Try Backgammon Pro free for 7 days
Eligible Apple Accounts can now try Pro through the yearly subscription. Unlock Pro features, see your trial status and renewal date, or choose Continue Free. Game Coach is not included.
Live game updates
Follow up to three online games from your Lock Screen and Dynamic Island with Pro, including board previews and quick access to each game.
More reliable online play
Improved offline turn recovery, shared-game closure, doubling-cube rules, and Dutch text and layouts.
Please test: Trial signup, cancellation, renewal, expiry, and Restore Purchases. Also check Live Activities and online play across iPhone and iPad.
Live game updates and better online recovery
- Follow up to three online games from your Lock Screen and Dynamic Island with Backgammon Pro.
- See waiting invitations, opponent names when available, and a small board preview on the Lock Screen. Tap an activity to return to its game.
- Improved offline turn recovery preserves tentative moves and offers a retry when turn confirmation fails.
- Closing a shared game now asks for confirmation before ending the match or cancelling a pending invitation.
- Improved doubling-cube rule enforcement and refined localized text and layouts.
Beta note: Live Activity behavior after granting permission still needs physical-device verification. Background updates depend on CloudKit notification delivery.
Friend rematches and Dutch language support
- Start a rematch with an online friend after a completed match without sending another invitation. Keep your colors, board appearance, and match rules.
- Try the Dutch language pilot across game controls, status messages, rules, achievements, and permission explanations.
- Improved online refresh behavior when switching screens or recovering a closed game.
- Added more space between checkers on the bar, refined invitation previews, and cleaned up the doubling cube.
- Player names stay visible in the board gallery while saved games load.
- Achievement celebrations wait until you return to the main menu.
Known issue in this build: Completing an online turn while offline may remain stuck on “Reconnecting…” after connectivity returns. Reopening the game may require replaying tentative moves with the saved dice.
Smoother moves and clearer turn updates
- More natural checker movement when dragging, placing, hitting, and bearing off.
- Richer turn notifications include opponent names and move details when available, with updates for doubles and accepted invitations.
- Improved shared-board appearance when inviting a friend or reopening an invitation.
- Fixed tapping a legal destination to re-enter a checker from the bar after selection is cleared.
- Fixed a failed dice-roll request that could leave the roll control disabled.
- Refined board-opening presentation and the Pro benefits list.
Feel every move
- Added haptic feedback for picking up and placing checkers, moving between legal destinations, hitting an opponent, and bearing off.
- Added feedback for board selection, opening and closing games, the doubling cube, and dice impacts and settling on supported iPhones.
- A brief sweep of light shows the current player's movement direction when a board opens, with accessibility support.
- Refined saved-board presentation.
iCloud turn-alert fixes
- Fixed the iCloud subscription configuration used for turn alerts, accepted invitations, and double offers.
- Existing game-alert subscriptions are repaired automatically when the app reconnects.
- Improved notification diagnostics while retaining background game synchronization.
Beta note: End-to-end delivery between different iCloud accounts still required tester confirmation for this release.
Online play from opposite sides
- Fixed online board direction so opponents play from opposite sides, with matching saved-game previews.
- Invitations show a shared-board preview with clearer presentation and improved friend-name handling.
- Improved returning to the board gallery and the layout of game-ended messages.
- Clearer yearly and lifetime Backgammon Pro options.
- Game Center players have seven days to take their turn.
- Improved iCloud notification setup and repair diagnostics.
More dependable turn notifications
- Improved iCloud turn alerts with automatic retries and repair of outdated subscriptions.
- Fixed an iCloud identity issue that could prevent notification setup.
- Turn reminders default to five minutes, with options for five minutes, 30 minutes, two hours, 24 hours, or Off.
- Immediate turn alerts remain active when reminders are Off.
- Clearer notification settings show banner, sound, and delivery settings, with a display test and more useful error details.
Settings change: Existing Off reminder settings switch to five minutes once with this update. Selecting Off again keeps reminders disabled.
Smoother board gallery transitions
- Refined gallery motion keeps boards from appearing flattened while browsing, especially in landscape.
- More consistent camera framing and smoother easing when opening a saved game or returning to the gallery.
- Improved gallery sizing leaves room around tablet previews while preserving the board's appearance.
Better board browsing and gameplay
- Browse board styles in a continuous horizontal row that reaches the sheet edges, with a glimpse of the next board.
- Improved portrait and landscape layouts for board previews and choices.
- Smoother transitions between the gallery and gameplay, with refined materials and shadows.
- Keep multiple games open without a Pro subscription.
- Clearer doubling-cube controls, including requesting a double before your next roll.
- Improved board orientation, invitations, and online synchronization.
Board orientation that follows your window
- The board now uses the available window shape to choose its orientation.
- Portrait windows display the board vertically; landscape windows display it horizontally.
- Board controls and gallery transitions follow the same orientation.
Clearer notification setup
- The app requests notification permission on opening, including existing installations that never received the prompt.
