SmartGo One Reviews

The previous, Kifu, version had a few features that this one is missing that I wish it had. For example when playing against the computer, the computer never resigns, so you are forced to play out a doomed game that the computer cannot possibly win. It’s a waste of time. If there’s an option for that behavior, it’s well hidden. It also doesn’t handle consecutive passes correctly. (It passes, but when you pass, it goes back to playing as if it had never offered the pass. also, this version has been very unreliable. It often crashes and stops playing against you after half a dozen moves. There have been no updates in months.

I will say that the Go lessons in SmartGoOne are far superior to the other apps I've tried as a complete beginner, but that isn't saying much. Just telling me that I made a good or bad move without explaing WHY it was a good or bad move does not help with learning. It seems that all of these apps that claim to teach you how to play Go assume that you are already familiar with the game. So, um, what exactly is the point of the lessons?

The new smart go one is very similar to the previous version but it is stronger and slower. I could beat the old one pretty regularly and this one is much more difficult. I have only won 20 or so games since I got it. Then again it took me about 4 or 5 years until I could beat the first version fairly consistently. Maybe 4 or 5 years from now, I’ll be beating SmartGo 1. Who knows? I do know that the computer in the old version would NEVER play another move AFTER it had passed. This version does that all the time. It really bothers me.

I’m a long-time SmartGo Kifu user, and for most of my purposes, the new app is just a bit less smooth and reliable. For problems in particular, text above the board occasionally overflows the screen, more problems have little or no explanatory text, a few incorrectly mark equally correct moves incorrect. I understand the reasoning behind the new app, and I don’t begrudge the author a steadier revenue stream, but the new version still isn’t quite up to par with its predecessor.

Great to have everything in one excellent app. Glad my books transferred over easily.

A few suggestions:

1) I play against the computer a lot, and it would be nice to have a “rematch” button. As it stands now, I have to click the plus button to start a new file, then click twice more to actually start a new game with the computer. For a casual player like me, I also don’t want every game against the computer saved as a file (I just end up deleting them all).

2) When I do the problems, it would be nice if the computer would automatically respond with a move like in other apps.

3) In general, all the options can feel a bit overwhelming. Maybe a “simple mode” for casual users would be cool. The original SmartGo app felt a bit more streamlined.

I use SmartGoOne every single day to go through tsumego. I have a life-long love for this game but lack the time to be able to play regularly, so SmartGoOne keeps me connected to the game, to some books and professional games.

Record games, solve problems, replay pro games, and read Go books. SmartGo One has it all. Trust the creator of SGF to give you your most useful go application.

SmartGo has been my favorite app of Go on iOS for many years, and the current form of SmartGoOne is the best version yet. I love the UI, the integrated Books, puzzles, and the steady stream of new Pro games.

I write mobile apps for a living and SmartGoOne is beautifully designed and executed. As a newbie to Go I can’t say enough good things about how valuable SmartGoOne is. I’m going to upgrade just to support the author.

Jesse Liberty

This is a fantastic Go app in every way. Anders Kierulf had the set the bar very high with SmartGo Kifu, but this new rewrite leaps over the previous one. Everything you need to play, learn, and study Go is all there under a beautiful, new UI. Get it.

I have tried several apps to work on beginner problems. SmartGo One is the only one that actually seems to be able to help explain why a particular result works. So it isn’t just my dumb luck or trial and error.

I’ve been running SmartGo apps since they started, mostly for the (GO) problems. I bought this new one just to support the developer. Not that I haven’t played a game against it si this review doesn’t apply to that piece.

The GO problems in this game are RIFE with mistakes that a good proofreading would catch. “White to kill”, then black lives and the message says “this exchange doesn’t help black”. Makes no sense. This after following the suggested moves because I thought I was confused. Or, you play the correct sequence but you play one more move than the software was expecting and the stone pictured on the upper right gets a red star indicating you’ve made a mistake. When it’s not a mistake, it’s what would be the correct next move. Probably 20% of the problems have something like these.

I’m a paid user, full version.

Where is the Guess function? Why do longtime users of SmartGo Kifu have to pay again to get a few more pro games? Where do the win % and points from KataGo appear?

Update
thank you to the devs for answering. Yes, the % does appear between the names of the players, but when reviewing a pro game, the % is not there, and, if you paste the pro game sbc in “my games” the % is displayed but always says “100%” no matter what stage of the game you are reviewing.

The “Guess” function present in Kifu will return later, just not in v 1.0.
Also - an automatic discount would be nice for users of Kifu.

I’m thrilled to see this new version of SmartGo on the iOS platform including the embedding of Go Books. I was recently considering my next update of the GoGod database, but with this new SmartGo “subscription” model, I can automatically continue my support of both Anders Kierulf as well as John “the GoGod” Fairbairn.

An excellent application. Play matches against either computers or other people (in person), review professional games across centuries of Go history, purchase, download, and read texts on Go from numerous authors (including interactive problems within the text). The developer has done an excellent job with building this program, and also responds quite promptly to bug reports. Full 19x19 play does seem to be limited to the pro version, but it is well worth the one-time payment, in my personal opinion.

1. Books for 2/2-1/3 of the price
2. Access to out of print books
3. Link to email and use on set up devices
4. No need to break out a board you can play the moves themselves!
5. It is kinda clunky on organization but after a while it becomes easier.

SmartGoOne has it all: a database of pro games, go problems, joseki pattern search, digital and interactive versions of popular go books, and the ability to play against a strong AI.

The interface is great, and SmartGoOne is worth it for the go books feature alone. However SmartGoOne has so much more than that, it's pretty much the perfect go study app. Highly recommended.

It's been said elsewhere, but having a single app with problems, sample games, a handicapped computer opponent, AND that contains Go Books I've purchased over the years, sorted by difficulty is amazing.

Plus, I reported a small issue to the developer and heard back with a solve within hours.

If you're interested in Go, you should get it. If you're not yet interested in Go, you should be, and you should go get it!

I started playing a long time ago when bots were 13k. I was too strong for that. When I couldn’t play humans I wanted a computer to play with but they were too weak. I’ve been away from the game for 10 years but I’m back. I didn’t know computers have gotten so good. The hint feature is a absolute gem to teach me better moves. I wish it could tell me my rank to gauge my improvement but improving is all I care about.

Thank you.

I am just starting to learn and I am appreciating the library with its manuals and practice problems. Looking forward to doing more with SmartGoOne as I progress.