Whether or not you’d call yourself a gamer, chances are you love giving your brain a good workout. And when it comes to pick-up-and-play puzzles, nothing beats the iPhone. The App Store is packed with amazing titles, and we’ve dug deep to find a dozen distinctive games built around satisfying, level-based challenges – perfect for your daily mental snack.
Dissembler ($3/£3)
Every Dissembler puzzle starts as a tiny piece of modern art. You flip pairs of tiles to match colors and clear the board. As puzzles grow more layered, the challenge quickly ramps up. You can try your luck with over 170 hand-crafted puzzles, daily challenges, and an endless mode for when you just can’t stop ‘dissembling.’
Puzzmo (free or $4/£4 per month)
Think of Puzzmo as a modern, digital incarnation of the classic newspaper puzzle page. For free, you get access to daily takes on famous iPhone puzzle games – and more – that rethink crosswords, anagrams, word searches, jigsaws, and chess. Subscribe to unlock leaderboards and a huge archive to keep you hooked.
A Little to the Left (free + $10/£10)
Plenty of puzzle games are ultimately about tidying. This one takes things literally. The very first puzzle has you straighten a crooked painting. But then the tasks become increasingly mischievous, and each has its own odd logic. Expect daily challenges, plenty of head-scratching, and many rewarding “aha” moments.
Shadowmatic ($4/£4)
Ever made shadow puppets on a wall? Shadowmatic brings that idea into gorgeous 3D spaces. In each room, you carefully manipulate floating objects until they cast the perfect silhouette. It’s an inventive, slow-burn delight, and while there’s no daily challenge, the 130 built-in puzzles should keep you occupied for weeks.
Kami 2 (free)
Another puzzler bordering on modern art, Kami 2 has you flood the screen with a single color in as few moves as possible. Each tap ripples like unfolding origami, transforming the board. It starts off easy, but mastering ultra-efficient solutions later becomes a sterner – if still pretty chill – test.
Bullpen (free or $5/£5)
Imagine Sudoku crossed with Minesweeper. Now add cows. In Bullpen, you arrange bulls in colorful pens so that none share a row, column, or border – or sit next to each other. If they do, they moo. Loudly. Alongside daily puzzles, there are over 5,000 built-in levels to try. Moo-velous.
A Good Snowman ($6/£6)
Block-pushing games are as old as the hills, but Snowman is no mere Soko-Ban. Its adorable monster loves making snowmen, which it creates by rolling snowballs around a hedge maze to get them just right. Each area’s constraints make for a game that’s deceptively tough – and yet irresistibly cute.
LOK Digital (free + $6/£6)
This game looks like a crossword full of nonsense, but it’s really a clever logic puzzle starring strange little blobs. Drag out a blob’s name and you can use its power, such as removing a square. Fill the board and you win. Start with the missions to learn each blob’s quirks, and then dive into the daily challenges.
Teeny Tiny Trains (free + $6/£6)
A modern nod to iPhone classic Trainyard, Teeny Tiny Trains has you draw tracks and flick switches to guide tiny trains to tiny stations – all without causing a tiny derailment. Once you’re done with the main game, you can build your own levels or explore the best from the not-so-tiny community.
Blask 2 ($3/£3)
Playing with lasers isn’t generally recommended. But in this case, it’s perfectly safe as you drag, rotate, and combine geometric shapes, so that the lasers within them blast their way to goals. Each of the wonderfully tactile puzzles has multiple solutions, sometimes requiring clever use of reflection.
Baba Is You ($7/£7)
Every puzzle game has rules. With Baba Is You, the rules are the puzzle. You push blocks around that rewrite how the world works, making walls passable, or turning every flower into a goal. It’s wildly inventive and properly brain-bending stuff, but unlimited undos let you experiment and keep frustration at bay.
I Love Hue Too (free or $5/£5)
When you’ve had your fill of the more brain-smashy games in this round-up, I Love Hue Too offers a more calming vibe. At least if your color vision’s up to scratch as you rearrange mosaics to turn relative chaos into harmonious gradients. It’s the ideal cooldown after a marathon of mental iPhone gymnastics.