tried to download the new update but that wouldn’t work so it does tend to misfunction but it’s good when it doesn’t.

I got the app before the board but I found it really useful as someone new to chess. I have a pro board now and sometimes it is a bit difficult to work out why something isn’t working but overall it is okay. Great for playing with other Square off users but the app/board integration would be assisted with better in app support or help. Eg if you move a piece incorrectly there doesn’t appear to be any way to fix this other than turn everything off and start again. Support has been good on firmware upgrades and I feel this app will get better over time.

Worst worst app and product. What a debacle.

iPad lacks landscape...fail.

If this app and board worked, it’d be amazing. As it is, the pieces slide—the board never really flattened out for me, the moves aren’t always recorded accurately, and there are no ways to adjust moves—you have to resign or pause/quit. I first had issues with the five free AI games—all but one glitched so I couldn’t finish any of them except the last one. Then, I had to pay to play the AI. I subscribed for $29/year, but it didn’t register on my app, the free trial registered, but now I’m trying to find a way to cancel my paid subscription. This is all frustrating since no one wants to give back $, I’m on a scavenger hunt for answers. Customer support is not helpful, I got a robo-email response saying SquareOff was acquired by Miko and to wait for further updates. Great. I’m over this ridiculous concept—it could’ve been great but it’s too buggy and frustrating. Do the old-school board w/pieces, so much simpler.

The square off app, which is required to use most of the functions of the square off board is awful. I stopped using it over a year ago and just recently got back on to see if any of the issues have been fixed, and they have not. Still very buggy. If you enter a game, your opponents time does not automatically start. They can just sit and there is still no way to abort the game, so you just have to resign. I’m not sure if this is a strategy by player to increase their rating or if they are legitimately having connectivity issues, but it happens quite often. The app is basically unusable. Any ratings higher than a 2 star have got to be fake. Please download the app and take a look before you buy any of the square off products. There are so many better options on the market now.

Good app though

We love our grand kingdom set. It’s been going on strong for 5 years. The app, however has a big concern from me. My son has an account to learn chess and play with the board. He is getting inappropriate messages that say “Hi”. Luckily, he cannot open them! However, there are no options to block or delete them! There should be a way to deactivate messaging in the app, but there is not. Also, as a side note, I wish there were a way to use the app (he has a Plus account) with a pass and play feature to play chess with someone next to you without the board. Seems like an easy thing to do and overlooked by the developers.