Getting Started with Cognitive Stories
Cognitive Stories is a voice-first cognitive rehabilitation app for people recovering from traumatic brain injuries (TBI), concussions, or other cognitive decline — and for anyone who wants to keep their memory skills active through regular exercise. It provides structured story recall exercises: you read a short story, then retell it aloud across 4 attempts, with your accuracy scored each round.
What Cognitive Stories Does
- Daily story recall exercise: read a story containing specific facts (names, dates, locations, numbers, sequences), then retell it aloud up to 4 times
- Real-time transcription: speech-to-text captures your retelling as you speak
- Fact-by-fact scoring: after each attempt, you see which facts you captured (green) and which you missed (red)
- Progress tracking: a line chart shows your accuracy trend over 7 days, 30 days, 90 days, or all time
- Streak tracking: your Home tab shows your current consecutive-day streak and yesterday's score
- Story library: 90+ stories at three difficulty levels (Easy: 5–6 facts, Medium: 8–10 facts, Hard: 12–15 facts) — no story repeats
- Text fallback: if voice input is difficult, you can type your retelling instead — scored identically
First Launch
Cognitive Stories uses an anonymous-first approach — you can start exercising immediately without creating an account.
- Open the app. An anonymous session is created silently in the background. No sign-up screen appears.
- You land directly on the Home tab. You will see brief tooltip hints on your first visit explaining key features. Tap any tooltip to dismiss it.
- Tap "Start Exercise" to begin your first story recall session immediately.
You can create a real account later — go to the Profile tab and tap Create Account to link your anonymous session via Google Sign-In, Apple Sign-In, or email magic link. No data is lost during this upgrade.
Your First Exercise
- Tap "Start Exercise" on the Home tab. A Medium difficulty story appears with 8–10 facts.
- Read the story carefully. A reading timer is displayed. Tap I'm ready when you are done reading (you do not have to wait for the timer).
- Grant microphone permission when prompted (first exercise only).
- Retell the story aloud. Speak naturally — the app transcribes your words in real time.
- Tap Done when you finish retelling.
- See your results. Facts you captured appear in green; missed facts appear in red.
- Repeat for 4 rounds. The story is the same each round — your accuracy typically improves as you try again.
- View your session summary. After 4 rounds, a summary shows your accuracy percentage for each attempt.
Key Screens
| Tab | What It Shows |
|---|---|
| Home | Today's status: current streak, last session accuracy, Start Exercise button |
| Exercise | Story presentation and voice retelling flow (4 rounds per session) |
| Progress | Accuracy trend chart, time range selection, session history list |
| Profile | Settings, difficulty selection, subscription, account status |
Choosing Your Difficulty
From Profile > Settings, you can choose:
- Easy — 5–6 facts per story (lower cognitive load, building confidence)
- Medium — 8–10 facts per story (the default starting point for most users)
- Hard — 12–15 facts per story (for advanced users or long-term practice)
Your difficulty setting takes effect on the next exercise you start. You can change it at any time.
Free vs. Premium
Cognitive Stories uses a 4-tier monetization model:
| Tier | Name | Cost | What You Get |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | Free | Free | Ad-supported, full exercise flow, streak tracking, progress chart |
| B | Ad-free | One-time purchase | All Free features, no ads |
| C | Basic Subscription | Monthly/annual | All Ad-free features + cross-device sync + advanced analytics + adaptive difficulty + push notification reminders |
| D | Premium Subscription | Monthly/annual | All Tier C features + future premium capabilities |
Core exercise features are free. The exercise flow, fact scoring, progress tracking, and streak counter are available without any payment. The Free tier is fully functional for daily rehabilitation practice.
Ads appear on the Home and Progress tabs for Free users. Exercise sessions are always ad-free — no interruptions during cognitive work.
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