• Sumaddle
  • FAQ
    • Fundamentals
    • Playing a puzzle
    • Settings
    • Levels of difficulty
    • Help and scoring
    • Pencil mode
    • Puzzle packs
    • Puzzle generator
    • Leaderboards
    • Performance analysis
    • Puzzle mechanics
    • App insights
  • Developer blog
  • Help and support
    • Troubleshooting
    • Contact
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  Sumaddle
Sumaddle

Developer blog

Ready for iOS 26!

10/9/2025

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Version 2.0.0 includes styling adaptions for iOS/iPadOS 26 and some accessibility improvements, along with other small corrections and enhancements. The changes in detail:
  • Styling adaptions for iOS/iPadOS 26 have been applied throughout the app. In particular, buttons and backgrounds have a more rounded appearance and glass effect is used in some places. Buttons that are used in the headers of pages are now represented by symbols, instead of descriptive labels. Some content animations also work differently, such as when the explanation for help is revealed.
  • More improvements to accessibility, including better support for very large text sizes.
  • More refinements to the way the difficulty of a puzzle is estimated for new puzzles that are generated by the built-in puzzle generator.
  • When the option to select the size of the next puzzle is enabled for the puzzle generator, a new settings option makes it possible to select the puzzle difficulty too. This replaces the option that previously existed, which allowed the skill level to be selected. If the target difficulty is outside the range that is normally supported by the current play mode, the puzzle generator switches to a suitable alternative mode automatically.
  • On the settings page for layout & appearance, new screen layout options are available for iPhone. When the device orientation changes, players can choose to have the screen orientation switch back to the preferred orientation automatically. This may be a more convenient option than setting the orientation lock on the device. Players who like to play while lying down might find this feature particularly practical.
  • The settings page now includes an option to cancel all changes, in addition to the option to apply the changes.
  • When the setting “show if numbers add up correctly to the clue values” is enabled, an error is indicated if the number of squares between the blocks does not fit any valid combination for the clue value (in other words, if the wrong number of squares are sandwiched between the blocks).
  • In the performance analysis, the use of help that is described in the summary section at the top of the page is now based on the percentage of puzzles for which help was used. Previously, it described the extent to which the help was used when averaged over all puzzles. This could mean it described the use of help as being frequent, even when it was only used for one puzzle.
  • A fix to the progress reporting that is shown in the Challenge Trail. This was not informing of a promotion when a level was completed.
  • A fix for an issue with the Puzzle Generator Preview, where a change to the play mode was not actually taking effect.
The styling changes are seen when running with iOS/iPadOS 26. When running with older versions of iOS or iPadOS, the styling is still the same as before.
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New puzzles in the Challenge Trail

19/5/2025

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The free puzzles in the Challenge Trail have been updated in version 1.64.0:
  • Most of the puzzles in the harder levels have been replaced with new puzzles that reflect the difficulty ratings more accurately.
  • In the easier levels, some 4x4 puzzles are now featured.
  • In total, there are more puzzles to play than before.

Other changes in this version:

  • When the puzzle generator is configured with different weights for the different categories of puzzle difficulty, the puzzles are now generated with a better mix of difficulties.
  • When a square has no candidate values left, a yellow warning symbol is shown, instead of a plain empty square. When this happens, it usually means there is a mistake somewhere. A quick way to fix mistakes is to use the built-in help.

The new symbol that is shown when there are no candidate values left can be seen in the screenshot below:
Picture
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Better accessibility

6/4/2025

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Version 1.63.0 includes major improvements to accessibility and some other functional enhancements. The changes in detail:
  • Accessibility has been overhauled throughout the app. In particular, there is now comprehensive support for VoiceOver and the legibility of text has been improved in some places.
  • App Store interaction has been re-engineered to use Apple’s latest interface. One benefit is that a purchase on one device will automatically show up on other devices that are signed in using the same Apple account. This also applies if the app is transferred to a new device. If any purchases are not showing when Sumaddle is launched, please tap “Restore purchases” from inside the app to restore them. For more troubleshooting steps, please refer to the Troubleshooting page.
  • When the help is used to show how the next step goes, tapping outside the puzzle area no longer clears the help explanation. This makes it easier to examine the explanation multiple times. The explanation does still get cleared when a puzzle square is selected or when pencil mode is activated.
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Puzzle packs can be reset individually

