The gameplay gradually evolved during beta testing; in the prototype, players avoided using unclaimed tiles, leading to excessively long games.

[11] After leaving Twitter, Inc. in November 2011, Loren Brichter, the founder of Atebits 2.0,[b] began finishing side projects he had previously had little time to work on.

[23][24] After Solebon LLC acquired Atebits 2.0, the game was released on the Mac App Store on July 20, 2016,[25] and on Google Play on August 25, 2017.

[33][34] Reviewers found the strategic elements of Letterpress engaging, comparing it to Scrabble,[5][18][20][35] Reversi,[18] Connect Four,[20] Go,[5] SpellTower,[3] Words With Friends,[18] and chess.

[30] Despite Jared Nelson from TouchArcade finding the gameplay challenging to articulate, he noted its addictive nature once players understood the rules.

[9] Lex Friedman from Macworld described it as "addictive",[6] while AJ Dellinger of Gamezebo believed it would appeal to "word nerds and strategy-oriented thinkers".

[7] Pocket Gamer's Harry Slater commended the suspense inherent in waiting for an opponent's move, labeling Letterpress as "asynchronous gaming at its finest".

[36] Luke Larsen of Paste magazine lauded Letterpress as an "incredible achievement", but criticized its dependency on Game Center, which he felt impacted statistics tracking and matchmaking management.

[1] Dave Wiskus of iMore attributed Letterpress's absence of in-game chat and a rematch button to Game Center integration.

[18] Nelson called the graphics "aesthetically pleasing",[9] while Dellinger and Shane Richmond of The Daily Telegraph appreciated its clutter-free design.

[2][7] Nelson enjoyed the game's minimalist style and "smooth animations", drawing parallels to the productivity app Clear.

[20] Ranking the game as a "must have", Chris Reed of Slide to Play deemed Letterpress a "gorgeous example of minimalist design".

[22] Letterpress was among a list of minimalist apps provided to inspire Jony Ive, the lead designer for Apple's iOS 7.