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Best Entertainment Apps For Seniors (Games, Brain Training, Puzzles, & Music)

Best Entertainment Apps For Seniors (Games, Brain Training, Puzzles, & Music)

Entertainment apps stimulate brain activity which may assist in fighting brain complications that many elderly experience. Some of these apps include puzzle apps, streaming apps, trivia apps, and many more. In this article, we have listed some of the best entertainment apps for seniors to try and enjoy.
Scott Grant, CSA®, SHSS®
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Entertainment Apps For Seniors
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Entertainment Apps For Seniors

Unfortunately, seniors are susceptible to brain complications such as Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. Luckily, these seniors have entertainment apps to help them fight such health complications.

These apps for seniors include puzzle apps, streaming apps, brain training apps, trivia apps, and more. This article will discuss the best entertainment apps for the elderly.

Entertainment Apps For Seniors

1. Klondike Solitaire

Do you have a pack of cards to play at home? If not, don’t fret, for the Solitaire app got you covered. The game is excellent to play using your phone, laptop, or tablet.

Klondike Solitaire (available on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store) is available for free across the most popular operating systems. It offers something to fancy daily to keep you out of boredom.

Features:

  • Winning animations
  • Auto hints
  • Unlimited undo moves
  • Landscape and portrait play

Pros:

  • Easy-to-use interface
  • Improving mental skills
  • Available for free across various devices

Con:

  • It does not have many in-game modes, which can be boring

2. UNO

UNO (available on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store) is another classic entertainment app for the elderly where you can play against your family and friends in the comfort of your home. It enhances interaction among the elderly and even youngsters. It features a simple tutorial if you are not familiar with playing it.

Features:

  • Simple rules
  • Fierce competition
  • Penalty dictation

Pros:

  • Easy to learn and play
  • Great for passing time
  • Improving brain skills

Cons:

  • Addictive once you know how to play
  • Too easy to play

Top Game Apps For Seniors

Game apps are usually the most popular common category of entertainment apps. Be sure to check out my full list of game apps for seniors here.

1. Words With Friends

Words With Friends is a digital version of Scrabble, a popular game based on vocabulary. You can play the game against your friends, strangers, and family with whom you are on the same skill level.

Its features include an in-app dictionary, in-game chatting, word of the day, iMessage (for iPhone only), performance tracking, weekly challenges, and practice mode. If you are a word games fan and looking forward to improving your vocabulary, this game won’t disappoint you.

Features:

  • Weekly challenges
  • In-app dictionary
  • Word of the day
  • Practice mode

Pros:

  • Available for both Android and iOS users
  • Performance tracking to monitor improvement
  • An excellent platform for making new friends around the globe
  • Numerous challenges to the ultimate entertainment

Cons:

  • The digital version is more of a trial-and-error game
  • Its dictionary is sometimes inconsistent

2. Angry Birds 2

Angry Birds is a popular game whose premise is straightforward. You use birds with unique abilities as ammo in a slingshot to destroy green-colored pigs.

The game is quite challenging, especially as you are equipped with a limited amount of ammo while being required to destroy other things to reach all the pigs.

Angry Birds 2 is a survival game that will challenge both your patience and strategic thinking. The best thing about the game is its cross-platform compatibility and impressive optimization.

Features:

  • Multi-stage levels
  • Employs spells in place of power-ups

Pros:

  • Available for the most popular operating systems, Android and iOS
  • It is free to play
  • Excellent visuals and other specs

Cons:

  • Does not appreciate life system
  • It provides a limited amount of ammo
entertainment apps for seniors brain training
Brain training apps stimulate various brain functions.

Brain Training Apps For Seniors

1. Elevate

Elevate is an excellent app for training the brain on different aspects such as memory, focus, and speed. It is an effective tool for enhancing cognitive functioning. It features other in-app games that make brain training fun.

This personalized brain training app tracks your performance as you play so that you can understand your improvement over a particular period.

