Catan Classic – USM

Last updated on January 4th, 2026 at 11:11 am

Catan Classic – Board Game Review

Catan Classic Screenshot

Catan Classic is a Board/Strategy/Entertainment game from United Soft Media Verlag GmbH, first launched in 25th October 2009.
It’s rated 4+ and currently has 10,311+ ratings on the App Store.

What Makes Catan Classic 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.

The game allows you to 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 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 is available through the official App Store for iOS devices.

Get Catan Classic on App Store

Requirements: Requires iPhone 5s / iPad Air / iPad Air (Cellular) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina, Cellular) / iPhone 6 / iPhone 6 Plus / iPad Air 2 / iPad Air 2 (Cellular) / iPad Mini 3 or later.

Compatible with iPhone and iPad devices.

Player Experience Highlights

Community Insight:

Play is like the board game. AI players are pretty good.

We love this game. It's so addicting.

We have had this version on our phone for years, maybe even a decade. Its great whether Im just screwing around or playing with intent.

We downloaded Catan universe and its got the same maps but more perks which also translate to in app purchases or rewards you earn to get for free. It looks different and The controls are hard to learn since its 3-d. But this Catan classic is still very user friendly and fun. Wish they could program in map variety tiles for all maps, but we think the developers have finished working on this version. Maybe someday they could add even more maps, but its still fun.

Great game!! Always enjoyed playing the board have with our friends. Once life hit we all nose live in different states and still continue to have when we have time!! 10000% recommend.

We played this game for 5 days straight with getting as little sleep as possible. The urge and suspense of each game had us at the edge of our seat every time. It was soo good we had to buy the expansion pack cause we felt we needed to be further challenged. Needless to say, this game has us in a chokehold.

We grew up with this game before it became popular in the US. The app is great! Im shocked by the low star reviews. Of course you have to pay for the expansion packs, but believe us the board game expansion packs are far more expensive this is a more affordable way to play with friends online or without. The robots you play against are darn realistic in strategy and aggression. We love this game! Hardly ever any bugs either.

You wont be able to finish an entire game without the app crashing. Once it crashes you cannot reconnect.

This is honestly a wonderful game. We enjoy playing it so much with our friends, however, there are still so many bugs and little glitches in the game that need to be fixed. If only the developers focused more on this game still than Catan Universe which looks absolutely stupid, they could be making so much revenue with people still buying this simple, wonderful, 2D version of the game.

It's Catan. Of course it's loads of fun.

Soo much better than the newer version! Better for mobile, easier to use.

We play the board game totally love that game. Love the rules of this version. The family will be doing some mixing up when we play the tiles.

Great application for just enjoying a relaxing game by yourself or a little friendly competition among friends. We like the fact that you can put it down when you want and pick up right where you left off.

This is one of the best strategy games but whenever we click online game we have to sign in, and if we signed in and clicked back and then clicked online game mode we have to log in every time and this is so annoying, we hope you fix it as soon as possible or make it available to log in using apple ID or face recognition, thanks in advance.

A long time lover of the board game, Ive provably played weeks of this game on iPhones, iPads, and Androids. Its a little glitchy sometimes, and it will outright quit sometimes, but it always saves your place in the game. Its our comfort food mashed potatoes and gravy of phone games.

We love this game. And we strongly prefer this style to Catan Universe, which looks like the board game and includes unnecessary and annoying graphics that take away from rather than add to gameplay. We WANT to play this game, solo and on network with friends. We would pay more for an app that would stop crashing. We have deleted and reloaded this app more times than we can count to try to get it to work right, but it perpetually crashes. And it is infuriating so we stopped playing.

This is a great game, 5 stars, but please for the love of god fix the odds system the dice statistics end up being a reverse barbell every game and thats just not how dice odds work.

We wanted to play locally with friends on airplanes, campouts, things like that. It has been great! There are some limitations but we are happy to use this and another app in other situations. It crashes some, but still loving it.

The app doesnt have many bells and whistles but! That being said. A true Catan experience. A chance to play the expansions for the first time. Or hone your process in the app to refine strategy for table top play. CITIES AND KNIGHTS!!!! GAME. CHANGER. If youve played Catan before and found it maybe a little too straight forward. Cities and Knights Expac will SET YOU FREE! SO. GOOD! Okay. Enjoy some play. Wall against the robber and band together to drive away barbarian interlopers! May the island of Catan BE YOURS.

Highly recommend. Very enjoyable with lots of expansions for not much money. Only problem is that on our IPhone 8 it has started to crash periodically during the last few years. But all you have to do is open the app again and Continue Game to get right back to where you left off.

Best game we have ever played in our life!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You HAVED to download this app!!!!!!!!!!!! #bestgamever.

We love playing this game when sitting at a restaurant waiting for a table. Or in bed before we go to sleep.

