Brain Science
MyRin and Lumosity both promise cognitive benefits. We compare the two apps on game design, scientific backing, pricing, and what they are actually good
Lumosity is the most recognized name in brain training. MyRin is a newer, smaller, more opinionated product. We built MyRin, so you should discount our objectivity appropriately - but we have also used Lumosity extensively, and the comparison is worth making honestly.
Lumosity is a platform. It offers dozens of mini-games across multiple cognitive domains: memory, attention, processing speed, problem solving, flexibility. The model is breadth - give users a variety of stimulation types and let them track metrics across all of them. The "LPI" (Lumosity Performance Index) is a composite score drawn from games across all domains.
MyRin is a puzzle game with a cognitive training philosophy. It offers one type of challenge - logic puzzles with a specific structural design - executed across 1000+ levels that increase progressively in complexity. The model is depth: one cognitive mechanism, trained systematically until it becomes reliable.
Neither model is inherently superior. They serve different goals and different types of players.
Lumosity was fined $2 million by the US Federal Trade Commission in 2016 for deceptive claims - specifically, for asserting without sufficient evidence that their games could reduce cognitive decline and protect against dementia. The FTC found the claims unsubstantiated. Lumosity removed the specific claims; the fine and the ruling remain part of its public record.
Since 2016, the brain training research landscape has matured. The current scientific consensus is more nuanced: cognitive training produces measurable improvements in the specific skills trained (near transfer), with more modest but real effects on related cognitive domains (limited far transfer), and no established effect on dementia prevention or general intelligence.
MyRin makes no claims about dementia prevention or IQ enhancement. The app is designed around three cognitive mechanisms with the strongest research support: inhibitory control, pattern abstraction, and working memory updating. These three mechanisms have consistent evidence for near transfer and moderate evidence for broader effects on reasoning and problem solving.
Lumosity's current scientific claims are more modest than they were in 2016, citing internal research and published studies on specific mini-games. The underlying research varies in quality. For both apps, the honest position is: they train specific cognitive skills and those skills improve with practice. Claims beyond that remain contested.
Lumosity's mini-games are typically short (60 to 90 seconds), colorful, and feedback-rich. The experience is gamified in the conventional sense: scores, streaks, percentile rankings against other users. It works well for people who are motivated by external metrics and variety.
The weakness of the Lumosity model is that the games are easy to get better at without getting cognitively better. Because the same mini-games repeat daily, players improve rapidly through task-specific learning - learning the game's patterns, timing, and interface quirks - rather than through genuine cognitive improvement. The "improvement" on your LPI score may be measuring adaptation to the game format as much as underlying cognitive gains.
MyRin's logic puzzles have a different structure. Each puzzle is novel - the same underlying logical framework applied to a new configuration. You cannot learn the puzzle by memorizing a pattern from the previous one. Every level requires genuine reasoning, not pattern-matching to a familiar interface. This is deliberate: the goal is to keep each session genuinely challenging rather than allowing comfortable habituation.
The tradeoff is that MyRin is harder to play casually. A Lumosity session produces consistent positive feedback loops. A MyRin session at a challenging level produces genuine effort - and sometimes failure. Players who prefer effort to positive feedback loops respond better to MyRin; players who prefer consistent reward loops respond better to Lumosity.
Lumosity's free tier offers 3 mini-games per day. Full access requires a subscription: approximately $11.99/month or $59.99/year (prices vary by region and promotional period). Lumosity Premium includes access to all 40+ games, detailed performance analytics, and personalized training programs.
MyRin is free to download with all 1000+ levels accessible without a subscription. There are no ads. The app does not require a subscription at any tier. Download is free on iOS and Android.
Use Lumosity if: you want variety across multiple cognitive domains, you are motivated by comparative scores and streaks, and you are willing to pay a subscription for a structured daily training program.
Use MyRin if: you want to develop genuine logical reasoning through increasingly difficult puzzles, you prefer depth over breadth, and you want a free app with no subscription or ads. MyRin is also the better choice if you find Lumosity too easy after the initial adaptation period - the novelty of each MyRin puzzle maintains genuine challenge that repeating mini-game formats eventually lose.
The two apps are not mutually exclusive. Players who use MyRin for 15 minutes of genuine logic challenge and Lumosity for a few minutes of lighter cognitive warm-up are getting the best of both models.
Lumosity is a polished, broad-scope brain training platform with a paid subscription model and a complicated regulatory history. MyRin is a free logic puzzle game built around cognitive mechanisms with strong research support, designed for players who want genuine challenge over comfortable feedback loops.
They are different products for different purposes. Try both - MyRin is free, and Lumosity's trial tier is sufficient to assess whether the format suits you.