v1.5.7LatestA heads-up on small photos
- Scans from very small or low-resolution photos now show a reminder to double-check the position before you play or analyze it.
Version history
Release notes for the Snap That Piece web app at app.snapthatpiece.com.
v1.5.6A faster, clearer analysis page
- Analysis is much quicker: stepping through a game shows the engine's view almost at once, going back to a move you've already seen is instant, and the evaluation chart fills in within seconds instead of half a minute.
- An eval bar now sits beside the board in game review, on scan results and on saved positions.
- Tap any move in an engine line to see that position on the board, and choose whether to show 1, 2 or 3 lines.
- Game review marks inaccuracies (?!), mistakes (?) and blunders (??) in the move list and on the chart, and counts them for each player. Drag along the chart to move through the game.
- On a computer, the board now sits beside the engine and the moves instead of above them.
- On a phone, stepping through moves keeps the board in view: only the move list scrolls, not the page.
v1.5.5Stockfish 19
- Analysis and bot games now run on Stockfish 19. The engine download is about a quarter of its old size, so analysis starts sooner the first time you open it.
- Fixed: the first scan after a quiet spell could take 20–40 seconds longer than it should.
- Fixed: iPhone stopped offering to fill in the sign-in code from the email – it does again.
- Impossible scanned positions – an extra piece no promotion explains, or a king left in check out of turn – now say why in analysis, and scan cards no longer show a made-up 0.00 for them.
v1.5.4Sharper recognition
- New recognition models for boards, pieces and squares. Scans read the position more accurately, and the model is much less likely to invent a piece on an empty square.
- Links and buttons are easier to read in both light and dark themes.
- Mini-games layout updates.
v1.5.3Faster scans
- Scans now start a bit faster
- If the recognition service goes down mid-scan, you now get a notification telling you it failed, even when the app is in the background.
- Fixed: marking a scan as a favourite while it was still processing could quietly undo itself once the scan finished.
- More reliable live updates: a brief gap where a just-opened connection could miss a scan result has been closed.
v1.5.2Better scan reliability
- Fixed: a scan could get stuck spinning forever – most often if you locked your phone or switched apps while it was working. The result now always comes through, and you no longer have to reload the page to see it.
- The first scan after opening the app is noticeably quicker.
- Scans that run long now say so, instead of spinning silently.
- Fixed: an upload could stall without recovering on a weak mobile connection – it now retries a different way and finishes.
v1.5.1GM Equal Positions, out in the open
- New free page on the landing site: browse GM Equal Positions – dead draws from real grandmaster games, with Stockfish evals for both sides – and jump straight into a game at snapthatpiece.com/dead-draws.
- Games started from the landing page now count toward each position's play and draw statistics.
v1.5.0Live play updates
- Live games now survive bad connections: the app reconnects, resyncs the position, and shows a banner while it does – moves you made offline are redelivered safely.
- Rematch your opponent straight from the result screen.
- Move, capture, and check sounds, plus a game-end chime (toggle in Settings → Preferences).
- New “Always promote to queen” option skips the promotion picker.
- The king's square glows red when in check, lichess-style.
- Timed games now end correctly even if our server restarts mid-game.
- Fixed: your opponent's clock briefly showed your thinking time after each of your moves.
- Fixed: the first move of a timed bot game wasn't counted against the clock.
- Fixed: a bot game's final move could be lost if you left the page immediately.
v1.4.4Faster scans
- Photo scans start much sooner: recognition models stay warm and the pipeline runs its detection steps in parallel.
- Retrained board- and piece-recognition models for better accuracy.
- Support replies now arrive by email, and you can answer them directly from your inbox.
v1.4.3Automatic board orientation
- Scans now detect which way the board is facing instead of assuming the a-rank is at the bottom – positions come out correctly oriented from any angle.
v1.4.2Mobile layout fixes
- Fixed layout issues on small screens.
v1.4.1Snappier navigation
- Removed a page transition that made opening positions feel sluggish.
v1.4.0UI updates
- Every screen now has one clear primary action.
- Buttons and controls share one consistent design with proper touch targets on mobile.
- Fixed the light theme rendering incorrectly on devices set to dark mode.
v1.3.0Polish and reliability
- A consistency pass across the whole app, with dedicated fixes for iOS Safari.
- Many small bugs fixed after walking through every user journey end to end.
v1.2.1Minor updates
- Your first scan now opens automatically the moment it's ready.
v1.2.0Speed up
- Photos preview instantly while they upload.
- Upload several photos at once from desktop.
- A performance overhaul across the app: faster lists, faster loads.
- New pawn- and knight-race positions to play out.
v1.1.0Play a friend
- Challenge a friend from any position – snap a board and send them a link to continue the game online.
- Play out grandmaster dead-draw positions against the engine.
- iPhone (HEIC) support is improved.
- Scan cards show an engine evaluation at a glance.
- Chess960 starting-position generator.
- Fixed the engine analyzing forever at infinite depth.
v1.0.0Hello, world
- First release: snap a photo of any chess board and get the position instantly.
- Analyze the position with Stockfish or export it to Lichess.
- Play the position out against the engine at any strength.
- Your scans and games, saved in one place.