What is Brainery?

Brainery is a small collection of pencil-and-paper-style brain games for iOS. It centers on a hand-set cryptogram puzzle and adds a few short cognitive mini-games — Schulte Table, Dual Focus, Neuro Match, Switchyard, and MindTrace — that you can drop into for a minute or two at a time.

What devices does it run on?

iPhone and iPad running iOS 18 or later, and Mac running macOS 15 or later.

Is it free? Are there ads? Is there an account?

There are no ads and no in-app account. The app uses Apple Game Center if you're signed in on your device, so you can post times to global leaderboards — but signing in is optional and handled by iOS, not by the app.

Does it need an internet connection?

No. Every puzzle, quote, and stat works fully offline. The only thing that needs a connection is submitting and viewing Game Center leaderboards — if you're offline, your local times are still recorded and the app keeps running normally.

Where does my progress live?

On-device, in the app's own storage. Resetting the app or deleting it will erase your stats and history.

Is there a Daily Puzzle?

Yes. The main menu surfaces one rotating "Daily" pick across the games. Tap Skip to reshuffle to a different pick without launching it. See All Puzzles lists every variant if you want to choose directly.

Where are settings?

The Settings screen covers theme, haptics, sound effects, music, and per-game difficulty (Dual Focus, etc.). There is no per-game settings screen — everything lives in one place.

Light or dark mode?

Two hand-drawn themes: Ink & Parchment (light) and Night Journal (dark). Switchyard is intentionally pure black-and-white and ignores the theme.

Does it support haptics and sound?

Yes — both can be toggled in Settings. Buttons fire a light haptic on tap when haptics are enabled.

Is there a tutorial?

Each game opens with a short intro card that explains the rules and controls before the first round. You can dismiss it once you know the game.

How does the cryptogram work?

Each puzzle is a quote whose letters have been swapped using a substitution cipher. Every A in the cipher might really be an R, every B might really be an E, and so on. Your job is to figure out the mapping and recover the original quote.

Is any letter ever itself?

No. The cipher is a derangement — no letter ever maps to itself. If you see a `T` in the puzzle, the real letter is not `T`.

How do I enter a guess?

Tap a cipher letter on the board, then tap a letter on the keyboard to assign your guess. The mapping fills in across the whole puzzle, so one guess affects every occurrence of that letter.

What if I want to change a guess?

Tap the cipher letter again and pick a different keyboard letter, or clear it. Mistakes are not punished — only solving cleanly is rewarded.

How are quotes chosen?

There are 300 curated quotes bundled with the app, tagged by category and difficulty (1–3). The game tries to avoid showing you ones you've already seen.

What are the categories?

Quotes are grouped into themed packs (philosophy, humor, etc.). On the puzzle picker you can pick a category, or use Play Again after a win to stay in the same pack.

Is there a timer?

Yes — the puzzle is timed, and your time is part of your stats. There's no countdown or fail-on-time; the timer just measures how long the solve took.

Are there hints?

Yes. You can reveal a letter as a hint; hint usage is tracked in your stats so a clean, hint-free solve is its own reward.

Is there an AI opponent?

There's a frequency-analysis AI built in for head-to-head modes — it solves puzzles the way a human cryptographer would, using letter frequencies and common patterns, with realistic pauses rather than instant answers.

What is Schulte Table?

A grid of scrambled numbers. Tap them in order, as fast as you can. It's a classic peripheral-vision and attention drill.

What is it actually training?

Eye span and focus. The faster you can find the next number without moving your eyes around the grid, the better.

Is there a "right" speed?

No target time. Your best times are saved so you can chase your own personal best.

What is Dual Focus?

A split-attention drill where you have to track or respond to two things at once. There are difficulty levels you can pick in Settings.

Why is it hard?

That's the point — divided attention is hard. The difficulty levels exist so you can ramp up gradually.

How does difficulty change?

You pick the level in Settings; that level is saved between sessions. Some games inside the app also use an adaptive staircase — get one right, the next gets a little harder; miss one, the next gets a little easier.

What is Neuro Match?

A short memory game. A 4×4 grid is shown for a 3-second preview, then hidden; you recreate or match what you saw.

Does the difficulty adjust automatically?

Yes — like the other adaptive games, getting it right tightens the challenge, and missing relaxes it. You don't have to fiddle with settings.

What is Switchyard?

A puzzle about routing a moving train through a yard of switches. Levels are numbered, with a title for each.

Why is it black-and-white?

Switchyard intentionally uses a pure black-and-white palette regardless of which theme you've picked. It's a design choice for clarity.

Does it get harder?

Yes — each level adds new track, switches, or timing pressure. Switchyard also uses an adaptive feel internally so the train speeds up as you get more confident.

What is MindTrace?

A path-tracing memory game — a path is shown, then you reproduce it. The default mode is Classic: trace the path as shown.

Where can I see my stats?

The Stats screen tracks your play history, best times, and per-game records.

Can I reset my stats?

Resetting is per-game; deleting the app clears everything. There's no cloud sync to restore from, so be sure before you reset.

Does the app track me?

No analytics and no app-side account. The only data that ever leaves your device is your Game Center score submissions for the leaderboards listed below — and only if you're signed in to Game Center.

Which games have leaderboards?

Currently:

- Schulte Table — separate leaderboards for the 5×5 and 6×6 grids

- Neuro Match — separate leaderboards for Standard and Hard difficulty

Cryptogram, Dual Focus, Switchyard, and MindTrace don't have global leaderboards today — your bests for those live in the on-device Dossier.

Do I have to sign in to Game Center?

No. The app tries to sign you in via the system Game Center prompt the first time it launches. If you decline, everything still works locally — you just won't appear on the global leaderboards.

How do I see the leaderboards?

From within the relevant game's end-of-game screen or the Game Center entry in the app, the standard Apple leaderboard sheet opens. You can also browse them in the iOS Game Center app.

What score gets submitted?

Your completion time. Faster times rank higher.

My time didn't show up on the leaderboard.

Three usual causes: you're not signed in to Game Center on the device; you were offline when you finished (submission is best-effort and may retry later); or Game Center is restricted under Screen Time / parental controls.

Can I change the name shown on the leaderboard?

That comes from your Game Center nickname, which is managed in iOS Settings → Game Center, not inside the app.

A puzzle feels impossible — am I stuck?

For cryptograms, remember: no letter maps to itself. If you're stuck, reveal a single-letter word (most are `A` or `I`) or a common short word, and the rest usually unravels. For the timed games, just keep playing — your best times improve with practice.

Haptics or sound aren't firing.

Check Settings inside the app first (haptics and sound have separate toggles), then your device's system mute switch and Focus modes.

The theme didn't change after I switched it.

Theme is applied immediately to the current screen. If something looks off, back out one screen and re-enter.

I want a feature / found a bug.

Crypto Chats is built and maintained as a small personal project. Open Settings → Contact and tap the email row to send a note straight to the developer (jmielke@gmail.com) — it opens your mail app with the subject pre-filled.