Study Apps Worth Installing and What Each One Does

A study app earns a spot on your phone when it does one job better than paper does. Flashcard apps can schedule reviews for you, a focus timer can make the phone itself less tempting, and a graphing calculator can show what an equation looks like in a second. The seven below each do one of those jobs well. Pricing changes often, so treat the notes on cost as a guide and check the app store listing before you pay for anything.

Flashcards

Most good flashcard apps use spaced repetition, which shows a card again just before you are likely to forget it and spaces the reviews further apart each time you get it right.

Anki runs on Windows, Mac and Linux, on Android as AnkiDroid, and on iPhone and iPad as AnkiMobile. The desktop and Android versions cost nothing; the iOS app is a one-time purchase, and that sale helps fund the project. Syncing between devices goes through an AnkiWeb account at no charge. The interface looks dated and the settings take an evening to understand, but Anki handles very large decks well and lets you control exactly how cards are scheduled. It is popular with medical students and language learners for that reason. Shared decks made by other users are available for many subjects, though checking a shared deck for errors before trusting it is wise.

Quizlet works in a browser and on iOS and Android. You can build your own sets or search the large library of sets other people have made, then study them through several modes, including a matching game, practice tests and a guided "Learn" mode. Cards can carry images and audio, which helps with diagrams, maps and pronunciation. Quizlet Live turns a set into a team game for a classroom. Basic flashcard use is available at no cost, while some study modes and features sit behind a paid tier. Quizlet is the easier pick for a high school student who wants to start quizzing in five minutes; Anki is the stronger pick for someone with thousands of cards and months to study.

Focus

Forest is on iOS and Android, with a browser extension for desktop. You set a timer, a virtual tree starts growing, and if you leave the app to open something else before the timer ends, the tree dies. Over time your sessions build a small forest, which is a surprisingly effective nudge. The developers have partnered with a tree-planting organization so that coins earned in the app can go toward planting real trees. The iOS version has historically been a one-time purchase, and the Android version uses in-app purchases for extras. It is best for anyone whose main problem is picking up the phone mid-session.

Notes and organization

Notion runs in a browser and on Windows, Mac, iOS and Android. It combines notes, to-do lists, tables and calendars in linked pages, so a student can keep lecture notes, a reading list and assignment deadlines in one workspace. There is a no-cost personal plan with paid tiers above it, and Notion has offered upgraded plans to students with a school email address. Thousands of ready-made templates, many shared by other students, give you a starting layout for a class tracker or a reading log. Its flexibility is also its trap: it is easy to spend an hour designing a dashboard instead of studying. Notion suits students who like to build their own system.

Microsoft OneNote is available on Windows, Mac, iOS, Android and the web. Notes live in notebooks divided into sections and pages, much like a ring binder, and you can type, handwrite with a stylus, or paste in screenshots and audio anywhere on a page. It is included with Microsoft 365, which many schools and universities provide to students, and a basic version is also available with a Microsoft account. Pages can grow in any direction, so a messy lab diagram does not have to fit a fixed sheet, and notebooks sync across devices through OneDrive. It is best for handwritten notes on a tablet and for anyone whose school already uses Microsoft tools.

Math and practice

Desmos is a graphing calculator in a browser and on iOS and Android, with a scientific calculator and geometry tool alongside it. Type an equation and the graph appears; add a slider to a variable and you can watch the curve change. It costs nothing to use, and a version of the Desmos calculator is built into the digital SAT and a number of state exams, so practicing with it has a direct payoff. Teachers can also run interactive classroom activities through a separate Desmos site, and students join them with a class code. It is best for algebra, precalculus and anyone who understands math better when they can see it.

Khan Academy is a nonprofit with a website and apps for iOS and Android. It offers video lessons and practice exercises covering math from early arithmetic through calculus, along with science, economics and more, and the core lessons are available at no charge. Its exercises tell you right away whether an answer is right and offer hints when you are stuck, which makes it good for filling a gap from an earlier grade. Courses are organized by grade and by subject, and the site includes official practice material for the SAT made in partnership with the College Board. Khan Academy has also added an AI tutor called Khanmigo, which has its own pricing for families.

If you only install one app from each group, a practical starting set for most high school students is Quizlet, Forest and Desmos; a college student working through a heavy memorization course would swap Quizlet for Anki and set it up during the first week of term, not the week before the exam.