The Best Memory Game Apps for Seniors

Memory declines with aging are common and can be frustrating. While some changes may be a natural part of aging, this doesn’t make them inevitable. Instead, seniors can work to improve their brain power. Memory game apps for seniors are one way to do this.

These apps follow the ‘use it or lose it’ mentality – suggesting that if people challenge their brains regularly, declines in cognition and memory should be much less likely.

Some research supports this idea too, suggesting that long-term use of brain training may improve cognition in a variety of areas. Now, outcomes from research are mixed and there’s a lot we don’t know. Thankfully, memory games don’t come with major risks, so seniors can simply try them and see.

Finding the Best Memory Game Apps for Seniors

While there are many ways to exercise the brain, memory game apps for seniors are especially powerful. They can be easily loaded onto a smartphone or a tablet, which makes them very portable.

There are also plenty to choose from. While some cost money, many others are free to use. And, the apps are often designed to keep people entertained and engaged. This makes them ideal home activities for seniors.

This post focuses on some of the best brain training and memory apps out there, including how they work and what you can expect.

We’re not just going to focus on the classic brain training apps either. Instead, we’ll talk about a variety of app styles.

The apps on this list are all free, but may be supported by ads or in-app purchases. You can often pay a small fee to remove the ads if they’re annoying. Alternatively, Android and Apple both have subscription programs that remove ads from a decent selection of apps.

Memory Apps

Train Your Brain – Memory Games

The company Senior Games currently offers more than 20 games, which could all be helpful for seniors in different ways. There are some familiar entries, like Solitaire, Bingo, and Word Search, along with collections of games.

Their game collections are particularly interesting. These focus on a theme, like Coordination, Memory, or Reasoning. Regardless of the app, images are always bright and large, with clear contrasts, making the app very easy for seniors.

Their Train Your Brain Memory Games app offers a collection of games and styles, including:

• Remember Faces
• Faces & Names
• Pairs of Cards
• Crack the Code
• Risky Road
• Color Challenge
• Shopping List
• Find The New
• Bright Squares
• Cooking Pizza
• Bouncing Balls

The last two can only be played if you purchase them or watch an ad. The rest are free. Each game has a set of levels (normally around 30), which may contain multiple individual challenges.

Cost

The app is free and supported by ads. The ads actually aren’t that bad and you can pay a small amount to remove them entirely if you want to.  

My Thoughts

The games on this app mightn’t be amazing, but they would appeal to the right audience. The app is free too and removing the ads isn’t that expensive.

The simplicity could be a good thing too. There are no complicated features to worry about, like stats and unlocking games.

Plus, unlike many other apps, seniors get to choose the game they want and simply play it. Many memory game apps for seniors (or other people) focus on daily mental workouts instead, which makes it harder for users to simply sit and play the games.

The main issue is that games are played progressively in the app. Because of this, seniors need to start with the incredibly easy games and keep playing to get to the more challenging ones. This might put some seniors off entirely.

Simon Classic

Do you remember the electronic game Simon Says? Well, Simon Classic replicates the colors and sounds of this game in an app format. With this game, colors and notes light up, and you need to repeat the sequence. The number of notes increases as you go.

It’s a very simple app to use, as there’s just a single game mode. All you can do is select the number of players, then off you go.

As with the traditional game, the app starts off with a simple pattern of lights and sounds, which the player replicates. The pattern gets more complicated as the game progresses.

Cost

The app is completely free, but it is ad-supported. This time, there’s no option to pay to remove them.

My Thoughts

Because this app is based on a classic game, the simplicity doesn’t feel childish in any way (unlike the previous app).

Simon Says also gets difficult quite quickly, which is perfect for seniors who like a challenge. Plus, the goal isn’t to complete the game, as everyone will lose eventually. Instead, the player is simply competing against their previous best score.

Rememberly – Memory Game Pairs

This is a straightforward game – you’re just matching cards. There are 12 difficulty levels and a variety of images for the tiles. Cats, numbers, flags, and shapes are some of the options.

You can also choose between different versions of the game, including:

• Simple
• Time Challenge
• Limited Tries
• Remember All
• Campaign

Some of the options are only available for the paid version of the game, but the amount offered in the free game is still impressive.

These options mean that seniors can simply select the size of board they want to use, instead of playing through everything. That said, some of the larger boards need to be unlocked before they can be played.

Cost

This is another free app and you get a ton of functionality without paying money. However, the ads get annoying fast, so you’ll likely want to pay a little to have them removed.

Notably, this app includes full screen ads between some plays. Full screen ads are frustrating, especially for seniors, as it can be hard to exit them successfully.

Personal Thoughts

Once again, there are many matching game apps. The ads on this one are a bit annoying, but the visual style is fantastic.

Honestly, it’s worth paying the small price to remove the ads and fully enjoy the app.

Brain Training Apps

The apps we’ve looked at so far focus just on your memory.

There aren’t many of these, as apps tend to take a brain training approach. With these, some games are focused on memory, while others target different aspects of cognition.

This approach could be more powerful, as improving your cognition overall is likely to boost memory too.

Focus – Train Your Brain

The Focus app comes from Senior Games, which should make it senior friendly.

