Anki Guide: The Complete Beginner’s Playbook To Smarter Flashcards (And A Faster, Easier Alternative) – Learn how to use Anki the right way, plus a simpler app that does the hard work for you.

An Honest Anki Guide (From Someone Who Thinks You Deserve an Easier Option)

Let’s skip the fluff:

Anki is powerful.

Anki is free.

Anki is also… kind of a pain to set up and actually stick with.

If you’ve ever opened Anki, stared at the interface, and immediately closed it again, you’re not alone.

That’s why in this guide, I’ll:

• Walk you through how Anki actually works (without nerdy jargon)
• Show you how to use it effectively for real studying
• And then show you a much easier alternative: Flashrecall, a modern flashcard app that does almost all the heavy lifting for you

You can grab Flashrecall here if you want to try it while reading:

👉 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/flashrecall-study-flashcards/id6746757085

What Anki Actually Is (In Normal-Person Language)

Anki is a flashcard app that uses spaced repetition.

That just means:

• You see cards you struggle with more often
• You see cards you know well less often
• Over time, this helps you remember stuff for way longer with less total study time

It’s amazing for:

• Languages (vocab, phrases, kanji, grammar)
• Medicine (drugs, diseases, anatomy, everything)
• Exams (MCAT, Step 1/2, bar exam, SAT, etc.)
• School & uni (history dates, formulas, definitions)
• Business & work (frameworks, interview prep, sales scripts)

Flashrecall uses the same core idea (spaced repetition + active recall), but in a way that’s way more modern and user-friendly. Instead of fighting the UI, you just… study.

How Anki Works: The Core Idea in 30 Seconds

With Anki, the loop is:

1. You create cards (front = question, back = answer)

2. Anki shows you cards each day

3. After each card, you rate how hard it was (Again / Hard / Good / Easy)

4. Anki’s algorithm decides when to show it again

That’s it. The magic is in:

• Active recall – forcing your brain to pull the answer from memory
• Spaced repetition – showing the card right before you’re about to forget

Flashrecall bakes these in automatically too, but with some extra goodies like automatic card creation from images, PDFs, YouTube links, text, and more.

Step-by-Step: How To Start Using Anki (Without Getting Overwhelmed)

1. Install and Set Up

On Anki, you usually:

• Download the desktop app
• Optionally sync with mobile (iOS is paid, Android is free)
• Learn the interface (decks, cards, note types, add-ons…)

This is where a lot of people drop off.

With Flashrecall, it’s much simpler:

• Install on iPhone or iPad:

👉 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/flashrecall-study-flashcards/id6746757085

• Open it and start either:
• Creating cards manually, or
• Letting the app auto-generate cards from your content (screenshots, PDFs, YouTube videos, text, etc.)

No complicated setup, no add-ons, no syncing headaches. Just study.

2. Creating Good Flashcards (Anki or Anything Else)

Whether you use Anki or Flashrecall, card quality matters more than card quantity.

Bad card:

> Front: “Explain everything about the French Revolution.”

> Back: A full paragraph of notes

Good cards:

• “What year did the French Revolution begin?”
• “Name 2 main causes of the French Revolution.”
• “What was the Estates-General?”

Smaller cards = easier to remember + easier to review.

Instead of this:

> Front: “Photosynthesis is the process by which plants…”

> Back: “convert light energy into chemical energy.”

Try:

> Front: “What is photosynthesis?”

> Back: “Process by which plants convert light energy into chemical energy.”

You want to be forced to think, not just vaguely recognize a sentence.

With Anki, you usually type everything by hand, or install add-ons to speed it up.

With Flashrecall, you can:

• Take a photo of textbook pages or notes → Flashrecall turns them into flashcards
• Import PDFs (lecture slides, handouts, exam prep books) → auto flashcards
• Paste a YouTube link → Flashcards generated from the content
• Paste text or type a prompt → Cards created for you
• Still create cards manually if you want full control

This is huge if you’re busy or just don’t want to spend hours making decks.

3. Studying With Anki: Daily Routine

The most important rule:

With Anki:

• You open the app
• Do your “due cards” for the day
• Try not to let reviews stack up (or you’ll drown in 1000+ cards)

With Flashrecall, this is smoother because:

• It has built-in spaced repetition – you don’t tweak settings; it just schedules reviews for you
• You get study reminders, so you don’t forget to open the app
• You can study offline, so train rides, flights, or bad Wi-Fi aren’t an excuse

Same memory science, less friction.

Anki vs Flashrecall: Which One Should You Use?

Let’s be real: Anki is great. It’s also very… “old-school software energy.”

