Do Brain Training Apps Boost Your Brainpower?

For more than a decade, brain training apps have promised to make our brains sharper, faster, and more focused—all from the convenience of a smartphone. These apps use gamified elements like points, levels, rewards, and progress tracking to keep users engaged and motivated. The premise is that brain training strengthens your cognitive abilities the way resistance training strengthens your muscles.

Brain training programs are typically designed to improve specific cognitive skills through structured mental exercises. These may target memory, attention, processing speed, problem-solving, verbal fluency, or even emotional regulation. Most apps recommend short daily sessions, often with difficulty levels that adapt based on your performance.

Companies behind these apps often suggest their tools can:

• Improve memory and attention

• Increase mental agility and processing speed

• Boost productivity

• Support healthy aging

• Delay or reduce the risk of age-related cognitive decline

While many claims are carefully worded, the implication is clear: if you train regularly, your brain will function better—not just to excel at the game, but in real life. That’s a compelling promise.

Some well-known brain training apps include: BrainHQ, Lumosity, CogniFit, Elevate, Peak, NeuroNation, Mensa Brain Training, and MindPal.

What Does the Science Say About Brain Training?

The evidence supporting brain training apps is mixed. Some platforms, particularly BrainHQ and CogniFit, cite peer-reviewed research. Most studies, however, show that brain training can improve performance on the tasks being trained—you get better at the game you’re playing. But whether those gains transfer to real-word improvements, like remembering names, managing distractions, or solving everyday problems, is less certain.

BrainHQ

1. The ACTIVE Study (Advanced Cognitive Training for Independent and Vital Elderly)

• Overview: A large-scale, NIH-funded study involving 2,802 healthy older adults (65 and older), assessing the effects of cognitive training on cognitive function and dementia risk.

• Findings: Participants who underwent speed-of-processing training exhibited a 29% reduction in dementia risk over ten years.

• Implications: Suggests that specific cognitive training can have long-term protective effects against cognitive decline.

• Shortcomings: Although the study used a training exercise that BrainHQ later purchased, the study used in-person training—not apps—and was conducted in supervised settings. Participants were also healthier and younger than the average U.S older adult.

2. The IMPACT Study (Improvement in Memory with Plasticity-based Adaptive Cognitive Training)

• Overview: A randomized controlled trial with 487 participants, evaluating the efficacy of a computerized cognitive training program.

• Findings: Significant improvements in memory and attention were observed in the training group compared to controls.

• Implications: Demonstrates that well-designed cognitive exercises can enhance certain cognitive functions in older adults.

• Shortcomings: Participants were selected only from Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Rochester, MN (home of the Mayo Clinic). They also performed exceptionally well at baseline on a comprehensive cognitive assessment. These factors limit how broadly we can generalize the findings.

Lumosity

1. Enhancing Cognitive Abilities with Comprehensive Training

• Overview: A study with 4,715 participants comparing Lumosity training to crossword puzzles over ten weeks.

• Findings: The Lumosity group showed greater improvements in cognitive assessments than the control group.

• Implications: Indicates that Lumosity’s training may be more effective than some traditional cognitive activities.

• Shortcomings: All authors were affiliated with Lumos Labs, the company that created Lumosity, and had equity stakes in the company. The study was also published in PLOS ONE, a journal that uses an author-pays model and does not assess study impact.

2. Transfer of Learning

• Overview: Analysis of data from Lumosity users to assess the relationship between training frequency and cognitive gains.

• Findings: A clear link was found between the amount of training and improvements in cognitive performance across all ages.

• Implications: Supports the idea that consistent use of cognitive training apps can lead to measurable cognitive benefits.

• Shortcomings: Like the shortcomings listed previously, the study authors worked at Lumos Labs and the company paid to get published in PLOS ONE. Lumos Labs created both the app and the cognitive assessment, too. Participants could also opt out of the assessment, thereby skewing results.

