Warning: Chess.com for iPhone may seriously damage your rating!

I've been a loyal and ardent supporter of chess.com since I joined and have recommended it to all my chess playing friends and family. I still think it is the best chess website out there.

However, the iPhone app has just seriously let me down:

The latest version of the iphone app crashes every time you try to load up a game from a thematic tournament.

I was on holiday with no other internet access, so trusted my iphone app to let me make my moves (I didn't have enough vacation time to cover the time I was away).

A thematic tournament started the first day I was away on holiday.

I couldn't access the games to make the moves. Even when I loaded up Safari on my iPhone I firstly couldn't see the board and then, when I eventually found a wifi spot, I couldn't submit my moves. Yes, I tried to get in contact with support, but it wouldn't accept the silly code thing you have to type in at the bottom of the screen. Another instance of lack of support for Safari?

I timed out in 8 games - 7 had only started, so they only wrecked my chances of progressing in the tourney and annoyed my opponents who were probably looking forward to a decent game, but 1 was turning into a nice game about 12 moves in. I'd made it a point of honour not to time out in any games, because I personally find this extremely annoying, and now, through no fault of my own (I tried very hard to access the games), I've timed out in 8 in a row! Not pleased. Not pleased at all.

Can anyone give me a good reason why I shouldn't delete the app and give it a 1 star rating on itunes? No other app I've ever downloaded has crashed so much or given me so much inconvenience. When I download an upgrade I expect it to be an improvement on the previous version, not a bug-ridden mess! Sort it out, chess.com or get rid of it altogether. I don't care about the bells and whistles - I want it to do it's main function well.

I've sent you an email about this now.

Cool. Thanks, Kohai. I can send you full details of what went wrong if you'd like.

Yes please. This page explains about sending in crash reports

jonny:

this iphone stuff is tricky. :( the more details you can provide, the better. we're working hard on it right now. thanks!

erik

@Erik - I'll give you all the details I can. I'm away for a few days at the end of the week (but will have broadband access for my laptop), so I can test the iPhone app side by side if you want to ask specific questions.

@Skipgugg - I used to play all my moves on my iPhone (on Safari) while away on work trips, no problem. Lately it just doesn't let me either see the pieces or, when I do, submit any moves. This is one of the reasons I was so annoyed - it all used to work just fine, and then, when I trusted it, it didn't.

@Kohai - thanks again for sorting things out. I'll submit a full crash report ASAP.

My itouch app won't show 960 games. Is that on purpose, or a glitch?

So far, the ability to view and make moves in chess 960 games has not been added.  I believe it is a feature they are intending to add at some point. 

we now know there are problems with thematic games. working to address...

960 is coming soon!

Thank you to chess.com administration for spending the time and resources for making the app

Is the thematic games situation officially fixed?  This morning, I was able to access my thematic tournament games and move using the iphone app without any crashes.  This was after about four days of crashing everytime I would select a thematic game.

I really like this app but it crash very often and it should be seriously improved with features from this site such as the game explorer, forum, live chess...  Althought I am confident chess.com is working on it and that it will improve with time.

Tactics are bad too. I nearly got my rating up to 2400 but it kept making a bad move for me. My rating went soooo low trying to win it back