Elevate - Brain Training Games
reviews and complaints

I love this app. I’ve been using it for 3 months now, the first 2 months of which were the free version before I upgraded. It helps me with brain training, education, and to stay off of social media.

I’ve been keeping track of my progress with screenshots from the beginning, and I feel much more confident about my knowledge and skills, in less than 5 minutes a day. I can use it for the 3-5 min daily maintenance, or I can sit down for 30-60 minutes and work more intensively.

I feel better when I keep my streak, and I’ve noticed significant growth in my ability to think faster, quicker and clearer. I speak, read and write better, and my memory has improved the most which is what I needed. My favorite are the math games, but they are all very useful and challenging. Elevate helps with writing, speaking, reading, math + memory, and I highly recommend it.

I had a long pro trial somehow (for a month instead of a week), and I enjoyed being able to play so many games, and the fact that training your brain can be considered as play! It’s nice to use when you need a little jolt without caffeine, or when you’re traveling, in a waiting room, or sitting down for a break from a book or work.

One thing I didn’t like is that once I connected a new card to Apple Pay, they took my money almost immediately. I was going to pay for it anyways because it’s more than worth it ($40 for 12 months, $3.33/m for immeasurable value), but I wish I were able to sign up for it myself on a specific day. I also found that the free version after the pro trial was not stimulating enough, they should let free users have access to 5 games. It’s definitely worth the upgrade, your brain will thank you!

Amazing, surprising and informative...are what you will feel after you start the lessons see your scores. And, then when they start to increase, you’ll want more and more! At first you want a rating to see where you stand in regards to how “smart” you are, or think you are. Then, as a human, you’ll welcome the challenge as the tests, or puzzles and games, get more and more difficult. Then finally, when you realize that it’s not exactly a puzzle or a game, but actually exercise for your brain, you feel uplifted by a sense of accomplishment! Once you experience positive success completing the lessons you get real, viable proof and an affirmation if you will, that this program works to expand your intellect and problem solving capabilities. You see written results of your completed lessons daily that give you the proof and confidence that the program does what it says it will. All this and I have not purchased a thing! (Yet!)
I’m not a avid video game player, but for me personally, getting smarter is addictive too! What a positive reason to use this app! Try it! If you are looking for an interesting, informative, positive way to just pass the time, or you are actively looking to train your brain and increase your concentration, focus and problem solving functions, this is for you. If you don’t like it the format, don’t see results, whatever, you have lost nothing. Just delete the app and move on. Find a different one that works for you. But do find something. This planet needs to up its intellect. Video games are not going to help in doing that! There is no downside using this app. I’m glad there are apps out there like this one. We need even more. Thank you for creating it, keep up the good work!
Sincerely,
K.C. In California

After 5 years of subscribing to Elevate, I cannot recommend the app.

I recently decided to protect my connection and my personal data by using one of the top-rated, most reliable, and fastest VPNs available.

That’s when my access to the Elevate app stopped working.

I wasn’t immediately certain of the issue, but I suspected that it might have something to do with the VPN. So, I sent an email to Elevate customer service. That email went completely unacknowledged and unanswered for nearly 2 weeks.

My second request did finally receive a response. By the second exchange following that second request for help, I was asked if I was using a VPN. As soon as I disconnected the VPN, I once again had access to the Elevate app for which I’ve long been a paying subscriber.

Unfortunately, Elevate had the audacity to lie and say that it was an issue connected to sufficient speed (insinuating that the VPN slows the connection too much for it to be adequate for the app). How do I know that’s untrue? Because I’m able to use all of my other apps and stream video and music on that exact same connection.

That type of response is a direct insult to intelligence itself and promotes distrust just as much as any company blocking a VPN should… that is, IF you care about protecting yourself from personal data mining.

There are many options for learning and many apps available.

Unfortunately, Elevate does not respect my privacy, does not respond to all customer service requests within a reasonable timeframe, and is not honest about its practices.

For myself, I’ve concluded that using this app leaves subscribers vulnerable to data mining and is willingly dishonest about its practices. What a shame.

Please protect yourself and your personal data.

I love this game and have been playing it since the beginning when it appeared in the App Store. I love it so much I bought the premium version.I am not a computer whizz . I am old and learning new tricks but for some things I need just a little more help of which I can’t seem to find here and therefore cannot finish my latest session because the dang thing won’t stop crashing! I have turned my iPad off and on to reboot it that has not helped. I therefore believe it’s within your game. It has been happening every time I play for the last three days. If I get help, my review gets better.

I am writing once again for the second week in a row with the exact same issue. The game completely crashes not allowing me to play at all. Meaning I lose a day . This is important to me for two reasons. First, I have multiple sclerosis and depend on this to challenge myself daily and to help keep my brain as sharp as possible for as long as possible. Two, I have paid extra for the premium version and would expect premium service and not this sloppy iT management. Please fix this ASAP! I have yet again one more complaint! I have trained tirelessly in the game of Context within the Reading suite and it is the worst game you offer! The answers come up after the time allotted to choose the correct answer! This occurs repeatedly! And I am tired of getting dinged incorrect for choosing incorrectly just because you can’t get the right word displayed in a timely manner! I have a great suggestion to keep me from posting here. Please remove the Context game from the reading section. It is grossly flawed and I am tired of it dinging me for answering wrongly when it doesn’t even put the correct word choice up in time for me to tap it! I am a perfectionist and this is unacceptable.