- Notification settings show permission and push-registration status, with controls to enable notifications, open iOS Settings, or retry registration.
- Check and repair iCloud game-alert subscriptions from Settings.
- A local notification test helps check whether your device can display alerts.
Beta note: The local display test does not verify remote push delivery. Separate push invitations before opening a shared link and server-scheduled overdue reminders were not available in this build.
Readable portrait status messages
- Board-refresh messages remain upright below the navigation controls in portrait, including upside-down portrait.
- Invitation, dice-roll error, and refresh-progress banners use the same placement.
- Landscape placement and the Retry action remain available.
More reliable invitations
- Improved recovery when a shared game is not immediately available after accepting an invitation.
- Earlier setup of turn notifications and added support for invitation-acceptance alerts.
- Better invitation diagnostics to help investigate failed operations.
Board polish and online-game cleanup
- Refined board materials and transitions between the gallery and gameplay.
- Improved online-game closure and recovery.
- Improved Game Center match termination and reminder cleanup.
The release records confirm that this build was uploaded and processed. A separate “What's New” entry was not preserved in the available release-note history, so no feature list is reconstructed here.
Cleaner board folding and welcome presentation
- Fixed board-fold visibility and shadow issues.
- Refined the empty welcome-board prompt.
- Improved dice and player indicators.
Achievement presentation refinements
- Updated achievement presentation and text.
More realistic boards and clearer pieces
- Improved all 13 board skins, with resin checkers that stand apart from leather, wood, felt, and cork playing surfaces.
- Refined checker colors, bevels, and edges to distinguish players on pale and dark boards.
- More consistent materials and colors across gameplay, previews, and the home gallery.
- Checkers, dice, and move indicators keep their proportions as the board adapts to the screen.
- Local play and the welcome board remain available without iCloud sign-in or an unnecessary sync error.
Later release records confirm that build 11 was available in TestFlight. Its build-number change was committed on 19 September 2026, but a separate “What's New” entry and upload date were not preserved in the available records.
Optional online-turn reminders
- Choose Off, 30 minutes, two hours, or 24 hours for turn reminders in Settings.
- Receive one reminder per waiting turn, with reminders suppressed while that game is open and cleared for completed or removed games.
- Tap a reminder to open the matching game.
- A visible Show Pro Controls option makes Pro features easier to test.
Beta note: Reminders are scheduled locally when the device receives an update, so playing on another device may not cancel them immediately. Pro features were enabled by default for this TestFlight build; purchases were not yet available.
Combined interface and gameplay update
- Combined the improvements from builds 7 and 8 into the next TestFlight release.
- Included additional board styles and independent app-icon selection, including Gold Noir and Champagne Gold, as described in the later cumulative release notes.
A glass interface and more computer difficulty levels
- A new glass interface across the welcome screen, profile, settings, game settings, and achievements.
- Consistent light and dark appearance independent of the selected board skin.
- Cleaner settings navigation, clearer selections, and matching circular profile and achievement buttons.
- Six computer difficulty levels: Easy, Medium, Hard, Expert, Master, and Ultra. Master and Ultra add deeper move search; Smart strategy adapts automatically.
- Improved home-screen spacing keeps sync notices clear of play buttons.
Clearer match cards and smoother play
- Compact match cards show player names once with a clear turn indicator.
- Pip counts appear before the score, with centered labels and gentle transitions.
- Match timing alternates between the last move and the game start time.
- Smoother board transitions, dice rolls, and checker animations.
- Updated friend invitations, online synchronization, and SharePlay support.
- Added Ivory Noir and Sand Noir board styles and app icons.
- Refined achievement screens and game navigation.
Editorial source notes
Build 30 was updated on 10 October 2026 with the supplied “What’s New in 0.2 (30)” release notes. The source notes below describe the earlier historical compilation.
Compiled on 10 October 2026 from this Backgammon repository's saved English TestFlight notes, their Git history, build validation records, and the 1 October launch validation record. This is a rewritten overview for website use, not a verbatim export from App Store Connect. Live App Store Connect status was not checked for this document.
- Build dates use recorded upload dates where available. Builds 7 and 8 use release-note commit dates explicitly labelled above; build 11's upload date is unknown.
- Build 29's completed upload is confirmed by the build 30 preparation record; that does not establish external-testing approval.
- Builds 13, 14, 16, 17, 20, and 29 are summarized from recorded release scope because separate historical English notes were not available in Git. Build 9 also uses the cumulative notes saved with build 10.
- Builds 11 and 15 are retained as explicit gaps instead of attributing unverified features to them.
- No build-specific “What's New” text was found for releases before build 7, including the earlier version 0.1 history. This document covers all recoverable notes, not a verified complete TestFlight export.
- Beta features and limitations describe each historical build and may have changed in later updates.
Source files: TestFlight-en-US.txt and its Git history; Build-9-validation.md through Build-30-validation.md where present; Launch-validation-2026-10-01.md.
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