Lumosity

Platforms: iOS, Android, Windows

Lumosity is a brain training app that its founder Kunal Sarkar would fondly like to call a "gym for the brain". The games and activities in Lumosity were designed by top neuroscientists to improve a person's Brain Performing Index (BPI). The simple games in Lumosity help you to improve cognitive processes like speed, attention, memory, flexibility and problem solving. Players can complete five training sessions for free, but with an upgrade they can get the full experience. 

One of Lumosity's biggest selling points is that you can create a "training plan" fit to your needs. Within the five key areas, things get very specific, e.g. if you can't remember where you kept your keys, you can try "recalling the location of objects" in the memory section. Once your personal programme has been set up, the first thing to do is to take some quick tests to establish a baseline in each core area. After that, you can practice choosing specific games, but the scores in this mode aren't saved. Most games are timed to test speed and get increasingly more difficult. The numbers of Lumosity's Brain Performance Index will invariably go up the more you play.

Lumosity promises that it will improve your life quite broadly, but it's more likely that it will just make you better at certain narrow tasks.

You can play on your desktop, tablet or mobile, although not all of its 57 games are available beyond the desktop.