I was actually quite impressed with this app during the few days that I used it, however I ended up deleting my account and removing the app from my iPad. Under any other circumstances I would rate this app as five stars. I am however giving it four stars because today I received a mysterious email from the elevate team reminding me that my account was going to be charged in two days unless I cancel my auto renewal. I checked in the app’s setting, and I only had the free account and not the free trial. I checked under my device’s setting and did not see elevate under my subscriptions. At this point I decided to call elevate’s customer service to see what the issue was, however I was unable to find a phone number. The only way to contact the support team was through an email. As I was not sure when or even if I would receive a timely response to my email inquiry, I decided to delete my account and remove the app from my device because I simply did not want to deal with the hassle of getting charged and then having to dispute the charge. Later this evening I received another email from the customer service team informing me that the initial email was sent out in error and I was indeed under the free account and would not be charged. Sadly however by this point my account had already been deleted, and I did not want to start building my streak from scratch again. I won’t be downloading this app again, however as I stated earlier it is quite a well-developed app and perhaps the best of its kind that I have seen so far. As long as you don’t experience the same issue as I did, I think you’ll find it quite enjoyable and rewarding to play. I will stay with Luminosity and MindPal for now since I haven’t had any problems with those apps for as long as I have been using them.

In all seriousness, this is the first app I've ever reviewed; I think it's important to mention I replaced Tetris with Elevate's brain games. I love Tetris because it teaches you to make informed decisions under pressure, also, improves efficiency and reaction times; however, the more time you spend playing Tetris the longer the levels get...the more your brain melts. The new surge of accomplishment I feel when I complete a level on Elevate is a great motivator to be better overall. I love that each level gets 1-5 degrees harder or easier each time you play, depending on your needs. It's an incredible system, fun for ALL AGES; designed to sharpen a great range of skills and increase your overall speed and accuracy. Not your average, time waster-brain melter. Love it so much; so worth the update to PRO! In only two weeks time I've seen a dramatic improvement in my stats and several actual cognitive skills. Can't wait to see how much more I,(We!) can improve over time. My boyfriend has already purchased Pro, along with my best friend, both of their dads, my grandpa, my little sister and my mom... Thanks Elevate!
There's only two changes I would make:
1.) In Pronunciation, if the definitions were shown again at the end, when you get your EPQ, it would be helpful to learn the words because those little flash cards are so fast during the game, sometimes you're like, what the heck was that word?
AND
2) In Visualization, I like the little Russian nesting dolls, but at the end, they hop out of each other and line up, I keep wishing, after a perfect set, that the animation was a little longer and more joyous, they could hop around to the music a little more and pop their tops on and off to cheer you on, there's all that empty space on the screen.. Just an idea. They're already so cute, and it seems like it'd be an easy tweak.

What works:
Clean & polished interface, rarely (if ever) buggy, exhibits a few genuinely good puzzles.

What fails:
Biased ratings. The app asks whether you like it. If you pick "yes," it gives you the option to rate it in-game; if you pick "no," it doesn't give you that option.

Connotation: You must pick whether a word has positive or negative connotations. Sometimes neutral words are listed that lean in neither direction. For example, "lavish": this word is positive when associated with the old cliche "lavish praise," but when used to describe a home (for example), it can just as easily bear a negative connotation (one of materialism, excessiveness, gaudy opulence, overspending . . . need I continue?). So, to some extent, this game spreads the incorrect idea that connotation is independent of context, which is a fatally flawed lesson for any person (especially a writer) to learn.

Brevity: You're supposed to click on superfluous words. There are often several wordy spots that are equally valid choices, but only one of them is considered correct. Today I encountered a puzzle in which three words could have been reduced to one word without losing any meaning or fluidity, but that answer wasn't accepted; the "correct" answer was to eliminate a single word (removing "old" before "maxim"). Amusingly, "old maxim" is neither wrong nor redundant, given that many maxims are relatively new (particularly those related to recent technologies).

Repetitiveness: After playing for 8 days, I've seen some of the same puzzles 5 or 6 times, especially in the Memory game (in which you complete words for the birds. Bird words).

This is better than similar apps, and I applaud the effort, but it is still quite limited as a brain-building tool; and inasmuch as the "correct" answers to puzzles are often very dubious at best, this app's instructional effectiveness leaves much to be desired.

I believe that this app is one of the most thoughtful, well-written and user-friendly programs in its class. I was an early subscriber and appreciate that I can access its full features for a reasonable price. I do not know what the current annual subscription is today, but taking advantage of it at $18/year has turned into one of the best recurring investments in myself that I have ever made.

I am in my second year of regularly using this app. I have had only one issue with a module and was VERY IMPRESSED with the response when I reached out. Yes, a real human responded and the module was repaired on the next app update. (Now it works perfectly.)

I do not use it every day but I find myself using the skills in my everyday shopping, writing, reading and thinking. Math has always been a weakness of mine and it’s really cool that I’m puzzling through certain calculations that I once put through an electronic calculator (or asked Alexa to solve.)

I really like that errors can be reviewed by scrolling after finishing an exercise and that computational feedback is immediately accessible for my math errors. I would suggest highlighting that feedback area more, as I did not realize it was there until recently. (I often don’t bother with the weekly reviews, much preferring the immediate feedback available at the time.) It is terrific that both types of feedback are available.

