THE HONEST PAGE

Does this actually work?

This page also lives inside the app, under Settings. We would rather you read it before you pay than after.

What practice does

If you play a working-memory game every day, you get better at that working-memory game. That is reliable and it shows up in your levels. Some of that improvement carries over to tasks that look a lot like the game (researchers call this near transfer). The further a task is from the game, the smaller and less certain the carry-over gets.

What we do not claim

• We do not claim SharpBrain raises your IQ, makes you smarter, or improves your performance at work or school.
• We do not claim it prevents, delays, treats or diagnoses dementia, ADHD, anxiety or any other condition.
• We do not describe the games as “scientifically proven” or “clinically validated”. Nothing in the app, the store listing, our ads or our push notifications will say so. If you ever see such a claim from us, tell us and we will remove it.

Why so careful? In 2016 a well-known brain-training company settled with the US Federal Trade Commission over claims like these. The rules have not loosened since, and the evidence has not either.

What the app is for

A five-minute daily habit that is fun enough to keep, with a score you can watch move, in the four skills most people feel slipping when they scroll too much: attention, memory, processing speed and logic. If your attention span feels shorter than it used to, a short daily practice that you enjoy is a reasonable thing to try. It is not a substitute for sleep, exercise, or talking to a professional.

How we measure

Every game is scored 0 to 1,000 against the level you played, with a target hit rate of 75%. Your Brain Score is a rolling blend of recent game scores, weighted so that a good week counts more than a good day. It measures your performance in SharpBrain. It is not a cognitive assessment and should not be compared with anyone else's number.

The tests

The IQ Test gives an estimate band from one sitting with our own item bank. It is not a clinical IQ assessment and is labelled that way on the intro and on the result. Brain Type and Focus Personality are self-reflection quizzes. The ADHD Screener (ASRS v1.1) and Anxiety Check (GAD-7) are published screening questionnaires reproduced with their original wording and scoring. A screener can suggest that a professional check is worthwhile. Only a clinician can diagnose.

If you want to read further

Search for “cognitive training transfer meta-analysis” and read the abstracts with a sceptical eye, including ours. The honest summary across the field is: real gains on trained tasks, modest near transfer, little evidence of far transfer. That is what we build on, and that is what we tell you.