Every year, it gets easier and easier to spend your free time passively scrolling through social media, swiping in an endless stream of memes and videos. If you’re looking for an escape from the infinite scroll, consider picking up a more constructive hobby on your phone: brain games! Whether you’re a word wizard or a puzzle master, these daily brain games are sure to give you a healthier hyperfixation.
New York Times Games
NYT Games on the App Store
If you’re a fan of word games, the NYT Games app is the choice for you. A New York Times subscription gets you unlimited access to not only the daily crossword but many other popular word games including Wordle, Connections and Spelling Bee! If you’re not interested in subscribing, you can still play all of these games (aside from the crossword puzzle) for free!
Sedecordle
Sedecordle.com
When Wordle becomes too easy for you, this variant of the popular word game has plenty of challenges in store! Instead of having six guesses to find a single five-letter word, Sedecordle gives you twenty-one guesses to find SIXTEEN five-letter words! And if that’s not hard enough, their Sedec-order mode forces you to guess each word in order! Send this game to your most verbose friend to give them a dose of humility.
Elevate
Elevate on the App Store
Winner of Apple’s Free App of the Year when it launched, Elevate is a sleek brain games app with more than thirty games covering a broad range of brain training. Like Lumosity, Elevate designs its games with experts, but Elevate also features a tracking panel where users can watch their improvement across five different skill groups: writing, speaking, reading, math, and memory. If you’re someone who loves climbing the ranks, download Elevate and watch your mind sharpen!
Lumosity
Lumosity.com or Lumosity on the App Store
As far as brain games go, Lumosity puts in the legwork to deliver fun, addictive games that are designed to improve your cognitive performance. Their games have been used in more than twenty peer-reviewed studies, and their game designers work with scientists to create games that target and train specific functions of the brain. Lumosity’s game library is massive, sorted into categories such as speed, memory and attention, allowing players to find their fun and flex their mental muscles. The basic version with limited game access is available for free!
There’s always a new option for how to spend time on your phone but choosing to spend that time on one of these games replaces the endless scroll with a healthy habit. Go forth and grow!