While studies on brain training apps like BrainHQ and Lumosity show promising results in specific contexts, it’s essential to approach these findings with caution. Many studies highlight improvements in trained tasks, but evidence for broad, real-world cognitive enhancements remains limited. And the fact that the companies tend to fund and run these studies themselves, as well as pay to have them published, means we should look at the studies with healthy skepticism.

Legal and Regulatory Scrutiny

In 2016, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) fined Lumosity $2 million for deceptive advertising. The company claimed its games could help prevent dementia and reduce cognitive decline—claims the FTC said were not supported by sufficient scientific evidence.

Since then, most companies have scaled back their marketing claims, focusing more on “mental fitness” than disease prevention.

Expert Consensus

In 2016, a group of more than 70 cognitive scientists and neuroscientists organized by the Stanford Center on Longevity signed a consensus statement concluding the following:

“The strong consensus of this group is that the scientific literature does not support claims that the use of software-based “brain games” alters neural functioning in ways that improve general cognitive performance in everyday life, or prevent cognitive slowing and brain disease.”

Still, some researchers believe that targeted brain training may help specific groups—such as older adults with subjective memory complaints or stroke survivors.

My Experience Using BrainHQ

From October 2023 to May 2024, I used BrainHQ regularly, completing 122 days of training. It was a valuable learning experience—but not for the reason you might expect.

Yes, I got better at the exercises the more I practiced. And yes, the app did a great job adjusting the difficulty as I improved, which was motivating. But I didn’t notice any meaningful improvement in my daily cognitive function. The benefits felt limited to the app.

BrainHQ focuses on six areas: attention, brain speed, memory, people skills, intelligence, and navigation. I enjoyed most of the exercises, but a few were frustrating—either because of technical bugs or poor screen sensitivity on my smartphone. For example:

• A car driving simulation required tapping specific targets quickly. Even when I tapped accurately, the app didn’t always register my input.

• A rhythm-based music game felt off, too. As a drummer, I expected to do well, but my tapping to mimic the app’s rhythm didn’t always match because the app seemed to intermittently stop tracking my taps.

Despite those glitches, what made the experience meaningful was that two specific exercises exposed long-standing cognitive weaknesses I hadn’t fully recognized.

Facial Recognition

One task tested facial recognition. I was shown a face for a few seconds—straight on or from an angle. Then I had to identify that same person among six other faces shown from different perspectives.

I was consistently terrible at this. While I typically scored four or five stars on other tasks, I usually earned only one or two on this exercise—and saw very little improvement over time.

Social Conversation Memory

Another exercise involved listening to short conversations and identifying which statements were true or false based on the dialogue. For example:

• “Did you know Shaunda lost her wedding ring?”

• “No, that couldn’t be true.” → So Shaunda did not lose her ring.

After several exchanges like this, the app would quiz me on what I remembered. I did better at this task than at facial recognition, but still underperformed relative to other areas.

These exercises didn’t just challenge me—they highlighted clear weaknesses that may explain why I’ve occasionally struggled in social settings. I am awful at remembering people’s names and facts about them. I think I’ve always performed poorly in these areas.

This insight was worth the effort, even if the rest of the training didn’t noticeably improve my day-to-day thinking.

Bottom Line: Are Brain Training Apps Worth It?

Honestly, using BrainHQ didn’t make me feel cognitively sharper outside the app. I improved at the specific tasks, and I learned something useful about myself. But if you’re hoping brain training will transfer to better memory or problem-solving in your daily life, that wasn’t my experience.

These apps may offer some value—especially as structured mental stimulation, a way to build a routine, or just something fun to do. Other than the bugginess, I enjoyed using BrainHQ. But these apps should be seen as one small piece of a broader cognitive health strategy.

I still think it’s great to challenge your mind—play Spelling Bee or Connections, do crossword puzzles, or use apps like BrainHQ. In my opinion, just don’t put them above what really moves the needle for brain health:

• Physical exercise

• A brain-friendly diet

• Quality sleep

• Strong social connections

Those pillars matter more than any game you can play on your phone.

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