Airplane Chess
Chess with no network at all
Free · Designed for iPad. Not verified for macOS.
Now in ten languages, Dutch among them. Still no network, no account and no ads — a whole game of chess for a plane, a bus, or a car on a long road.
Airplane Chess is chess for the places a network doesn't reach — a plane, a bus, a tunnel, a car on a long road.
Nothing it does needs a server. There are no accounts to make, no ads, no tracking, and no connection to drop halfway through a game.
THREE WAYS TO PLAY
• Against the computer, at three levels. It thinks at a human pace rather than answering the instant you move.
• Pass and play, one phone between two people, the board turning to face whoever is to move.
• Two phones side by side, with no network of any kind — over Bluetooth, and between iPhones over Apple's peer-to-peer Wi-Fi as well. Paired players get a lobby: play a game, or just talk.
THE WHOLE GAME, PROPERLY
Castling, en passant and promotion. Stalemate, insufficient material, threefold repetition and the fifty-move rule — every way a game of chess can end, including the ones most apps quietly skip.
Take a move back, resign, or offer a draw. A game you walk away from is still there when you come back, even if the phone restarted in between.
Finished games are kept. Step through any of them a move at a time, or send one out as PGN — the format lichess and chess.com both read.
IN TEN LANGUAGES
Catalan, Dutch, English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Polish, Brazilian Portuguese and Spanish, following your phone unless you tell it otherwise. There is a short guide to the app and to the rules of chess in every one of them.
NOTHING TO SET UP
No sign-in and no account. A one-minute tour of the board the first time you open it, offered rather than forced, and skippable in one tap. Playing a phone nearby asks for Bluetooth the first time and nothing else — never your location.
Ratings & Reviews
- This app hasn’t received enough ratings or reviews to display an overview.
The developer, Paulo Henrique Carvalho Bing, indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy .
Data Not Collected
The developer does not collect any data from this app.
Accessibility
The developer has not yet indicated which accessibility features this app supports. Learn More
Information
- Seller
- Paulo Henrique Carvalho Bing
- Size
- 27.3 MB
- Category
- Board
- Compatibility
Requires iOS 15.1 or later.
- iPhone
Requires iOS 15.1 or later. - iPad
Requires iPadOS 15.1 or later. - iPod touch
Requires iOS 15.1 or later. - Mac
Requires macOS 12.0 or later and a Mac with Apple M1 chip or later. - Apple Vision
Requires visionOS 1.0 or later.
- iPhone
- Languages
English and 9 more
- English, Catalan, Dutch, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish
- Age Rating
4+
- 4+
- Copyright
- © 2026 Paulo Bing