Shredder’s user interface may have been overtaken by Christophe Theron’s Chess Pro based on the Chess Tiger engine. Despite its weaker engine, Chess Pro only narrowly wins overall as a better app due to better game analysis functionality that Shredder Chess also has. I would not recommend one over the other but rather getting both!Some of Shredder’s outstanding features are the simplicity and elegance of the user interface, ability to randomly alter the engine’s personality, automatic Elo rating adaptation based on game outcomes, ability to transmit games individually or as a collection of games in PGN format. Chess Tiger Pro currently cannot email as a collection of games but rather individually.Despite its age, Shredder remains one the best chess playing apps on iOS. It’s playing strength can automatically be adapted to the user’s playing strength if desired. There is an opening book. There is a basic position analysis function. There are puzzles. There is an indicator about which side is winning during the game. While not as good as a graph, it still makes it easy to detect blunders when there are abrupt shifts of the indicator.The biggest negative about Shredder is that it’s iPhone version is a separate purchase :-(

Shredder's iOS chess version is a well designed app. But the reply to a recent email I sent the company was misleading. Importing outside games was not added to this recent update. It still cannot show a move list which would allow you to quickly return to an earlier point to attempt a different move sequence. As a result, reviewing a game in Shredder is more cumbersome than Stockfish, tChess, Hiarcs, and ChessHD. The full-computer version of Shredder was just updated to v13 from v12 so I assume this app is stronger? The game's analysis function is nice but less useful than those of the tChess and "Analyze This" chess apps. It is hard to evaluate playing strength between the top iOS chess apps but Stockfish almost certainly is the strongest, and it may get an update soon as the full-computer version went from v7 to v8 a few weeks ago. Important - Stockfish is FREE. Shredder's value is its interface - the Puzzle Section is fun but a more extensive iOS "chess puzzle only" app is available and less expensive. The game play interface is easy to use(!) and attractive, and I enjoy the "game evaluation meter" over a simple number for whom is ahead in a game as seen in the other chess apps. Lastly, it is still possible that more database and game importing features will be added if the firm's recent email to me was accurate. I like Shredder and I do have hope.

I’ve played over 3,000 matches with Shredder. It’s flexible, powerful, and has most of the bells and whistles. The flexible game save function is helpful, and the leveling mechanic is reasonable. The biggest downsides are 1. The move suggestions, at least at my (middling) level are laughable. Follow them and you’ll win every time. But if you back up and try the same move on your own, without triggering it as a hint, you’ll be slaughtered. Meaning, when Shredder is teaching you, it sets up unrealistic responses that allow it to make successful hints. This is, in fact, the opposite of helpful. Even at my level, it was immediately obvious that the suggested moves were idiotic. 2. The puzzles are of little use, as they only test your knowledge. They do little to help you learn more. There is no explanation for why this or that is “...the best move for white”. And because it’s also timing you and scoring you, it feels judging, not supportive. When you fail, you just move on to the next puzzle, you don’t learn anything. It’s frustrating. Finally, the visuals are quite dated at this point, though that is obviously subjective and minor. All in all, it has a lot going for it, but really shows weaknesses as a teaching tool.

Great app that has been updated to restore functionality in iOS 10. Probably the best all-around chess app in the iOS world. Solid and proven engine, reasonable features (though a few things like the ability to save info to iCloud or Dropbox would be helpful), and with the most recent update, it runs pretty fast again.