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Seekzl iPhone · iPad

A little escape, one word at a time

Find words.
Find your rhythm.

An illustrated world, a few hidden words and a soundtrack to settle into. Your next little word search break starts here.

Coming soon to the App Store

A little closer. There’s your next word.

So many places to get lost in

One little grid. A whole world.

A walk in the forestUnder the sea

1,050puzzles per language

21illustrated worlds

50levels in each world

Start with an 8 × 8 grid. Work your way up to 15 × 15 and 20 hidden words. The challenge grows with you.

8,400 puzzles across eight language variants.

Play in French, English (US / UK), German, Spanish, Dutch or Portuguese (Portugal / Brazil).

Put on your headphones

Every escape has a soundtrack.

From the forest to the stars, eight musical atmospheres accompany your search. Take a moment to listen.

A walk in the forest
Seekzl · 30-second preview

A walk in the forest

0:000:30
30-second preview

A closer look

The pleasure of searching.

Scanning a grid, recognising a word, settling into a soundtrack: research helps describe what happens in these moments. Four perspectives inform our reading of Seekzl’s design.

Eye tracking · 13 participants

Explore. Then recognise.

Beelders (2023) studied word searches in three languages. Participants used strategies ranging from orderly scanning to less structured exploration, partly linked to language familiarity. Most eye-movement measures, however, did not differ significantly with fluency. This small pilot describes how people search; it does not show that puzzles improve language skills. [1]

In Seekzl, that means room to explore a grid at your own pace, in a language you know.

Visual attention · explanatory model

Give the eye something to follow.

Wolfe’s Guided Search 6.0 model (2021) explains how attention selects elements using what we are looking for, visual features and previous experience. We do not recognise everything at once. This is a model of visual search, not an experiment showing a benefit from playing. [3]

We connect this to readable letters and highlights that keep found words visible.

Preferred music · 40 students

An atmosphere you choose.

Kiss and Linnell (2021) compared silence with participants’ preferred music during a simple vigilance task. The 40 students reported less mind-wandering and more task focus with music. Overall reaction time and its variability did not improve significantly. Feeling more engaged does not necessarily mean performing better. [2]

Our design response: eight atmospheres to listen to and choose for enjoyment, without a performance promise.

Systematic review · 154 experiments

Leave room for silence.

Cheah and colleagues (2022) reviewed 95 articles covering 154 experiments. Effects depended on the task, music and listener; many comparisons showed no effect. Memory and language tasks were generally hindered, with lyrics tending to interfere more than instrumental music. Music is not a universal aid to concentration. [4]

You keep control of the sound. Playing in silence is just as valid a choice.

These connections are our interpretation of the design. None of these publications tested Seekzl, its music or long-term use. They establish no memory improvement, clinical stress reduction or other cognitive or health benefit from the app.

Sources and methods
  1. Beelders, T. (2023). Visual search patterns for multilingual word search puzzles, a pilot study. Journal of Eye Movement Research, 16(1), 6.
  2. Kiss, L. & Linnell, K. J. (2021). The effect of preferred background music on task-focus in sustained attention. Psychological Research, 85, 2313–2325.
  3. Wolfe, J. M. (2021). Guided Search 6.0: An updated model of visual search. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 28, 1060–1092.
  4. Cheah, Y., Wong, H. K., Spitzer, M. & Coutinho, E. (2022). Background Music and Cognitive Task Performance: A Systematic Review of Task, Music, and Population Impact. Music & Science, 5.
Seekzl

Your next word is waiting.

A grid, an atmosphere, a moment for yourself.

Coming soon to the App Store

iPhone and iPad · iOS / iPadOS 26 or later. Contains ads. Music requires an initial download; online services require a connection.