Best Memory Training and Improvement Apps (2026)

Memory training means different things depending on what you want to remember. Recalling names, retaining what you read, memorizing vocabulary, and looking after your cognitive health as you age all call for different tools. Here is which app suits which need:

• Exams, work knowledge, or any facts you choose to learn: Anki.
• Vocabulary in a new language: Memrise, or Anki if you would rather build your own cards.
• Reading, vocabulary, and mental math practice: Elevate.
• Training with the deepest research record, especially as an older adult: BrainHQ.
• A wide mix of games on phone and computer: Lumosity.
• Names, appointments, and everyday forgetting: no app has strong evidence here, so start with the free techniques in our how to improve memory guide.

No app can promise to prevent memory loss, and most of what you gain from brain games shows up in the games themselves. The sections below cover each app’s price, strengths, and downsides.

First: what “memory” actually is

A quick framing helps you pick the right tool.

Working memory is your brain’s short-term workspace, holding information active while you use it. It is the part that feels the strain when you are tired or juggling several things.

Long-term memory is stored information, including facts, experiences, and skills. It has several subtypes (declarative, procedural, episodic), but for practical purposes, this is the stuff you remember for a long time.

Recall is your ability to retrieve information from memory. Weak recall is the tip-of-the-tongue feeling.

Different apps target different types. A spaced repetition app helps you keep specific material in long-term memory. A brain training app gives you practice at memory tasks, and you mainly get better at those tasks. Being clear about what you want to improve makes the choice easier.

How the memory training apps compare

Prices are US prices, checked in November 2026. They can change, so check before you pay.

1. Anki: our top pick for memorizing facts

Anki takes a different approach. Rather than brain games, it uses spaced repetition: flashcards that come back at growing intervals, each one shown just before you would be likely to forget it.

What makes it strong:

• It builds in two of the best-supported study methods. Spacing out your reviews and testing yourself are among the most-studied techniques in learning research, as our how to improve memory guide explains, and Anki does both.
• It is free on desktop, Android, and the web. The iPhone and iPad app, AnkiMobile, is $24.99 once, and Anki says those purchases help fund its development.
• It handles large amounts of material, such as medical school content, exam facts, or language vocabulary.
• Shared decks let you start from other people’s flashcards on common subjects instead of building everything yourself.

What to know:

• The interface is plain and clunky. Anki puts function over form.
• It takes setup. Creating your own decks or finding good shared ones takes work.
• It is not general memory improvement. Anki improves your memory for the specific things you put into it.

Best for: people who want to memorize specific information long-term, such as vocabulary, medical terms, historical facts, or formulas. If you are studying for something, start here.

2. Elevate: workplace-relevant memory skills

Elevate practices practical skills with a memory angle: vocabulary, reading comprehension, mental math, and listening. Because it uses everyday skills like reading, writing, and math, it feels more practical than abstract memory games, but evidence that gains carry over outside the app is limited, as it is for brain training generally (Simons et al., 2016).

What makes it strong for memory:

• It practices everyday skills, such as recalling what you read, using vocabulary in context, and holding numbers in mind for calculation. Its memory games include Name Recall, which asks you to match names you hear to faces.
• The price is reasonable, at $39.99 a year on the US App Store. Our guide to the best free brain training apps covers what the free version includes.

What to know:

• Memory training is a paid feature. Elevate’s help center lists it among the extras in the paid version, so the free daily workout leans on other skills.
• There is limited evidence beyond the app. You will likely get better at its exercises, but there is little evidence yet that those gains carry over into daily life.
• It is not focused on general working memory, so its scope is narrower than a general training app like BrainHQ.
• It suits adults with active workplace needs more than people focused mainly on long-term cognitive health.

Best for: adults who write, present, or read for work and want practice that looks like those tasks. See our Elevate review or is Elevate worth it guide.

3. BrainHQ: deepest research record for general training

BrainHQ has the deepest research record in brain training, with studies focused particularly on older adults and cognitive aging. Its best-known evidence is for processing-speed training rather than memory, so it helps to be clear about what you are buying.

What makes it strong for memory:

• It has dedicated memory exercises, such as Memory Grid and To-Do List Training, alongside its speed and attention exercises.
• It has extensive published research, and it offers Double Decision, which BrainHQ says is an updated version of the speed training used in the ACTIVE Trial, where speed-of-processing training still improved processing speed 10 years later. That result is about speed, not memory.
• Its focus is cognitive health rather than general brain games.

What to know:

• It costs $96 a year on its website, or $14 a month. The annual price is more than double Elevate’s.
• The interface feels dated and the pace is deliberately slow.

Best for: older adults who want the most research-backed training as one part of looking after their cognitive health. See our BrainHQ review or BrainHQ cost guide.

4. Memrise: for language and vocabulary

Memrise is a language app built around videos of native speakers, with a review system to help words stick. If your memory goal is vocabulary in a specific language, it is a better fit than general brain training apps.

What works:

• It is focused on languages, with courses in more than 20 of them.
• It uses videos of native speakers, though the free plan limits them.
• It uses spaced review. Memrise says a correct answer moves a word to a longer review interval, and a wrong answer moves it back to the first one.

What to know:

• The free plan is limited. Pro unlocks all the videos. The US App Store lists an annual plan at $61.99 and a lifetime plan at $329.99, along with offers at other prices, and Memrise says pricing varies by region.
• The use case is narrower than general memory apps.

Best for: people learning a language who want vocabulary practice alongside general practice. Duolingo is the better-known alternative.

5. Lumosity: broad variety, cross-platform

Lumosity offers a broad library of 40-plus games, including many memory-focused exercises, on iOS, Android, and the web.

