Last updated on January 15th, 2026 at 09:27 am
Smart Othello – Strategy Game Review
Smart Othello is a Strategy/Board game from Smart Go, Inc., first launched in 1st September 2016.
It’s rated 4+ and currently has 496+ ratings on the App Store.
What Makes Smart Othello Stand Out
Play Othello against your friends or the computer. Created by the 1992 US Othello Champion, this is the Othello app you’ve been waiting for. A powerful engine wrapped in a clean user interface.
With five levels to choose from, you’ll find the level that gives you the right challenge. The built-in tutorial and teaching aids will help you improve your game — advance to the next level and give your friends a good fight.
— A MINUTE TO LEARN … A LIFETIME TO MASTER —
Othello has simple rules: just bracket opponent discs and flip them to your color. But proper strategy is more complex than you might think. Smart Othello makes the game enjoyable while improving your play.
Features:
• Five levels of computer play, from novice to master.
• Real-time matches using Game Center.
• Achievements and leaderboards to challenge you.
• Blunder Guard to keep you from making bad mistakes.
• Random openings that give both players an equal chance.
• Hint, undo, and easy game replay.
• Collection of games by top players for replay and study.
Smart Othello was created by the 1992 US Othello Champion, who also developed the acclaimed SmartGo apps for the game of Go.
Othello® is a registered trademark of MegaHouse Corporation. Used with permission.
This Strategy game offers engaging gameplay and regular updates for mobile players.
Player Feedback
As a newer release, Smart Othello is building its player community. Early feedback suggests .
Recent Updates & Development
Latest Update: 20th November 2023
Recent improvements include:
Bug fixes.
Download & Availability
Smart Othello is available through the official App Store for iOS devices.
Get Smart Othello 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:
We have yet to see if the multiplayer is good. Its a decent reversi game. Not sure if the computer opponent levels up well or not. We just started playing this version.
Would pay for online play with an app that doesnt crash, unfortunately the online match does not seem to work on this one.
We like this game after buying the Pro upgrade, but Ive never seen a game chew up battery power like this one. Wow! We can play other games for hours and our iPad will use 15%, but Smart Othello will consume 60% in an hour.
We are having trouble playing with a lady in our office on our iPhone and/or MacBook Pro with her on her iPad ond/or iPhone.
Easy to use with so many levels of computer to play against. Great work :).
Both this app and the SmartGo app are great. They are thoughtfully designed both for use and for helping players improve their game. Highly recommended.
This is beautifully written. Our favorite of the Reversi games in the App Store.
Is a good game but quit working today. Will only start if we reinstall the app but locks up if we go to another app then will not resume.
We never knew how much we had to learn about Othello! Ive been playing against AI and am consistently challenged, even on the student level. Everything works as it should, making for a smooth and pleasant experience. And all for a reasonable price. We really appreciate the developer making it available with no ads/no subscription. Its well worth the price, thanks.
Dont get this thinking youll get much help from a guide or tutoring. The skill levels quickly jump up too high at teacher level and you wont be able to win 1 game in 10. Either way too easy or way to hard.
Online play doesnt work at all, and we cant email support through the app. But playing vs the computer is pretty good.
This is a great othello game , but lately the app freezes on launch if Game Center is enabled. Uninstalling the app and reinstalling may make it work for a game or two, but then it starts freezing again. Signing out of Game Center in the iOS settings resolves the issue, but we like to use Game Center. Please fix. Once you do, this app will get 5 stars. (Tried to email support from the app, but that does not work either).
Froze after paying for app, tried deleting- redownloading …. Same . Frozen with signed in as …. Across top of screen.
There are not a lot of users yet so you might have to wait a while to paired with an opponent, but this is the best-written Reversi/Othelo game in the app store. When playing solo (against the computer) the computer really is "smart" as the name suggests. Well done.
Great way to practice different strategies and develop some skill. Playing vs. Computer and losing a lot helps us beat our boyfriend more. ;-).
Unfortunately we cant find a way to invite a friend to play this game with us.
A lot of other Othello / Reversi apps make spectacularly dumb moves that rob one of the pleasure of beating them, like making bad plays near the corners that they arent forced into. This one doesnt, even at the easier levels. As a result its a lot more fun.
As a novice we were unable to get the game going. Nevertheless, with some coaching we now really enjoy the game. Its well worth the $2.99 price. We give this game five stars.
This game doesnt require player to play. You can sit for hours with no action. No way to move on. Game remains active. Bad game. We want our money back.
We had forgotten how bad we were at this game! A well designed and easy to use interface. Only disappointment is that we can't use on our iPad which is stuck at iOS 9.
Great gameplay and solid performance.
We purchased this game because it was supposed to have a difficult AI to beat. We beat levels 1-3 first try, and tried level 5. Half way in the game and from that point on, every time we try to make a move, it crashes. Restart the game, it crashes again. Deleted, reloaded… And it crashes again. This is on an iPhone 7+. Contacted the developer with iPhone build data, OS version, etc. No response after two weeks. A refund is in order. We have only ever written three other reviews with this one being the first negative one. Sorry, but if you put a feedback/trouble shooting email address built in the app… Answer it.
We know that we're getting better because we've started winning at the student (2nd level) game. We've also noticed that we've gotten better at the online version we play. Haven't tried any matches from the Game Center version on here … But we will when we can regularly beat the 2nd level. What we like best about this game is the undo so we can replay games. We wish there a way to start the auto play engine when we do this. Instead we need to ask the game to suggest each opponents move. It is interesting to replay a game until we finally beat the machine. It would be great to have more functions to restart and play. The redo functionality is where we hope the programmers add features. We believe there are five levels of play with this game so the ai has plenty of kick left. To give you an idea of our skill level we regularly beat the computer practice player on our other game. This game gives us a way to improve our game against human players.
This is the hardest Othello app we have found for iPhone, and we have played all of them, we think. It's the first one that we have not been able to beat so far on the hardest setting. There are several settings to choose from, so it is not difficult to find a challenging level to play at. We like it a lot. We think these developers really know the game. Well worth the modest cost. Let's all jump on this one and help them to keep developing it for the Othello community. Good work guys.
User feedback from Apple App Store
App Details
- Version: 4.0.5
- Size: 6.59 MB
- iOS: 16.0 or later
- Languages: EN, FR, DE, JA
- Content Advisory:
- Developer: Smart Go, Inc.
Last updated: 20th November 2023 | Genre: Strategy, Board | Developer: Smart Go, Inc.