Your brain is just like any other muscle in the body. If it’s weak, then proper training can strengthen it. Obviously you can’t just take your brain to the gym and work it out.

Improving your brain’s problem solving, speed and creativity is done by various mind games and puzzles. If you have an iPhone, then you’re in luck. There are plenty of apps out there designed to “strengthen” your brain. We do want to make a disclaimer though: There are no guarantees that these apps will improve IQ.

Even though these apps aren’t guaranteed to improve your IQ, does not mean that they won’t help your brain in some way. Below we’ve outlined some of the best apps out there that can make you smarter.

Lumosity Mobile

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This app is one of the most popular choices when it comes to scientific brain workouts. It is used by over 40 million people worldwide and is designed by neuroscientists to enhance memory and attention. Lumosity does a pretty good job at it too. It’s been hailed as being effective by Harvard Business Review, Dr. OZ, Wall Street Journal, PC Mag and USA Today.

You can download Luminosity Mobile for free here.

Fit Brains Trainer

Fit Brains Trainer does exactly what the name says. It is a scientifically designed app for iPhone and iPad that creates a personalized training session of fun brain games and visual tools to improve your brain’s performance. The great thing about this app is that it acts just like a real trainer would. Fit Brains Trainer actually “learns” the level of your brain so that it can adapt to the learning system you need.

This adaptive learning system is similar to gym trainers finding out the scope of your activity. If you’ve never worked out in your life, then they will start out easy. If you’re training to be an MMA fighter and are ex-military, then the trainer will obviously give you a different training routine.

You can download Fit Brains Trainer for free here.

Clockwork Brain

The interesting thing about this app is that it has more of a “game” feel to it than a “training” feel. Through a series of mini-games designed to improve cognitive abilities such as visual, spatial, logic, language, arithmetic and memory.

The graphics of Clockwork Brain are really great as well. They are all designed based on Victorian Steampunk and Mayan Art.

You can download Clockwork Brain free here.

Brain Games 2 Puzzles and Riddles

This app comes with five logical games, each of which has many levels. If I was recommending this app to friends I would tell them to stay away from it because it claims “Your IQ will grow after each level completed.” It’s funny enough that this statement is grammatically incorrect, but it’s also really fake. I don’t see any evidence supporting people’s IQ going up by one or two points after each level is completed.

You should probably stay away from it too.

Charge Your Brain HD

The graphics of Charge Your Brain HD kind of look like the ones from “Scribblenauts.” This app also has a game feel to it more than a training atmosphere. It claims that it’s an app that “will allow you to develop various section of your brain in a relaxing and funny way.”

Charge Your Brain HD improves your cognitive functions through image recognition, speed of response, logic, comparison of objects, searching and mathematic skills, memory, etc.

You can download this app from here for free.

Brain Challenge

Brain Challenge has been mentioned on MSN, MTV and Yahoo. It trains your brain in visual, memory, logic, math and focus functions. The bad thing about it is that it costs $4.99.

I played the game for 4 days then…… …it wouldn’t open up again. I have tried opening it several times..even deleting another app to see if more space would allow it to work again. Nothing happened. The other apps that are free or cheaper all work. I can’t believe I wasted my money. Any suggestions on what I should do?

Whereas a yearly membership of Lumosity costs $80, Brain Challenge only costs $4.99. Generally you get your money’s worth. Brain Challenge is $5, and it’s not a good app.

You can get it from here.

84 Logic Games

84 Logic games is exactly what the title says. It comes with increasingly difficult and big puzzle levels. Other than the in-app purchase for $4.99 which removes ads, there is no “Pro” version of this app. It also doesn’t seem to be scientifically designed, and seems more like a puzzle game than a brain training app.

You can download 84 Logic Games for free here.

Part II

This article is continued on iPhone Apps That Can Make You Smarter – Part 2.