The game provides you with three challenges every day. These challenges are personalized to your performance and target skill groups such as listening, writing, speaking, math and reading.

Features:

  • Workout calendar
  • In-depth performance tracking
  • Personalized daily challenges
  • Adaptive skill-level progress

Pros:

  • Available for free on iOS and Android
  • Challenging daily workouts
  • Educational challenges

Con:

  • Requires prior knowledge of grammar

2. CogniFit Brain Fitness

CogniFit Brain Fitness App is another excellent app for brain training. Professional neuroscientists design the app to improve the concentration and memory of the brain.

It uses learning games, memory puzzles, brain challenges, educational challenges, and learning games to stimulate and rehabilitate various brain functions.

Besides tracking your performance results, the app also provides room for comparing your performance and that of other users.

A lot of research has been carried out when developing the app, thus making CogniFit Brain Fitness App one of the medically recommended brain training programs.

It employs robust psychological tests and verified psychometric tests to identify suffering cognitive impairments risks such as memory loss.

Features:

  • Simple user interface
  • Verified psychometric tests
  • Memory puzzles
  • Learning games

Pros:

  • Easy to play
  • Free 3-day trial
  • Provides an initial assessment
  • Has easy to learn and play adaptive challenges

Cons:

  • Costly monthly fee
  • Lacks integrative feedback on daily progress

Trivia Apps For Seniors

Playing trivia apps can be both fun and educational. Here are some of my favorite trivia apps for seniors and the elderly.

1. TRIVIA 360

TRIVIA 360 is an excellent trivia app for seniors which offers numerous trivia questions in various categories of games. The questions come in the form of identification questions, multiple-choice, and true or false.

You can select a question category, submit answers, or rate the question. The games are sometimes distracted by ads though you can remove them by performing an in-app purchase.

Features:

  • Leaderboards for viewing the progress of other players
  • Unlimited knowledge from the regularly updated questions
  • Simple, user-friendly interface

Pros:

  • Easy to play
  • Available for both iOS and Android users
  • No subscription fee
  • A source of free knowledge

Con:

  • Numerous ads distract the experience of the user

2. Kahoot!

Kahoot! is the best trivia app when you want to create your trivia questions. It has its roots in education, as it is sometimes used as a study tool for students and teachers.

However, it is a purchased version that costs $9.99 and allows you to create and host your customized questions.

Besides, it features numerous images which you can unlock to add to the look of your questions. The best thing about Kahoot! is casting it from your smartphone to the TV.

Features:

  • Spreadsheet for downloading reports
  • Video-designed games to keep the app exciting and interactive
  • Multiple Kahoots blends
  • Importing questions

Pros:

  • Offers significant engagement among the users
  • An alternative learning tool
  • Reducing boredom and monotony

Cons:

  • Requires a strong internet connection
  • Features a distracting background music
entertainment apps for seniors puzzle
Puzzle apps help improve brain activity.

Puzzle Apps For Seniors

1. Jigsaw Puzzles Epic

This puzzle game (available on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store) is a trustworthy source of entertainment for jigsaw puzzle-solving seniors. Jigsaw Puzzles Epic is available for free with a massive collection of puzzles. 

Depending on the difficulty level you prefer, you can choose the number of jig pieces, usually 4 to 400. The game features an in-game store where you can purchase more puzzles if you are tired of the free ones.

Features:

  • New daily free puzzle
  • 1080p HD graphics
  • Unique puzzles
  • Different difficulty settings
  • Custom puzzles creation

Pros:

  • Great for improving brain activity
  • Available for free across reputable operating systems
  • It offers an excellent interaction platform
  • It assists in passing the time and killing boredom

Cons:

  • Hard to learn and play
  • Time-consuming to solve the puzzles

2. Sudoku

Sudoku (available on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store) is a popular game that has been around a long, long time. It is a puzzle that can only be logically solved by inserting numbers, usually 1 to 9. Each inserted number should appear only once on its square, horizontal, and vertical lines.

