Anki Desktop Version - standard vs. alternate?

Hey there! I’m new to Anki and I’ve already got stuck :sweat_smile:! So, here’s the problem: I have an old Macbook (10.12.6) and, therefore, I cannot download the latest desktop version. For this reason, I was wondering what the difference between the standard and the alternate version is? Would one of them work? I googled the issue and I’ve found one post yet that says that the only difference is that the alternate version works for older Macs too. However, another post says that the alternate version doesn’t work properly. It would be great if you could help me!

The alternate version is similar to previous Anki 2.1 releases, and is built with an older toolkit. It will run on some older systems that the standard version will not, but as it is not as up to date, it may be missing bugfixes and security improvements that the standard version includes.

See Changes - Changes for a summary of the differences.

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Note that since 2.1.6 was released, the standard version moved to a minimum of 10.13 - so 2.1.35-alternate is the last Anki version that will work on your macOS version.

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Thank you very much! I will look at the Anki Changes you mentioned.

Thank you very much! Do you know whether the 2.1.35 alternate version will always be available and working or is there a risk that it will be shut down and, therefore, I would lose my cards?

The program that’s installed on your Mac will not go away, so as long as you keep your Mac, you should have no problem.

Moreover: If you sync your cards with AnkiWeb, they’ll be safe even if you lose your computer, and you can do reviews online (through a browser) or on your mobile device.

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Thank you very much! That makes total sense! I just wasn’t aware of it :smile: :see_no_evil: