OTBSync lets you play online chess on a real board: prop your phone so it can see the board, move the pieces, and your moves are played automatically. Here are the questions people ask most.
OTBSync is in beta. Detection is good but not perfect. Make sure to glance at the on-screen board to confirm your move registered, especially in rated or timed games.
Opting in to send anonymized detection reports is the best way to help us improve our engine accuracy. Even though it is annoying when the engine asks you what move you make, labeling it is the fastest way for us to diagnose why it happened in the first place - more details below.
Please report any bugs you find during beta to hello@OTBSync.com
No downloads or installs are needed, OTBSync runs directly in your web browser. To play ranked online games, you just log in with a Lichess account. Without a Lichess account, you can still play a bot, play a friend device-to-device, and analyze games over the board.
While OTBSync is primarily designed as a two device experience, with a computer or tablet as the main controller, there is a phone only mode that uses optional voice control.
You can place your phone at almost any angle with the full board in frame; the higher the angle, the better, but it doesn't need to be fully overhead. As long as the camera can see all 64 squares, you're good to go. A cheap phone tripod works great.
No. Because OTBSync tracks the game state and only matches your move against the legal moves in the position, it works with almost any pieces and board. Whether it's a tournament set or a decorative set, you're good to go.
The app only acts on legal moves, making it robust against mistakes. If a read is ambiguous, it will ask you to confirm rather than guessing or auto-committing a wrong move. In the rare case that a wrong move is confidently committed, reporting the move will send a takeback request (automatically accepted in bot games). This move will be demoted to an ask for all users until root cause diagnosis is resolved.
If the physical and digital boards ever fall out of sync, just arrange the pieces to match and tap Resync. You can click the UI to move pieces manually as a backup if the camera will not sync with your latest move.
No. OTBSync plays your moves through Lichess's official Board API. This is the exact interface Lichess built for physical-board and hardware integrations, using access you grant through OAuth. It does not automate the Lichess website, simulate clicks or keystrokes, or scrape pages.
OTBSync only relays your moves, with no chat or social features, so the only way you can get banned while using the app is by cheating: using an engine or outside assistance during a game. That risk exists with or without OTBSync. Play your own moves and you are doing exactly what the Board API was made for.
Yes. Login uses Lichess OAuth. Your access token is stored locally in your browser and used to talk
to Lichess directly. We do not receive or store your password or token, and the
token only carries the permission needed to play (the board:play scope).
No. Your camera is processed entirely on your device, in the browser. Video is not uploaded or stored by us. When you use a second device as the camera, the stream travels directly between your own devices. Full detail is in our Privacy Policy.
By default, only an anonymous count of visitors and the game modes they enjoy. Detection diagnostics (board positions and move evidence, but not images, audio, or account info) are sent only if you opt in to help improve accuracy. You can turn them off anytime in settings. See the Privacy Policy.