This sounds challenging, right? That’s why Sudoku is a good puzzle game for you to pass the time. Lastly, Sudoku has six skill difficulty levels that challenge novice and expert players fully.

Features:

  • Numerous puzzles to solve
  • Unlimited redo and undo moves
  • Several difficulty levels
  • Customizable background and grids

Pros:

  • Improves the memory
  • Stimulates the brain capacity
  • Reduces the pace of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease
  • Increases the concentration ability

Cons:

  • Leads to anxiety
  • Addictive and sometimes cause shirking of responsibilities
  • Sometimes leads to an unbalanced lifestyle

See more of my favorite puzzle apps for seniors here.


Music Apps For Seniors

1. Spotify 

Spotify is among the most popular online streaming app for music today. It is available for free with the membership allowing you an ad-free experience and an offline option for downloading music.

Furthermore, its upgraded version, Spotify Premium, gives you one month of streaming and downloading music for free. 

There are several plans to choose from if you subscribe to Spotify Premium. The upgraded version will also allow you access to some of the most popular online podcasts.

Features:

  • Spotify Live
  • Spotify Connect
  • Follow artists
  • View lyrics
  • Listening History
  • Listen offline

Pros:

  • Easy to use
  • Excellent for downloading music and podcasts
  • Compatible with numerous intelligent devices
  • Free music collection

Cons:

  • The paid plan is costly
  • Free users experience the poor sound quality
  • Distracting ads

2. Apple Music

Apple launched Apple Music in 2015 and has over 44.5M users today. It is the best music streaming app for seniors who own iPads, iPhones, or Apple watches, as it is solely developed for Apple devices.

It has a wide artists’ selection and storage for saving up to a hundred thousand songs. However, the purchased songs do not add to this tally and will still be available even if you discontinue using the app.

The best thing about the app is that you can still use it on an Android device after creating an Apple ID account. You will be granted three months to use it for free and then decide which package to purchase.

Features:

  • A spatial audio
  • Offline song palyback
  • Personalized algorithmic playlists
  • Mood-based playlists
  • Other radio stations access

Pros:

  • Plays high-quality music
  • Can play songs offline
  • Available for both iOS and Android
  • Free three-month trial
  • Huge music catalog

Cons:

  • Not compatible with devices such as Firestick and Roku
  • Includes fewer tracks than iTunes

See my other recommended music apps for seniors in this guide.

entertainment apps for seniors streaming
You can now watch your favorite shows across devices with streaming apps.

Streaming Apps For Seniors

Streaming video content is another popular entertainment for seniors and the elderly. Here are a few of my recommended streaming apps for seniors who prefer to binge their entertainment commercial-free.

1. Netflix

Netflix started as a DVD rental firm in the US to become a massive streaming service in the modern world. It offers numerous movies and TV shows, making it an ideal platform for watching The Crown, Suits, Blackadder, and House of Cards, among other shows.

The best thing about Netflix is its streaming quality and cross-platform support, as it is compatible with different devices such as LG, Sony, Panasonic, PlayStation, Xbox, and Wii. It offers a one-month free trial with monthly subscriptions starting at £5.99.

Features:

  • Use friendly
  • Ad-free
  • Compatible with various readily available devices
  • Offline playback

Pros:

  • Seamless streaming experience
  • Offers original programs
  • Affordable membership plans

Cons:

  • Most shows are geo-locked
  • Does not stream live sports

2. Amazon Prime

Amazon Prime operates just like Netflix (though its UK version is different from its US version). It charges an annual subscription of $119.99 on Amazon. And it has a 30-day free trial.

However, you can still get Amazon Prime as an extra service for subscribing to Amazon-based incentives.

Amazon Prime is an excellent site for watching popular TV shows and movies such as The Grand Tour, Justified, The Americans, Vikings, and Alpha House.

You can watch all these using an Xbox, Smart tv, PlayStation, Wii, and other intelligent devices. Furthermore, you can also download your favorite videos and watch them later offline.

