Apple giving away free Checkmate app this week

As seasoned Apple fans will probably know by now, every week the tech giant selects an App of the Week to place under the spotlight. This means it is on offer for downloaded from the company’s website free of charge.

The current pick for this week is called Checkmate, a chess game which users can play with their friends by using iMessage.

Checkmate now carries the distinction of being one of the very first iMessage applications to win the honour of App of the Week. The normal price for the software is $0.99. With Checkmate, anyone can play a chess game with his or her friends using nothing other instant messages.

In its notes about the game, Apple says: “What makes Checkmate so great — aside from its super-intuitive interface — is the way we can chat with (and smack-talk) as we play… or take as much time as we need to contemplate our next move.” The company claimed that people typically used iMessage not only to keep up with all the latest news from family and friends, but also to send stickers. Sometimes, the company says, we simply want to enjoy a game of kings and knights with our friends.

Getting a Checkmate game up and running is simple. Just go to your App Drawer and choose the Checkmate icon. From then on, every move or update in the game is sent via iMessage. What is important to know is that Checkmate cannot be played outside iMessage and it has to be installed via the Messages App Store.

One great feature is that Checkmate provides support for multiple matches, so that you can play with more than one of your friends at the same time, across all your Apple devices. Another plus is that new themes are regularly added for free and there are no in-app purchases.

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