SudokuBay

SudokuBay is free and does not have any advertisements. The app can generate puzzles from a photograph of a Sudoku puzzle. A built-in OCR capability scans the photograph and lets you work on it in an electronic format. SudokuBay also creates new random puzzles with no symmetry, two-way symmetry, or four-way symmetry. Symmetric puzzles are more attractive, which is why many published Sudoku puzzles are symmetric. Four levels of difficulty can be selected: easy, medium, hard, and even harder. All puzzles can be solved using logic—guessing is not necessary.

SudokuBay assigns a number to each puzzle it generates. You can share a puzzle number with your friends and all work on the same puzzle at once. An entry on the Home page lets users generate a puzzle from the puzzle number you send them. The puzzle number also generates the same puzzle on the Windows Phone App Sudoku Capture.

SudokuBay supports a save function, which lets users save a puzzle at any stage in the solution for latter retrieval. This allows users to take a break from one puzzle and work on one generated by a photograph or puzzle number sent from a friend.

SudokuBay supports keyboard inputs. The number keys enter the corresponding number and most buttons can be activated by typing the first letter, such as “c” for “check.” The number zero is used to toggle full and note entries; the first two letters are required for “home,” “hint,” “save,” and “solve.” Puzzle entries can also be generated by dragging numbers up from the gold medallions at the bottom of the puzzle.

SudokuBay has all the features expected of a Sudoku application, such as erase and undo buttons, a hint button that selects a cell that can be filled using existing information, a next button that fills in one cell, a check button to see if the partial solution is correct, and a solve button that fills in all the remaining cells. It also supports notes—the notes button is used to toggle between normal entries and note entries. The check button also shows the puzzle number for easy reference.