Features:

  • Prime Video
  • Amazon Music Prime
  • Prime Gaming
  • Amazon Channels such as STARZ, HBO, and SHOWTIME

Pros:

  • Access to unlimited Prime playlists
  • Unlimited movie and TV shows streaming
  • Affordable plans
  • Free and fast shipping of Amazon products

Cons:

  • Limited music options
  • Does not safeguard your streaming privacy

Best Podcast Apps For Seniors

Podcasts are quickly becoming a popular entertainment option for many older adults. Here are some of my favorite podcast apps for seniors to improve their listening experience.

1. Stitcher

Stitcher purely deals with podcasts, unlike most podcast apps such as Audible and Spotify. It features one of the most easy-to-use and sleek layouts.

After signing in, you will be provided with the top podcast pick and curated playlist collections that celebrate independent artists, women, Black Americans, etc.

Its homepage features various podcasts from assorted genres. Here, you can access some of the most popular Stitcher original shows such as The Resurr-Erection, Going Deep, MASCOTS, and Dark Arenas.

Features:

  • iOS time codeshare
  • Customized seek options
  • Waze integration
  • Episode sorting
  • Airplay and casting

Pros:

  • High-quality audio
  • Cheap affordable monthly plans
  • Background downloading
  • Offline audio play
  • Curated content

Con:

  • Requires a subscription, unlike Apple Podcasts which is free

2. Google Podcasts

Google Podcasts is offered as a free app where seniors can enjoy different podcasts about different genres. Its homepage directs you to the most popular podcasts depending on your preferred genre.

The app is almost similar to the Apple podcasts app and has a simple user interface for newcomers.

It even allows you to add unlisted shows by using the show’s RSS. You can also subscribe to programs on YouTube or download videos to watch later offline. If you want to access various podcasts in a particular order, you can add them to a queue.

The best thing about the app is that you can still access the podcasts that you have already watched but forgot to save.

Features:

  • Offline Listening
  • Available on the web, iOS, and Android
  • Google Assistant integration
  • Auto download
  • Search bar
  • A variety of categories

Pros:

  • Cheap and affordable plans
  • Most podcasts are available for free
  • Excellent recommendations on the Search option
  • User-friendly interface

Con:

  • It does not guarantee your streaming privacy

RELATED: Coloring Apps for Seniors & Ther Elderly

The Benefits Of Entertainment Apps For Seniors

The use of applications by seniors significantly eradicates their cognitive impairment. However, most of them refuse to use smart devices due to their complexity.

There are numerous applications for the elderly to keep them entertained, train their brains, and improve their critical thinking.

Besides, there are other apps available for tracking and monitoring health status. These apps keep family members informed about the health of their loved ones.

Entertainment apps for seniors are also great for making new friends as they are interactive platforms. Others train on developing new cognitive skills to ass the self-esteem of the seniors.

All in all, these apps, whether trivia, puzzles, brain training, or even entertainment, play a significant role in improving the quality of the lives of seniors.

Final Thoughts

The elderly, and fun apps like these can help to keep them entertained. Learning something new each day can go a long way in keeping them active and entertained.

This article has outlined some other best entertainment apps for the elderly. These apps include trivia, puzzles, games, music, and podcasts.

As seniors interact with these apps, they develop their cognitive skills while making new friends worldwide. The best apps for this are CogniFit Brain Fitness and Elevate brain training apps. They are easy to play while offering practical brain training lessons to seniors.

The best thing about these apps is that they are available in Google Play and Apple Store and can be accessed using different devices.

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Scott Grant, CSA®, SHSS®

Scott Grant, CSA®, SHSS®

With over 20 years of experience and certifications as a Certified Senior Advisor (CSA)® and Senior Home Safety Specialist (SHSS)®, Scott Grant provides reliable recommendations to help seniors maintain independence through informed product and service choices for safe, comfortable living.

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