Sorta Hearts Support

Sorta Hearts is classic four-player Hearts for iPhone, iPad and Mac, from sortafun (Red Mercury, LLC).

How do I play Hearts?

Four players are dealt 13 cards each. Before each hand you pass three cards: to the left, then the right, then across, then a hand with no passing. The player holding the 2 of clubs leads it. Follow suit if you can; if you can’t, you may play anything (with one exception on the first trick, below). The highest card of the suit that was led wins the trick.

Every heart you take is 1 point and the Queen of Spades is 13. Points are bad: when someone reaches the target score, the player with the lowest score wins.

• You can’t lead hearts until a heart has been played on another suit (“hearts are broken”), unless you have nothing but hearts.
• On the first trick nobody may play a heart or the Queen of Spades, unless that is all they have.
• Shooting the moon: take all 13 hearts and the Queen in one hand, and you choose: add 26 to every other player, or take 26 off your own score. The game marks the better choice for you.

New to the game? How to Play on the title screen walks you through one real hand, card by card. It’s also at the bottom of Settings → Advanced.

What do the difficulty levels mean?

There are four: Casual, Standard, Pro and Genius. Higher levels think harder and make fewer mistakes; Genius plays its best card every time. Change the level on the title screen or in Settings. A game keeps the level it started with, but if no card has been played yet, changing it re-deals the hand when you close Settings.

In Casual games you can turn on Settings → Advanced → Safe card hint, which marks one safe card on your turn.

Do the computer players cheat?

No. A computer player sees what you would from its seat: its own hand, the cards passed to it and what has been played face up. Every deal is shuffled from your device’s own random source and is never adjusted, for you or against you. Difficulty changes how hard they think, not what they can see.

Can I change the rules?

In Settings: Play to 50 or 100, and whether the Q♠ breaks hearts. In Settings → Advanced: Omnibus (J♦), where the Jack of Diamonds is worth −10 to whoever takes it, and Kevin Bowers mode, where a player with no clubs may drop hearts or the Queen on the first trick. Rule changes apply from the next game, so the game in progress finishes under the rules it was dealt with. Online tables always use the standard rules.

I keep playing a card by accident

In Settings, set Tap to play to Twice. The first tap (or click) raises a card, and the second plays it.

Playing online

Online play uses Apple’s Game Center. Sign in to Game Center in your device’s Settings (on a Mac, in System Settings), then choose Play Online.

• Sorta Hearts looks for other people who are searching at the same moment, so a table needs at least one other person looking too. When someone is found, the table waits about ten seconds for more, and computer players take any empty seats. The search keeps going until somebody turns up or you cancel.
• You don’t have to watch it search. While you play a game against the computer, Settings → Find a Table keeps looking in the background and tells you when a table is ready.
• To play with people you know, choose Invite Friends Instead.
• If someone leaves, a computer player takes over their seat and the game goes on. Leaving a game after the first trick counts as a loss in your online record.
• Online games count toward Game Center leaderboards and achievements, and your table rating.

Quick chat

At an online table, the Chat button offers a short list of friendly phrases (“Hi!”, “Nice dodge”, “GG”). There is no typing, so nobody can send you anything else. To mute one player, tap (or click) their name plate and choose Mute chat. To hide chat entirely, set Settings → Advanced → Online chat to Hide.

Is my game saved? Where?

Yes, after every card. Close the app or turn off your device, and you pick up on the same card.

Your games, stats and settings are kept on the device you play on. They don’t sync between devices, and we never receive a copy. Deleting the app from an iPhone or iPad deletes them. On a Mac they are in the app’s own folder, ~/Library/Containers/com.sortafun.hearts.

How do I clear my record?

Settings → Advanced → Clear Stats… erases your record of games against the computer: every game, win, moon and best score. It asks twice and can’t be undone. Your online record is kept separately and is not affected, and scores already on Game Center leaderboards stay there.

Mac: the keyboard shortcut

Turn on Settings → Advanced → Shortcut, and Control-1 (⌃1) brings the table up over your whole screen, paused where you left it. You can choose other keys under Shortcut keys. Press the keys again, or Esc, to put it away.

• While open works while Sorta Hearts is running.
• Always also works when the game is closed. It adds a small login item, “Sorta Hearts Shortcut”. To remove it, set Shortcut to Off or While open, or turn it off in System Settings → General → Login Items & Extensions.

Requirements

iPhone with iOS 18 or later, or iPad with iPadOS 18 or later. Mac with Apple silicon and macOS 26 or later. Online play needs an internet connection and a Game Center account; everything else works offline.

Privacy

Sorta Hearts has no accounts of its own, no ads, no analytics and no tracking. Read our privacy policy.