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During a Review

Starting a session opens the player. It plays one side at a time, waits for you, and asks for a grade when the card is done. This page covers everything on that screen and the ways to control it without looking.

9:41
Close
7 / 19
Answer
Text-to-Speech
The kangaroo.
AAnswer
0:01 / 0:01
Again
1m
Hard
6m
Good
10m
Easy
8d
  1. Position in session — Bar colours each card by the grade you gave it
  2. Side being played — Question, Answer, or any extra side
  3. Where the audio came from — A recording, or text-to-speech with its text
  4. Transport — Replay, skip sides, send to another output
  5. Grade the card — The interval under each grade is the next due date
  6. Flag or tag mid-session — Marks the card without breaking your flow
The player on a card's last side, with the four grades showing.

The player at a glance​

From top to bottom:

  • Toolbar — Close, the tag button for marking the card, Card Statistics, and Review Display. When voice commands are on, a listening indicator sits in the middle.
  • Position — 7 / 19, and a bar that colours each card you have finished by the grade you gave it.
  • The card — the side's name (Question, Answer, Comment, or Side 2 / 3), its waveform, and the words on it: the Text-to-Speech text, or the Transcript of a recording.
  • Now playing — the side, the elapsed time, an output button for AirPlay and Bluetooth devices, and previous side, play/pause, and next side.
  • Reveal answer — plays the answer. On a card with three or more sides it reads Next side. On the last side it is replaced by the four grades.

Move through a card​

Each side plays as it appears. Then:

  • Tap Reveal answer, or Next side on longer cards, to hear the next side.
  • Tap the card itself to flip to the next side. On the last side, flipping goes back to the first, so you can hear the question again before grading.
  • Use previous side and next side in the now-playing bar to step through sides, and play/pause to replay or stop the current one.

With Autoplay Sides on, the next side plays by itself after a pause, and a countdown on the card shows how long is left. You can still tap to move faster.

Grade a card​

On a card's last side, the grades appear:

GradeChoose it when
AgainYou did not remember it.
HardYou remembered, but it was a struggle.
GoodYou remembered normally.
EasyIt came back with no effort at all.

The time under each grade is when the card will be due again if you choose it — minutes for a card you keep missing, months for one you know well. Scheduling explains where those numbers come from.

Grade honestly rather than generously. An Again now costs a few seconds; a Good you did not earn costs you the card.

There are four ways to grade:

  • Tap a grade button.
  • Swipe the handle at the bottom-right corner of the card: up for Good, right for Easy, left for Hard, down for Again. The card tilts and shows the grade before you let go.
  • Say it, with voice commands on: again, hard, good, or easy.
  • Press 1–4 on a hardware keyboard. Space plays and pauses, and Esc closes the session.

Moving on without grading​

If you move past a card's last side without grading — with autoplay, next side, or your headphones' skip button — the card is counted as an Auto pass rather than a grade. It does not change the card's due date unless the session's passive scheduler is on.

Highlight spoken words​

When a side has word timings, the words light up as they are spoken. Tap a word to hear the audio from that point.

Text-to-speech sides get word timings when their audio is generated, and recordings when they are transcribed. Anything still missing timings can be filled in from Settings > Transcription — see Search & Transcription. Turn it on or off with Highlight Spoken Words, from Review Display in the player's toolbar, or in Settings > Session Behavior > Highlight Spoken Words. Off shows plain text.

Mark a card mid-session​

Tap the tag button in the toolbar to set a flag, Add Tags, or Remove Flag without leaving the session. This is the moment to do it: flag the badly worded card now, keep reviewing, and fix it later from Flagged Cards. See Flags & Tags.

Card Statistics in the toolbar shows the current card's reviews, streak, created, first, last, and next review dates, and its history.

Review with the screen off​

A session keeps playing when you lock your phone or switch apps.

  • Lock screen and Control Center show the card and side being played, with play/pause, next, and previous.
  • Headphone and car controls work the same way: play/pause, skip forward to move on, skip back to go to the previous side.
  • Live Activity (iPhone) — the lock screen and Dynamic Island show the session's name and running time, with Again, Hard, Good, and Easy buttons that grade the current card without unlocking.

Two settings in Settings shape a screen-off session:

  • Keep Screen on During Review stops the screen sleeping while a session is open. Leave it off when the phone is in your pocket.
  • Haptics gives a small tap when you grade or move between sides, so you can feel that a tap or swipe registered.

For a fully hands-free run, combine autoplay, voice commands, headphones, and a locked phone.

Finish a session​

The session ends when the queue runs out — or never, with Loop Session on. Tap Close to stop early.

Session Complete shows how many cards you graded and how many of each grade you gave, including Auto passes. Cards you never reached are counted as Unanswered; they keep their existing schedule. Tap Done to return to the Review tab.

Grades are saved as you give them, so closing early never loses the cards you have already graded.