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Frequently Asked Questions

Short answers to the questions people ask most. Each links to the page with the full story. If something is not working as expected, Troubleshooting is organised by symptom.

Getting started​

Do I need an account?​

Only for Shared Cards — opening collections shared with you and publishing your own. Making cards, reviewing, statistics, iCloud sync, and backups all work without one.

Is Audio Flashcards free?​

Yes. It is free to download and use. On iPhone, iPad and Android it is supported by ads; the Mac app has no ads. Before a review, or before creating cards once your library has grown, the app may show a support screen. From there you can:

  • watch a short ad to unlock an hour without interruptions,
  • carry on with an ad, or
  • buy ad-free access, as a subscription or a one-time lifetime purchase.

Settings > Manage Purchases shows whether ad-free access is active, and has View Ad-Free Options, Restore Purchases, and Manage Subscription. Purchases follow your App Store or Google Play account across your devices. Why the app works this way is explained in Making Audio Flashcards sustainable.

Making cards​

How do I create a flashcard?​

In the Library tab, tap + > New Card, then add each side with Record Audio or Text to Speech. Cards save as you go. See Creating Cards.

Can I create many cards at once?​

Yes. + > Import… > Import CSV turns a spreadsheet into cards — each row a card, each column a side — and Import Audio Files turns a batch of clips into cards. See Importing Cards.

Which text-to-speech voices can I use?​

Your device's built-in voices, Kokoro neural voices that run on your device after a one-off download, and Amazon Polly or OpenAI voices using your own account. Set them up in Settings > Text-To-Speech > My Voices. See Voices & Text-to-Speech.

Can questions and answers use different voices?​

Yes. Settings > Text-To-Speech > Card Side Voices assigns a default voice to each side, which new sides and CSV imports use. You can still pick any voice on an individual side.

Reviewing​

How does scheduling work?​

Audio Flashcards uses the FSRS spaced repetition algorithm. After each card you grade it Again, Hard, Good, or Easy, and the app schedules the next review from that grade and the card's history. The time under each grade button is exactly when the card would come back. See Scheduling.

Can I study without affecting my scheduling?​

Yes. Turn off Record Review Progress in a session's settings. That session will not change any due dates, history, or statistics.

Why do autoplay sessions keep playing the same cards?​

Due dates only move when you grade a card. Turn on the Passive Scheduler for the session, and cards it plays without a grade are spaced out on their own curve. See Passive scheduling.

Where is the autoplay setting?​

Autoplay belongs to each review session, so there is no app-wide auto-play switch in Settings. On the Review tab, long press a session, choose Edit Session, and turn on Autoplay Sides under Playback. To keep a separate hands-free session, tap + > New Review Session instead. See Playback.

Can I review hands-free?​

Yes. In a session's settings, turn on Autoplay Sides so sides play by themselves, and Use Voice Commands so you can say next, repeat, again, hard, good, or easy. Lock-screen controls, headphone buttons, and the Live Activity also work. See During a Review.

How do I change the pause before the answer?​

Timing belongs to each session. Edit the session, make sure Autoplay Sides is on, and adjust Answer Delay and Time Between Cards under Card Timing. See Card timing.

How do I make a session repeat continuously?​

Turn on Loop Session in the session's settings so the queue starts again after the last card.

Sharing and sync​

How do I share a folder with one person?​

Long press the folder, tap Share, and choose Share as File to create an encrypted .share file you can send any way you like. The recipient uses + > Import… > Import Shared File. See Share as a file.

How do I publish cards so other people can download them?​

Long press the folder, tap Share, and choose Share via Cloud. Sign in, fill in the details, and choose whether to List publicly in Shared Cards. Private collections are shared by link, and you can publish new revisions later. See Publishing & Private Links.

Why can I not edit a deck I downloaded?​

Downloaded collections are linked folders, which is what lets you receive updates, so they are read-only. Open the collection's Folder Settings and tap Unlink Collection to make it an ordinary folder you can edit. See Linked folders.

Why are my cards not syncing between devices?​

iCloud sync is for iPhone, iPad and Mac. Check that Enable iCloud Storage is on in Settings on each device, that each is signed in to the same Apple ID, and look for errors or conflicts in Settings > iCloud > iCloud Status. See iCloud Sync.

I turned off iCloud and my cards disappeared​

They have not gone anywhere. The iCloud library and the on-device library are separate, and the switch chooses between them without moving cards. Turn Enable iCloud Storage back on to see your iCloud cards. To move cards from one library to the other, make a backup, switch, and restore it. See iCloud Sync.

How do I back up my cards?​

Settings > Backup & Restore > Backup creates an encrypted .backup file of your whole library; save it somewhere other than your device. Settings > Backup & Restore > Restore From Backup brings it back. See Backup & Storage.

Search and support​

Search covers card names, text-to-speech text, transcripts of recordings, tags, and flags. Recordings only become searchable once they are transcribed — open the card, or run Settings > Transcription for the whole library. See Search & Recognition.

How do I contact support?​

Open Settings and tap Contact. Describing the steps that led to a problem makes it much easier to fix.