Everything you need to know about Sea Hero Quest.
It's open very soon, we will be gradually rolling out access to people on our waitlist.
We will announce when new spots open and share your unique access link directly through our community WhatsApp Link. You will be invited to join 1 person at a time through the current Tally invitation list.
Yes, the beta is available on both iOS and Android.
The beta will run for as long as we feel it's necessary to help shape the product.
Yes, all your progress and data will carry over when we launch the full version.
Soon. We are currently operating a very tight ship, but soon all Subscribers will be able to invite friends.
We would love to hear about everything: bugs, feature requests, gameplay experience and any suggestions you have to help us improve.
You can report bugs either by emailing us at support@glitchers.com or in the WhatsApp Feedback channel.
Sea Hero Quest is a mobile game that has been built over many years with 50+ research partners around the world, including institutions like UCL, Cambridge, and CNRS. The game has supported more than 30 published studies on brain health, helping scientists understand conditions like Alzheimer's and menopause.
Previously, Sea Hero Quest was a 90-level game used primarily as a research tool. We are now bringing it back as something you can play every day: 2-minute games that fit into your routine while still continuing to contribute to groundbreaking research.
When you play, you contribute anonymous data that helps researchers study spatial navigation and brain health. This data has already helped advance our understanding of diseases like Alzheimer's, the effects of the environment on cognition, and how factors like sleep quality impact brain function.
Yes. Sea Hero Quest has contributed to 30+ published papers with over 1,000 citations, including a front-page feature in Nature. The dataset is so sensitive it detected the lifelong cognitive benefit of a single additional year of compulsory schooling from a 1972 UK policy change.
Unlike most brain training apps, Sea Hero Quest has scientific validation. We operate the world's only globally normalised cognitive benchmark for spatial navigation, validated with 50+ research institutions including UCL and CNRS. Our data has been published in Nature and contributed to 30+ peer-reviewed papers with over 1,000 citations.
We have partnerships with UCL, CNRS, St.Andrews, Harvard and more than 50 research institutions that use our data and platform to answer some of the world's most critical questions about brain health and Alzheimer's. All data is completely anonymised.
Your data helps publish scientific studies. Spatial navigation is important to understand for Alzheimer's, other dementias, epilepsy, Parkinson's, menopause, ADHD, and so much more. By playing, you help researchers advance our understanding of brain health.
No. Sea Hero Quest is not a medical device and does not diagnose any conditions. It is a research tool that helps scientists study brain health at a population level, it can also give you insight to your performance based on your demographics.
No. Sea Hero Quest is not a medical device and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease or medical condition. No information provided by the game should be used as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. If you have concerns about your health, please consult a qualified healthcare professional.
Each game takes roughly about 2 minutes to complete.
We recommend playing daily for the best insights, but playing weekly is still useful and contributes valuable data to research.
That is completely fine! Navigation is a skill that can be learned and improved over time. We track your individual performance, so you will be able to see your own progress regardless of where you start.
Yes, absolutely. There are features we can enable for older adults if needed to make the experience more accessible.
If you have a subscription account, you can transfer your progress when you switch phones by logging in with your account credentials.
Yes! You can play Sea Hero Quest for free and contribute valuable data to brain health research.
The subscription lets you track your progress over time and see how you compare to peers of your exact age, gender, and location. It also helps support the research financially.
No. The game is free to play, and you will still be contributing to important research whether you subscribe or not. It is the insights and tracking that require a subscription.
The subscription costs £9.99 per month. We will be introducing family plans and annual options in the future.
Yes, you can cancel your subscription at any time. You can also delete your account easily within the app itself.
You can play for free without any trial needed. The subscription is only required if you want access to personalised insights and progress tracking. There is no trial for the subscription features.
Payment is handled through Apple's App Store or Google Play Store using their standard in-app purchase system, which accepts all major payment methods.
You will see how you compare to your peers and how you trend over time, giving you insights into your spatial navigation performance as a signal of brain health. We will be taking feedback from the WhatsApp community and expanding subscription benefits over time.
Email can sometimes be slow or get lost in spam folders. To ensure you get notified the second a new spot opens, we are launching an official Sea Hero Quest WhatsApp Community. We also want to close the feedback loop with you, so we can hear how you're getting on directly with Sea Hero Quest.
Yes. We use WhatsApp's Community feature which is different from a standard group chat. Your phone number is hidden from other members in the Announcement channel, you will not receive spam or chatter from other users, and you can leave at any time.
You will be invited directly by us.
There is an optional Feedback channel where you can talk directly to us about Sea Hero Quest. Please note: if you join this channel your phone number is revealed to other users, so please be respectful and aware.
Yes, you can stay on our email list. You will still get beta access, but invites may not arrive as quickly as they do through the WhatsApp Community.
Yes, but we handle it differently. The Game collects birth year, country, sex, and gender from all players. We need to collect this from everyone, including players under 16, for an important reason: in early testing we found that when we set a minimum age, younger players simply selected the lowest available option. This meant we couldn't tell whether someone who selected "18" was genuinely 18 or a child who picked the minimum. By allowing the full age range, we can reliably identify which data comes from children and which comes from adults.
Navigation data: the paths players take through the Game is collected for all users because displaying your path is how the Game works. This data is anonymous and cannot be linked back to any individual player.
Data from players under 16 is excluded from our scientific research benchmark. The demographic information is kept alongside their navigation data solely so we can maintain that exclusion reliably.
We are currently working with our ethics partners to introduce parental consent in a future version of the Game. Once this is in place, we hope to include children's data in our research benchmark, which would be scientifically valuable. Until then, no data from under-16 players is used in research.
Because navigation data is collected anonymously, it cannot be linked back to any individual player and therefore cannot be deleted. If you do not want anonymous data collected about how your child navigates, the best course of action is to stop playing the Game. If you are a parent or guardian and would like to know more, please contact us at support@glitchers.com.
We collect gameplay data including navigation paths, reaction times, and performance metrics. All data is completely anonymous.
Yes, all data collected is completely anonymised and cannot be traced back to you personally.
No. Navigation data recorded during gameplay is anonymous: it cannot be linked to an individual user, is unique to each session, and is not practically re-identifiable. We collect demographic information such as age, country, sex, and gender alongside gameplay data, but this is used only to categorise contributions for research purposes and cannot be used to identify you personally.
Account deletion is self-serve within the app. However, once data has been disconnected from your account it is fully anonymous and cannot be identified or deleted. Navigation data is collected anonymously as a core part of gameplay — if you do not want anonymous data collected about how you navigate, please do not play the game.
Account deletion is entirely self-serve and can be done directly within the app. If you have linked your account for cross-device access, this link can also be removed from within the app at any time. Please note that once data has been disconnected from your account, it is fully anonymous and cannot be identified or deleted.
Our complete privacy policy is available in the app and on our website at seaheroquest.com/privacy-policy.
Still have questions? Email us at support@glitchers.com or ask in the WhatsApp Feedback channel.