Magic News vs TurnCards
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Magic News
Learn a new language by reading real news stories adapted to your skill level. Practice speaking with an AI tutor and track your progress with daily streaks and learning paths.
- Adaptive news stories for all levels
- Instant word explanations
- AI-powered voice conversations
- Daily reading streaks
- Progress tracking
- 11 languages available
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Magic News is a newspaper that teaches you a language. Every day, real news stories are rewritten to match your level. Beginners get simple words and short sentences. As you improve, the stories grow with you. You are always reading something true, current and interesting, never "the cat is on the table." HOW IT WORKS 1. Pick the language you want to learn and tell us your level. 2. Read today's stories, rewritten just for you. 3. Tap any word you don't know for an instant explanation. It is saved to your word list. 4. Talk about the story with Maya, your AI tutor. She can even call your phone, just like a friend. READ THE NEWS AT YOUR LEVEL • Real stories from today, adapted to beginner, intermediate or advanced. • Build your own front page: pick the desks you care about, from Science and Tech to Sport and Culture, or add any topic you like. • Tap a word, get the meaning in a second, keep reading. • Every word you tap is remembered, so tomorrow's paper fits you better. TALK TO MAYA, YOUR AI TUTOR • Have a real voice conversation about any story. No booking, no classroom. • Maya rings your phone for practice calls. Answer, chat about the news, hang up smarter. • Prefer typing? Message her about any story instead. REMEMBER WHAT YOU LEARN • Word cards and quick reviews bring back the words you are about to forget. • A weekly review edition built from your own reading. • New to Korean, Japanese or Chinese? Script School teaches Hangul, Kana and Pinyin from zero. LISTEN LIKE A PODCAST • Every story has an Audio Edition for your commute, the gym or a walk. WATCH YOURSELF LEVEL UP • Comprehension scores, milestones and daily reading streaks. • Home screen widgets: today's front page, your streak and your saved words. 16 LANGUAGES English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Polish, Turkish, Russian, Arabic, Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese. FREE EVERY DAY Read adapted stories, tap words, listen and say hello to Maya every day for free. MAGIC NEWS PRO Unlimited stories, unlimited calls with Maya and full progress insights. Every plan (weekly, monthly, 6 months and yearly) starts with a 3-day free trial for new subscribers. After the trial, your subscription renews automatically at the price shown unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the trial or period ends. Payment is charged to your Apple ID account. Manage or cancel anytime in your App Store settings. Privacy: https://magicnews.app/privacy Terms: https://magicnews.app/terms Support: https://magicnews.app/support Stop studying a language. Start living in it, one story a day.
TurnCards
This app uses voice recognition to help you learn languages by speaking answers aloud. It offers various study modes, tracks your progress, and supports custom deck imports. Focuses on building speaking confidence through interactive review.
- Voice-first flashcards
- On-device speech recognition
- Native pronunciation audio
- CEFR level filtering
- Smart bookmarks
- AI-enhanced decks
- Import custom decks
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TurnCards — Voice-First Flashcards for Real Language Learners Flashcards that listen back: Most flashcard apps make you read, type, or tap. TurnCards makes you speak — the way language actually works. Hear your prompt, say the answer out loud, and on-device speech recognition grades it instantly. It's vocabulary review that feels closer to a real conversation, built to grow speaking confidence, not just recall. WHY TURNCARDS • English, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, German, French or any other. Whatever your primary and learning language TurnCards supports it. • Voice grading — Speak your answer out loud. On-device speech recognition evaluates it in real time, no typing and no tapping. • Native pronunciation — Every card is spoken in the correct accent with high-quality text-to-speech, so you hear it before you say it. • CEFR levels — Filter cards by A1–C1 and study exactly the vocabulary that matches where you are right now. • Smart bookmarks — Save tricky cards and build focused sessions from just your saved words. • AI enhancement — Tap ••• on any deck and choose Enhance with AI to generate example sentences and topic tags for every card, on device. • Import any deck — Drop in a JSON, CSV, TSV, or Anki .apkg file and it converts automatically, carrying over levels and example sentences. SEVEN WAYS TO STUDY • Voice / Type — Speak or type your answer. Spaced repetition tracks accuracy and schedules the next review. • Multiple Choice — Pick from four options. Great for recognition practice while you warm up. • Match — Drag pairs together. Builds pattern recognition fast. • Mixed — Alternates recall and recognition card by card to keep your brain engaged. • Fill in the blank - Say the word that fits the missing spot in the sentence to practice context. • Pronunciation - Nail the accent with the stress on the right syllable. • Listen — Audio-only. Perfect for commutes or eyes-free practice. • Cram — Loop your deck until you quit, with no impact on your spaced-repetition schedule — ideal for last-minute exam prep. SMART SPACED REPETITION TurnCards uses a refined SM-2 algorithm with three difficulty levels — Hard, Good, Easy — so the cards you struggle with come back sooner and the ones you've mastered fade quietly into review. Mark a card Known once you've nailed it and it steps aside. Streaks, accuracy percentage, and total cards known all sit front and center so you can see real progress. HOME SCREEN WIDGETS • Stats — streak, accuracy, and cards known at a glance. • Favorite — long-press to pick one saved study configuration; tap to launch. • Favorites (3) — three configurable slots for one-tap access to your go-to sessions. PRIVACY YOU CAN ACTUALLY VERIFY No accounts. No analytics. No cloud sync controlled by us. Speech recognition runs on-device using Apple's Speech framework — your voice is never recorded or transmitted. Your decks, cards, bookmarks, and progress stay on your phone. Uninstall the app and everything goes with it. MANY LANGUAGES, YOUR WAY Italian, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Russian, and more — TurnCards works with any pair of languages Apple supports. Start with the built-in starter deck, build your own card by card, or paste a word list and let on-device Apple Translation generate a deck for you. WHO IT'S FOR Language learners building real fluency. Students prepping for exams. Anyone tired of flashcard apps that forget you're trying to speak the language, not just read it. FREE, AD-SUPPORTED TurnCards is genuinely free. A small banner that never interrupts your study keeps the lights on. No subscription, no nags, no tracking by us. Speak. Listen. Learn. Built with love by TurnCards LLC
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: TurnCards at none against Magic News's 4. Magic News's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and rating (5.0 vs 4.8). On price, ratings volume, update cadence and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Magic News sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per 7 days. TurnCards asks for nothing beyond the download.
Magic News holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.8. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 2 and 4 respectively.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 3 days. Both last shipped on October 7, 2026.
| Parameter | Magic News | TurnCards |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better | 4.8 (4 ratings) |
| Number of ratings | 2 | 4 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 days | Every 3 days |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Freemium | Ad-supported — better |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone, iPad — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.6 — better | 18.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 43 MB | 15 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | ED AI LTD | TurnCards LLC |
Customer experience
Magic News
TurnCards
In-app purchases
Magic News
- Pro$4.997 Days
- Pro1 Month trial$9.991 Month
- Pro3 Days trial$49.996 Months
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- Pro$89.991 Year
TurnCards
No in-app purchases









