The All-in-One Sudoku App: Every Way to Play in One Place

An all-in-one sudoku app should cover the four reasons people open a sudoku app: a quick puzzle at the right difficulty, a daily puzzle to come back to, a way to get better, and something to measure progress against. Most players end up with two or three apps for this, one for the daily, one that teaches techniques, and one that happens to have no ads. Sudoku Royale puts all of it in one free iPhone app with no ads, no subscriptions, and no in-app purchases. This page walks through what is inside, what each part is good for, and where to start.

What an all-in-one sudoku app should include

Here is the checklist we would use to judge any sudoku app, and how Sudoku Royale answers each point.

Classic sudoku at six difficulty levels

The Play tab is plain sudoku: one board, one solution, solved at your own pace. You pick from six levels: Easy, Medium, Hard, Expert, Master, and Extreme. Easy and Medium are open from the start. The rest unlock as you solve the level below: two Medium solves open Hard, four Hard solves open Expert, ten Expert solves open Master, and fourteen Master solves open Extreme.

Levels are graded by the hardest technique a puzzle needs, and by how much searching it takes to find each move. Clue count plays no part in the grade. An Easy puzzle needs nothing beyond naked singles. Medium adds hidden singles, Hard adds pointing and claiming, and so on up to Extreme, where you may need simple colouring or a Jellyfish. Our guide to sudoku difficulty levels explains what each tier asks of you.

There is no limit on mistakes and no countdown. A timer runs in the corner if you want to chase a personal best for each level, and you can ignore it if you do not. If you go 90 seconds without a correct entry, a light bulb appears. Tap it and the app highlights the next cell you can solve, names the technique that finds it, and offers a Learn button that opens the lesson for that technique. More on this in the guide to unlimited practice puzzles.

A Daily Challenge with streaks

Every day at midnight UTC a new Daily Challenge unlocks. Everyone in the world gets the same puzzle, so your time means something on the day's leaderboard, which you can filter to Global, your country, or your friends. Difficulty climbs through the week: Monday is the gentlest and Sunday takes the most work. Finish the puzzle to extend your streak.

The daily has its own rules. Each mistake adds 30 seconds to your time, and after three mistakes your result is unranked, though you can still finish and keep your streak. Past days are playable from a calendar going back to January 2026. The full rules and some tips for faster daily times are in our daily sudoku guide.

Journey: 88 levels that teach as you go

Journey is a level map shaped like a mountain climb. Each stop is a puzzle, a short lesson, a timed drill, or a gate, and clearing one opens the next. The 88 levels are split into 10 chapters, each built around one idea: it starts with First Steps and scanning, moves through Pointing, Claiming, and pairs, and finishes with Naked Triple, Simple Colouring, and XY-Wing.

Journey is the answer if you want sudoku with levels, the way a mobile puzzle game has levels, and if you want to finish it a better solver than you started. Read how Journey works for the chapter list and the rules for each type of stop.

A place to learn techniques

The Learn tab holds lessons for each technique, short timed drills that turn a pattern into something you spot without thinking, and a Skills radar that tracks five parts of your solving: Speed, Accuracy, Repertoire, Vision, and Consistency. You never have to open it to enjoy the app, but it is there when a hint names a technique you do not know yet. The resources hub has written guides to the same techniques if you prefer to read first.

Belts: a weekly league that runs in the background

Belts are a league you are already in once you start solving. You do not play a belt match. Every puzzle you finish earns shurikens, and each week you are ranked against the other players in your belt. The top 20% move up a belt when the week resets on Monday, and the bottom 20% move down. There are eight belts, from White to Black, and the upper belts open in stages as the league grows. Harder puzzles earn more, so an Expert solve counts for more than an Easy one. The details are in sudoku belts explained.

Live matches, if you ever want them

You can use Sudoku Royale for years without playing another person. If you do want to, the Battle tab has three live modes that all play on one shared grid: when a player fills a cell correctly, it is filled for everyone. Duel is one opponent. Battle Royale is a single round where the player who claims the most cells wins. Tournament runs several rounds and knocks out the lowest scorers each time. These modes have an Elo rating and their own leaderboard, and nothing in the solo side of the app depends on them. See how the live modes work if you are curious.

No ads, no subscriptions, no purchases

This is the part most "free" sudoku apps get wrong. Sudoku Royale has no banner ads, no video ads between puzzles, no paid hint packs, and no premium tier. Every feature on this page is in the free download. The board comes in a light theme and a dark theme, or follows your phone's setting. If ads are the reason you are looking for a new app, our list of sudoku apps with no ads compares the options.

What it does not do

An honest all-in-one list also says what is missing. Sudoku Royale is classic 9x9 sudoku only, so there is no Killer, Samurai, or other variant. It is an iPhone app, with no Android version yet. Classic puzzles work offline, but the Daily Challenge, hints, leaderboards, and live matches need a connection. If you want variants, our guide to sudoku variants points to the apps that do them well.

Where to start

• You just want a relaxing puzzle: open the Play tab and pick Easy or Medium.
• You want a daily habit: play today's Daily Challenge and turn on the notification for when the next one drops.
• You are new to sudoku or stuck at one level: start Journey from level one. The early chapters go quickly if you already know the basics.
• You already solve Expert puzzles: work through the Classic levels to open Master and Extreme, and watch your belt climb.