Last updated on January 17th, 2026 at 08:22 am
Catan Classic HD – Board Game Review
Catan Classic HD is a Board/Strategy/Entertainment game from United Soft Media Verlag GmbH, first launched in 29th September 2010.
It’s rated 4+ and currently has 3,203+ ratings on the App Store.
What Makes Catan Classic HD Stand Out
"Catan", the legendary strategy game provides gaming fun anytime, anywhere.
True to the original game, you can compete with up to four players for the most settlements, the longest roads and the largest army. You can trade with each other and claim the precious land with all its resources.
Challenge other Catan fans online via cross-platform multiplayer to prove your strategy skills or play against the AI:
Various computer opponents, each with their own individual characteristics, will prove themselves worthy competitors: the pirate Jean, who knows no compromise, Vincent the merchant, who never allows himself to be cheated, Sean the knight, who takes what is rightfully his…
The popular Catan expansions "Seafarers", "Cities and Knights" and two new special scenarios are available as In-App purchases.
The complete Seafarers expansion includes more than 10 additional scenarios with an extensive campaign. Become Harbormaster, discover new islands and extra game elements like ships, gold fields, treasures and pirates. Ahoy!
The Cities and Knights expansion introduces various new gameplay mechanics that add even more variety to Catan. Invest new trade goods in city improvements to build one of the three metropolises of Catan – but beware of the barbarians attracted by Catan’s new wealth! You’ll need your best knights to fend them off! C&K contains a short campaign and 7 challenging maps.
Exciting adventures await you in the two new scenarios "Enchanted Land" and "The Great Canal". Vanquish dragons and bag their treasures or build a canal to help barren grain fields bloom once more.
Features:
- Available languages: English, German, French, Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese
- Original "Settlers of Catan" rule set
- Update 4.0+: Synchronous online multiplayer games
- Smart computer opponents with individual strategies
- Scrollable game board including zoom option
- Freely combinable game settings
- Game statistics
- Comprehensive tutorial
- Seafarers LITE: New scenario "The 4 Islands" and two additional game variants
- Cities and Knights LITE: Test the new expansion in the scenario "The first Island"
- 3 different graphic sets to choose from
Catan FAQ:
Question: An expansion seems gone after an update or reinstallation of Catan or after restoring the device?
Answer: Don’t worry, your initial purchase is already saved in your iTunes account. You can restore your InApp purchases by selecting the restore-option in the Catan IAP menu.
Question: I lost my campaign progress after reinstalling, updating or restoring my device. Is there any way to restore it?
Answer: When saved games can’t be automatically restored, we’ve integrated a cheat code: In the campaign mode go to select player and enter "CatanWarp" ( = 1–15) as your player name and confirm. Exit the game via the home button and restart it. The campaign can now be continued from the specified level number (1–15). Levels up to the specified number will be unlocked in the custom game mode as well.
Question: Are dice rolls really random?
Answer: Of course! All dice rolls are 100% random and not modified in any way. We’re avid Catan players ourselves. We’ve played the iOS version hundreds of times while developing the program. There have been times when we won and lost a few games in a row because of the dice – just like when playing the board game!
Questions or suggestions for improvements:
Mail to [email protected]
We are looking forward to your feedback!
For more information on news and updates: www.usmgames.com
or visit us on www.facebook.com/UnitedSoftMedia and twitter.com/USM_News
This Board game offers engaging gameplay and regular updates for mobile players.
Player Feedback
As a newer release, Catan Classic HD is building its player community. Early feedback suggests .
Recent Updates & Development
Latest Update: 19th February 2024
Recent improvements include:
Thank you for playing Catan! This release contains bug fixes and new features that make our product even better.
The following is new:
- Integrated account delete option for online accounts
- Multiple smaller compatibility fixes
Download & Availability
Catan Classic HD is available through the official App Store for iOS devices.
Get Catan Classic HD on App Store
Requirements: Requires iPad Air / iPad Air (Cellular) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina, Cellular) / iPad Air 2 / iPad Air 2 (Cellular) / iPad Mini 3 / iPad Mini 3 (Cellular) / iPad Mini 4 / iPad Mini 4 (Cellular) or later.
Compatible with iPhone and iPad devices.
