The best puzzle games are ones that force you to take a moment to consider your next move, the world around you, the rules that you’re being forced to operate under, and, sometimes, all of the above. They’re delicately balanced experiences, carefully threading the needle between being too easy and satisfying and avoiding being too difficult and frustrating. These are experiences that ask a lot of their players, anticipating a level of skill and patience to arrive at solutions naturally while also feeling wholly responsible for arriving at that “eureka” moment.

So how can something so measured translate over to a device that you’re not really meant to be spending extended periods of time on? Quite naturally, in fact, especially when the experience in question is designed around a variety of play-session lengths. Games like Grindstone can have you entranced for hours with each stage providing a powerful dopamine hit, but the brevity of each one allows you to consume them piecemeal in a pinch. The Witness could not be further from that, and isn’t the type of puzzle box you’ll likely want to look at for a handful of minutes at a time, but being able to chip away at its unravelling central mystery is still satisfying to check in on regularly. Then there are staples like Good Sudoku and Threes–games so synonymous with mobile gaming that they sometimes feel odd to play on devices without a portrait view or a touchscreen.

The App Store is filled with more games than you’ll ever need (and way more than you’ll ever experience), and there are hundreds of free puzzle games alone that are vying for your attention at any given time. But the best on the platform are ones that you have to invest a little money into to get the full experience off the bat. These are ones that you’ll keep installed on your devices as you upgrade them periodically. They’re comfort food that you’ll return to when you’re craving something cranially challenging no matter where you are.

If you’re looking for some of the best games on their respective platforms, make sure to check out our lists for the best Xbox games, best Nintendo Switch 2 games, best PS5 games, and more.

• Developer: Capybara Games
• Release Date: September 19, 2019
• Platforms: iOS, PC, Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5

Yes, Grindstone is a color-matching puzzler: the type that you cannot escape on every page in the App Store. But unlike most of those, Grindstone isn’t aiming to tease you along before asking you for money to continue playing. As a “purchase once” product, this puzzler flips the script of other contemporaries in this genre, with its central hook of stringing together longer and longer combos between color-matched enemies making each of its 250 levels an intoxicating adventure to lose hours to. From the developers of Superbrothers: Sword & Sorcery EP, Super Time Force Ultra, and more, you can look forward to a quirky and eye-catching art style punctuated by cartoonish animations and endearing humor, making it an easy distraction every time you have a few minutes to kill.

• Developer: Thekla Inc.
• Release Date: January 26, 2016
• Platforms: iOS, PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One

Your iPad and iPhone don’t have to exclusively play mobile-only puzzle games, and The Witness is proof of that. This intricate puzzle box from the developer behind Braid is a cranially taxing adventure that requires a notebook to be on hand to jot down every hint that leads you slowly towards your next revelation. Initially launching on PC and consoles, The Witness might not be best played on a mobile device, but it’s nice that this option exists nonetheless. Being able to lose some spare time staring at the next conundrum ahead of you lets you take the magic of one of the best puzzle games in the last decade whenever you want.

• Developer: Ustwo Games
• Release Date: June 5, 2017
• Platforms: iOS, Android, PC, Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5

If you happen to recall the simple but engaging PSP puzzler Echochrome, but have never heard of Monument Valley, prepare to have your afternoon filled. This puzzle series is one of the most popular you’re likely to find on mobile, and one of the most recognizable, with its gorgeous art direction and color palette that pulls you into its Persian influence. The puzzles themselves rely on a mixture of perspective shifting to form pathways that logically didn’t exist before, while also integrating companions in its latest entry to help weigh down switches, pull door-opening levers from across a stage, and more. The puzzles are bite-sized and continually entertaining to solve, while also acting as a calming and visually pleasing distraction that can remind you just how good your phone or tablet screen can look. Monument Valley 3 was previously available on iOS, but disappeared when Netflix removed it from its platform in mid-2025.

• Developer: Max Inferno
• Release Date: November 8, 2022
• Platforms: iOS, Android, PC, Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5

If you’ve ever spent an abnormal amount of time trying to sort and stack everyday items into a logical structure, A Little To The Left might be your catnip (or worst nightmare). This cozy puzzle game features hundreds of puzzles with numerous solutions, with your ability to sort items into pleasing arrangements determining your score at the end of each stage. Much like life, nothing is as straightforward as it seems–your sorting containers might seem ill-fitted to the number of objects you need to sort, or a mischievous cat will often get in the way of your diligent work, messing up some of your progress. But these minor setbacks can’t extinguish the rush of seeing all the pieces of a toolbox click perfectly into place–the sort of dopamine hits that A Little To The Left dishes out in spades.

• Developer: Witch Beam
• Release Date: August 24, 2023
• Platforms: iOS, Android, PC, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, PlayStation 5

If you’ve ever had to move, you’ll likely agree that packing is perhaps the worst part of it all. Conversely, unpacking is the exact opposite, with the opportunity to have your existing belongings take on a new space in your newest space. Unpacking distills that into a cozy, zen puzzler, and one that doesn’t aim to challenge you but rather give you a space to explore the familiar feeling of finding new homes for your most treasured possessions. Part block-fitting puzzle adventure, part home decorator, Unpacking explores the various phases of life that are defined by packing and unpacking your life, with each stage likely to stir some emotions within you as you’re reminded of each of your own life-defining changes that have been bookended by the same routine.