Future update suggestion: I would love the ability to sort those modules based on my scores, not just alphabetically. I often choose my lowest scored module as an extra game and have some difficulty seeing the tiny font of those statistics. If there was a sorting function within the categories, that would no longer be an issue for me - plus it would give me further insight into the trending of my weaknesses and strengths.

To the developers: excellent job! Thank you for your work in creating and maintaining this application.

Addendum: An additional problem I’m encountering is false triggering with the version as of 11/10. There’s been several times when I’ve experienced the game taking input without the screen being touched, triggering when attempting to scroll, or the app inaccurately selecting the spot where it is being touched. This happens most frequently with the Spelling and Extraction activities in the reading section. So touch proximity and accuracy could stand some improvement. Especially in Extraction where the text is extremely small on an iPhone screen.

Dropping one star since this problem continues to remain unresolved. Something I could tolerate with an inexpensive app, but find unacceptable for a subscription based app with a $39.99 price tag.

Will revise again if the above (and below) issues are eventually addressed by the developers. But I’m not holding my breath since my earlier review didn’t elicit any response from them to date.

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Original review:

I’m two weeks in so far and found it to be an interesting and fun app. But other than improving your scores within the game, I’m somewhat skeptical the accomplishments made within the game will automatically carry over into your everyday life. I’ve also noticed that if you’re not particularly fast at typing (I’m not due to mildly arthritic hands) it can have a decidedly negative effect on your scores in some activities. There’s been many times when I knew the answers almost immediately but had difficulty keying them in fast enough within the allowed time to get a better score. Perhaps a typing proficiency test during setup could be beneficial in order to personalize the allowed response times in those activities, or failing that, allow for some alternate form of input. And if both those suggestions are impractical to implement, maybe including an activity to increase typing speed and agility would be a worthwhile addition under Writing.

Ok, I want to start by saying that Elevate asked me to "rate and review" a few times. Each time I said no. But today I'm coming here completely on my own accord because I feel like I really should say something about this app. I've been using Elevate-brain training (lite version) for about a year now. As a college student it's a really easy way to relieve stress while also feeling productive and like you're improving yourself. As far as the interface, game styles, and content I really believe this is the best so far out of all brain training apps. Now as a college student I got extremely busy with school and applications to med school and I had to step away from Elevate for awhile. Since it's just games I really didn't feel like I would "loose anything". I was completely wrong. You could doubt me and say that "it's coincidence" but when I stopped using Elevate I noticed my writing skills dwindled dramatically. I have always been a poetic writer and I use lots of voice in my writing. In the summer I used Elevate and was completely satisfied with the direction of my personal statement. When the school year started I stopped using it, and around winter break when it came to writing my secondary applications I became COMPLETELY blocked. I couldn't think of how to string phrases together or even the direction to head in. I got back to using Elevate and I found my flow again. I seriously don't know what happened and you can doubt me if you'd like, but I really feel like something went on with the mental stimulation Elevate targets and how I came to use it in my everyday life. Holistically the only thing I really don't like about Elevate are the "Pro" options. I really hate when you have to pay monthly/yearly subscriptions to upgrade, and frankly as a college student I can't afford it. Overall I love Elevate and feel like even if you don't feel like your knowledge and skills are expanding, take it from someone who knows that they are.

Despite my efforts to embrace challenging work and to make time for intellectually engaging activities outside of work, I had a definite sense of mental efficiency in my late 20's. I have always been described as "bright" but my weakening sharpness has become more evident each year (and having to work through lifelong ADHD-related challenges hasn't helped.)

I am so glad to know I'm not alone and that there is a remedy backed by solid research. I tried a few other brain-exercise games and apps, but found the challenges too repetitive and hardly effective for the areas I wished to improve (the only means of gaining any sort of benefits were by purchasing a costly upgrade.)

I wish I had found Elevate sooner! It has been the answer to everything and I will never need another app for daily brain exercise. Even without the "Pro" version and games being repeated, it is a different challenge every day. There must be hundreds of combinations for every game. And the games themselves actually target skills that reflect real-life situations where I am often slow or inaccurate. For example, the name-recognition game is perfect for adults who constantly have to ask a name more than once (I work in hospitality so this game has been unbelievably valuable!) additionally, the tip-computing activity is another skill where the practice has paid off. On top of that, I've learned so much new and interesting information from the reading and listening games and my vocabulary is stronger than ever.

Finally, the small details provided by Elevate make it a very healthy addition to my daily routine. You can get reminder alerts to remember to play each day. I also love how the scoring system is concise and easy to understand (and keeps me motivated to improve.) You can also pick and choose the areas you want to improve (I picked them all!) I look forward to my sessions with Elevate each day and can say with genuine confidence that my life has improved and the "fog" has certainly been lifted!

I’ve been brain training for many years. I first started on Lumosity back in 2012. This app came along a couple years later and I wanted to get more out of my brain training. So I downloaded the Elevate app and viola I was doing a lot of similar exercises, but the games were different and the colors were vivid. What’s more is the difficulty began to change over time too which was exciting. I’m practically used to the repetitive nature of Lumosity games but this game keeps getting harder the better I get. Some people have complained about this but if you want to get better you have to challenge yourself and that’s what brain training is all about. Anyways, the app is a must have for anyone that is interested in sharpening basic parts of the brain such as judgement, memory, speed, flexibility, reading, mental calculations, writing, punctuation and the list goes on. It’s not going to make you a genius but it will simply allow you to stay sharp.

