Honest guide · Updated October 2026 · Ad-free picks first

The best logic puzzle games for iPhone
for people who want a real answer.

Q: What is the best free puzzle game with no ads?

Simon Tatham's Puzzles is free and open source, with 38 puzzle types, no in-app purchases and a Data Not Collected privacy label. Millrace is free in full with no ads; its optional purchases are themes, undo bundles and a tip. Tare has no ads either: its first 20 levels are free for good and one $2.99 purchase unlocks the other 60. If you subscribe to Apple Arcade, Threes!+, Flow Free+ and Good Sudoku+ are ad-free editions of those games.

Q: Which puzzle games work offline on iPhone?

Tare and Millrace contain no networking code at all, so everything works in airplane mode. Most puzzle games let you play installed levels offline, but their online features need a connection: KAMI 2's Daily Challenge and player-made puzzles are online, and Suika Game's rankings need a connection even though the paid app has an offline mode. If offline play matters, check for daily puzzles, leaderboards and cloud saves, which are usually the parts that stop working.

Q: What is a good puzzle game for kids or for people who don't read English?

Tare has no words in the puzzle itself, is rated 4+, and has no ads, no chat and no account, so it plays the same in any language. DragonBox Algebra is built for teaching: it turns solving equations into a game and is recommended from age five, though it runs on a Kahoot! Kids subscription and account. For teenagers and adults who enjoy rules that change, Baba Is You is the classic, but its rules are written as words.

Q: Are Tare and Millrace free?

Millrace is free in full: all 64 levels, the endless Freeplay board and the daily board, with no ads. Its only purchases are optional theme packs, undo bundles and a tip, and no level needs any of them. Tare is a free download whose first chapter of 20 levels is free for good; one $2.99 purchase unlocks the other 60, with Family Sharing. Both are made by Lagerland Apps, the publisher of this guide, and both carry a Data Not Collected privacy label.

Search the App Store for "logic puzzle" and most of what comes back is free, endless and paid for by ads and lives. This guide is about the other kind: puzzles you can reason your way through, and what each one costs you in money, ads and data. One disclosure up front: Tare and Millrace are our games. We say so every time they appear, and we say when something else is the better pick.

Quick answer

The best logic puzzle game for iPhone depends on the kind of puzzle you want. Baba Is You is the best premium puzzle game ($6.99 once, no ads, no in-app purchases); Simon Tatham's Puzzles is the best free collection, with 38 puzzle types, no in-app purchases and no data collected; Good Sudoku is the best sudoku app, with hints that teach the next technique; Nonograms Katana is the best for nonograms, with 1001 free puzzles. Tare is a wordless balance puzzle with 80 levels, each machine-checked to have exactly one answer (20 free, $2.99 for the rest), and Millrace is an exact tile puzzle whose 64 levels each have a proven shortest solution (free, no ads). Threes!, Flow Free and KAMI 2 are the long-running classics, though Flow Free and KAMI 2 show ads and carry a Data Used to Track You label. Disclosure: Tare and Millrace are made by us — we say so wherever they appear.

The short version

🏆 Best premium puzzle game — Baba Is You

Every level's rules are word blocks on the board, and you push them around to rewrite what winning means. An App Store Editors' Choice from Hempuli, with free New Adventures and Museum level packs. $6.99 once, no in-app purchases, no ads, Data Not Collected. If you haven't played it, start here. App Store →

🆓 Best free collection — Simon Tatham's Puzzles

38 classic puzzle types in one app, each game generated fresh, from an open-source collection. Free, no in-app purchases, Data Not Collected. The iOS port was last updated in 2020, but nothing free gives you more kinds of puzzle. App Store →

🔢 Best for sudoku — Good Sudoku

Zach Gage's sudoku runs a solver as you play and uses it to teach the next technique, with more than 70,000 puzzles and daily leaderboards. Free with ads, a $4.99 Full Game Unlock, or Good Sudoku+ on Apple Arcade. App Store →

🖼️ Best for nonograms — Nonograms Katana

1001 free picture-logic puzzles from 5×5 to 50×50, each tested by a program for a unique solution, plus player-made puzzles and RPG-style extras. The free version shows ads; a $2.99 VIP upgrade removes them. App Store →

⚖️ Best wordless deduction puzzle — Tare (ours)

