While reading and completing crosswords help with mental stimulation, brain-training smartphone apps can stretch your mind that little bit further. We’ve rounded up four of the best free and paid for apps you can download for a free mental workout to help your memory.
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Play your peers
This clever app boasts a collection of more than 40 mini games, each one developed by neuroscientists and game experts to challenge your cognitive skills. You can track your results and progress over time. And – if you're a competitive person – you can see how you perform against other users in your age group.
The free version of the app has plenty to do, but a £3.99 monthly subscription lets you play all the games as often as you like, plus it includes personalisation options and provides you with more stats.
Visit www.peak.net
Lumosity
Used by more than 100 million people worldwide, Lumosity is perhaps the most popular and established brain training app available to date. To begin with, you’ll need to take a ten-minute fit test to set your baseline scores. From there on, the app will challenge your daily memory, speed, language, problem-solving and mathematical abilities to boost your mental fitness.
Best of all, the app’s games, tests, and activities are all backed by science and cognitive research. Sign up for a free account on a smart device or PC to play three games per day, or choose the subscription service (£8.99 per month) for more offerings.
Visit www.lumosity.com
Elevate
According to the app’s creators, the more you train with Elevate, the more you’ll improve critical cognitive skills that are designed to boost productivity, earning power, and self-confidence.
This app has clear visuals and accessible ‘mini’ games to test your memory, focus, maths, comprehension and other mental skills. It’s also keen to get you logging in regularly, tracking your ‘streaks’ on its calendar, and tweaking the difficulty levels as you become more adept.
Should you get on well, you have the option of signing up to the Pro subscription (£5.99 a month) to unlock more games and play them as often as you like.
Visit www.elevateapp.com
Eidetic
The Eiedtic app is billed as the perfect app for students who need help memorising key facts or quotes for exams. But it’s actually very useful for anyone prone to forgetting simple things, such as phone numbers and dates, by using a technique called spaced repetition. Simply enter the information you want to memorise, and the app uses notifications to remind you when it's time to test yourself. It also cleverly spaces the tests out over time to help you retain the information for longer.
Visit www.eideticapp.com
All apps are available for free download via the App Store (Apple devices) and Google Play Store (Android devices)