Comparison

RecallKit vs TurnCards

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

Head to head
About

RecallKit

Features
Read full description

Flashcards that stick. Modern spaced repetition, seven curated language courses — nearly 20,000 cards — or bring your own decks via CSV / TSV / .apkg. No account, no tracking. iCloud sync. CURATED LANGUAGE COURSES Each course is structured around real proficiency frameworks. Cards include audio, example sentences, and grammatical gender / tone where relevant. • French (CEFR) — A1 to C2, 3,899 cards • Spanish (CEFR) — A1 to C2, 3,958 cards • Italian (CEFR) — A1 to C2, 4,237 cards • German (CEFR) — A1 to C2, 4,133 cards • Japanese (JLPT) — N5 to N1, 2,338 cards • Korean (TOPIK) — A1 to B1, 1,165 cards • French Street Speak — 274 cards of colloquial vocabulary native speakers actually use The French course also includes a listening-comprehension beta: audio-first cards born from the words you already know, so your ears catch up with your eyes. BRING YOUR OWN Already have a flashcard library? Import from: • CSV / TSV files — including tab-separated files like those exported from popular study tools, or anything you can paste from a spreadsheet. Map columns to Front, Back, Tags. Map a header row if you have one. • .apkg files — with media, sub-decks, and review history preserved. Drop the file from Files, iCloud Drive, or any document provider. Imports run on a background thread so a 5,000-card deck doesn't lock the app. Failed rows (malformed quoting, missing fields) are reported with a downloadable CSV you can fix and re-import. HOW STUDYING WORKS FSRS-5 is a modern spaced-repetition algorithm that schedules each card based on your actual recall, not arbitrary intervals. Forgetting curves shorten over time. The algorithm has 19 parameters that adapt to your specific learning history, and you can re-optimise them from your own reviews after a few weeks of use. Each language course pairs recognition (see the word, recall the meaning) with production (read the example sentence, produce the target word with full grammatical context). Production cards unlock once a word has been seen a few times — so you're not blindly guessing on day one. Native-quality TTS reads cards in the target language using your installed iOS voices. Settings includes a voice setup helper that links straight into the iOS pronunciation download for each language. OCR and voice dictation are built in for card authoring — point the camera at a textbook page or speak the word, and the recognised text drops into the field. SYNCS ACROSS YOUR DEVICES Decks, cards, review history, streak, achievements — everything syncs through your private iCloud account. Same Apple ID, same state on iPhone and iPad. No third-party servers see your study data. A pull-to-refresh on the home screen forces a sync if you ever need it. PRIVACY No account. No sign-up. No third-party login. No tracking pixels. No selling data. We never could even if we wanted to — there's nothing to sell. The aggregate product-health signals we do collect (app launch, import succeeded, review submitted) are bucketed, anonymous, and never include card content, deck names, or review ratings. You can turn them off entirely from Settings. Your decks, your reviews, your progress — they live on your device and in your private iCloud database. That's it. --- Open the App Store, install, study. Built by one person who wanted spaced repetition to feel less like a chore and more like a tool.

About

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.

Highlights
  • Voice-first flashcards
  • On-device speech recognition
  • Native pronunciation audio
  • CEFR level filtering
  • Smart bookmarks
  • AI-enhanced decks
  • Import custom decks
Features
Read full description

Flashcards that listen back. Say your answer out loud and TurnCards grades it instantly. Hear every word in a native accent, then say it back, the way you'll use the language for real. SPEAK, DON'T TYPE - Speak: hear the word, say the translation. Lenient grading accepts synonyms and small slips. - Pronounce: repeat after the native voice and get a score, with a syllable-stress check. - Fill in: complete real sentences from your deck, out loud. - Shadow: hear a whole example sentence and say it back at the same pace. - Listen: hands-free. The word, its meaning and an example sentence, on a loop. Made for walks and commutes. - Match: match your target language and native language words. - Mixed: For when you want a real variety to stretch your skills. A PLAN FOR EVERY DAY - Today shows your daily goal, your streak and the best session to do next. - Spaced repetition brings back the cards you miss and spaces out the ones you know. - Streaks right on your dashboard with a streak shield for those time you just can't study today. - Follow a session on the Lock Screen with a Live Activity, and keep your streak and goal on your Home Screen with widgets. FREE DECKS, OR YOUR OWN - TurnCards has a robust library of A1 - C1 decks for Italian, Spanish, French, German, and Japanese. And you can create your own by importing a file, an article/book, or other sources; have Apple's on-device AI build a deck with your guidance; or import from your other flashcard programs (.APKG for example). PRIVATE BY DESIGN No account. No TurnCards servers. Your decks and progress stay on your iPhone and in your own iCloud. FREE, WITH AN AD-FREE OPTION TurnCards is free with ads, or you can go ad-free with a one-time or lifetime plan. Tips are also appreciated to support development. Ads are a small, non-intrusive, banner, and a full screen ad at the end of every 2 study sessions (never mid-session). Speak. Listen. Learn. Terms of Use: https://turncards.app/terms Privacy Policy: https://turncards.app/privacy

Screenshots

RecallKit4 screens
TurnCards4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: RecallKit at none against TurnCards's shown. TurnCards's advantage is update cadence (every 5 days vs fortnightly). On price, in-app purchases, device support and iOS requirement 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

RecallKit ships an update fortnightly, TurnCards every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on October 14, 2026 and October 25, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 7 level
RecallKit versus TurnCards: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterRecallKitTurnCards
PriceFreeFree
Rating—4.8 (4 ratings) — better
Number of ratings—4 — better
Update frequencyFortnightlyEvery 5 days — better
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesNoNo
Monetization—Ad-supported
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.0 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size9 MB36 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperSami MandeelTurnCards LLC

In-app purchases

None

RecallKit

No in-app purchases

None

TurnCards

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is RecallKit free?
RecallKit is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is TurnCards free?
TurnCards is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do RecallKit or TurnCards have ads?
TurnCards shows ads; RecallKit does not.
Which is updated more often, RecallKit or TurnCards?
RecallKit ships an update fortnightly, and TurnCards every 5 days. Most recently, RecallKit was updated on October 14, 2026 and TurnCards on October 25, 2026.

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