N'Back vs Mind Games
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
N'Back
Enhance sensory and working memory with this brain training application. It offers various modes to test your ability to recall sequences of numbers, progressing through different 'N' levels.
- Sensory memory improvement
- Working memory enhancement
- N'Back exercises
- Flash Mode
- Slow Mode
- Step Mode
Read full descriptionHide full description
Improve Sensory Memory & Working Memory using N'Back. ◆Flash Mode / Slow Mode / Step Mode Tap the number key matches the one from N steps earlier in the sequence. In 1'Back 1 task1: count & memorize 2 task2: count & memorize 3 __keyboard__: answer for task1 4 task3: count & memorize 5 __keyboard__: answer for task2 6 task4: count & memorize : In 2'Back 1 task1: count & memorize 2 task2: count & memorize 3 task3: count & memorize 4 __keyboard__: answer for task1 5 task4: count & memorize 6 __keyboard__: answer for task2 7 task5: count & memorize :
Mind Games
Engage in a variety of brain-training games designed to exercise different mental skills. Track your progress with score histories and standardized scales. A training center helps select personalized exercise routines.
- Brain training games
- Mental skill practice
- Score history tracking
- Progress graphs
- Standardized score conversion
- Personalized training center
Read full descriptionHide full description
Exercise your brain! Mind Games is a great collection of games based in part on principles derived from cognitive tasks to help you practice different mental skills. This app includes many excellent free games. There are many trial games from Mind Games Pro that allow you to play 3 times. All games include your score history and a graph of your progress. Using some principles of standardized testing, your scores are also converted to a standardized scale so that you can see where you need work and excel. Not sure where to focus? Training Center does the work for you by picking the perfect mix of exercises to keep you engaged. Mind Games is intended to be brain challenging entertainment. No research has yet been conducted to determine if this app has cognitive benefits.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Mind Games at 4.6 against N'Back's 4.0. Mind Games also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 1) and update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 9 months). On price and ads there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. N'Back sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Mind Games asks for nothing beyond the download.
Mind Games holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Mind Games has 12K ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 70% of N'Back's written reviews are positive against 84% of Mind Games's.
N'Back ships an update every 9 months, Mind Games every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 3, 2026 and October 13, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | N'Back | Mind Games |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.0 (3 ratings) | 4.6 (12K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 70.0% of reviews | 83.9% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 3 | 12K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 9 months | Every 3 weeks — better |
| Ads | Yes | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Ad-supported — better |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 | 11.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 6 MB | 64 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Yasuyoshi Ota | Mindware Consulting, Inc |
Customer experience
N'Back
Mind Games
Bugs and requests
N'Back
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
Mind Games
Reported bugs
3 issues- Screens going blank or freezing
- Answers/instructions being cut off
- Inconsistent scoring and percentile calculations
Requested features
5 requests- Add a tutorial for new users
- Provide more language and region options
- Improve scoring and feedback system
- Introduce a dark mode option
- Allow users to track and review past performance
In-app purchases
N'Back
- Add Levels (3'Back-10'Back) and Remove Ads$2.99
Mind Games
No in-app purchases
