- AnkiApp is a straightforward Mac app that enables you to create your own flashcard sets, or download collections from online sources. The app provides tools for reviewing the information, and even keeps track of your progress.
- The latest tweets from @ankiapp.
AnkiApp lets you use colors, bulleted lists, and more. Or search through millions of flashcards that are ready for you to download.
On Friday, Redditor u/farazyashar launched a discussion in the Anki subreddit about a potential lawsuit against AnkiApp (Admium). The main rationale behind it is a potential infringement on the name Anki and clear confusion between Anki and AnkiApp (Admium)
In fact, it seems like many AnkiApp (Admium) users had not been aware they are not using the original software and expressed outrage. It’s likely the confusion stemmed from the similar naming of the newer product, with a few Redditors insinuating malicious behavior on Admium’s part
In the following, we clarify any potential confusion and also share a little our own research we conducted into AnkiApp (Admium)
Let’s start with the most important part: how to differentiate between Anki and AnkiApp (Admium)
Anki is a flashcard tool incorporating a simple yet powerful spaced repetition algorithm at its backend. AnkiApp (Admium) is essentially the same tool copied but developed by a corporation called Admium, though many reviews point to major issues, such as regular crashes and data loss
Key differences include:
- Design: the original Anki has a very simplistic design. The newer AnkiApp (Admium) has a more elaborate design, though reading their reviews, it suffers from many glitches
- Open-source: the original Anki app is open source. AnkiApp (Admium) is not
- Integration with other apps: the original Anki has many integrations, such as the relatively new Pokamanki add-on or Polar. AnkiApp (Admium) has no integrations that we could find. It only allows you to mass import data from spreadsheets
- Community: the original Anki has a huge community, especially on Reddit. Our research found that the AnkiApp community indeed has its own Subreddit. As of January 31, 2020, that Subreddit had one user. Several Redditors did point out however, that they initially confused the Anki community with the AnkiApp (Admium) community
- Cost: both Anki and AnkiApp (Admium) are free on the Google Play Store and $24.99 on the Apple Store
Anki vs AnkiApp design
Anki add-ons
In summary, it can be confusing for a new user trying to differentiate between both apps. The good news is that the original Anki app appears first when googling and has a Wikipedia article about it under the Anki name
Since we found this topic interesting and confusing at the same time, we decided to dig deeper. Below you’ll find additional findings. It should be clarified from the get-go that there are multiple spaced repetition apps that are using the term Anki, as even specified in AnkiApp’s (Admium) FAQs.
Additional findings about AnkiApp (Admium)
When looking at AnkiApp’s (Admium) website, you notice that Chinese is referenced everywhere. Even on Admium’s website, all text is in English with a few Chinese snippets. It does make you wonder why…
Admium's website
Since data handling and privacy is a major concern (in particular in the open-source community), we decided to take acloser look here as well. When looking at AnkiApp’s (Admium) privacy policy, we immediately noticed a lack ofspecificity. For once, it is extremely short. Compare AnkiApp’s (Admium) privacy policy to Yelp’s for example. Secondly,AnkiApp (Admium) fails to clarify how and in which location (US, China, or elsewhere) personal information is beingstored.
It seems possible that AnkiApp (Admium) is a Chinese-owned company based on the original Anki platform, intended to takeadvantage of the confusion in naming. This conclusion is based on the confusion in names as well as Chinese being theonly other supported language used on AnkiApp (Admium). While AnkiApp (Admium) does claim that additional languagesupport is planned, this claim has been on the site since early 2014.
Finally, the AnkiApp’s Subreddit’s only user and moderator u/admium, only wrote three responses on Reddit, two of whichdirectly aim at getting Anki users to switch to AnkiApp which further supports the above conclusion.
We reached out to AnkiApp (Admium) by phone for clarification, however, did not receive a response. We will keep youposted if we learn anything new.
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About Anki Flashcards
Anki Flashcards is a software that promises to help people learn in a way that is far more efficient than traditional studying and promises to help you learn more, in less time, and completely for free.
Their website says that their system can easily be used to learn a language, study for exams, memorize names and faces, brush up on geography, learn musical chords, and much more.
How Does It Work?
Since this is a free service, customers simply need to download the software onto their computer in order to get started. The responsibility to create the 'flashcard deck' is on you, as you are the best person to know where you are starting and what specific goals you are trying to reach.
They do offer something called the AnkiWeb, which hosts pre-made course and lesson decks that users can download for free if they don't wish to make their own. AnkiWeb also lets you synchronize your decks across all your mobile platforms you'll always have access to them.
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