Gamification, that is the use of game mechanics and experience design to engage and motivate people to achieve their goals, has seen an increase in the rate of adoption in several fields including health, marketing, education, crowd-sourcing and others. It is undeniable that the widespread use of new technologies, such as mobile phones, internet, digital applications and social networks added new ways for learning and gaining knowledge. Although the educational field is one of the growingly interesting topics about gamification, there are not enough existing researches on adopting gamification in digital learning apps which are considered nowadays as a convenient tool for many people which aims to enhance the learning process. Digital learning applications are designed for many different purposes to improve many kinds of skills such as music, scientific materials, languages and others. Although increasing technological advancements over the last few years especially in the software world and various forms have been introduced to increase student’s engagement using gamification such as digital learning apps, there is still criticism of how to apply it and there is a need to investigate that in depth. The main purpose of this research is to serve as infrastructure to identify and investigate the core game mechanics / gamification elements which are used in digital learning apps and make it more effective for knowledge acquisition. With a view to examining game mechanics, its impact and consequences, the following research questions have been formed: RQ1: What gamification mechanics are more central to improving the learning process using digital apps? RQ2: What evidence do we have for 1? Do these gamification mechanics also improve the user experience? In order to attempt answering the research questions a list over gamification elements was created by analyzing two chosen games which became later the base for field trial sessions. Data from field trial session was collected with several participants and analyzed before being used in a discussion with the previous theoretical works. The conclusion of the research suggests a group of game elements which have positively affected the learning outcomes when applied in digital apps for learning purpose. Moreover, those elements revolve around achieving at least one of the three core aims, (1) increase level of entertainment and fun, (2) motivate students, and (3) enhance skills to gain learning content. However, further research is required to test more game mechanics and investigate its role and effectiveness when applied in learning apps with a larger number of participants.