Here’s how it stacks up against Flashrecall:

1. Ease of Use

• Anki:
• Steep learning curve
• Lots of settings, options, and add-ons
• Looks and feels dated
• Flashrecall:
• Clean, modern interface
• Fast and intuitive
• Designed so you can start in minutes, not hours

If you don’t want to spend your weekend watching “How to Use Anki” YouTube tutorials, Flashrecall is the easier win.

2. Creating Cards

• Anki:
• Mostly manual card creation
• Add-ons can help, but they’re extra setup
• Flashrecall:
• Instantly creates flashcards from:
• Images (textbook pages, whiteboards, notes)
• PDFs
• YouTube links
• Typed text or prompts
• Audio
• Or you can still create cards by hand if you like

This is especially powerful for medicine, law, engineering, and uni courses where you’re drowning in slides and PDFs.

3. Spaced Repetition & Reminders

Both use spaced repetition, but:

• Anki:
• You manually adjust intervals if you want
• No built-in push reminders unless you set up extra tools
• Flashrecall:
• Automatic spaced repetition with smart scheduling
• Auto reminders so you don’t fall off your routine
• You just open the app and do what’s due

You get the benefit of the algorithm without babysitting it.

4. Extra Learning Help

This is where Flashrecall really pulls ahead.

• Anki:
• Show card → you answer → show back → rate
• Flashrecall:
• Same active recall workflow
• Plus: you can chat with your flashcards
• Stuck on a concept? Ask questions right inside the app
• Need an explanation in simpler words? Just chat
• Great for tricky topics in medicine, math, physics, languages, and more

It’s like having a mini tutor attached to your deck.

5. Where You Can Use It

• Anki:
• Desktop (Windows, Mac, Linux)
• iOS app is paid
• Android is free but not official AnkiDroid
• Flashrecall:
• Works on iPhone and iPad
• Fast, modern, and syncs across devices
• Free to start

If you mostly study on mobile or tablet, Flashrecall feels much more natural.

How To Actually Learn Faster (Whether You Use Anki or Flashrecall)

Tools matter, but how you use them matters more. A few quick tips:

1. Study a Little Every Day

• 10–20 minutes daily beats 2 hours once a week
• Spaced repetition only works if you show up

Flashrecall’s study reminders help a lot here. Set a daily time and let the app nudge you.

2. Mix Subjects

You don’t have to do all medicine then all language then all business.

You can mix:

• 20 cards of anatomy
• 20 cards of pharmacology
• 20 cards of language vocab

Flashrecall handles any subject: languages, exams, school, university, medicine, business – whatever you’re learning.

3. Don’t Cram Giant Decks at Once

Start small:

• 10–30 new cards a day is plenty
• Focus on understanding first, then memorizing

If you’re using Flashrecall, you can quickly generate cards from your notes or slides, then learn them in small chunks with spaced repetition doing the heavy lifting.

A Simple Way To Start Today

If you want the classic, ultra-customizable, slightly nerdy experience:

→ Anki is solid, especially if you’re willing to spend time learning it.

If you want:

• Fast card creation from images, PDFs, YouTube, text, and audio
• Built-in active recall and spaced repetition
• Auto reminders so you don’t forget to study
• The ability to chat with your flashcards when you’re confused
• A modern, easy-to-use app that works great on iPhone and iPad
• And something that’s free to start

Then honestly, Flashrecall is the easier, more enjoyable option.

You can grab it here and start in a couple of minutes:

👉 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/flashrecall-study-flashcards/id6746757085

Use the ideas from this Anki guide—good card design, daily reviews, active recall—but let Flashrecall handle the boring parts for you.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Anki good for studying?

Anki is powerful but requires manual card creation and has a steep learning curve. Flashrecall offers AI-powered card generation from your notes, images, PDFs, and videos, making it faster and easier to create effective flashcards.

What's the fastest way to create flashcards?

Manually typing cards works but takes time. Many students now use AI generators that turn notes into flashcards instantly. Flashrecall does this automatically from text, images, or PDFs.

How do I start spaced repetition?

You can manually schedule your reviews, but most people use apps that automate this. Flashrecall uses built-in spaced repetition so you review cards at the perfect time.

Related Articles

• Anki Study: 7 Powerful Tricks To Learn Faster (And a Simpler App Most Students Prefer) – If you love Anki’s results but hate the friction, this guide (and a better alternative) is for you.
• Markdown Flashcards: The Complete Guide To Faster Studying (And A Smarter Way To Do It) – Discover how to turn simple text into powerful flashcards that actually stick in your memory.
• Anki Flashcards Reddit: 7 Powerful Lessons Reddit Users Taught Me About Studying Smarter (And a Better Alternative)