Hang numbered weights on a mobile until every beam balances. Some weights are hidden, and a beam carrying one sways instead of tilting, so you deduce them from picture cards. 80 levels, each machine-checked to have exactly one answer. 20 free, $2.99 once for the rest, no ads, fully offline. Full details →

🎯 Best exact number puzzle — Millrace (ours)

Slide and merge tiles to build one exact value on one marked cell within a move budget, with every arriving tile visible before your first move. 64 levels, each with a proven shortest solution, plus an endless Freeplay board. Free in full, no ads, fully offline. Full details →

All ten, honestly compared

Summarised from each app's public US App Store listing and release notes; prices checked 9 October 2026. Prices, ads and privacy labels change, so check the current listing before installing.

Game	The puzzle	How much	Ads	Price	Privacy label
Baba Is You	Rewrite the rules with word blocks	Main game plus free packs (150+ and ~80 levels)	None	$6.99 once	Data Not Collected
Simon Tatham's Puzzles	38 classic puzzle types	Generated fresh every game	None listed; no in-app purchases	Free, open source	Data Not Collected
Good Sudoku	Sudoku, with hints that teach	70,000+ generated, plus your own	In the free version	Free; $4.99 unlock; or Apple Arcade	Data Not Linked to You, incl. third-party advertising
Nonograms Katana	Nonograms (picross)	1001, plus player-made puzzles	Yes — $2.99 VIP removes them	Free; VIP and hint packs	Data Not Linked to You
Tare (ours)	Balance a hanging mobile; deduce hidden weights	80 handcrafted, one proven answer each	None	20 levels free; $2.99 once for 60 more	Data Not Collected
Millrace (ours)	Build one exact tile value within a move budget	64 levels with proven shortest solutions, plus endless Freeplay	None	Free; optional themes and undos	Data Not Collected
Threes!	Endless slide-and-merge, 1 + 2 = 3	One endless mode	None in the paid app; the free Freeplay edition has ads	$5.99 once	Data Not Collected (paid app)
Flow Free	Connect colour pairs and fill the board	2,500+ free, plus paid packs	Yes — $4.99 removes them	Free; or Flow Free+ on Apple Arcade	Data Used to Track You
KAMI 2	Flood a paper sheet to one colour in the fewest moves	100+ handcrafted, a daily challenge, thousands of player puzzles	Between puzzles, per player reviews	Free with in-app purchases	Data Used to Track You
DragonBox Algebra	Solve equations as a game — isolate the box	200 puzzles in 10 chapters, plus daily puzzles	Not stated	Free to start; Kahoot! Kids $5.99/mo or $35.99/yr	Data Linked to You, incl. analytics

Deeper one-on-one comparisons: Tare vs Baba Is You · vs Simon Tatham's Puzzles · vs Good Sudoku · vs Nonograms Katana · vs DragonBox Algebra · Millrace vs Threes · vs Flow Free · vs KAMI 2 · vs Two Dots · vs Suika Game

"One right answer" — and who actually checks it

The difference between a logic puzzle and a guessing game is whether the answer can be reasoned out. For grid puzzles that means a unique solution: a sudoku or nonogram with two valid fillings forces you to guess at some point. Nonograms Katana says each of its puzzles is tested by a program for exactly that. Tare (ours) goes one step further for its own genre: before release, a solver checks that each of its 80 levels has exactly one balanced arrangement, that the clue cards alone are enough to name every hidden weight, and that every decoy piece fits nowhere. How to solve a balance puzzle, and how Tare proves all 80 levels walks through a real level. Millrace (also ours) takes a different line: its levels can be solved more than one way, but an exhaustive search proves each level's shortest solution and shows it to you afterwards, as described in how Millrace finds and proves its puzzles. Endless games are a different pleasure. Threes!, Two Dots and Suika Game all have random elements, so there is no single answer to find, only a better or worse score.

Ads, lives and what the privacy label tells you

Pay once, play in peace

Baba Is You ($6.99) and Threes! ($5.99) charge up front, with no in-app purchases and a Data Not Collected label. Tare asks $2.99 once after 20 free levels. If a puzzle game is your evening wind-down, a one-time price is usually the calmest deal.

Free with ads

Flow Free, KAMI 2, Nonograms Katana, Good Sudoku and Threes! Freeplay are free because they show ads. Some sell a one-time purchase that removes them — $4.99 for Flow Free, a $2.99 VIP upgrade for Katana — and that is often worth it for a game you play daily.