• Developer: Hempuli
• Release Date: June 22, 2021
• Platforms: iOS, Android, PC, Nintendo Switch

Baba is You is cutesy and unassuming with its simple hand-drawn sprites and limited animation, but beneath this lies a deviously complex and consistently rewarding puzzle game that challenges you to think outside the box. Then be the box. Then use the box to cross lava and define what the goal of the level ultimately is. It’s difficult to explain exactly how Baba is You functions because each of its puzzles seemingly rewrites the rules of its own world, making its gameplay almost seem like an evolving language that you slowly learn across its numerous stages. Playing on a touchscreen is straightforward too, with the focus more on the thought between moves than the dexterity of executing them, letting you stare at your screen for minutes on end before deciding which direction to push towards. It’s unique and distinct, and one of the best puzzlers in the last few years

• Developer: Fireproof Games
• Release Date: January 25, 2018
• Platforms: iOS, Android, PC

If you’re a fan of escape rooms but have somehow never heard of The Room series on mobile, you have a treasure trove of puzzles waiting to be explored. While the first three games in the series followed similar structures–placing you in a room with surfaces and objects to examine in order to solve a puzzle and move onto the next one–the fourth game in the series dramatically changed the overall structure. Instead of moving from one room to the next, Old Sins takes place in interconnected rooms in a dollhouse, with interactions in one affecting solutions in another. This makes The Room 4 a far more complex endeavor, where you’re thinking about not just the room you’re currently working in but how your interactions might unlock new possibilities elsewhere. The series is sharp and satisfying, and is a must for anyone that gets a kick out of well-deserved epiphanies.

• Developer: 2D Boy, Tomorrow Corporation
• Release Date: August 2, 2024
• Platforms: iOS, Android, PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5

Can you believe it’s been nearly two decades since World of Goo first launched? Time hasn’t dulled its edge either, with the physics-based puzzler still as captivating to play for the first time as it was in 2007. Perhaps one of the most surprising developments in 2024 was the announcement of a sequel, with developer 2D Boy returning with a new suite of puzzles for you to delicately guide sentient blobs of goo through. You’ll build bridges and towers and whatever structures get the job done, with different blobs providing different physics interactions that you’ll need to understand in order to get to your goal with as few moves as possible. It’s a remarkable sequel that captures the magic of the original while looking better than ever, and is every bit as captivating on iOS.

• Developer: Jason Roberts
• Release Date: December 14, 2017
• Platforms: iOS, Android, PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One

Gorogoa is part hidden-object game, part visual experience, with its ethereal paintings acting as individual stages for straightforward but often challenging puzzles to solve. It’s a truly stunning game to slowly progress through, with each portrait an explosion of color and creativity that hides interactive objects in plain sight. Moving around portions of the environment, rotating seemingly static elements, and sometimes just poking around progress the abstract story forward, with its brief running time making the entire thing a memorable experience that also doesn’t feel like it overstays its welcome. It’s something that can be completed in a single sitting if you’re looking for an alternative to a few chapters of a book before bed, and you’ll likely remember it for years to come.

• ate: December 20, 2017
• Platforms: iOS, Android, PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One

If physics puzzles are your jam, then you’ve probably already heard of Bridge Constructor. But while building delicately balanced bridges that both succeed and fail spectacularly is engaging, there’s something about the addition of portals (courtesy of Aperture Labs) that makes the simulated chaos even more unpredictable. Trying to anticipate how much weight and force you need to account for when a vehicle and its momentum shift completely between entry and exit of a portal is a hilarious and challenging problem to continually overcome, with all the charm from Valve’s own puzzle masterpiece transitioning beautifully to this unexpected crossover. Touch controls also work incredibly well when you’re trying to make fine edits to your mangled constructions, letting you revel in the fates of your 2D test subjects no matter where you are.

• Developer: Sirvo
• Release Date: February 6, 2014
• Platforms: iOS, Android, PC, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One

It’s the game you’ve either paid to play, or the one that inspired one of the many clones you didn’t. There’s no denying just how influential Threes was, and in many ways still is, thanks to its balance between easy-to-understand mechanics and captivating skill ceiling. You slide tiles in four directions to combine identical numerical tiles, creating larger and larger numbers as you tactfully move the entire board around without running out of free squares to move into. Its brevity is perfect in a pinch, but its gameplay loop is one that can melt away hours as you chase higher and higher scores. There’s a reason that so many clones of Threes exist, but nothing quite lives up to the real deal, even today.

• Developer: Zach Gage
• Release Date: July 22, 2020
• Platforms: iOS, Android

Sudoku is one of the most classic puzzle games you’re likely to find, and there are hundreds of options to get your mathematical fix on iOS. But none of them understand Sudoku fundamentally like Zach Gage’s Good Sudoku. This is a Sudoku game for everyone–players who are new to the game, those with a basic understanding but who want more of a challenge, and absolute Sudoku sickos who need the most brutal challenges the game can offer. Perhaps the best part is that the game understands Sudoku’s shortcomings too, giving you numerous mechanics to streamline some of the more tedious aspects of each game while also providing easy-to-use hints to help you become a better player with each board solved. You might have played hundreds of Sudoku apps before, but this is the one that you’ll likely always have installed for a quick fix.

• Developer: Poti Poti Studio
• Release Date: August 7, 2025
• Platforms: iOS, Android, PC, Nintendo Switch

One of the most modern entries on this list, Is This Seat Taken? is an easy-to-understand logic-based puzzle game about finding the best seating positions for a variety of sentient shapes. Some might want to be seated next to other particular shapes and some might want to be as far away from another, while environmental obstacles, such as loud music or natural light, impact the importance of a position too. Moving people around to perfectly place everyone in a spot where everyone is happy is cathartic, and works beautifully on either an iPhone or iPad. It’s both cozy and engaging, turning something as mundane as finding a seat into something whimsical and joyous.