4/2/2025

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Version 1.62.0 provides some improvements in the area of puzzle packs and some changes to the way the number buttons work. The changes in detail:
  • Puzzle packs can now be reset individually, instead of all packs in the same category having to be reset together. The menu option “reset puzzle packs” brings up a dialog in which the packs to be reset can be selected freely.
  • When playing the puzzles in puzzle packs, the way that the next puzzle is selected has been changed. It now works more sequentially, always proceeding forwards where possible. When all puzzles in a pack have been solved, the search proceeds forwards to the next available puzzle pack, instead of jumping back to the first pack.
  • When a puzzle in a puzzle pack is paused, the page with the button for continuing play now includes a new button to “skip to next puzzle”. This provides a more convenient way to proceed to the next puzzle in a pack, rather than having to go back to the overview of puzzles and selecting the next puzzle manually.
  • The way the number buttons switch between being active or inactive has been changed. The buttons are now only active for the numbers that are still considered to be candidates, they are inactive for numbers that have already been eliminated. This helps to prevent numbers from being mistakenly re-added to a square, or to a group of squares. It also makes it easier to see which combinations fit a group of squares that have been selected together.
  • Depending on playing strategy, some players may prefer to have the number buttons working as they did before. The setting “tie number buttons to narrowed candidates” makes it possible to choose, whether the buttons work in the new or old way. This new setting can be found in the settings section for “optional features”, it is on by default (= new way of working).
  • When a single square is selected and the candidate values are updated by tapping the number buttons, values that are eliminated are now highlighted with orange/pink. This is consistent with the way the numbers are highlighted when multiple squares are selected and operated on together.
  • When a single square is selected and pencil mode is active, the number buttons no longer appear with orange highlighting for all buttons. Instead, the buttons use the same highlighting as when pencil mode is not active.
  • Added dark and tinted app icons for iOS 18 / iPadOS 18.
  • Added some measures that might help to prevent the Game Center icon from being shown at the wrong time when the app is brought back into action after having been suspended for a while.
  • Some corrections have been made to the way that candidate values are restored to related squares when the selected square (or group of squares) is cleared by tapping repeatedly, or by tapping the clear button.
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A few more small improvements

2/12/2024

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Version 1.61.1 is an update to version 1.60.0, mainly to correct (increase) the size of overlay sheets when running on iPads with iPadOS 18. Overlay sheets are used for temporary presentations, such as for the settings.

Other small improvements included in this update:
  • When the option to show inverted combinations has been turned on in the settings and a group of squares outside the blocks of a row or column is selected using a swipe (drag) gesture, the inverted combinations are shown. Previously, this was only the case if all the squares outside the blocks were selected together, now it is the case for any group of squares that are selected in this way.
  • When a row or column has a hidden clue and the space is tapped where the clue would normally be shown, any combinations that are already showing are immediately hidden. This is a revision to a change made in version 1.57.0.
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Enhancements to the built-in help

22/11/2024

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Version 1.61.0 contains some enhancements to the built-in help and some usability improvements:
  • A new setting makes it possible to see a warning symbol next to help actions that will cause points to be lost. This setting can be found in the section “Layout & Appearance”. For more information about when the help is penalty-free and when it is not, please see the FAQ page on Help and scoring.
  • When the help is used to “undo back to where I went wrong” or “clear mistakes only”, any combinations that have been deleted incorrectly are restored automatically. The ability to delete individual combinations can be turned on under “Optional Features” in the settings.
  • When a square is tapped a second time, the square is no longer turned into a block if there are already two blocks in the same row or column. This is because it makes no sense to add a third block, if two are already present. This change might help to prevent squares from being filled inadvertently when a square is (re-)selected for the purpose of updating candidate values, or when tapping quickly between squares at the end of a game.
  • Previously, if pencil mode was active and a square with pencil markings was tapped, the square would sometimes be converted to a number square with candidate values. This was the case when there were already two blocks in the same row or column. This was not very intuitive, so it no longer happens. Instead, the square now remains in pencilled state.
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Resuming a paused puzzle

