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Show HN: I built FlipCards – a flashcard app with variations to improve learning

flipcardsapp.vercel.app

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Show HN: I built FlipCards – a flashcard app with variations to improve learning

#1

Post by felipefreitasa_ »

Hi HN, I’m Felipe, a 9-5 developer aiming to become a full-time indie hacker. I struggled with flashcard apps that focus on decorating cards instead of learning concepts, so I built FlipCards to solve that problem.

What it does: FlipCards lets you:

- Create cards for any concept (math, language, coding, etc.) - Add multiple variations per card – the more variations, the better your understanding - Study smarter – the algorithm randomly selects variations so you can’t just memorize Q→A patterns

Why it’s different:

- Most apps use reverse cards (Q→A, A→Q). FlipCards uses variations to reinforce concepts in multiple contexts. - Powered by the SM2 spaced repetition algorithm, scientifically proven for long-term retention.

Pricing:

- Free – 1 deck, 3 cards, 1 study session - Annual – $20/year for unlimited decks and cards - Lifetime – $50 one-time for unlimited everything

I built FlipCards because I kept getting stuck decorating cards in other apps. Now I can create as many variations as I want, and the algorithm mixes them for me.

I’d love feedback from the HN community:

- Does this approach to flashcards make sense? - Would you use an app like this for learning?

Try it here: https://flipcardsapp.vercel.app

Thanks, Felipe

Show HN: I built FlipCards – a flashcard app with variations to improve learning
flipcardsapp.vercel.app

Re: Show HN: I built FlipCards – a flashcard app with variations to improve learning

#2

Post by rickcarlino »

Love the idea! Consider adding concrete examples of what a variation is on your landing page and making it very prominent.

I’ve been exploring a similar idea, feel free to reach out if you ever want to talk.

https://rickcarlino.com/notes/creating-micro-lessons-from-sp...

Re: Show HN: I built FlipCards – a flashcard app with variations to improve learning

#6

Post by vunderba »

Good job getting across the finish line. I do think the flashcard market (particularly subscription) is pretty competitive so bear that in mind.

Without an export option (which I didn't see listed in the features), you're going to have to convince people that your walled garden is worth the price of admission.

Related, I used to have a dedicated flashcard study application that could handle "card variations" but it was a hassle since the app was desktop only. With a bit of JS and custom card types, you can actually do this in Anki now which gives the benefit of dedicated mobile app, syncing, etc.

https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/163606663

I experimented with autogenerating variations of a single card using LLMs but at the end of the day, the best flashcard is probably the one you write yourself. (similar to mnemonics)

Re: Show HN: I built FlipCards – a flashcard app with variations to improve learning

#7

Post by owenpalmer »

My feedback as an Anki user:

1. The landing page and app UI is beautiful and fast, great work.

2. Never require signup for trying an app, especially for a Show HN.

3. I see the value in trying to prevent memorization of Q → A patterns, but creating cards takes time. Instead of making 1 card, I now need to make 3, that triples the amount of time spent. Additionally, why do variations need to be associated to a parent card? What's wrong with flattening your card structure?

4. The annual subscription price seems a little high, especially since there are so many free SRS programs out there.

5. Memorization of Q → A patterns can be mitigated by other means, such as making more open ended cards, requiring longer answers, or by simply trying not to just memorize and forcing yourself to think about the card and it's applications.

> Would you use an app like this for learning? Would I use it? Perhaps. Would I pay for it? No. Anki has so many more features, plugins, local control over my data, and... it's free.

Re: Show HN: I built FlipCards – a flashcard app with variations to improve learning

#8

Post by charlie-83 »

Hey Felipe, this looks really clean. I'll give you some first impressions I had and hope they ate useful.

What is this app on? Is it just a website or is it a mobile app? Is it going to work offline?

What does "decorating cards" mean? I haven't heard that term before but it seems to be a key part of your selling point.

Also, how does adding variations to a card in your app differ to just adding variations as new cards in another app?

The screenshot of the app could be a lot bigger (Firefox mobile). There's two layers of blank space around so I can't actually read the text without zooming.

"Most apps use reverse cards (Q->A, A->Q)" I don't understand what this means.

I like the pricing scheme. It's simple. The only thing I would change is to add rent to buy. E.g. if you pay 20 for a year and then decide you want lifetime it's only 30. This helps to avoid the situation where 50 is too much for someone when they aren't sure they'll keep using it but 20 feels like a bad deal if they end up using it a lot and get the lifetime anyway (they've "wasted" 20).

Re: Show HN: I built FlipCards – a flashcard app with variations to improve learning

#9

Post by jonwinstanley »

owenpalmer wrote: post #7

My feedback as an Anki user: 1. The landing page and app UI is beautiful and fast, great work. 2. Never require signup for trying an app, especially for a Show HN. 3. I see the value in trying to prevent memorization of Q → A patterns, but creating cards takes time. Instead of making 1 card, I now need to make 3, that triples the amount of time spent. Additionally, why do variations need to be associated to a parent…

+1 for signup. I'd have defo signed up to try it out, but I don't use Google to sign in to anything I'm afraid

Re: Show HN: I built FlipCards – a flashcard app with variations to improve learning

#10

Post by kebsup »

Nice to see someone taking the concept of card variations to all concepts.

I'm taking this to extreme with Vocabuo[1] for language learning. For a single word, I have cloze cards, reverse cloze, definition cards, dialogs, audio and a few more.

At some point, I'd like to take the card type into account when calculating the next repetition stage, but that's a bit far into the future.

[1] https://vocabuo.com

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