There is an app for pretty much everything, including ones that exercise
your gray cells and make you smarter. You use your mobile phone and
tablet for just about every purpose, so why not do it to stimulate your
mind? These 10 awesome apps will help not only strengthen your neural
networks and improve your cognitive function, but it will reduce your
risk of developing memory loss. Here goes!NY Times Crosswords
The NY Times Crosswords is one of the most legendary crosswords of all time. A crossword in itself is a challenging puzzle that improves your intelligence and stimulates your brain power. With the NY Times Crossword app, you can solve the same crossword puzzle that is published each day in the newspaper. Subscribers also get to solve the next day's crossword puzzle one day prior. This app is free to download and comes with a one-week free trial of the official everyday puzzles from The New York Times.
Lumosity
Want to hone your memory and train your attention? Let Lumosity be your guide! This app, created by neuroscientists, is especially designed to help you train your brain in specific areas. All you have to do is choose an area that you would like to challenge yourself on, such as memory or problem-solving, and let the app decide on which training sessions it thinks you need. When a person is using the app, it tracks alterations in their memory, attention, speed, flexibility, and problem-solving scores. This is a pretty addictive app and you will be sure to love it!
7 Little Words
7 Little Words is a fun, challenging, interesting app that is unbelievably easy to learn. There are seven clues, seven mystery words, and 20 letter groups in each puzzle. At times, you might find yourself upon a roadblock, but so addictive is this puzzle that you won't be able to put it down until you solve it. Frustrating and fun! Is there anything better?
Owl
Owls are known to be the wisest of God's creatures, and this app is rightly called so. Everyday your Owl app will offer you facts that are both useful and interesting. Each of the facts is handpicked from Reddit, meaning that users get to learn something new every single day. You can customize when your facts are delivered to your device, and whether you would like to be notified about it or not.
Duolingo
Duolingo is fabulous if you are planning to learn a new language like French, Spanish, German, Portuguese or Italian. One of the best things about Duolingo is that it is free, without any ads or hidden charges. The app allows users to translate a phrase into the language they are trying to learn. Users can also invite their friends to interesting language challenges with Duolingo. A study funded by the makers of the app revealed that just 34 hours spent on Duolingo was equivalent to around 11 weeks or one semester of a college language course.
Quora
Once you start using Quora, there will be no going back. Quora is a great source of knowledge that allows you to ask questions about different topics and get answers from people from all over the world. You can even blog about stuff you know. The app is a powerhouse of all kinds of information.
Georeader
Most of us tend to follow a set routine everyday that doesn't leave us enough time to stop and take notice of all the important markers around us. With the Georeader app, any point of interest or historical marker is automatically reads out loud to you as you walk or drive by. There are more than 120,000 points of interest loaded on the app, which makes it an ideal companion for a road trip.
QuizUp
The popularity of QuizUp needs no testament, mainly because every single person in the world seems to have downloaded it. When the app released, it was one of the most downloaded. It is a lot of fun to test your skills against strangers and friends and earn quirky titles, but also be prepared for a couple of glitches that most often show up, just when you are about to win a challenge, that might make you consider joining an anger management class. QuizUp has tons of categories to choose from, right like history, geography, science, arts, languages, food, television, books etc. and is a great place to hone your general knowledge skills.
HowStuffWorks
HowStuffWorks gives users access to over 30,000 educational videos and articles from both the HowStuffWorks archives as well as the Discovery Channel. The categories range from history and technology to 'Stuff Your Mom Never Told You'. You can also test your knowledge through quizzes, questionnaires, facts and quotes.
Charge Your Brain
If you are a fan of logic games, then you will love the Charge Your Brain app. This colorful mind-teaser is loaded with tons of mini-games that improve your cognitive abilities and train your mind. The app is designed to make your brain work more efficiently as each of the mini-games are known to train different types of memory as well as different parts of the brain. There are three modes (easy, normal, and hard), and 13 mini-games so you will always be entertained.