Player Experience Highlights
Community Insight:
Its great to pick this up and play a round, especially with our son. We havent had the same overwhelming sense of unfair dice rolls as other reviewers. Sure, the AI targets the human if the human is winning, but thats normal game play. We like the design and function ability. Its great to have AI to fill out 4 players. Great game.
We've used this mobile game for years now, and it's still a lot of fun to play, even though it has some quirks. And we still recommend it.
Enjoyable strategy game like the board it always is changing.
We only wish the online multiplayer engine was less buggy.
Playing every night our favorite.
This great game had gotten just so painful to play, but it seems to have been repaired.
Well done. Better than playing on a board.
Love Catan which we have had for years. Occasionally boots us out of a game but is always there when we go back in and choose continue playing.
Super fun, Ive been playing it for years.
Full disclosure, we dont play online. We play against the 3 computer components. We love this game and with the app we play can a game in 45 minutes usually. We play every day. Its different game each time.
We love Catan and play every day! It crashes constantly but you can rest by continue game. Why hasnt this issue been fixed? Ive sent for app support but no one bothers to reply.
We have played 13, 882 games to date. We enjoy the program options and speed.
We paid for this online game a few years ago but they locked us out of a few boards not sure why. Cant see paying twice. We have all the box games and enjoy playing with family.
Good game, easy to use on iPad. Be prepared for freezes and bugs each game.
We like the game but it often feels like the dice are against you. Could be our imagination and we have not bothered to actually track it. Yet. But all in all runs smooth.
Okay, after playing for a couple weeks straight and working through the campaigns, we have adjusted our rating. This is a good game as long as you remember you are playing against an algorithm. Except perhaps the online version. The dice do get stuck every once in awhile had one game where it rolled a 7 eight times in a row. Also every once in awhile the game crashes for no apparent reason. Bottom line though this is a great way to learn the rules and strategy of the board game so you dont get beat by your 10 year old nephew every Thursday family game night :-).
Who does not love Catan. Wish the app didnt crash so much.
This game is fun and we love playing alone or with friends. Sometimes the game just shuts down then kicks us out, yet we are able to get back in and pick up where the game kicked us out. If no glitches we would rate this five stars.
But loaded with bugs. Wish it didnt shut down so often.
Love this game and the setup, but the bugs and updates that reset the format daily are annoying. The game glitches out at least twice per play.
Game is fun but crashes frequently. We can always restart and continue the game, but its an irritating flaw.
Love Catan. Such a fun game! For the most part we like this app. The gameplay is identical to the board game, the graphics are decent. There are different AI characters to play against with different skill sets. The game, however, seems to be rigged a little bit. For example, in one game our best resources were in 6 and 8 tiles yet those numbers never seemed to be rolled. Instead, 10 and 9 (which are statistically much less likely) came up over and over. The robber seems to be rolled by all the AI players and not us, so resources are always blocked. Its buggy, too. Occasionally we get a new message upon startup about privacy rules and then we hit the ok button and its lost all the data on the AI players we selected. It crashes frequently, too, on our iPad Pro and iPad Mini. It would be a better game if the implementation were better.
The npcs offer trades but never accept also the dice algorithm seems to be stacked against you. It makes the game more challenging but can sometimes be frustrating.
We love this version of Catan (do not like Catan Universe). Please update and add some additional scenarios.
Great game. Loved the scenarios. It is crashing frequently on the we-pad.
There are way too many glitches to list but it still is a great game. We were hoping they would catch up with Apple IOS but it still crashes, usually when trading. That is our biggest complaint.
When it plays, it plays well. But we hardly ever get through a game without it cutting out and we have to fully sign in again. Its been doing this for the last month.
The game play is really good and easy to follow. Fun animations and artwork. The two things we hope are changed with future updates are: 1. App crashes multiple times per game. Sometimes when the game is restarted, the game play is backed up slightly and the dice roll changes. 2. You can never see how many development cards are remaining for purchase. This is especially frustrating when you trade resources to buy one. Overall, totally great app.
We absolutely love this game, but it crashes regularly. Id also like to have some new characters as its been the same avatars for years.
We love Catan online and play it very often. We still have the problem of it crashing a lot. Yes, you can restart it where you left off but it delays the game. Lately, we have to log in every time we play which is VERY aggravating.
