A simple flashcard app with spaced repetition built in

Most flashcard apps ask you to configure a study system before you have learned anything. Nearer gives you a card, two buttons and a schedule that runs itself.

The short version

Nearer schedules reviews with FSRS, the same spaced-repetition algorithm modern Anki uses, and hides all of it. You see one card, press Again or Got it, and the app works out when to show it next. Your to-do lists and routines live in the same place.

Why a simpler flashcard app usually beats a better one

Almost nobody abandons a deck because the scheduling was wrong. They abandon it in the first fortnight, while the app is still asking which note type to use and whether to enable a better algorithm. Every one of those questions arrives before a single card has been learned, when your motivation is at its most fragile.

The scheduling only starts mattering months later, and by then most people are no longer there. So Nearer runs a proven algorithm on your behalf and spends its interface budget on getting you to the first review instead.

How it works

One

Make a list and turn study mode on

Study mode is a per-list toggle in the list menu, the same place the timer and progress bar live. Off, the list is a plain browse carousel. On, it becomes a review session.

Two

Add cards with a front and a back

A question and its answer. There are no note types to pick and no templates to fill in, so the first card takes about as long as writing it on paper would.

Three

Review with two buttons

Space flips the card. Again puts it back in the queue for later in the session, Got it schedules it further out. That is the entire interface.

Studying next to everything else

A deck is rarely the only thing you are tracking while you revise. There is a reading schedule, a set of assignments, and a study block you are trying to hold most mornings. Nearer treats all three as the same kind of object, a list of cards you work through one at a time, so finishing today’s reviews puts the next thing you meant to do directly in front of you.

If you are weighing this against a dedicated study app, we wrote a fuller comparison of Nearer and Anki, including the cases where Anki is the better answer.

What it does not do

  • · No cloze deletions, image occlusion, note types or card templates.
  • · No importing an existing deck, so cards go in by hand.
  • · No shared or downloadable decks. You write your own.
  • · No statistics screens, heatmaps or add-ons.

Each of those is a deliberate omission rather than a roadmap item. If you need them, a dedicated flashcard app is the right tool.

Try Nearer free for 7 days

No credit card required.

Common questions

Does Nearer use real spaced repetition?
Yes. Reviews are scheduled with FSRS, the same algorithm modern Anki uses, so cards come back at intervals based on how well you actually recalled them. Nearer never shows you the machinery. There are no intervals, no ease numbers and no deck options.
Why only two buttons instead of four?
Because you press one on every single card, hundreds of times a session. Four grades give a practised user finer control over scheduling, and they also add a judgement call to every repetition. Nearer trades that control for never having to make the call.
Can I import an existing deck?
No. There is no .apkg or CSV import, so cards are added by hand. If you already have thousands of cards elsewhere, Nearer suits material you are about to learn better than a backlog you are moving across.
Does it support cloze deletions or images on cards?
No. Cards are a plain front and back. If your studying depends on cloze deletions or image occlusion, a dedicated flashcard app will serve you better and we would rather say so here.
Is there a free version?
No free tier. Every account gets a 7-day trial of the whole app with no card, then $49.99 per year, or $5.99 per month. That covers to-do lists and routines as well as flashcards.