Snag Academy99 mysteries so far 63 free for ever 36 in paid packs
New cases are added with every update, so these numbers only go up — and the free ones stay free.
Every system tells a story.
Answers are free now — any question your child asks, a machine will answer better every year. The hard part was never the answer. It is spotting that something is wrong in the first place, and that is the skill this app builds.
- Free for ever
- No sign-up, no account
- Works offline
- Collects nothing
Every values case — road safety, first aid, kindness, money sense, staying safe online — is free, and every free case plays right here in your browser, with no sign-up. Only the machine-and-mechanism packs cost anything, and those are bought and played in the Android app, where Google Play handles the payment. No puzzle packs are sold on this site.
The part a machine will not do for them
Something is off
The missing part. The piece that does not belong. The step in the wrong order. Spotting it is the hard part — and the part no one teaches.
Find out why
Every case runs. Your child breaks it on purpose, watches the consequence unfold, then works out the mechanism.
Let them teach you
A technical note follows every solved case — the real mechanism, in language a child can repeat to someone else.
Four kinds of snag
Every mystery in the app is one of four. Once a child can tell them apart, the same method works on a batter that will not rise, a bicycle that slips its gear, a rumour, or a message someone forwarded.
Something the system needs is not there.
Every part is present — but one is not right.
Something sneaked in that does not belong.
All the right steps — in the wrong order.
Where should your child start?
Go by the class your child is in, not by how well they read. Nothing is locked — a child who finds one band easy can move up the same day, and you can fix the band in the Parents area if you would rather they stayed put.
👀 Explorer
Something needed is simply not there — and it can be seen. 28 free cases so far, the gentlest in the casebook.
Class 6–8🔍 Investigator
Everything looks complete. One thing still is not right. 22 free cases so far, one causal step at a time.
Class 9–12🕵️ Inspector
It works fine — until the load arrives. 13 free cases so far, faults that hide until they matter.
Under 5 years? Read this first — what actually helps before school age, and why we do not make screen apps for babies.
Safe by design
No account, no sign-in
Nothing to create, nothing to remember, nothing to leak. Progress lives on your own device.
No data collected
No analytics, no tracking, no third-party requests — even the fonts are bundled inside the app.
No links out, no chat
Nowhere inside the app for a stranger to reach your child. Every link on this website is for grown-ups.
Works fully offline
Download once on the train, play in the village. No connection needed after install.
Money behind a gate
Purchases sit behind a grown-up gate and are never shown to a child while they play.
Reading for grown-ups
The nosebleed myth almost every child is taught
Tip the head back and the bleeding does not stop — it just goes somewhere you cannot see.
Birth to 5: what actually helps
The high-contrast science is real; the screen is the wrong way to deliver it. And why we will not build a baby app.
Newborn contrast patterns
Black-and-white patterns for the first six months. Paper, not screens — which is what the evidence actually supports.
Who makes this
Snag Academy is built by one family, with no investors who have a say in what goes into it. The cases about safety, kindness and money stay free for good. The paid packs are the technical ones — machines, camping, kitchen science — and what you spend goes straight into writing the next set of scenarios.