Totally love all variations of the game but seriously annoyed by all the glitches. We constantly need to swipe off the game screen and reload the app on top of signing in over and over with account and password.
We enjoy the online solo game except for the frequent crashing. One problem with the coding is that the bots dont consider the cards held when deciding whom to rob. So the player showing six points with three cards in hand for several does not get robbed but the player who just got to 7 with long road, no cities, no cards takes robber after robber.
We love this game! The only thing that we dont love isit crashes quite a bit while playing. Wish that could get fixed. Great game other than that.
Gameplay is very close to the board game, but the app crashes way too much.
We play daily. The crashes are ridiculous. We wont delve into the algorithms, but really seriously gang up on the human.
Good game faithful to the board game rules, but be prepared for several bugs per game. The most annoying bug occurs when the screen refuses to recognize your tap on a valid road segment that you want to build. This seems to happen when the segment is near the center or bottom center of the screen. Workaround is to force close the app and resume the game, which you may have to do a few times to be successful. The game also suddenly exits on occasion. At least it saves the game state so you can return by resuming.
If only someone was able to fix the bug issues and other glitches.
This is a fun way to play CATAN. And inexpensive compared to the board game. The game play is exciting and authentic. However, the app has a couple of persistent glitches, especially with the development cards.
We have the expanded version where we paid extra to get some additional games added (Great Canal, Enchanted Land, etc.). We really enjoy the game. The issues are the games tiles dont change randomly. If we want different tile set up we start game then quit and when we immediately start new game the tiles change. We have to do this multiple times to get a new layout. The second issue with cards you get for having cities on certain tiles is mid game you can no longer see them you can click on invisible space and use them but you have no idea which is which. If you have more than 4 and game asks you to discard them you can see them again. The third issue is more recent but now after a game or two it forces to acknowledge form or agreement and then you have to reset the players all over again we expect better if we paid for this version.
The game is fun abs challenging. The AI frequently makes choices the suggest it knows the future. Like it will choose a sub-optimal place for the rogue, and miraculously the next roll will be that number. But must annoying is the crashes. We'd say it crashes once every 5 games, at least and you need to start fresh.
We have been playing this game for years. The concept is great but it now has too many problems. The dice rolls are not random at all and give the computer opponents incredible advantage. We also get kicked out several times per game. We wish the developers would fix all the problems. Im sure there are a lot of players that would pay monthly fees for a glitch free game.
Love the game, but it crashes often.
The app crashes whenever you start a new game right after finishing a game and frequently crashes in the middle of a game. Otherwise the gameplay is great but after a mid game crash, the game basically autosaves from the previous move so when you go back in whatever the last dice roll was will be redone and with different results sometimes helping and sometimes hurting.
This game accurately reflects the board game, but there are lots of bugs. In addition to graphics vanishing at one point in the game, the game also has a tendency to quit and close the app for no reason (we.e., it crashes). It didnt used to be this way. Ive been playing for a long time now (10 years?), and we remember when these werent issues.
The app crashes all the time. You have to login with user ID and password, not only when you open the app to play the game, but every time it crashes, which happens a lot. You never used to have to use your user ID and password to login. Now you do, which is annoying as heck. Addicting game, but really wish we would have learned a different good Catan online game, and not bothered with this one. Dont make the same mistake unless developers fix these issues. Need to add a chat feature. Need to add a timer to keep game moving. Players should be rated on games completed/times they bailed early.
The app crash all the time. Other than that its okay.
Game constantly crashes and there are other glitches like you cant see how man cards are left to buy. When it works its still fun, but the bugs have become worse over the past year.
We agree with the other people. By far our favorite game and Ive played for years, but it is incredibly frustrating that it crashes halfway through it is a major problem.
How can this not have been fixed by now? At least the games progress isnt lost but it crashes 3-4 times a game normally.
User feedback from Apple App Store
App Details
- Version: 4.8.2
- Size: 768.25 MB
- iOS: 11.0 or later
- Languages: NL, EN, FR, DE, PT, ES
- Content Advisory:
- Developer: United Soft Media Verlag GmbH
Last updated: 19th February 2024 | Genre: Board, Strategy | Developer: United Soft Media Verlag GmbH