Also, it is possible to reach excellent scores even when playing on high levels such as 300+ but you have get nearly perfect scores. I can see how people are feeling like it’s impossible, the Processing game, which is under the reading category only gives players two chances before failing. First, This is a lot less than most of the other games what’s more is the game is all about speed and accuracy. I’ve had perfect games and only received 2 points. However, this game is also awarding points for how quickly you can answer the questions as well. It is by far one of the hardest in my experience to get 3 points in but it’s happened before.

This review is long overdue as I’ve been using this app since it came out and have made it a part of my daily routine. Furthermore, I actually look forward to playing it more than Lumosity. But this is mainly due to the fact that I’m basically maxed out on the Lumosity games and they keep yielding the same results while my ranking is 95%+ in all areas of this app the games are still challenging and there is still a lot more room for them to get harder.

Good job!

In two days and six games, I found multiple errors and made “mistakes” due to incorrect instructions or those errors.
One wanted me to spell a word meaning “relating to events happening prior” (may not be the actual phrasing, but it was essentially this), and I typed in “previously”, which was wrong (it wanted “previous”). The game didn’t specify it wanted the noun form instead of the adverb. If it had offered the part of speech it wanted, but without that information, I assumed it wanted the longer form.
One game told me to select the word matching the definition “city or citizen”. The “words” were actually prefixes (which the instructions failed to mention), but between the choice of “mens” (a word which can be used to mean “citizen”, albeit in possessive and missing an apostrophe) and “polit” (not a word at all), I chose the word—which was wrong, because apparently the game was about identifying prefixes...thus testing your knowledge of Latin roots.
One game about identifying correct sentence structure. It was trying to focus you on whether or not the correct word was used (your/you’re and they’re/their/there, etc), but I read the entire sentence and immediately noticed an incorrect semicolon, so I marked the sentence as incorrect. It promptly told me I was wrong, because the word was right (even though the description asked you to confirm if sentences were right or wrong). I maintain that the word was right, but the sentence was wrong.
Many of these games do not benefit from being put on a timer, and the difficulty swings wildly across a spectrum with no apparent regard for determining difficulty based on the individual (one game had me put together the word “convivial” based on its definition, while another asked if it was correct to say “Liam hit ball.”).
And this was just from my free games today. I recall being annoyed about an error or two yesterday, but I didn’t think they were significant enough by themselves to warrant an angry email or review. After today, it’s become clear to me that these games lack QA testing, and they lack someone who is capable of writing accurate instructions.

I usually play this fun activity when I first wake up. This helps me awaken more and feel more confident in the morning. Now that totally sounds like a commercial but it is not. I think the only sad thing about it is that you have to subscribe to unlock more games and more game chances on your training session. Maybe add those 2 extra games in and I would have a little something more to do.

I love how you can level up on different categories such as writing and math (etc). I like this because it can tell you what you need to improve on. Like I think my lowest is speaking which is orange in color. So I know when a speaking category comes up on my training, instead of doing the other game, I do that one to “beat” the other categories. Imma highest is either writing and math.

I also love elevate because it is actually fun! I have tried luminosity and left vs right brain I think it was called but those apps were more difficult then fun. Sometimes I raged quit on them whenever I couldn’t beat them a couple of times. I think it would be easier if they did not make each section so long on luminosity. But this is not that apps review it is elevated review. That is why I like elevate better. It actually is fun but a little challenging at the same time. That is why I play and have a streak because it is so much fun playing it.

All I all, if you are reading this and asking yourself if you should get it, you should. Here is some reasons why:

1. It is fun!
2. You Learn things along the way
3. When you are done your training, you can go back to the games you already played and try to get another high score.
4. They give you tips and advice on how to fix or better your skills
5. They have a study section which is great for passing time
6. You can share your accomplishments with others and they can have fun too!

Somethings the elevate team might wanna work on (in my opinion):

1. Making the 2 extra games in the training available to everyone who has no subscription

2. Some more free games! (Maybe 1 or 2 for the free version)

Thank you so much for anyone who listened to this review and I hope the elevate team can take this and make elevate better (in my opinion)!

Elevate is a comprehensive program that uses some cool methods to train you in a wide variety of different skills. I own Elevate and Lumosity, and though I think they both have different approaches, I prefer Elevate because it focuses on specific applicable skillsets, such as math and reading comprehension, whereas Lumosity seems to focus on the more vague idea of “brain-training”, to mixed results.

One gripe - I hope the developers are listening! :-)

I dislike the repetitive and long-lingering “reward screens” that come up at the end of each game. First, it shows you a percentage tally which takes too long, with a possibility of up to 3 bars flying onto a hexagon to show you if you've completed the exercise with an “excellent”, and 1 bar if you've completed the exercise with a “great”. This thing lasts, maybe 4 or 5 seconds. Okay. I get the positive reinforcement, but it takes a long time, which you start to notice if you're really playing a lot of games in a row. On top of this - the games themselves have an ending animation that shows you your score on the screen before you are even taken to the reward screen. 3 seconds or so. So now we're around 7 or 8 seconds. THEN it takes you to a screen where you can see your score contextualized into a line graph with all of your other scores.

In my opinion, you only need to see your score once, it should render more quickly, and the stats chart should be incorporated into the score page, maybe as a little indicator that you can click on to expand to see a more detailed page of your chart. Sometimes I like to play 10 games in a row and it feels like minutes are being drained from my life when I am sitting staring at these reward screens.

