It might sound like a stretch to claim that a simple tactile gesture like unlocking your touchscreen could give you an IQ boost. But that is exactly what Kyle Olson, an American developer from Minnesota has set out to do with Hiq.
Hiq is an Android app that presents the user with a question whenever they attempt to unlock their device. Options are displayed all around the screen, and the user simply has to slide their finger towards the correct one to unlock the phone.
The main idea of Hiq is helping you increase your IQ with as minimal effort on your part as possible. It is the rare (and perhaps reckless) smartphone user who won’t have some sort of screen lock on their phone. That means that many smartphone users interact with their phone’s lockscreen a lot. Kyle figured that those frequent lockscreen moments would be a good place to insert a brainy quiz.
Hiq’s questions are populated from a varied curriculum that includes math, vocabulary, language translations, science and engineering, trivia, and custom user defined questions. The app’s Google Play Store description claims that you can use it to learn up to 17 new languages in under a year, memorize math, science, and engineering equations and even create your own bullet proof refreshers to study for your upcoming school tests.
Hiq’s features include –
– a setting for maximum attempts
– quick launch mode (double tapping the screen) to bypass the questions in urgent situations,
– a difficulty setting that paces itself with the users’ progress,
– quiz mode in which questons continually load as if taking a quiz.
– Progress tracking so the user can see how they are improving.
In a recent interview with a tech blog in his hometown, Kyle says his initial reason for developing the app was to help himself study passively and consistently.
Kyle has strong roots in education. He is currently a PhD candidate in electrical engineering at the University of Minnesota, and hopes that in the future Hiq can partner with larger educational entities like test prep and language learning companies to provide test prep and language material to their user base. He is also setting his sights beyond smartphones. TVs, computers, web browsers, and any electronic device with a processor are the technologies he plans to leverage to deliver the Hiq learning experience.
While Hiq costs nothing to install, and is interestingly ad-free, there is a revenue model.Users who want extra question packs and extend their curriculum will need coins to buy them. Coins can be earned by in-app accomplishments or bought outright from the in-app store. Otherwise, Hiq is free to download on the Google Play Store.
