Brain Training
MyRin focuses on logic puzzles and spatial reasoning. Elevate trains verbal and math skills.
You want your brain training app to do something real. Not just feel productive - actually sharpen the cognitive skills that matter in your daily work and life. MyRin and Elevate are both well-regarded in the brain training space, but they are built on different premises about what "brain training" means. This comparison will tell you which one suits your goals - and which claim you should take more seriously.
Elevate is built around academic performance skills: verbal comprehension, processing speed, math, writing, and listening. Its games are designed to feel like intelligent SAT prep - you build vocabulary, practice mental arithmetic, improve reading speed, and sharpen listening accuracy. The skills are measurable in school and work settings (better emails, faster calculations, richer vocabulary). Elevate is best described as cognitive performance training with a strong language bias.
MyRin is built around structural problem-solving: spatial reasoning, pattern recognition, logical deduction, and working memory load. Its puzzle mechanics require you to hold incomplete information in mind, test hypotheses, and update your mental model when you are wrong. These are the cognitive skills underlying chess, programming, navigation, and strategic planning - not academic performance, but structural intelligence. MyRin does not care about your vocabulary. It cares about how quickly and accurately you can model a complex system and find a solution path.
This distinction matters because of the near-transfer vs far-transfer problem in cognitive training research. Near-transfer means you improve at the specific skills the app trains. Far-transfer means improvement spreads to other cognitive areas not directly trained. The scientific literature is clear that near-transfer is reliable and far-transfer is hard to achieve.
Elevate reliably produces near-transfer: you get measurably better at the specific verbal and math tasks it trains. Whether that spreads to broader intelligence or executive function is less well supported. MyRin's puzzle-based approach targets working memory and pattern recognition - two domains with stronger evidence for meaningful real-world transfer, particularly in planning, problem-solving, and attention management.
Neither app can claim peer-reviewed proof of IQ improvement. Any brain training app making that claim should be treated with scepticism. What both apps do deliver - with consistent use - is improved performance on the specific skills they train, and some evidence of related improvements in cognitive efficiency.
Elevate starts accessible and scales gradually. Most users find the first two to three weeks rewarding because the skill gaps being addressed (vocabulary, arithmetic speed) are familiar and the feedback is immediately interpretable. The difficulty plateau arrives faster than expected - after a month or two, many users notice diminishing challenge.
MyRin's difficulty curve is steeper and more durable. Puzzle complexity scales in two dimensions simultaneously: the number of variables you must track, and the depth of reasoning required to find the solution. Users who find Elevate comfortable often find early MyRin levels demanding. The 1,000+ level progression means the challenge ceiling is significantly higher - most users do not reach the genuinely hard puzzle categories within the first three months.
Elevate is designed for 10-minute daily sessions. Five games, quick completion, streak tracking. It fits naturally into a coffee break. MyRin sessions are variable - a straightforward puzzle level takes 3 to 5 minutes, but a harder one may require 15 to 20 minutes of sustained concentration. MyRin is more demanding per session, but that demand is precisely what drives the cognitive benefit.
Both apps offer a free tier with limited daily content and a premium subscription for full access. Elevate's premium unlocks a larger game library and removes the daily game cap. MyRin's free tier gives access to a substantial portion of the puzzle library - over 200 levels - before a premium upgrade is needed. For testing before committing, MyRin's free tier is more generous in terms of core content access.
Elevate is the right choice if your primary goal is professional verbal and mathematical performance: writing more precisely, reading faster, calculating more confidently, and building vocabulary. It is particularly valuable for non-native English speakers who want to sharpen professional language skills, and for anyone preparing for standardised tests that emphasise verbal and quantitative reasoning.
MyRin is the right choice if your primary goal is structural cognitive challenge: improving how you reason through unfamiliar problems, building patience with complexity, and developing the spatial and logical reasoning that transfers to programming, design, strategy, and analytical work. It is also a better choice for users who find word-game-style apps too easy and want cognitive challenge that feels genuinely demanding, not just educational.
Yes, and many users do. Elevate in the morning for language warm-up, MyRin in the evening for structural problem-solving, covers different cognitive dimensions without much overlap. The two apps are complementary rather than redundant. If forced to choose one, the choice depends on what you find hardest - and therefore where your cognitive growth is highest.
If you want to know which app you'll actually stick with, use the free tier of both for one week. The app that consistently challenges you without frustrating you is the one worth subscribing to. For most users who want rigorous structural cognitive training, MyRin's puzzle mechanics deliver the kind of challenge that keeps you coming back.