# Studies: Smart Flashcards — user reviews > 93 indexed App Store user reviews of Studies by The Mental Faculty, rated 4.60/5 from 384 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/studies-smart-flashcards/id986066259/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/studies-smart-flashcards/id986066259.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 300 · 4★ 46 · 3★ 16 · 2★ 6 · 1★ 16 ## What do users think of Studies? Overall sentiment: neutral **Pros** - 👍 Versatile and flexible - 🚀 Seamless syncing across devices - 🤓 Comprehensive study features - 💡 Innovative flashcard creation - 🤩 Visually appealing interface **Cons** - 🐛 Sync issues and data loss - 🤯 Confusing terminology and UI - 🙄 Lack of basic features (font size, math support) - 😓 Frequent crashes and bugs - 🤔 Unintuitive study session flow **Commonly reported bugs** - Sync failures leading to data loss - Crashes when adding audio or images - Disappearing top bar in iPad split-screen - Inability to properly display accented characters - Quizlet search functionality causing app crashes **Most requested features** - Improved Anki import/export - Better Apple Pencil and drawing support - Ability to edit cards during study sessions - Customizable font sizes and text formatting - Enhanced math equation support ## Newest reviews (11 of 93) ### 2/5 — Sync does not work *2023-02-21* The newly added Flashcards on iPhone are not added to the library on iPad, although iCloud Sync is on ### 4/5 — Modern Modern UI and better Math support *2022-11-17* Adore the app but a modern UI is needed especially with other apps. And better support for math equations. ### 3/5 — Fonts are too small *2022-08-26, version 1.12.3* Best app non-subscription Flashcards app but it doesn’t have the ability to modify the font size ### 4/5 — Good app, one flaw *2020-12-06, version 1.11.14* This is a solid app for creating flash cards. The one problem I’m having is that the new card creation dialog is the standard Apple dialog: if you touch anywhere outside the dialogue box itself, the dialog disappears—along with everything you’ve just written. I’ve lost twenty minutes of work several times now because of this, and it’s frustrating. The only way to avoid the problem is to put the pencil away and use the funky iPad keyboard. So it’s not pencil-ready. But other than this admittedly irritating problem, it’s a very usable app. ### 3/5 — Be careful with the sync *2020-06-29* App is crude, but it works for the most part with limitations. Ex: can’t resize the image and words when reviewing cards or for presentation so the picture is smaller than desired. Also can’t increase the size of the flashcard when reviewing to make the images bigger. No magnifying glass or zoom function. Terminology confusing as hell. Stack vs group vs smart stack. I guess I could make flashcards to memorize but I’m lazy. It’s not intuitive; that’s the point. My biggest complaint is the sync. When editing flashcards on the computer, everything is fine. If the sync is on though, the screen flickers while I’m reading the flash card and trying to concentrate. Sometimes it happens multiple times. This happens because the app is syncing and it refreshes every time. Super annoying and irritating to my eyes. So I thought I would turn off the sync and turn it back on and the app would be smart enough to figure out which version between the ipad, computer, and iphone is most update. It is not. Once I turned on sync all my progress in the review was wiped out. So much for reviewing 700 flashcards. I’m too lazy to figure out if it wiped out flashcards I made and I don’t want to deal with the frustration and anger. I think the program figures the MOST updated version is the one with the sync on longest? So your progress is safe if you TURN OFF the sync for all devices except the one with the most recent updates then turn on your other devices. This is a theory. OR maybe there are others who dont experience the screen flickers. OR Maybe yoou are fine with just dealing with screen flickers. I have longer flash cards that work as test questions and contain a lot of information. So if you're planning on flipping cards with just one word on them or one picture, or you don’t need to spend time thinking of the answer, none of this will likely apply to you. Also the Help document is useless. It could at least explain HOW the sync works so I would not have to spend MY time to figure out how it works. ### 4/5 — Great for memorizing vocabulary *2020-05-26* I mostly use the OSX app to enter new cards and the iOS app to study, and iCloud sync works great. When I do edit on iOS, changes also sync back nicely to desktop. ### 3/5 — Bug *2020-05-21* Top bar frequently dissapears on ipad when in split screen, then remains disappeared, leaving me unable to use any tools. ### 2/5 — No more Quizlet *2020-03-29, version 1.11.8* I have used this app since Mental Case. Great app but for me the HUGE importance of this was the ability to import stacks from quizlet. This has been removed now removing the ability to download public stacks....Disappointing!! ### 4/5 — Highly useful *2020-01-26, version 1.11.6* I love this app, but the draw an image option needs an eraser not just an undo. ### 2/5 — Naja *2019-10-24* Ganz gut aber es gibt nur ICloud Sync. Der Sync funktioniert NICHT zwischen Mac und IOs! Leider schwach und nicht vertrauenserweckend. Ich wünsche mir Sync über Dropbox oder WebDav. Mehr gibt es nicht zu sagen. Der Support hat mir auch nicht weiter geholfen. Wenn man nur auf einem Gerät arbeitet ist alles gut aber sobald man synchronisieren will fängt die Sch... an. ### 1/5 — Incredibly unintuitive *2019-06-17, version 1.10* Figuring out how to use this is very frustrating. ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — Does Not Work Well *2026-01-04* - Cannot import Excel files from OneDrive. - When importing an Excel file, Studies imports all terms into one giant set instead of creating individual sets based on each worksheet in the workbook. - When importing a CSV file, Studies fails to properly read accented characters. Thus, imported sets contain garbage characters. I do not recommend this app to others. ### 1/5 — Notifications and badges no longer work *2024-06-18* I’ve been using the desktop and iOS apps for years now. At some point, I stopped seeing notifications, and the app badge with the current number of notes due to be studied disappeared, I imagine due to OS changes? The app does not seem to be under active development or maintenance anymore. ### 1/5 — Don't worth it *2020-12-21, version 1.11.14* Continuous problems with synchronisation. Endless crashes. Don’t bother and use Anki instead. ### 1/5 — Lacks MathJax support *2020-05-28* Anki import is a highlighted feature but this app doesn’t have MathJax support, so everything looks garbled. If you’re studying maths don’t buy. ### 1/5 — Don’t worth it *2020-05-15, version 1.11.9* There is a lot of options, but creating new decks of flashcards is very slow and not intuitive. I don’t recommend this app. ### 1/5 — search problem and read my notes *2020-04-22, version 1.11.9* when I want to find my single note in stack of note and I just find a location of it, not a specific note that I want. Plus, I want to move a stack of notes to a group of stacks, but I can't. I can not export the Anki file correctly. And also, I can't smoothly review my notes. ### 1/5 — Problem with a feature *2020-02-17, version 1.11.7* Whenever I search for a quizlet through my studies app the whole app crashes ### 1/5 — Import Problems *2020-02-07, version 1.11.6* There’s now a problem and I’m unable to search and import from Quizlet. Since this was the main reason I paid for the app, I have to give it 1 star. I’ve emailed once and posted on their support forum. Neither have brought a response from support yet. If this was corrected, this would be a 5star app. ### 1/5 — Not working as advertised *2020-01-15* I have just installed this on a new iPad Air with up to date software. When trying to add audio to a new stacked note the app just shuts down. This is not a free app so I hope this bug will be fixed or I will be looking for a refund. I certainly won’t be buying the more expensive app for the Mac if this can’t be fixed. ### 1/5 — Sync doesn’t work. No fix. *2019-10-14, version 1.11.3* No refunds. Avoid this garbage. ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Best Flashcard App for Mac/iPhone *2025-07-07* Love that the flashcards sync between both device devices, so that I can quickly make flashcards on my Mac, but then review them anywhere on my iPhone. ### 5/5 — Great app *2024-04-01, version 1.12.7* This app is very versatile. It provides good documentation and the developer is responsive Is you ever have questions. ### 5/5 — A little tricky at first but excellent when mastered *2022-08-29, version 1.12.3* Comprehensive, advanced studying, everything but the kitchen sink. Recommend. ### 5/5 — Thanks *2022-08-24, version 1.12.3* Thanks. ### 5/5 — Great app *2022-05-16* I’ve been using this app for five years now. I have abt 3000 cards on it, mix of text, photos and videos, and it’s still great. The devs are very responsive if you have any issues. My only suggestion wld be if they mad3 it possible to edit a card while in Study mode. As it stands if i need to correct anything i have to stop the quiz and exit, reopen the same card, edit it and then go back and continue my quiz. It’s a small thing but it gets irritating when you have a few hundred tiny corrections to make! Otherwise, awesome. ### 5/5 — Studies nails it *2021-09-05* This app is everything I'd hoped for – the desktop app is very easy to use, and its flash cards implementation is exactly what I was looking for. Fast, powerful content creation. You can print or export to a PDF for sharing with others, which is brilliant. It syncs effortlessly with the iOS app – and the iOS app's flash cards interface is perfect. Smart stacks are the icing on the cake, really good for segmenting a larger set of cards into more manageable pieces. ### 5/5 — Best cards app ever *2021-01-23* I have been using it since it was Mental Case. For language learning, it is the best app for making memory cards. Multifacet feature is awesome!!! ### 5/5 — It’s really helping me. *2020-12-10, version 1.11.14* It’s a great app to use the spaced repetition technique for those of us who our memory is not our best friend. ### 5/5 — Perfect *2020-02-08, version 1.11.6* No buts, this app is perfect and worth every dollar and more. ### 5/5 — Nearly perfect *2019-03-20* I’ve been using this app for several years—since back when it was still Mental Case—and I’ve been very happy with its flexibility, effectiveness, and the improvements made over the years. One feature request that I’d love to see implemented is the ability to sort stacks (and/or search results) automatically by a given field, like by the date a note is created or in alphabetical order. The default order (notes are in stack by the date created) is generally what I want, but I have some stacks with thousands of cards and often find myself swiping for ages to scroll to the end in order to see the most recent few notes. The ability to manually reorder stacks is nice, but with very large stacks it’s not practical, especially if I, say, want to toggle between alphabetical and date created. This is a minor shortcoming, however: I use this app nearly every day and highly recommend it to anyone who works in a field requiring commitment of large amounts of information to memory! --- *Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-08-28.*