New settings have been added in version 1.36.0 which allow the following game information to be turned on or off individually:

• the timer seen during play
• the time taken to solve a puzzle
• the points scored
• feedback about the help used
• points lost due to help.

​Players who prefer a more relaxed style of playing and who do not care about timing or scoring can now choose to turn the information off.

Version 1.35.0 includes some measures to help new players get started. There are also some tweaks to the scoring and more improvements to the help explanations. The changes in detail:

• If new players miss the section of the introduction that explains how to use the controls, then an additional button is shown below a puzzle in play. This button provides a quick way to view the how-to-use guide. Annotations are used to highlight the existence of the new button and also the help button.
• Some small tweaks have been made to the scoring, with the aim of evening-up the score rate (points/min) for the different puzzle sizes and levels of difficulty. In particular, players will usually be rewarded with more points when very difficult puzzles are solved.
• More improvements to the help explanations, especially for some of the help that new players typically see first.
• A problem by which a group of selected squares in a row or column was not always being replaced correctly by a new selection has also been fixed.

Version 1.34.0 includes a number of adaptions for providing better support for the device setting Button Shapes (found under Accessibility -> Display & Text Size).

​Also in this version:

• Improvements to the way the leaderboard is brought up to date after the Challenge Trail or Puzzle Sets are played offline.
• More improvements to the help explanations.

A problem with the placement of the sum values at the ends of the rows and columns of a puzzle has been fixed in patch version 1.33.1. This glitch was introduced in 1.33.0 and was being seen when the device setting Accessibility -> Display & Text Size -> Button Shapes is turned on.

It seems that this device setting has other side effects too, such as making buttons consisting of an icon to appear as a small shaded block which is difficult to see. An example of this is the button for the settings when a puzzle is in play, another is the button for the options menu on the page showing the points scored. The aim will be to resolve more of these issues in a future release.

Version 1.33.0 contains a bunch of small improvements, including better support for dark mode and more transparency about how the points are impacted when help is used. The changes in detail:

• The “dimmed” appearance for dark mode is a bit darker, the “dark” appearance is much darker. With the “dark” setting, the blocks in a puzzle are now darker than the empty squares, instead of being lighter than the squares as they were before.
• The scoring algorithm has been tweaked to reduce the rate at which the scores get smaller as the elapsed time grows larger. For puzzles that take a long time to solve, the points will now be more generous than previously.
• The page showing the points scored for a solved puzzle now also reveals the points lost due to using the help.
• If a row or column with a hidden sum has two blocks present, empty squares can be changed to number squares by tapping the space where the sum value would normally be shown, just like this can be done for rows or columns with visible sum values.
• Improvements to the way the buttons “Get puzzling” and “Next puzzle” decide which puzzle to launch. The buttons now take the player back to puzzles that were previously started (and then paused), in preference to starting a new puzzle.
• If players switch from one device to another for playing Random Play, the leaderboard total is now picked up in a more reliable way, allowing a more seamless continuation of play.
• Fixed a problem with the Random Play simulator by which the leaderboard was not being updated correctly after the simulator had been reset.
• Corrections to some of the help explanations that may be encountered when playing Random Play in expert mode.

Performance analysis has been added as a new feature in version 1.32.0. This gives players a detailed overview of which puzzles scored the most points and the time taken to solve the puzzles. Players can also see where help was used the most and the impact that this had on the points scored.

A new FAQ section has been added to provide more information about the new feature, check out the page performance analysis.

Other changes in version 1.32.0:

• ​A new option in the settings makes it possible to turn on a red filter when dark mode is active on the device. This can help to reduce blue light even more.
• New logic has been built into the Random Play puzzle generator, for generating puzzles with even more ingenuity. The new logic is used in the play modes Advanced and Expert.
• Also included: some fixes relating to the use of pencil mode, a fix for rare cases of the help not performing any changes and more improvements to the help explanations

A new setting has been added to Random Play in version 1.31.0 that makes it possible to give more weight to either easier or harder puzzles, if preferred. Players who like playing the easiest or hardest puzzles the most, now have a way to generate these puzzles more often.

Also in this version:

• New logic has been added to the puzzle generator for generating puzzles with even more cunning! The new logic is encountered in the Advanced and Expert play modes of Random Play. The (free) Random Play preview also includes some examples.
• More small improvements to the help explanations.

More information about the levels of difficulty can be found in the FAQ section levels of difficulty. Previously, this information was spread over a number of FAQ sections, but it has now been consolidated into a section of its own.

A new setting for the Random Play puzzle generator has been introduced in version 1.30.0, released today. This makes it possible for the permutation logic in the Advanced and Expert play modes to be throttled back, delivering puzzles that only use permutation checks to a lesser (and easier) extent.

​Players who are not keen on working out the permutations of the number combinations will appreciate the new setting! Alternatively, permutation logic can be avoided altogether by switching to Normal play mode.

In version 1.29.0, the buttons for a puzzle in play have been made bigger and are generally better proportioned. There are also some small fixes relating to play interaction. This version has gone live today.

The changes in detail:

• When playing a puzzle, the number buttons and game control buttons are usually bigger. This makes the buttons easier to hit or, more to the point, harder to miss. The change benefits all devices larger than an iPod, but devices with large screens (larger iPhones and iPads) benefit the most.
• A fix to ensure that all squares with pencil markings are changed to number squares when a sum value is tapped and two blocks are present.
• A fix to ensure that empty squares outside the blocks are changed to number squares when a sum value is tapped and the squares between the blocks already have values.
• A fix to prevent a pencil square with a single candidate value from being cleared unintentionally when double-tap is used to eliminate the same value from another square in the same row or column.

Version 1.28.0 is a bundle of usability improvements and small enhancements. The offline playing experience has been improved too, which will also benefit players who prefer not to sign in to Game Center. This version has gone live in the App Store today.

The changes in detail:

• When a puzzle is solved in the Challenge Trail or in a Puzzle Set, the new leaderboard total is shown below the points scored (after the first puzzle and space permitting), even when playing offline.
• Likewise, the new total is always shown below the points scored when a puzzle is solved in Random Play, even if the points cannot be posted to the leaderboard straight away. This makes it possible for players to track their total score and perhaps aim for a certain target when playing offline or when not signed in to Game Center.
• If the Random Play simulator is reset just before Random Play is purchased, the best score from the leaderboard will be used as the points base for continued play.
• ​When the squares between two blocks are selected by tapping a sum value, any cells outside the blocks that are still empty are now changed to number cells automatically. This works for a sum of 0 too.
• When pencil mode is active, a candidate number can be eliminated from a square by tapping the number twice, just like in normal mode. Previously, it was unpredictable whether one or two taps were necessary, which made the process of pencil value elimination awkward to use.
• Fix to prevent squares with single candidate values from being cleared unintentionally when double number tapping is used to eliminate numbers from other squares in the same row or column.
• Dark mode is observed in more places (secondary buttons, popup options menu).