Apple Arcade editions

Threes!+, Flow Free+ and Good Sudoku+ are ad-free, purchase-free editions included with an Apple Arcade subscription. Worth knowing if you already pay for Arcade.

Read the label before you install

Scroll to App Privacy on any App Store listing. "Data Used to Track You" (Flow Free, KAMI 2) means data from the app may be linked with other companies' data for advertising. "Data Not Collected" (Baba Is You, Simon Tatham's Puzzles, Tare, Millrace) means the developer says nothing leaves the app. Labels are self-reported, but they are the best quick signal there is.

For children, families and any language

Tare (ours) has no words in the puzzle itself and is rated 4+, with no ads, no chat and no account, so a child or a grandparent can play it in any language. If the goal is maths rather than play, DragonBox Algebra is the better tool: it teaches solving equations as a game and is recommended from age five, though it runs on a Kahoot! Kids account and subscription and collects data linked to that account. Baba Is You is wonderful for teenagers and adults, but its rules are written as words.

Popular, but a different kind of game

Two games turn up in every "puzzle" search that this guide leaves off the main list, because they are built around chance rather than deduction. Two Dots is a long-running saga with more than 5,000 levels and constant live events, played with five lives, power-ups and ads. Suika Game is a physics drop-and-merge chase for the watermelon, $2.99 with optional skins, or Suika Game+ on Apple Arcade. Both are great at what they do; neither has an answer to work out.

Our entries, for transparency

Tare

A wordless balance logic puzzle. Hang the weights, level every beam, deduce the hidden ones.

Tare is a wordless balance logic puzzle: hang weights, level every beam, deduce the hidden ones. 80 levels, 20 free. Offline, no ads, no data collected.

Freegames iOS · iPadOS

Millrace

A delivery puzzle: one inlet, one exact target, one move budget.

A tile delivery puzzle for iPhone and iPad: one inlet, one exact target, one move budget. 64 solver-verified levels. Free, offline, no ads.

Freegames iOS · iPadOS

Questions

FAQ

What is the best logic puzzle game for iPhone?

It depends on the kind of puzzle. Baba Is You is the best premium puzzle game — $6.99 once, no ads, no in-app purchases. Good Sudoku is the best sudoku app, Nonograms Katana the best for nonograms, and Simon Tatham's Puzzles the best free collection. For a puzzle where every level has one answer you can prove, Tare and Millrace (both ours) are machine-checked level by level.

What is the best free puzzle game with no ads?

Simon Tatham's Puzzles — free, open source, 38 puzzle types, no in-app purchases, Data Not Collected. Millrace (ours) is free in full with no ads, and Tare (ours) has 20 free levels and no ads. With Apple Arcade, Threes!+, Flow Free+ and Good Sudoku+ are ad-free too.

Which puzzle games work offline on iPhone?

Tare and Millrace have no networking code, so everything works in airplane mode. Most puzzle games play installed levels offline, but daily puzzles, leaderboards, player-made puzzles and cloud saves usually need a connection — KAMI 2's daily challenge and player puzzles, for example.

Which puzzle games have exactly one solution per level?

Nonograms Katana tests each puzzle by program for a unique solution. Tare checks all 80 levels with a solver: one balanced arrangement, hidden weights fixed by the clue cards alone, decoys that fit nowhere. Millrace proves each level's shortest solution. Endless games like Threes!, Two Dots and Suika Game have random elements, so there is no single answer.

What is a good puzzle game for kids or for people who don't read English?

Tare has no words in the puzzle, is rated 4+ and has no ads, chat or account. DragonBox Algebra teaches equations from age five, on a Kahoot! Kids subscription. Baba Is You is a classic for teenagers and adults, but its rules are written as words.

Are Tare and Millrace free?

Millrace is free in full with no ads; its only purchases are optional themes, undo bundles and a tip. Tare's first 20 levels are free for good, and one $2.99 purchase unlocks the other 60, with Family Sharing. Both are ours, and both are labelled Data Not Collected.

Start here

Two puzzles with an answer you can prove

Tare: balance every beam and deduce the hidden weights, 20 levels free. Millrace: deliver one exact tile within a move budget, free in full. No ads, no account, and both play on a plane.

See Tare See Millrace

The best logic puzzle games for iPhonefor people who want a real answer.