The brain is the most powerful organ in the body, and it controls the functions of the entire body through millions of nerve endings that are spread out all over the body. The best way to exercise your brain and keep it sharp is to learn a new hobby or skill, as this causes your brain to work faster and start firing neurons at an accelerated rate. Whether you learn a new language or decide to practice half and whole notes on the piano, you can do them all with the help of smartphone apps nowadays.
We have covered the five best apps that allow you to sharpen your mind and learn a new hobby in the process. Let’s have a look at each app one by one, and you can decide if you want to exercise your brain by using any one of them.
Duolingo
Have you ever wondered how fun it would be if you could speak Spanish, French, or another international language, but you don’t know how to? Well, now you don’t have to enroll in language lessons or courses, because you only need Duolingo. It is the number one language learning app in the world and can be found on both Android and iOS platforms.
Duolingo enables you to learn a huge variety of languages from the comfort of your home. It features a fun and interactive method of learning that enables you to pick up new languages easily, and it also consists of interactive activities, exercises, casual text conversations, and much more. This way, you can put your mind to the test and see if you can remember important and common phrases in more than 20 languages of the world.
Duolingo is compatible with a wide range of smartphones, and it also features an evaluation system that allows you to progress to subsequent levels. Plus, the social clubs in the app allow you to interact with your friends and also share your language learning accomplishments on social media.
Skoove
When it comes to learning a new hobby or skill, you can easily pick up playing the piano. Although this may sound incredibly difficult, you don’t need a teacher or expensive lessons to help you learn how to play the piano. All you need is Skoove, the top-rated educational app that is built to teach you the piano from scratch.
Skoove has a user-friendly and interactive interface that you can use to learn all the basics and advanced concepts of music, such as notes, whole, and half notes, chords, scales, chord progressions, and much more. You can easily install the app on your smartphone or tablet, and it listens as you practice playing the piano. Then, it provides you feedback on your playing, according to several factors, as well as its AI-powered capabilities.
When it comes to learning the piano, no other app comes even close to Skoove. You can try out the free version in the beginning, but it only has a limited number of courses and concepts that you can try. The pro version unlocks advanced and complex lessons for you, and Skoove also teaches you how to play your favorite songs on the piano without any trouble.
Voice Tutor
If you are fond of singing but incredibly conscious while singing in a group or in front of people, Voice Tutor is just for you. The iOS app is a virtual vocal coach that helps you practice singing in a targeted and focused manner and also improve your vocal quality and singing. Voice Tutor makes use of artificial intelligence and machine learning to provide you with accurate feedback when you sing into your device’s mic.
The diagnostic test in Voice Tutor evaluates your vocal quality and also identifies any weaknesses in your voice. Then, it offers special vocal exercises and training to target your flaws and overcome them, along with a pitch meter that monitors your pitch regularly as you sing. Apart from this, Voice Tutor features a full vocal warm-up section, special breathing exercises, and also a special “Riff ‘n Run” mode where you can practice your vocals in a much more challenging and fun way.
Voice Tutor isn’t available for free, but it costs only $5. Moreover, it is a fun way to keep you engaged as you try to polish your singing skills, and it also helps in exercising your brain as you try to focus on the notes and pitch that you output from your mouth.
iYOGA+
Have you ever wondered how people do yoga but never found the time to visit a yoga class or the gym? Don’t worry because iYOGA+ provides you with your very own yoga instructor in the comfort of your home. It allows you to squeeze in quick yoga sessions and workouts in your busy daily routine, even if you can’t take out a lot of time for exercise.
iYOGA+ features eight videos of half an hour each. These videos show a yoga instructor performing different and complete sequences, showing you how they are done and how you can do them too. As you go through the sequences one by one, the instructor also teaches you how you can smoothly transition between the different poses.
Some of the sequences taught by iYOGA+ include morning routines, evening lessons, and also specialized yoga classes. The app is available on iOS and can be downloaded for free. However, you will have to pay $2 for individual sessions.
Elements of Photography
Elements of Photography (EOP) is our last pick from this list, and it is an iOS and Android app that teaches users the basic concepts of photography, starting from the basics to advanced concepts. Through this incredibly helpful app, you can learn all about aperture, shutter speed, composition, depth of field, exposure, metering, color temperatures, and much more.
This helpful photography app can be used to master your photography skills and keep your brain well-exercised as well. It also comes with helpful tools like a depth of field calculator, technical guidelines, and quizzes to help you reproduce what you have learned.
This concludes our list of the best apps that can exercise your brain and help you learn a new hobby. We believe that the learning process should never stop in a person’s life, and exploring new things is what keeps our minds from degenerating faster.