Also, and this is simply a personal preference, I would like the option to tweak some games to be longer in duration, though I understand that things like the reading comprehension games, and the audio memory games require specific modular content that can't simply be extended with ease. Fine. Just throwing it out there :-)

Otherwise, it's a fantastic product that I like to use frequently and I feel that it has already enhanced my ability to do simple mental math, and it's satisfying to witness the growth over the course of several weeks! Thanks Elevate!

I discovered late in life that I have learning disabilities and attentional issues, which haunted me throughout my school years. In addition to a very slow reading speed, poor comprehension, and having always had to count on my fingers to do simple computation, I realized that I am experiencing age-related word retrieval and memory problems. When I was in school there was no help for those who had difficulties. If you had a high intelligence and could get by, you did so, to avoid being put in the “dumb kids” class and losing the interest of teachers along with most of your friends.

I didn’t think there was much to be done for this anymore. I was always a good speller and an excellent writer, and so I managed; but recently I was feeling a bit down that things were only getting worse. I had no interest in brain training apps, but I happened upon Elevate, and it seemed that it was addressing all of my problems, and truly helping me. Thinking that anything that seems too good to be true probably is, I didn’t rate it for a few months, using it rather obsessively the whole time. I can now report that whatever the algorithms the developers are using, they work extremely well. I am unquestionably seeing improvement in all areas. Everyone should try this, whether they have problems or not.

I have a few quibbles with it, which aren’t bad enough to lower my five-star rating, but I will mention them: Some of the language is stilted, outmoded and unimaginative; there are some strange regional pronunciations; and grammar and punctuation “rules” are quite dated. Today, language is less concerned with rules, takes into account the evolution of usage, and grammar and punctuation in particular are more a matter of style than correctness. I would like to see this reflected in the app, even though these don’t have much to do with its main function. In addition, some of the people hired for the voiceovers speak dreadfully. It is not good form to pronounce the indefinite article “a” as “ay.” There are other similar problems with speech. Another problem I’d like to see addressed is that it will rank you up no matter how poorly you are doing (I am pathetic with the math), and I would rather see a tool that rates the user objectively if they want that information. I’m all for incentives, but I don’t want to be coddled.

I did make a complaint about one pronunciation that I found intolerable. I received a prompt reply to my email about it saying it would be fixed in the next release. That in itself is impressive. I bought a lifetime subscription, which may or may not have been the right choice, but I’m betting on these people, who seems to be quite concerned with customer satisfaction, and with growing the app. So far, I am getting out of it exactly what I wanted and then some. Bravo!

When I first tried this App after using Lumosity for more than 2 yrs., I was super frustrated.

However, I had the opportunity to speak with someone at Elevate after emailing my complaints and they were willing to help me sort out the issues. They really care about their users.

Elevate has many writing skills I needed; my punctuation is not as great as I thought it was nor is my syntax & I worked as a professional proofreader for decades! After using Punctuation, I am learning the difference between commas, semicolons, and when to use the correct one. Elevate explains why right on the page. You don't your answer simply marked wrong.

I am also learning "new math" which was not taught when I was in school. This App has improved my math abilities significantly. I subtract accurately, quickly estimate the total of 6-7 stacked $ amounts, multiply and divide faster.

I wish I had this app during MY high school years; I would have scored much higher on the math portion of the PSAT & SATs. I did very well in Verbal but it didn't compensate for my Math score. If you're still in high school, the premium membership and daily training will raise your scores and playing daily is much less than the cost of a tutor or enrolling in a class at Kaplan.

This App offers many detailed aspects that Lumosity doesn't. Best of all it's much easier to use on an iPhone. To take advantage of 40+ extra games available on Lumosity, you must access them on a laptop or desktop which infuriates me as someone has physical challenges and a Pro membership. Lumosity is always promising new games but not coming through, Elevate has released 3 more in the 7 months since I downloaded it again.

I recommend this App for both children and especially older adults. It cleared my "brain fog," a side effect of head & neck radiation. Research has confirmed the brain's plasticity in my lifetime. It was thought the brain stopped developing in one's mid- to late-20s.

My confidence has increased exponentially since using this App. I didn't finish college so I always felt my education was incomplete.

You also get weekly reports, study tips in a slew of areas and suggestions how to improve your performance if the App detects a weak area.

I have tried 4 different brain apps and none are as thorough as this one. The competition's apps are more like video games and results are very hard to gauge and even harder to determine if you're benefiting at all. I rarely felt like I truly gained new skills or sharpened old ones using the other apps.

To those of you who think it's expensive, try saving your $ by denying yourself Starbucks, a drink or dessert when you're out. Prioritize improving your skills and you have a shot at a better job. People with excellent writing skills are in short supply. You can create your own freelance career: I did.

First off, why can't you just be straight up? Why don’t you show in the very first picture that we have to pay for the app? Can you just charge us for the app instead of a sub? I think that maybe $15 is a reasonable price to charge up front. The fact that this app is subscription based at $40 every year is ridiculous. Not only that but you trick us. You let us download it and make it look free only to find out we can only play like 3 little games that aren't even really worth anything once every day.

The science is pretty conclusive that these games do NOT make you smarter. You ONLY get better at the specific games that you play. Don’t expect to gain anything from this other than getting better at the actual games, it's mostly not going to carry over into other things that are different from these games. The only thing I could see you gaining from this is possibly vocabulary (that's a maybe, because it doesn't really help you actually learn the words you're reading).

