Sunroom: Gentle Brain Games Free app

Sunroom is a daily puzzle app designed for people over sixty: large type, generous buttons, no timers and no pressure. Each day it lines up four short games, roughly a quarter of an hour of play, or you can pick from eighteen on your own: memory games, word puzzles such as a mini crossword and a word search, everyday arithmetic like counting change, sudoku and jigsaw, plus quick attention and reaction games. Difficulty adjusts itself after every round, and each game starts with a practice turn that does not count.

Progress is a trip through 24 scenic stops, from meadows and a seaside village to lavender hills and a lake in the mountains, with a postcard story at each one that the app can read aloud. Points from the games decorate a small garden that also lives in a home-screen widget, and there are medals for keeping a streak going.

A two-player mode is made for sitting next to a grandchild or a friend with one phone, and relatives can keep an eye on your garden from their phones and send encouragement. The app is completely free: there are no ads, no in-app purchases and no account, and your progress stays in your own iCloud. It is meant for fun and mental exercise, not as a medical treatment.