16/10/2024

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Version 1.60.1 includes some more small changes on the back of version 1.60.0:
  • Further improvements when estimating the difficulty of a new puzzle and when scrolling to position in the context of puzzle packs.
  • A change to the follow-up page when a puzzle in the Challenge Trail or a puzzle pack is paused during play. Instead of returning straight back to the overview page as before, the page for a paused puzzle is now shown. This flow is the same as how it works when playing puzzles generated by the puzzle generator.
By showing the page for a paused puzzle, it not only makes it easier to resume play, it also makes it more likely that the previously played steps can still be undone one by one.
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New puzzle packs

6/10/2024

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Version 1.60.0 includes three new packs of puzzles, along with some other small improvements. The changes in detail:
  • ​There are two new packs of quirky puzzles and a new pack of premium 9x9 puzzles. These special types of puzzle are the hardest to generate using the built-in puzzle generator, so the packs offer a more convenient way to play these sorts of puzzle.
  • The difficulty ratings for puzzles in the existing quirky packs and 9x9 pack have been re-assessed and revised in some cases. The aim is to ensure that the difficulty ratings for puzzles in these categories are consistent. The new assessment is based on an evaluation of the logic that is needed to solve the puzzles. The puzzles themselves have not changed, so the revised difficulty ratings only affect the scoring. Some packs have also been re-ordered a little.
  • When full dark mode is in operation and a puzzle starts with pre-filled blocks, the blocks can be seen more clearly against the background of the empty puzzle. Pre-filled blocks only occur in 9x9 puzzles generated by the puzzle generator.
  • More improvements to the way the difficulty is estimated for new puzzles generated by the puzzle generator.
  • A fix for issues with scrolling when switching between puzzle pack categories.
  • A fix for the way candidate values are added or removed from a group of squares for the case of when a previous update left the squares with less candidates than number of squares.
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More small improvements

9/7/2024

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Version 1.59.0 has some more small improvements:
  • When the setting “Allow combinations to be deleted individually” is turned on, the space freed up by deleting individual combinations is better used for showing the remaining combinations. This will particularly benefit players who are playing large puzzles on small devices.
  • When the leaderboard display style is set to “Top scores” (which is the default) and the player’s own score is outside the top 100, more scores from other players are now shown around the player’s own score. The leaderboard display style can be selected in the system settings for the Sumaddle app.
  • The section of the introduction that was previously called “Tips” has been renamed to “Strategy”.
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More cunning added to puzzle generator

21/6/2024

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More cunning has been added to the puzzle generator in version 1.58.0. There is also a new setting for adjusting the size of the numbers in a puzzle. All the changes for this version in detail:
  • New logic has been added to the puzzle generator, used when generating very difficult puzzles in Expert mode.
  • More refinements to the way the puzzle generator estimates the difficulty of the new puzzles it generates. 
  • A new setting in the section “Layout & Appearance” makes it possible to adjust the size of the numbers in a puzzle. This setting works independently of the text size that is set on the device.
  • The “dimmed” appearance for dark mode is a bit darker.
  • More improvements to the way the help chooses where to show a hint. Steps involving just a small change to candidate values are selected according to where there is most benefit in preparing the way for a more significant step.
  • Fix for an issue where an empty square would sometimes display a dotted block outline if a clue was tapped and the row or column had errors.
  • The arrow for the help is more animated.
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  • Sumaddle
  • FAQ
    • Fundamentals
    • Playing a puzzle
    • Settings
    • Levels of difficulty
    • Help and scoring
    • Pencil mode
    • Puzzle packs
    • Puzzle generator
    • Leaderboards
    • Performance analysis
    • Puzzle mechanics
    • App insights
  • Developer blog
  • Help and support
    • Troubleshooting
    • Contact
    • Report a crash
  • Privacy policy