An AnkiMobile alternative for iPhone
AnkiMobile is a one-off purchase on iPhone. If you're learning Mandarin, Japanese or Spanish, here's another way to keep your deck on your phone, and how to bring your Anki history with you.
Anki is free on computers, on Android (AnkiDroid) and in the browser (AnkiWeb). On iPhone and iPad, the official app is AnkiMobile, a one-off purchase from the App Store: about $24.99 in the US, and more in some countries. That money supports Anki’s development, and for many people it’s worth paying.
If you’re learning a language, Flashfriend is another option for your phone. This page covers what each is like on iPhone, and how to move your deck across with every review.
AnkiMobile on iPhone
AnkiMobile is a full Anki app. You can review, add and edit cards, and sync with Anki on your computer through AnkiWeb. It works offline and supports the same scheduling as desktop Anki, including FSRS.
Some things still work best on a computer: installing add-ons, designing card templates and much of a deck’s setup. Many people use AnkiMobile mainly for reviews, and Anki on a computer for everything else.
Flashfriend on iPhone
Flashfriend installs from this website. On your iPhone, open flashfriend.app in Safari, tap Install now, then Add to Home Screen from the Share menu. It opens full screen from your home screen, like any other app, without the App Store.
Everything works on your phone: making cards, importing an Anki deck, changing settings. Your deck syncs with the web app on your computer by itself.
What you get:
- Words chosen for you, most useful first, so you don’t need to find a deck.
- A picture for each word, made from a scene you pick in a few taps, in a place you know.
- A memory hook, a phrase that sounds like the word, drawn into the picture.
- Tones and genders in colour: each Mandarin tone and each Spanish el or la. Japanese gets furigana over the kanji.
- Audio on every word, with a Slowly button.
- Sentences with one new word, and grammar one pattern at a time, once you know enough words.
Flashfriend is a subscription after a 14-day free trial; see pricing. If you stop paying, you can keep reviewing your deck for free and export it to Anki any time.
Side by side
| AnkiMobile | Flashfriend | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | One-off purchase (about $24.99 in the US) | 14 days free, then a monthly or yearly plan |
| How you install it | App Store | From this website, in Safari |
| What you can learn | Anything | Mandarin, Japanese and Spanish so far |
| Making cards on the phone | Yes, by typing fields | Yes, a few taps per word |
| Card design | Templates and add-ons, set up on a computer | Designed for you |
| Pictures, hooks and audio | Add your own | On every word |
| Sync with a computer | Through AnkiWeb | Built in |
| Scheduling | FSRS or SM-2 | FSRS |
| Offline reviews | Yes | Yes; making a new picture needs a connection |
Bring your deck with its history
You can move your AnkiMobile deck to Flashfriend with every review. In AnkiMobile, tap the gear next to your deck, choose Export, and turn on Include scheduling and Include media. Save the file to Files, then import it in Flashfriend from Settings › Anki › Import from Anki.
Cards you know well stay known, and cards that are due stay due. The Anki import guide has the details, and Flashfriend vs Anki compares the two more fully.
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