Brain training without a subscription: free and pay-once options for iPhone and Android

You want a few minutes of brain games a day on your phone. You install a well-known app, play a round and then meet the screen that offers a monthly or yearly plan. Many brain training apps work this way. A price that renews every year adds up for something you may only use on the train. This guide explains why it happens, what you can get for free, what the research does and does not show and how to find an app you pay for once, or not at all.

Why brain training apps ask for a subscription

The best-known apps are built around a daily workout and sell full access to it as an ongoing plan. Lumosity calls its paid tier Premium and describes it as a paid subscription. Elevate offers full access for $39.99 a year with a 7-day free trial or $9.99 a month, according to its own site.

The store listing does not always make this obvious. An app with in-app purchases can still say Free on the download button. Before you install, scroll to In-App Purchases on the App Store page or look for In-app purchases under the app's name on Google Play. Monthly and yearly items usually mean a subscription. A single unlock item usually means you pay once.

What brain games can and cannot do

It helps to know this before you pay anyone. In 2016 a team of psychologists reviewed the studies that leading brain training companies cite for their own products (Simons and colleagues, *Psychological Science in the Public Interest*). They found extensive evidence that training improves performance on the trained tasks, less evidence that it improves closely related tasks and little evidence that it improves distantly related tasks or everyday thinking. They also found that many studies had design weaknesses that rule out firm conclusions.

So if you practise a memory game, expect to get better at that game. Treat any claim of a sharper mind in daily life, or of protection against decline, with caution. That is a good reason not to pay every month for a promise the evidence does not yet support.

Option 1: the free tier of a subscription app

Several big apps let you play a little for free, every day, without paying.

• Lumosity: with a free account you can play 3 games per day and replay those 3 as often as you like. Premium unlocks all of its 40+ games and full 5-game workouts.
• Elevate: the free version gives you one three-game workout each day, a game of the week and basic performance tracking. All 40+ games, custom workouts and the removal of ads come with the paid plan.
• Peak: sells a Pro upgrade for its complete catalogue of more than 40 games and activities. Check the store listing for what stays free.

The limit: the app chooses which games you get that day and the full catalogue sits behind the paywall. If you are happy with a short daily set, this costs nothing.

Option 2: free tools that do one thing

If you are after one specific exercise, a free single-purpose tool may be enough.

• Dual n-back on a computer: Brain Workshop is a free, open-source version of the dual n-back exercise for Windows, Mac and Linux. It is not a phone app.
• Puzzles on paper: if what you want is a daily puzzle rather than training, a newspaper sudoku or crossword costs nothing and needs no app at all.

The limit: you usually get one exercise and little or no tracking of your results.

Option 3: an app you pay for once

Some brain game apps sell a single unlock instead of a plan. You pay once, the purchase stays tied to your Apple ID or Google account and there is nothing to cancel. When you compare these, check three things on the store page: that the in-app purchase list shows one unlock rather than monthly or yearly items, what you can play before paying and what data the app collects.

Option 4: Cortex, pay once and fully offline

Cortex is a brain game app for iPhone and Android from Studio Barbanson. It has seventeen games, drills and puzzles, with no subscription, no ads and no account.

• Eleven training games: N-Back (single and dual), Sequence Memory and Remember-To for memory; Stroop, Track and Peripheral Vision for attention; Schulte Table and Speed Reader for scanning and reading; Mental Rotation, Inner Clock and Number Sequences.
• Skill drills: Mental Math teaches a real shortcut and then lets you practise it, with Speed Math and Estimation alongside.
• Classic puzzles: Sudoku, Nonogram and Word Search, offered as puzzles for enjoyment, not as training.
• Peak Hours: a quick reaction check you can take at any time of day. Over time it charts the hours when your reactions are quickest.
• Your own text in the Speed Reader: import TXT, PDF, DOCX or EPUB files, read entirely on your phone.
• Personal bests for every game and a daily streak, with dark, light and high-contrast themes and a custom accent colour. Available in nine languages.
• Nothing leaves your phone: no account, no analytics and no third-party trackers. It works fully offline. The App Store and Google Play privacy labels both say no data is collected.

Requirements: an iPhone with iOS 16.4 or later, or an Android phone with Google Play. There is no iPad version.

Price on iPhone: free to download, with every game free for 3 days. After that, one in-app purchase unlocks everything for good. On the Dutch App Store that unlock costs EUR 3.99.

Price on Android: free to download, with four games free for good: N-Back, Stroop, Schulte Table and Speed Math. A single one-time purchase unlocks the other thirteen games and Peak Hours. Google Play shows the price in your currency before you pay.

On both platforms there is no subscription and nothing renews. On a new phone, tap Restore purchases on the unlock screen while signed in to the same Apple ID or Google account and the unlock comes back at no extra cost.

What Cortex does not do

It is better to know this before you download:

• It does not claim to make you smarter or to prevent decline. You will get better at the games you practise; the research above explains why that is where the evidence is strongest.
• It does not plan a workout for you. You choose which games to play. There is no coach and there are no reminders.
• No leaderboards or accounts. Your scores are yours alone, so you cannot compare them with other players.
• No free trial on Android. Android has four free games instead; the 3-day trial is on iPhone only.
• No iPad, Mac or web version.

Quick answers

Is there a brain training app without a subscription?

Yes. Some apps sell a single unlock instead of a plan: Cortex is one, with a one-time purchase on iPhone and Android. Check the in-app purchase list on the store page to see how any app charges before you install it.

Is Lumosity free?

Partly. With a free account you can play 3 games per day; all of its 40+ games and full workouts need a Premium subscription.

Does brain training actually work?

The evidence is strongest that it makes you better at the games you train. A major 2016 review found little evidence that this carries over to everyday thinking, so treat stronger claims with caution.

Is Cortex free?

It is free to download. On iPhone every game is free for 3 days and on Android four games are free for good. A one-time purchase unlocks the rest and there is no subscription.