Another game was under the memory section. This game wanted you to read a words definition, then type in the word. What does that have to do with memory AT ALL!? I'm literally not remembering anything I'm simply reading a definition then typing in a word. Not only that but it even gives you limited letters to choose from so there's only so many possibilities, which makes it way easier. Why not make us read the definition, then take it away after a given amount of time (more or less based on level) the have us do multiple choice or write in missing words to the definition?

My review of the games I tried is this. The brevity game actually is counter productive in my opinion, everyone already knows how to exclude words that are unnecessary, we should be learning how to do the opposite instead. We should be learning how to actually ADD words that further describe what you're trying to say ratmher than remove them. For instance one of them said: "Give me the exact duplicate of that paper" and the answer was to take out "exact" but in my opinion that's actually wrong, if you say EXACT it further communicates that the person really needs the paper to be completely identical. Another was like "She got to see the aurora borealis which she thought was absolutely spectacular" the answer was to remove "absolutely" but why? Everyone already knows how to not say absolutely it's very obvious. But wouldn't you want people to learn how to add more words to carry the connotation that it was very amazing to see what they saw!?

One more thing, when the games are loading the next question, it STILL takes up your time! It makes you're time look worse! With that "memory" game, every time I typed in the word, it would slowly replace everything on screen with the new definition and letters and stuff, but while it was doing that the clock did not stop. The clock continued to count down and it caused me to not have enough time to physically type out the word that I knew was the answer, so I got that question wrong even though I knew the answer.

STOP TRYING TO TRICK US, be up front and honest and tell us right in the first picture that it's a subscription based app. Make the product reasonable by charging less OR allowing us to just pay $15-$20 to get full access forever, I paid $60 for Skyrim and that game had 6 years of work put into it and over 350 hours worth of gameplay, 10 years later there are still things to do in Skyrim and it's very hard to get bored. Oh also Skyrim literally has countless books in it that you can actually read. There is NO reason that this app should be THAT expensive, and that you'd have to pay every year. You really think it's worth $400 for 10 years? You're out of your mind. Improve the games, make them actually make sense for their category, and stop counting down while the game is still loading the next question and maybe I'll buy it.

Good day,

My name is Cleo Jones. I am writing to you to let you know that you have literally saved my life. I am 56 years of age I was forced to retire after 29 years with AT&T at the age of 46 in 2006. August that year I was diagnosed with 3rd stage colon cancer. I had the surgery followed by 8 weeks of Chemotherapy. As soon as I was starting to get back to myself I was diagnosed again in 2010 with breast cancer. Again I went to through surgery and this time radiation. Sadly in 2014 I was told the news of a diagnosis of cancer this time thyroid, this was followed by surgery and again treatment. The following 2 years after that life had gotten extremely bleak for me. I was blessed to be able to retire and get my pension. With all the Dr appointments, surgeries, testings and medications that blessing was very short lived. The demands for large sums of money came very quickly. The cost of the medication even with co pays would run into the hundred a couple times a month. Many times medication would be purchased to later find out for one reason or another I could not ingest. That was money lost, you can not return medications.

Then there were times I could not remember my own name. I was always losing things very expensive pieces of jewelry or large suns of money and not knowing what I did with it. Once I was taking my 6 year old great nephew to school. I was sitting in the car crying and had to call someone to come and get me I was lost on a street that I traveled almost daily and hurt worse to know I was only 2 blocks from my home. One day I found this app called Elevate and I worked this app every day. I would not close my eye each night til it was done. By the end of 2015 life for me was no longer the same. I had depleted my saving and 401K fighting to stay alive. I can not lie there were times I had thought about ending it all.

Instead I took a chance I did end up losing my place. I got into a new home in March. I had to find a way because now I am living pay check to pay check and was rarely happy. I decided to take a chance I decide if I wanted to get back in the game I would have to re-invent myself. I decided to go back to school. Now this was not easy decision I had not been in school since 1978 I attempted college and failed. I needed a copy of my high school transcript, I was not surprised my grades i did not do well, just enough to graduate. Again I am struggling with the decisions to start this journey. It did not help that I had been told that I had chemo brain and learning would be difficult because of the white matter on my brain. Then to make matters worse I was told angrily one day that I would be nothing more than a Walmart Greeter.

With much hesitation I enrolled into The American InTercontinental University online in June . The advisor that took my call that day was extremely helpful in helping me to understand that I had made the right choice. And it became to be one of the best decision I have ever made. I am on the Dens list and doing very well I graduate December with my Associates degree in Business Administration and will continue on at The Art Institute Atlanta to get my Bachelors in fashion design.

I desire the need to change my life, planning to my own business soon. I owe all my success to Elevate. Elevate has retrained my brain to think again. I must also say that when I was a small child I stayed in the kitchen always helping my mother cook. My mother’s cooking was delightful to eat because it had so much love in it. Many of the meal my mother cooked which was always from scratch without recipes. For some strange reason my family is saying my cooking tastes just like mom’s. I don’t use recipes, I just stand in the kitchen ask mom for guidances and its there. I now bake cakes and homemade dinners rolls none of this I was not able to do before. My world has open up so much to me know. I watch more educational programs than ever. I enjoys documentaries about space, earth and sea. It amazes me sometimes what I capable of.

