These Are the Best Free Study Apps for Any Learner

Maybe you tend to study the old-school way: sit down, break out a highlighter and pen combo, memorize your notes, and pray you retain it all until test time. But there are also some great apps out there that can help you study more effectively to increase the odds of retention. Which one is right for you will depend on your needs.

If you need to schedule your studying: My Study Life

My Study Life promises you’ll “never forget a class or assignment again” and offers schedulers, task to-do lists, and reminders to that end. It works with your iPhone or Android and even has a web browser version so you can use it no matter where you are. The scheduler even works if you have your classes on alternating weeks. It’s free, offers color-coding, and sends you push alerts about upcoming assignments.

If you study best with flashcards: Quizlet

If you’re only using Quizlet for low-key cheating on your homework, you’re not maximizing its potential. If you learn best by being quizzed, this site can also help you make your own flashcards. It’s free to use, but if you upgrade ($7.99/month), you also get access to different question types, like multiple choice, and practice tests.

If you need to take notes on lectures: Otter

Otter, which has a pretty extensive free version, is a dictation program that takes notes for you. Commonly used by journalists or people who need to transcribe interviews, it’s also great for students whose professors give long lectures full of important info. It recognizes when the speaker has shifted and once you assign a name to a certain speaker, the software will always recognize their voice going forward. You can highlight passages, edit the text in the event the software gets something wrong, and share transcripts with anyone, even if they don’t use Otter. Even with the free version, you can link it up with Zoom or Google Meet, too, so it’s helpful for online classes, and you can get 300 monthly transcription minutes (with 30 minutes per session) before having to upgrade to Pro for $8.33 per month.

If you take lots of notes: Evernote

The best way to think of Evernote, which has a free version and upgrades to $7.99 per month, is like a collection of folders. You can take information from different sources (like your notes, websites, and articles) and put it all on one page within the app, which also works across your computer. It organizes all these notes into one easy-to-access area. You can even upload pictures of your own notes or the notes on a blackboard and let Evernote’s character-recognition software do its thing. From there, even hand-written characters will be searchable and you can add them to your folders.

If you struggle with citations: BibMe

There have been a number of citations-based softwares over the years (RIP, RefME) and Microsoft Office does have the ability to help you add citations into documents, but BibMe is easy to use and has withstood the test of time. (I’ve had my account for well over 10 years.) The automatic citation creator supports MLA, APA, and Chicago formatting, is free to use for the most part, and almost always recognizes the book, article, journal article, or website you’re trying to cite, limiting how much manual input you need to add to any citation. It creates full reference pages with ease. The advanced version is $9.95 per month, but you really don’t need it; simply watch a short ad to access the core functionality for free.

If you’re an auditory learner: Speechify

For some people, reading is the best way to learn. Others like flashcards or working with their hands. Some people learn best through audio. If that’s you, try running your written study materials through Speechify, which has a free and paid version (as long as what you have is copy-and-paste-able). For free, you get to choose from 10 standard reading voices, which will read your written materials back to you. For $11.58 per month (billed at $139 per year), you get over 30 voices, playback in more than 20 languages, and the ability to scan and listen to any printed text, plus note-taking functions.