Brainowl’s ‘Free’ IQ Test

The majority of Americans think they’re smarter than average. Given this conundrum, you may be looking for a way to prove that you’re actually smarter than most.

Enter Brainowl – a website that claims in Google ads that its six-minute IQ test can show you how you stack up. The best part? Though IQ tests can cost hundreds to even thousands of dollars, Brainowl claims its test is free.

But after a little digging, TINA.org discovered a few reasons why Brainowl’s IQ test may not be the smartest choice.

A potentially costly lesson

The Google ads lead to the company’s website, where Brainowl repeatedly reassures consumers that they can take the test and get their IQ score “instantly” without creating an account. However, in order to see their results, consumers are required to provide their email address and payment information.

That’s because, at the end of the test, Brainowl informs consumers that they actually have to pay $1 to get their score. While this may seem like a small price to pay, the company inconspicuously discloses in fine print – below the $1 total and fields to enter payment information – that when they continue to the next page, they are automatically enrolled in a monthly subscription that will begin charging them $30 a month if they don’t cancel within seven days.

Meanwhile, the company features a countdown timer during the checkout process indicating when the page purportedly “expires” so consumers may feel rushed to continue and easily miss the fine print disclosure. (In reality, though, when the timer hits zero, consumers are simply prompted to refresh the page, which restarts the clock.)

Details that don’t add up 

TINA.org found several more head-scratching details about Brainowl including:

• We took the IQ test twice, selecting different answers each time. Yet both times, we were shown the same messages informing us that we were scoring “higher than 89% of USA” and were in the “[t]op 6% of logic so far.”
• The company advertises a “100% Satisfaction Guarantee,” but its refund policy states that “[d]ue to the nature of digital products and services, all sales are final.”
• Despite Brainowl claiming that its IQ test uses five measures of intelligence (memory, speed, reaction, concentration and logic) and is “[v]alidated by cognitive science experts,” actual experts warn that these types of online IQ tests aren’t a reliable measure of intelligence. And in regard to Brainowl’s claim that its IQ test is “BRITM Certified,” TINA.org couldn’t find any evidence that an organization with this acronym certifies IQ tests or even exists.
• At the top of the final checkout page, the company features the names of different consumers who it claims have “just bought” their IQ score. However, it appears Brainowl cycles through the same six names, some of which appear in reviews earlier in the checkout process.
• Brainowl also markets other tests, including a personality test, an anxiety test and an ADHD test, but employs the same sneaky $1 charge and subscription enrollment process as it does for its IQ test.
• The majority of the company’s claimed thousands of consumer reviews (which ranges from 12,000 to over 80,000) that purportedly average to a 4.8-star rating are nowhere to be found. Meanwhile, a Trustpilot account for Brainowl currently has 45 total reviews that are all one star (more on this below).

Consumers get wise

In recent months, consumers have reported a multitude of issues with Brainowl including hitting a paywall despite Brainowl advertising its tests as free, being unknowingly enrolled in a subscription, being unable to cancel the subscription or get a refund, and certain features like games and tests not working even after paying for them. The following are some examples:

Brainowl did not respond to a request for comment.

It’s also worth noting that Brainowl is owned by Global Informatics, LLC, the same company behind VINHistory USA – a website that TINA.org recently covered for claiming to offer a free VIN report and then charging consumers a $1 fee that enrolled them into a subscription, among other things.

The bottom line

If you want to prove your intelligence, you may need to stick to the tried and true measures of wit for now.

Always be wary of products that are advertised as “free” and make sure to read all the fine print before trusting a company with your payment information.

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