Ive had this app for many, many years. Love it! If you love playing competitive games, this is the one for you.

This app includes lots of different variations to play when youre ready for a change. We like playing on the app because the game is so much faster than with people. We also like seeing the statistics at the end of the game.

Great game, we dont want to admit, or look up how many hours we have played it. To those who say the AI targets you, it does. But if you have ever played a real Catan game and you are somewhat good at Catan, your real friends target you in real life (yes even if you arent winning). Overall way fun, occasionally it kicks you out of the app, thatd be our only complaint.

Frequent crashes. Catan closes 15-30 times per game. Please fix this. We havent had more than a handful of uninterrupted games in the past nine months.

Only our love of catan keeps us playing on this app. Our sole complaint is that the app shuts down several times a game, both on our iPhone and iPad. Please fix this.

Ive been using this for years and greatly enjoy it. Theres lots of settings so you can change the animations and sounds and speeds. Lots of different boards to chose from. We use it on the iPad and pass it back and forth with multiple players or we play the computer.

We generally love the app. Intuitive, various maps. Couple of improvements could be done. On iPhone 14 front camera covers the menu button. Also if the app crashes dices are getting rerolled. But those are little things that do not ruin the experience.

Amazing game. We wish they would add more types of scenarios to play. 24 ? With a bunch knights. They need more. But super fun game. Great for killing time on flights etc.

Since the update it logs you out and app crashes.

We replay it over and over again. Its all in our phone. We play it over and over again.

The best boardgame of all time on your phone with new scenarios. It is on occasion glitchy, but we have had it for over 5 years and love it.

We really enjoy this game and dearly wish that the programmers would create some more maps to play. Id pay another $5 for some more maps.

Game is great. The computer opponents give the player a head start by always putting the robber on other computer players until the user (human) has an insurmountable lead. Would like to see that changed. We probably win 95% or more of our games. But we still love it. Great time killer. Make the computer better.

We love the Islands expansion the best. Lets you do a variety of games in a variety of modes.

We really like the gameplay and play this game a lot. Only complaint we have at all is that the game closes down unpredictably a lot and we have to start app up again and continue. We like that it actually gets more difficult as you get closer to winning and other computer bots gang up on you and 7s get rolled a lot. Makes it more challenging. Definitely recommend this game. Best $5 Ive spent on an app.

Been playing for years, love the game for what it is, hate it because of some of the strangeness. The ui is perfect.

Our son who is 30 years old introduced us to the game. We love it. We play against the computer & we play every morning to start the day. We have our favorite characters that we like to play with. We have taught our friend. We hope to start playing with her soon. We are hoping to introduce the game to other women, then we will start a CATAN Club.

Since the update , it asks some of us to log in every time an online game is initiated. Can that be fixed Overall great app.

A few quirks but overall a good experience.

It is a really good game but we feel like the dang bots are a team and its 3 Vs. 1 they never want to trade with you only each other still fun tho.

We would have given it a 5, but sometimes the game hangs, and you have to redo plays youve already made. Also the computer players seem to get every knight in the deckjust sayin.

First off, game is fun and bots are decent. Would like a more difficult setting. The amount of locked content / unexplained versions + multi click options makes it less desirable to play on mobile.

It would be nice to get a zoom feature to shrink the size of the screen to fit more comfortably.

For those who are familiar with the original game of Catan will love playing this. Ive never had an issue with it crashing. Its fun to play anytime and can easily save and come back to play the same game. With the $5 purchase you can play the classic, seafarers, or one other expansion pack (cant remember which one it is). Our only complaint is the AI/Computer player rarely trades with us at any point along the game. And if we draw a sought after card they will incessantly ask to trade for it. Otherwise, its a fantastic rendition of a great game.

Crashes a bit too often. And all the confirmation buttons get annoying.

For those who love the original board game, have no one to play with, or want to try the different expansion packs, this app serves all of those purposes. Its a well thought-out app and the different campaign modes are fun. Only reason it didnt get the full five star review is that it is a bit buggy. It doesnt crash as much as it used to, but it still happens more than most apps. Also, sometimes we have to manually come out and come back in if Ive zoomed in on a map (cant always zoom out).

It is fun but it crash sometimes.

Game crashes occasionally on iPhone 13 Pro Max. The game doesnt adjust the layout well with the camera and microphone inset at the top of the screen. Its be nice if there were a mode to help with that, since the game can only be played with all buttons accessible in one orientation. Also itd be nice to turn off the reminder that you are turning off trade requests permanently instead of just the first time each game you use it. Expansions seem expensive versus base game cost.
User feedback from Apple App Store

App Details

Last updated: 19th February 2024 | Genre: Board, Strategy | Developer: United Soft Media Verlag GmbH

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