What to know:

• Prices are not published. Its US App Store listing shows purchases from $11.99 to $89.00, mostly without naming the plans, and it appears to cost more than Elevate, so check the price before you pay.
• Its research foundation is weaker than BrainHQ’s.
• It works on desktop as well as phones, which is a real advantage for some people.

Best for: people who want broad variety across phone and computer more than adaptive personalization. See our Lumosity review or Lumosity cost guide.

Which app fits which memory goal?

“I want to remember names, appointments, and daily things better”: no app has strong evidence for this. Simple techniques and aids are the better bet, and our how to improve memory guide covers them. If you want an app to practice with, BrainHQ and Elevate both have memory exercises, but expect to improve mainly at the exercises themselves.

“I need to memorize specific information long-term (medical school, exams, languages)”: Anki. Of the apps here, it is the one built most directly for this.

“I want to support my brain health as I age”: BrainHQ, which offers Double Decision, an updated version of the speed training used in the ACTIVE Trial, according to BrainHQ. No app can promise to prevent cognitive decline, and the National Institute on Aging says there is not yet enough evidence that commercial brain-training apps match the trial’s results. See our best brain training apps for seniors and how to prevent cognitive decline for more.

“I want to remember what I read”: Anki for facts you need to retain, or Elevate for reading comprehension practice.

“I want to learn a language”: Memrise or Anki for vocabulary; a language-specific tool (Duolingo, Pimsleur, Babbel) for broader language learning.

A note on memory training programs

A memory training program is a structured course rather than a single game, and the name covers two different things. Some teach strategies you use in daily life, such as the techniques below. Others drill memory tasks on a screen, like the memory exercises in BrainHQ and Elevate.

The best-known test of memory training is the ACTIVE Trial, which gave older adults ten group training sessions on memory. By the 10-year follow-up, the effect on memory performance was no longer there, although people in that group reported less difficulty with everyday activities than the control group (Rebok et al., 2014). That program was taught in groups, not through an app, so it does not tell you how any app will do.

Before you pay for a program, check what it actually teaches, whether the research it cites tested that program rather than brain training in general, and whether it promises to prevent memory loss, which no program can honestly promise. If you or someone close to you is noticing memory changes, talk to a doctor first.

Memory techniques that work better than any app

The strongest evidence for improving memory is for techniques, not apps. These matter more than which app you pick:

Spaced repetition. Studying material at increasing intervals produces much better long-term retention than cramming. This is why Anki works. You can apply the principle without an app: review new information after 1 day, 3 days, 1 week, 2 weeks, and 1 month.

Active recall. Testing yourself on material rather than re-reading it helps you remember more later. Close the book, try to explain what you learned, then check.

The method of loci (memory palaces). You associate information with locations in an imagined familiar place. It is an ancient technique still used by memory competitors, and it works best for memorizing lists of specific items.

Chunking. Breaking large amounts of information into meaningful groups (phone numbers as 3-3-4 rather than 10 digits) reduces working memory load.

Elaboration. Connecting new information to what you already know helps it stick. This is one reason explaining material to someone else can help you remember it.

Sleep. Much of memory consolidation happens during sleep, so poor sleep makes it harder to keep what you learn.

For deeper reading, Make It Stick by Peter Brown, Henry Roediger, and Mark McDaniel is a good mainstream book on evidence-based learning.

For related content, see our how to improve memory guide.

Common questions

Do memory apps actually work? Yes, for what they specifically train. Anki reliably improves your retention of information you put into it. Brain training apps like BrainHQ reliably improve you at their own exercises. In the ACTIVE Trial, speed-of-processing training improved that ability for up to 10 years in older adults (Rebok et al., 2014), but that result applies to the training studied, not to any app directly. Evidence that apps broadly improve your memory in daily life is limited; see our do brain training apps actually work guide.

How long until I notice improvement? There is no reliable timeline. With Anki, you can watch your retention in your own reviews as you go. With brain games, your scores may rise with practice, but higher scores do not show that your everyday memory has improved.

Should I use multiple memory apps? For most people, no. Pick one and use it consistently. The exception is combining Anki, for specific facts you need to remember, with a general training app like BrainHQ, if you enjoy the training.

What about “brain foods” and supplements? Beyond a general healthy diet, supplements marketed for memory (ginkgo, Prevagen, and various brain boosters) have weak evidence, so we would skip them.

Can memory apps help with dementia? No app can promise to prevent dementia, and memory apps are not treatments for it. One large study, the ACTIVE Trial, linked speed-of-processing training to a 29% lower risk of dementia over 10 years in older adults, while its memory training showed no significant effect (Edwards et al., 2017). The key caveat: dementia was not the trial’s main outcome, so that finding comes from a secondary analysis, and it only just reached statistical significance. A 2026 reanalysis of the trial’s 20-year data found that no training group’s result stayed statistically significant after correcting for multiple comparisons, though its author argued the overall pattern may fit a protective effect shared by all three kinds of training, concentrated in the youngest participants (Dickens, 2026). Either way, the research is about the training studied, not about any app. For the lifestyle habits researchers focus on, see our how to prevent cognitive decline guide.

The bottom line

For memorizing specific information long-term, Anki is our top pick, as long as you put in the setup time and accept its clunky interface. For general training, especially for older adults focused on cognitive health, BrainHQ has the deepest research, though it costs $96 a year and feels dated. For workplace-relevant skills, Elevate gives you practice in everyday skills like reading and mental math at $39.99 a year.

Whichever you choose, consistency matters more than the specific app, and evidence-based techniques (spaced repetition, active recall, sleep, exercise) do more for memory than any app alone. Apps can support those habits, but they do not replace them.

For related content, see our best brain training apps roundup, how to improve memory guide, or how to prevent cognitive decline guide.