Lichess reaches a new stage on mobile
The open-source chess platform Lichess has significantly improved the new mobile app it launched around six months ago. With the latest update, the app no longer just brings the standard playing experience to phones; it now brings together many features players have long requested under one roof, including chess variants, advanced analysis, tournament access, and offline functionality. While the Lichess team especially highlights the contribution of volunteer developers and the open-source community to this progress, it also emphasizes that the app continues to grow steadily.
One of the most striking parts of the update is that users can now play and analyze all of their favorite chess variants directly in the app. This makes Lichess's identity beyond classical chess much more visible on mobile as well. More importantly, perhaps the most requested addition has finally arrived: offline play against the computer. In this mode, which can be used without an internet connection, there are 12 different difficulty levels against the engine. In addition, thanks to practice mode, a player's moves can be evaluated with instant feedback. This is a major plus especially for beginners, players training while traveling, and users with limited internet access.
There has also been a notable boost on the analysis side. A user who has just finished a game can now review where they went wrong more easily within the app; with functions similar to "Learn from your mistakes", errors can be revisited and game quality can be improved step by step. Games from a coach, tournament exports, or the user's own saved PGN files can all be opened directly in the mobile app. That turns the phone into not just a way to play, but also a portable analysis board and training hub. On top of that, quiet but important work has been done to improve the reliability of the analysis engine; Lichess has upgraded the underlying chess engine to Stockfish 18. This upgrade means more accurate evaluations and stronger calculation.
Another important addition for competitive players is easier mobile access to team tournaments. Users can now join events such as the Lichess Bundesliga directly from their phones; tournaments can be reached through the "Open tournaments" component on the homepage or via direct links. Improvements on the broadcast side also stand out: player photos, tiebreak calculations, and more refined presentation details take the experience further, especially for viewers following major events on mobile devices. One of the top names in the world rankings, Anish Giri, even described Lichess's broadcast feature as being at a level of perfection. All of these additions turn the Lichess mobile app from a simple companion tool into a comprehensive platform suitable for the daily use of serious chess players.