Like most brain training apps, it is designed to be adaptive. This means the games presented should challenge the player, but not be impossible to complete.

The app also focuses on progression. So, players can track their progress and choose the cognitive skills they want to focus on. However, many of those features require paid membership. Free members just get access to individual games.

Cost

This game is membership-based, so you need to pay regularly to enjoy the features. It isn’t cheap either. You’ll pay around $15 per month or a little over $100 for a full year.

There is a 7 day free trial if you want to experiment with the app. But, be careful with this, as it’s easy to miss the cut off date and end up paying for the game.

My Thoughts

Like most brain training apps, this one is complicated and fairly expensive. It would work best for seniors who are still pretty sharp and want to remain so.

However, other seniors may quickly find the app frustrating, especially as some of the games are challenging. If nothing else, it’s worth playing through the free games to see whether the senior enjoys the games.

Memory Games

This app can be a bit confusing at first, partly because you’re meant to unlock games as you go along.

You unlock some of them by playing through the Journey section and earning stars. Others can be purchased with coins that you earn in-game.

This style provides a sense of progression and something to work towards, which can be appealing. Still, this may mean the senior has to play games they’re not interested in.

While the games are simple, they’re surprisingly engaging and not too frustrating. Plus, the app doesn’t look as childish as some.

Cost

The app itself is free and you can access most features by earning them in game. Otherwise, there are a few purchase options, including (prices may vary depending on your location):

• Pro: $8.99. Gives you access to all games, removes ads, and provides 1,000 coins (which is the in-game currency that is used mostly to unlock games)
• Unlock All Games: $4.69. This unlocks all the games for you, but does nothing about the ads.
• Remove Ads: $4.99. Removes all ads, but you still need to work on unlocking the games.
• Get 700 Coins: $1.29. Gives you 700 coins.
• Get 2,500 Coins: $3.89. Gives you 2,500 coins.

My Thoughts

The ads make this app a bit frustrating, as does the way that you unlock games. But, in fairness, you can pay a little money to remove both of those things, which makes the app more enjoyable to use.

Plus, the app is affordable. It’s much less expensive than the main brain training apps and the free version contains many more features.

Elevate and Luminosity

Elevate and Luminosity are two famous brain training apps. They are both adaptive, offer at least 40 different games/activities, and focus on improved cognition.

The apps include daily personalized workouts that target specific areas, to help users grow and improve.

The adaptive aspect means that the games are tailored to the user’s skills. The goal is to make the games challenging, but not too difficult. Users also get to see detailed stats, so they can track their skills over time.

Pricing

Both apps have a free version and a paid subscription.

The free versions are incredibly limited. You can normally only play a few games and don’t even get to choose what they are. Sometimes the games it chooses mightn’t be appealing at all.

The paid subscriptions unlock the entire app. However, this isn’t cheap. You’re looking at more than $50 per year. That’s incredibly expensive for any app, much less one that you don’t even own.

My Thoughts

These apps could work well for seniors who are sharp and want to remain so for as long as possible.

Still… the investment is considerable and many people would get bored of the apps before long. Part of the problem is that the games often feel like a workout and aren’t that enjoyable. This aspect gets frustrating fast.

It’s often better to find apps that are enjoyable, even if they’re a little less challenging. That way, the enjoyment will keep users coming back to the app.

Other Types of Game

These next apps and games aren’t normally included on lists of memory game apps for seniors – because they’re not designed with memory in mind. Instead, these are games designed for entertainment.

But, the games may also help with memory.

The fact that they’re designed as games, not mental workouts, is helpful too. This can make them more entertaining and engaging.

Puzzle Games

There are countless familiar puzzle games, like crosswords, word searches, sudoku, scrabble, and logic puzzles. That’s not counting all the less common ones, like kakuro, cryptograms, and minesweeper.

Many of these games can be found as apps. There’s even a puzzle game category, not to mention card games and board games.  

These games are worth experimenting with. Many are completely free, plus they’re designed to be interesting and entertaining. It’s also easy to find apps that match games the senior is already familiar with – like crosswords.

Farming Games

There are many of these games to choose from. Farmville 2: Country Escape and Farmville 2: Tropic Escape are examples of the style.

Games like this tend to start out slowly and get more complicated as you go. Before too long, there are many things to manage. In the case of the Farmville games, you’re looking at tasks like:

• Growing and harvesting crops
• Feeding animals and collecting resources from them
• Sending characters on adventures to collect items
• Crafting items using what you have collected
• Selling crafted items
• Participating in competitions
• Interacting with other plays through co-op features
• Playing through a storyline, completing missions and goals along the way
• Seasonal and limited-time competitions that have their own distinct mechanics and features

It takes a surprising amount of brain power to keep up with all of these areas. Players also need to remember where they were up to and what they were working on each time they log back in.

It’s easy to see how the game could help with memory. There’s so much to remember and keep track of. Plus, this is a game, so it can feel simple and fun.

Most games like this are free to play and use hardly any ads.

When there are ads, these are often optional. For example, you can choose to watch a video to get a bonus item or extra in-game currency.

However, most games have some type of in-game currency that makes everything easier and faster. This costs real money and can get expensive fast. It’s easy to get sucked into spending money on these games, so this is something to watch out for.