Why is this app this expensive in App Store?

AnkiMobile (iPhone/iPad) Help
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I could understand making this app paid since App Store takes some fee from developers and I would like to support developers but 1299₺ (=$31) ? What? I thought it was a mistake first! This is a free app both on Android and Windows, why is it this expensive on iOS? I could gladly support developers but in this price, it is impossible! I like this app a lot but the pricing is completely wrong no one could pay this much.

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(I’m not related to the official Anki.) You don’t need to pay to use Anki, iOS users who don’t use AnkiMobile basically use free AnkiWeb, so try making cards on your laptop and review them on AnkiWeb (Anki for PC is all free, including Mac).

The official Anki are these:

[ Official Anki ]

  1. AnkiMobile ($24.99/Lifetime, one time only) Official Anki developed app.
  2. AnkiDroid ($0) Anki app developed by volunteers. / donation
  3. Anki for Desktop ($0 Win, Mac, Linux) Official Anki and volunteer developed.
  4. AnkiWeb ($0) Simple Anki for Browser.

[ Why is AnkiMbile so expensive? ]

AnkiDroid and AnkiMobile are both official Anki, but with different development groups, so the prices are different. AnkiDroid is volunteer, they develop AnkiDroid by contribution and donation. Official Anki is a business, they develop Anki for desktop and AnkiMobile (AnkiMobile is the only way to financially support official Anki). They are compatible and share development resources, so both are more powerful. e.g. AnkiMobile has more users by the popularity of the free AnkiDroid, and AnkiDroid has more performance by using AnkiMobile’s paid resources.

AnkiMobile is more expensive than most apps, but it is a one time price (lifetime $24.99). Similar learning apps cost more than AnkiMibile in the long run because they typically charge a monthly fee, and most learning is long term (e.g. $5/month x 3 years = $180), so among learning apps of similar performance AnkiMobile is the cheapest. You may think that you can just switch from a similar free learning app to Anki later, but it is difficult to switch apps later. Typical learning apps don’t want to lose users so they charge for export or make it impossible to move the deck schedule. (In short your deck is held hostage, the average learner cannot discard hundreds to thousands of card) So if you plan to change to Anki later the free AnkiWeb is easier than similar learning apps.

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