I have come up the hottest new invention that would be a multi million dollars profit. I am working with a invention helper to see where it can go. All this means money and thats where it stops. Once I am able to sustain myself I can get ahead of that. i am trying to take it one step at a time. I feel limitless to what I am capable of doing. I dreaded biology and biology lab, I ended both courses with a B, I really was fearful of the Applied Business mathematics I am Today started my forth week and my assignments are due Tuesday next week, my homework is already done and I am hold a strong A. I thought Art Appreciation would be fun. I had no idea I would be able to recognize brush strokes of a painting and understand what the artist is relaying. Thank you again for breathing new life into me. Soon I will be able to make the necessary changes to increase my income by making good financial decisions.

My great nephew is now 13 and was struggling in school I made him get the app, he must work it daily and screen shot his progress to me each day after his homework is done and before he is allowed on XBOX. He his much happier these days because he sees his improvement in school and WE celebrate every milestone.

Sincerely

Cleo T Jones
2592 Marleigh Farm Rd NW
Kennesaw Ga 30152
[protected]

I used to love Elevate and doing the daily games, it felt like I was actually getting better. The longer I used it, the quicker this wore out. At the beginning, the games were easy to understand. As time went on, the difficulty went up (which made sense). Unfortunately, it does not give you all the tools to help you succeed when you’re difficulty keeps rising - you just have to start guessing. It doesn’t give me run down of the things I’m going to see to help me prepare in advance. The studying isn’t much help either; I tried looking at solving large multiplication problems and it made no sense to me, there was very little explanation on how I break down the problem, so I didn’t know how to break down problems. The longer you play the games, the more pressure is on you to keep up your high score - while also mastering content you may not fully understand. Overall, the app has its heart in the right place, but I feel like it’s impossible to get anywhere with it.

The game Processing has a major design flaw that makes it inaccurately measure ones ability. Instead of having a timer countdown, it has a lives system. A lives system makes the amount of learning received and results heavily dependent on when an question was answered incorrectly rather than the percentage and number of correct answers. The questions also have only 2 answers, making it highly luck dependent. To make matters worse, it is combined with an endpoint that is required to get a non zero score. This makes it impossible to have a score below 3000 measured making beginners unable to see visible progress until they break the threshold, which results in stress instead of satisfaction. By having a score that is always above 3000 and dependent on when rather than how many answers are correct, and having only 2 answer choices, the game Processing measures a person’s luck, not skill.

This review itself is my Elevate brain training for today, and probably the final one.

I appreciate the tremendous amount of resources seemingly put into this app, but I must give it a negative review as of now. However, I’m sure that the loophole I got trapped in has an easy fix to it, so developers please consider my review seriously.

Having a reduced internet access where I am currently, I opened up the app and tried doing my first daily activity offline anyway. Too bad: it didn’t work. Download issue, of course. But no big deal, I’ll wait until I have connection to do it… or so I thought.

Despite several attempts at starting the activity *even while online*, the mini game just wouldn’t launch, wrongfully giving me the same old download error. My only choice was to delete the app altogether and move on. Thankfully, this was only my second day at it, but I can’t imagine how frustrating it would be for a longtime regular to find themself trapped into this anomaly. Until I am notified that this perpetual error bug has been fixed, my 1-star review shall remain.

I don’t know about other people but I don’t need any more pressure or stress in my life. All aspects of this game are timed. I actually had a panic attack in the middle of one of the math tests. Reminded me of being bullied at school. They are constantly notifying me about something I missed or if I have to skip a day. It’s like paying a computer app to nag me. I’m going to keep at this game out of a determination to finish what I started plus they’ve already charged me for a year. But, once the year is over...I AM DONE!
Second comment: after almost a month, my family now thinks once the television/radio/music is off, I’m free for them to come in and destroy any chance I have at finishing one of the tests within the time frame given. ADDED STRESS. IM SO FRUSTRATED. I want to give up, quit, shut down whatever. If you want to play, remember 3 things: 1) everything is timed. 2) you must remember the rules for each game, and last but not least 3) leave home for the time the tests take. Good luck with finding the space to do this.
This is no longer entertaining.

I just downloaded this app today, looking for some brain boosters when I have a little down time. As I was setting up the app however, I learned that you are able to play free only for 7 days. After that, you are automatically deducted $39.99 from your iTunes account. In order to stop this from happening, you must cancel the order by day 6. I have deleted the app from my devices w/o even trying it, so as to not be automatically charged! Perhaps the most ironic part of this deal is that I may have been happy to pay for the subscription once I had worked through all the 35 free games. I’m willing to pay for a great app. But, when the app plans to just deduct my account unless I jump through all the hoops to stop it, the app’s credibility goes right out the window. This all makes it feel like the app must not be good enough for people to want to purchase it once they’ve worked through all the free levels.
App developers, please ensure that I am not deducted for a subscription, as I have deleted the app from my devices and, now, don’t even want the free trial.

I have emailed about this! No response! I loved this app. I am getting close to 99.9% in every category. But now every time I take a test and it gives me 2, 3 , or 4 pts, it does not add to my present score. On top of that, yesterday my score went DOWN! I paid for a year in advance. I generally love this app. It now I am so aggravated. There is also a spot on the app where we can let you know if something is graded incorrectly. It constantly throws out “minute” as a synonym for tiny or small. I emailed but no response. I can avoid writing minute. But I want to get all top scores! Not giving me the scores I earn and deducting them after the fact for no reason is INFURIATING! I just checked. The points are not adding to all categories since I got to master. When they are added, they are incomplete. For instance, if I should get 4 points, it gives me none or maybe 1. I paid for a whole year in advance. I advise those who are interested in this app to beware, or to at least pay month by month. I REGRET PAYING FOR A YEAR WHEN I AM HAVING THESE PROBLEMS AFTER ONLY 2 MONTHS! HELPPPP!

