Believe it or not, but quiz games aren’t just for television. While most of us may stick to watching Jeopardy! or Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? on TV, both of these shows have their own official smartphone apps. Neither are these apps alone, since there is a growing range of excellent trivia apps available for both iOS and Android devices. We cover the best trivia apps in this article, running from official versions of popular quiz shows to quirky stand-alone apps that test your knowledge in a particular subject area. Enjoy!
Also, check out our article on the best iPhone games if you’re looking for more than trivia. The same goes for our piece on the best Android games.
Jeopardy! Trivia Quiz Game
If you can’t get enough Jeopardy!, or if you think you’d like to try a smartphone game based on the popular quiz show, then this app is for you. You play head-to-head against other players online, or you can play offline against the computer. Either way, the app is structured as a world tour, with the player able to unlock new countries and cities in which to play (and which change the kinds of questions you’ll face). As you progress you can unlock rewards and power-ups, which help you gain an advantage over other players. You also can participate in online tournaments and climb the app’s leaderboard as you win games. As with the TV show, questions are structured according to category, so you’ll have the chance to learn lots of new interesting facts related to various subjects. Also, in case you’ve never seen Jeopardy! before, questions are asked in a kind of back-to-front fashion, with players having to pick the correct question to go with an answer.
Trivia Crack
Trivia Crack is a quick-fire trivia game that lets you show off your superior general knowledge to friends and family. It boasts a range of fun game modes, including a multiple-choice-based classic mode, a nonstop “triviathon” mode, and a survival mode in which you have to answer questions to stay alive. Questions are divided into six main categories, including art, sports, and science, so everyone should be able to find something that suits their particular interests. There is also a range of other mini-modes and games in which you can earn rewards, such as daily questions and a “Guess & Grab” mode. As with other trivia apps, you can climb up the game’s global rankings by winning matches and answering questions correctly, while the app also holds periodic events, such as time-limited challenges. Other nice features are the social chat feature and the ability to share your progress directly to social networks.
Trivia 360
Framed as a kind of brain training-themed trivia app, Trivia 360 is a single-player and multiplayer game structured across different modes. You can test yourself against classic multiple-choice questions, true-or-false questions, flag-identification quizzes, as well as identify-the-landmark games. You rise up the app’s leaderboard as you play the game, with players able to submit their own questions for the community to answer (crowdsourced questions and answers can be reported for inaccuracy). The app isn’t quite as comprehensive and varied as other trivia apps, but it really gets the basics right, while spanning a wide range of subjects. It’s also completely free, and doesn’t include any in-app purchases.
HQ Trivia
HQ Trivia is a highly popular app that, much to the general public’s dismay, closed down in February 2020. Fortunately, it returned to the Google and Apple app stores only a month later, and if you’re a trivia lover you should really give it an investigation. It’s a live game show app in which players can compete to win actual cash prizes, although most players end up winning a few dollars (so no, you can’t quit your job and start playing the app full-time). Basically, participants in lie games answer a range of trivia questions in different subjects and also solve word puzzles, all of which vary in difficulty. Games are usually held every night, while the app has even hosted special guest celebrities, including Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Robert De Niro.
Popcorn Trivia
If you’re a film buff, then Popcorn Trivia may possibly be the best trivia app for you. It sets you questions surrounding a particular film (which you can choose yourself or have chosen randomly), with new movies added weekly so you don’t run out of material. The films available run the gamut from family-friendly Disney hits like Moana to Oscar-nominated period dramas such as The Help. There’s also a multiplayer mode where you and an online opponent take turns to answer questions on several films, with matches being played one turn at a time, so you don’t have to respond immediately and can do other things in between moves. One nice touch is that your avatar is rewarded with virtual items from movies featured in the app, so you can show other players that you know your stuff.
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
If you’ve ever thought you’re worldly wise and knowledgeable enough to be a success on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, now’s your chance to prove it. The app artfully recreates the atmosphere of the TV show, incorporating the tense music and amusing wrong answers on the lower-money questions. You play against an opponent as you each try to progress all the way up to the $1 million question, using lifelines along the line, including the new “ask an expert” lifeline introduced specifically for the game. There are also a number of nice daily challenges set by the app, such as using a set number of lifelines each day, while the app also has a travel theme, letting you unlock new cities around the world. Some users have griped that the questions can be a little European or even Anglo-centric (anyone for a spot of cricket?), but otherwise they’re diverse and pretty educational.
Quizoid
Quizoid may look a little unglamorous compared to some of the higher budget, branded trivia apps out there, but it’s a great choice if you want a wide selection of questions in various subject areas. It offers more than 11,000 head-scratchers in 10 areas, including arts and entertainment, nature, geography, food, technology, science, sports, history, and general knowledge. It also offers three basic modes, including a classic mode that’s based around the Who Wants to Be a Millionaire format, as well as an arcade mode where you have to correctly answer as many questions as possible within 60 seconds. Another welcome feature is the ability to set one of three difficulty settings, ranging from easy to moderate and “pro.” Unlike some other trivia apps, Quizoid also has the option to adjust localization settings, so you can avoid any questions specific to countries you know nothing about. It can be played solo or with others.
SongPop 2
Yes, you’ve guessed it — SongPop 2 is a trivia app focused on music. Offering the ability to play alone or with friends, it combines basic trivia questions regarding pop with classic name-that-tune style quizzes. The app offers over 100,000 real music clips for you to identify, covering both recent hits and songs stretching all the way back to the ’60s. You can choose your own name-that-tune playlists for friends, so you can see whether they’re able to recognize your favorite music. You can also compete against random people online, with the app organizing daily multiplayer tournaments with hundreds of players. If this sounds daunting, there’s also a practice mode, so you can hone your pop knowledge before trying your hand against the experts. It’s also worth pointing out that the app covers a wide sweep of genres, from pop to rap and rock.
Psych!
Here’s something a little different. Psych! is an often hilarious trivia game that revolves around bluffing. Played in groups online, each player takes a turn to correctly choose the right answer among alternatives, with the other players picking the alternative answers themselves. The idea is to throw the guessing player off track and submit possible answers that are plausible yet amusingly surreal. Questions are picked from a range of categories, with the app fielding questions that are a little niche (which is obviously why you can get away with presenting absurd possible answers to friends). You do have to pay for some of the question packs (priced at anything from $1 to $2), but otherwise, the game is free to play and certainly a lot of fun.
