Support

Questions

Can I get the app?

Not yet. UnCubed is in development and is not on the App Store. A beta is not open at the moment. If you would like to hear when there is one, send an email and we will let you know. Once, when it happens.

What will I need to run it?

An iPhone or iPad with iOS 18 or later, or a Mac with macOS 15 or later. The versions it needs will be confirmed nearer release.

What does it cost?

The app is free. Play and Race are free on every puzzle, and the 3×3 is free in every mode. One purchase, Everything, adds Learn and Fix on every other puzzle, now and later.

Which puzzles does it work with?

23 of them: the 2×2, 3×3, 4×4, 5×5 and 7×7 cubes, the Mirror Cube, the Gear Cube, the Windmill Cube, the Twist Cube, the Maltese Cross, the Molecube, 3 tetrahedra, the 2 Bricks and more. They are all drawn on the front page. More are being added. Learn, Fix, Play and Race all work on every one of them.

Does it need an internet connection?

No. Reading the colours, working out the turns and speaking them all happen on your device. A race travels as a link, sent through whichever app you choose to send it with.

How does a race work?

In Race, you can race today’s scramble on any puzzle, which is the same for everyone that day, or start a challenge on a fresh one. Solve it on the screen, then share the link. Your friend opens it in UnCubed, their phone deals the same scramble, and when they have solved it they see how their turns compare with yours. Fewest turns wins. Your friend needs UnCubed on an iPhone or iPad to take the race; opened in a browser, the link shows a page that says so.

Does a race time me?

Yes. You get 15 seconds to look at the scramble, then a quiet clock runs at the top of the screen until it is solved, and the result shows your time beside your turns. Between friends, turns decide: fewest turns wins. Asking for the next move is allowed, and the result records how many times you did.

The app reports that my 3×3 cannot be solved. Is it broken?

Possibly, though the app checks its own work first. When a state fails validation, UnCubed takes you back to the grid of squares with its uncertain readings highlighted, so you can correct anything it misread before it draws a conclusion. Only once you have confirmed the reading does it say the puzzle itself is at fault.

When it does, it says which of 3 faults it is, in these words, and what puts it right:

• At least one corner is twisted in place A corner piece is in the right position but rotated. On most puzzles this happens when a corner has been prised out and pushed back in the wrong way round. Ease it out and put it back the right way round.
• At least one edge is flipped in place An edge piece is in the right position but the wrong way up. Same cause, and the same repair: ease it out and put it back the other way round.
• Some pieces have been exchanged Pieces have changed places in a way that turning the faces cannot produce. Something has been taken apart and reassembled. Exchanging any 2 edge pieces puts this right, and they do not need to be a particular pair.

None of them means the puzzle is ruined.

I am colourblind. Will this work?

That is one of the things it is being built for. There are 3 built-in sticker palettes, chosen in Colours, and each one is designed as a complete system in its own right:

• Standard, with optional letter labels.
• Colourblind, built as 3 lightness bands across a warm/cool axis rather than by pushing hues apart, because under dichromacy only about 2 perceptual dimensions survive. Labels are on and stay on in this palette. The palette and the labels are one feature, not 2 settings.
• Mono, 6 greys on a lightness ladder with mandatory shape glyphs. Intended for achromatopsia, for printing, and for anyone who simply finds colour noisy. It is the option that does not depend on colour vision at all.

Colour is not the only carrier of meaning anywhere in the app. The accessibility page shows all 3 palettes, and what happens when you set your own puzzle’s colours.

The steps go too fast for me.

Then it waits. A step moves on when you tap, unless you have chosen a timer or your voice instead. A speed control with 5 settings sets the spoken pace and the animation together, and every spoken sentence is also on the screen, so if you miss it, it is still there.

Why does it want the camera?

Only to read the colours of the puzzle you are holding. Frames are processed on your device and discarded, and the app does not store or send any image. If you would rather not grant it, you can use Input instead, the route that works on every puzzle, and use every other part of the app normally. The privacy policy sets this out in full.

Do I have to keep tapping the phone?

No. There are 3 ways to move to the next step, and you choose in Moving to the Next Step, on the Method screen before you start, or in Options while you solve. Tap is the default, which is the button alone. On a timer waits after each step for a length of time you set in Seconds for Each Turn. It is counted per turn, so a step with 4 turns waits 4 times as long as a single turn, because a fixed delay is wrong for one of them whichever you pick. Say “next” advances when the microphone picks out that word, and “back” and “again” with it.

Does voice control send my voice anywhere?

No. Recognition is done on your device. If your device cannot do that offline in your language, UnCubed refuses to listen rather than sending the audio to a server, and the option is greyed out with that reason on it. The app asks for the microphone only if you switch voice control on. Leave it alone and the camera is the only permission the app asks for. The privacy policy sets this out in full.

I found something inaccessible.

Please tell us, through the form or by email. Accessibility problems are treated as bugs, not as feature requests, and they go to the front of the queue. What is built today, and what is not, is on the accessibility page.