The game was developed and published by Semi Secret Software in collaboration with Greg Wohlwend and was released for iOS on January 7, 2013, and on Android later that year.

The game idea came from staring at the ceiling, and Wohlwend applied a grayscale color palette from his first year in art school.

Eric Johnson of Semi Secret ported the game to iPad, which began a collaboration between Wohlwend and the company's Adam Saltsman, who became the primary puzzle designer.

Reviewers praised its minimalist design aesthetic and puzzle variety, and criticized its obtuse cryptography subgame.

[8] The game's style inadvertently borrowed from his first year in art school, where Wohlwend composed in black, white, and red so as to focus on composition rather than color.

[9] Though Wohlwend describes his interest in "simple and elegant" game design as permeating his works,[8] Hundreds's minimalism was also functional due to his inexperience with programming.

[4] Programmer Eric Johnson of Semi Secret found the open source version and ported the game to iPad in a weekend before notifying Wohlwend.

Saltsman expected Wohlwend to work with Johnson to finish the game in a few months by adding new "circle types" and designing 100 discrete puzzles, but extended that estimate and joined the project himself in that time.

[8] Wohlwend wanted to make the game easier than the Flash version and so proposed ten new circles that were not adopted.

[4] The core differences between the Flash and iOS versions are a new endless mode and a narrative element based on ciphers and codes.

[4] The latter feature spiraled from email conversations between Wohlwend and Saltsman about a "really obtuse and weird" subgame that functioned as a story.

[13] Nissa Campbell of TouchArcade wrote that its red, gray, and black graphics were "striking" albeit not flashy, and that the game was interesting "visually, aurally, and mechanically".

[2] In a piece for The Atlantic, Ian Bogost wrote that its game, visual, and interaction design "embodied an elegant minimalism" akin to the Bauhausian aesthetic promoted by Apple.

[25] Edge thought the game to be "an astoundingly harmonious mix of art and design" and said its "simple premise" is "perfectly suited for a multitouch screen".

[3] Slater too felt the pacing was "swift but uninspiring", and Whitehead called its rhythm "weird" as he waited for the right opportunity some puzzles and could finish others with a single trick.

[2] Bogost thought that the hidden ciphers were the "surest clue" of its status as "a design object and not a consumable media experience".

[25] Slater wrote that the ciphers felt forced and unexciting, and was disappointed overall in consideration of "the incredible talent involved".