Signed up for a free trial which said I had until May 30 before they would automatically bill me 39.99 for a year subscription. Received an email on 5/28 that my free subscription was about to expire, so I logged in to cancel. After clicking the cancellation link in the email, I was taken to a page with a cancel subscription button. Once I tapped that button, I was taken to a page asking for my reason for my cancellation. After submitting my reason for cancelation, I thought I canceled the service. WRONG. Turns out there was a tiny link on the final page which would’ve taken me to ANOTHER place where I was supposed to cancel my subscription. So they trick you into subscribing by making you THINK you canceled your free subscription when you actually haven’t. You don’t know you didn’t cancel until you’re hit with a non-refundable automatic renewal receipt. Also, the auto renewal happened on 5/29, so even THAT took place a day earlier than my agreement specified. But I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that a con job of an app would behave that way. No idea how this app like this got an “Editor’s Choice” tag.

DON’T DO IT!

There is zero evidence that, despite app makers’ claims, any of these brain trainers have any effect whatsoever on memory, cognition or even, which is a thoroughly unethical, diseases like Alzheimer’s.

Exactly 0% of the content has any foundation in cognitive science or neurology. It is old, we’ve been through this for almost a decade.

These are cheaply designed games and for that — extremely overpriced. You can find free websites that teach you to arrange a few colored blocks. That’s the extent to which your brain will develop with this app.

Absolutely ridiculous.

This is a multi billion dollar scam and please, please don’t fall for it.

Read books, newspapers and magazines, talk to people, argue with [censored]es and soulless, greedy app developers, review your high school/college math courses, get some wooden geometry puzzles, get a sudoku magazine, play chess. For that matter, get a switch or start an Apple Arcade subscription and play some video games!

Those are all things that actually do have a positive effect on your brain. Things that are actually, scientifically proven to work, instead of this garbage.

I downloaded Elevate months ago and got the free trial to try it. It didn’t appeal to me, so I deleted the app.

I just got an email saying that in 2 days my free trial will be up and they would charge me. The email had a link to click to cancel. The link took me to the App Store. I saw no way to cancel from there so I thought maybe the cancel was within the app.

I downloaded the app but couldn’t remember my password. That’s my fault, but I clicked the link for a password reminder and an hour later, still no password reset email. I guessed with an old password and got in. I see no way to cancel from there.

Next I tried Settings on my iPhone. Under my account I found subscriptions, but Elevate wasn’t there … yet. I scrolled down to the elevate app in settings and it had no way to stop the subscription. I looked in iTunes but haven’t found any way to cancel.

When Apple charges me I will dispute it. I don’t know what else to do to cancel the “free” subscription. So far it’s cost me an hour and a boatload of frustration. In two days they will add $40 to that cost.

The “free” trial seems to be a marketing gimmick. They must know and have likely planned to make it hard to cancel so thousands of us will pay the $40. That’s probably how they pay the bills.

Update: this issue is still not fixed. Recall gives “rescind” definition as “mar”—totally wrong. Please review your definitions and fix!
——
Big issue with the Recall quiz today. Totally wrong answers. For example, the clue was something related to clothes, and the answer was “recumbent”. I don’t remember the next one, but I quit that and opted for Agility, which was fine. ——— You have an incorrect answer in your grammar area. In the sentence “She was going to give the file to whoever was on duty”, “whoever” is correct. “Whoever” is the subject of the clause “whoever was on duty”; this clause in its entirety is the object of “to”. Do a diagram and you’ll see. “Whomever” is incorrect. ———— Update 5/17 This has been fun and helpful...until now. You have now added ads! Ugh. I understand you want to make money, but even when you hit the X to close it, it doesn’t close right away! Very annoying! ————- I am enjoying these brain games. I wish each session were a little longer. I’ve learned many new words. The main annoyance is with the Visualization test—some of the pictures that you need to connect with a word are sometimes very ambiguous, especially when there are two similar photos for different words. Also, if some of the tests weren’t timed, I’d do a lot better, but I guess there has to be a way of ending the game.

The app poses as a game that, by using it, will improve your intelligence and everyday mental acuity. What it actually does is keep you addicted to attempting to beat your high score, which is usually nearly impossible, since the game does not award extra points for higher difficulties, and is completely speed-based. In fact, when you take your baseline test, everything is set to the lowest difficulty. Because of this, you will naturally perform optimally, answering elementary conjectures effortlessly. It’s only downhill from there. You might get second or third best, but as the difficulties increase, you just get slower. Your score goes down, and you feel like an idiot. So what should you do? Play more games of course. Because if you play more obviously you’ll get better right? Of course, that’s what the flashy colors and nice sound effects make your brain believe. So you play more games and set more baseline scores that give you a little hit of that sweet dopamine and the cycle repeats. You’re not going to see that line graph go up, no matter how bad you want it to. Play for as long as you wish, that line is staying right where it is, hovering, plateaued. Think of it this way: if one person plays on the lowest difficulty and gets a perfect score, and someone else plays on the hardest difficulty and gets a perfect score, Elevate says that’s the same score, because it’s a “personalized” score. So you’re not really improving, just measuring yourself against yourself from yesterday who took an easier test. Save your money, save your time, but most importantly, save your sanity.