Comparison

FlashStacks vs LockRecall

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

FlashStacks

Transform study materials into interactive Home Screen widgets. AI generates flashcards from PDFs, and spaced repetition optimizes learning. Visualize concepts with image occlusion and track progress with detailed stats.

Highlights
  • Home and Lock Screen widgets
  • AI-powered PDF to flashcard generation
  • Spaced repetition learning
  • Image occlusion cards
  • Progress tracking and stats
  • Customizable widget themes
Features
Read full description

Your flashcards, on your Home Screen. FlashStacks turns your study cards into Home Screen, Lock Screen and StandBy widgets. Glance at a question between classes. Tap to reveal the answer. Tap again for the next card — all without opening the app. Learning fits into the moments already filling your day. ALWAYS VISIBLE, ALWAYS READY Widgets come in every size and rotate through your stacks automatically, so every time you pick up your phone there's something new to learn. Start a study session and your card follows you to the Lock Screen and Dynamic Island as a Live Activity. AI DECKS FROM YOUR NOTES Upload any PDF — lecture slides, textbook chapters, study guides — and AI builds a complete deck in seconds. Choose High-Yield for exam prep or Comprehensive for full coverage. FlashStacks even finds the diagrams in your PDF so you can turn them into image occlusion cards. LEARN A LANGUAGE FlashStacks Learn gives you ready-made packs in French, Spanish, Japanese, Korean and Mandarin — greetings, numbers, food, travel and more. Add a pack and pick up new words from your Lock Screen all day. SPACED REPETITION THAT WORKS FlashStacks uses the same proven science behind Anki. Cards you struggle with come back sooner. Cards you've mastered fade into the background. Study smarter, not longer. IMAGE OCCLUSION CARDS Add any image — diagrams, anatomy, maps — and draw boxes over the parts to hide. Tap to reveal what's underneath. Perfect for visual subjects. BRING YOUR CARDS WITH YOU Import from Anki, CSV, TSV or JSON. Search every card across all your stacks and keep them organised with tags. BEAUTIFUL BY DESIGN Every stack gets its own colour palette — soft pastels or bold modern tones — and your widgets match. Dark mode uses pure OLED black. TRACK YOUR PROGRESS See mastery, difficulty breakdown and 14-day activity for every stack, plus a study calendar across everything you've learned. Build a streak. Hit your daily goal. FLASHSTACKS PREMIUM Unlock unlimited stacks, AI deck generation from PDF, image occlusion cards and every FlashStacks Learn pack. Free accounts include up to 2 stacks. Monthly and annual plans available. Annual plans include a discounted first month. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

LockRecall

Features
Read full description

LockRecall turns the hundreds of times you glance at your phone into hundreds of tiny study sessions. Your flashcards live right on your Lock Screen and Home Screen — see the question, think of the answer, tap to reveal, rate yourself, done. STUDY WITHOUT OPENING AN APP Lock Screen widgets: a compact card, or Question + Answer side by side. Home Screen widgets in small and medium sizes. Tap to reveal the answer, then mark it remembered or send it back for review. SMART REPETITION A fresh daily set chosen by how well you know each card — shaky cards return sooner, mastered ones rest. Streaks track your daily habit; mastery shows your progress through every deck. Full review sessions in the app when you want to sit down and study properly. BRING YOUR ANKI DECKS (OPTIONAL) Import decks from Anki Desktop over your own Wi-Fi using the AnkiConnect add-on. Cards keep their fields, cloze deletions, tags, and audio. Prefer to start fresh? Create local decks in seconds — no Anki required. MAKE IT YOURS Widget themes: Midnight, Paper, Indigo, Sage, Sand — or design your own custom colours. A cast of mascots cheers you on: Penguin, Seal, Turtle, and Beaver. PRIVATE BY DESIGN Your cards are stored on your iPhone. Anki sync talks directly to your own computer on your own network — no account, no cloud. LockRecall is free with ads. A single one-time purchase removes ads forever and unlocks every mascot and theme — no subscription, ever.

Screenshots

FlashStacks4 screens
LockRecall4 screens

Verdict

The call

FlashStacks and LockRecall are too close to call on the numbers: across 5 compared parameters — price, ads, in-app purchases and device support among them — neither pulls far enough ahead to decide it. What separates them is feature set and interface, not measurable difference.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. FlashStacks sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month and LockRecall sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ScorecardNo meaningful differences
FlashStacks versus LockRecall: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterFlashStacksLockRecall
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (7 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings7 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 8 days—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemium—
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad — better
Requires iOS17.6 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size11 MB8 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperBailey SkewesEnEns LLC

In-app purchases

3 purchases

FlashStacks

Subscriptions3
  • FlashStacks Premium — Monthly$4.991 Month
  • Premium Special Offer$24.991 Year
  • FlashStacks Premium — Annual1 Month trial$39.991 Year
1 purchases

LockRecall

One-time1
  • Remove Ads$7.99

Questions

Is FlashStacks free?
FlashStacks is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is LockRecall free?
LockRecall is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do FlashStacks or LockRecall have ads?
Neither FlashStacks nor LockRecall shows ads.

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