The best study apps for high school students in 2026

How we compared them

We make prettysmart, one of the apps below, so it isn’t ranked first and its drawbacks are listed like everyone else’s. Most lists that rank for this search are written by an app maker that puts its own product at the top; we’d rather say so.

For each app we read its own website and its US App Store listing on October 16, 2026: what it’s for, the free tier in actual numbers, the paid price on the web and in the iPhone app (they’re not always the same), and the real drawbacks. Prices change and differ by country.

The short list, by job

You need one app per job, not ten apps that all do a bit of everything.

• Flashcards, free: Knowt
• Flashcards with ready-made sets: Quizlet
• Flashcards for the long haul: Anki (free on a computer; $24.99 on iPhone)
• Lessons and practice: Khan Academy
• Ask questions about your own notes: Gemini Notebook (formerly NotebookLM)
• Your class schedule and homework: MyStudyLife
• Math you’re stuck on: Photomath, after you’ve tried the problem
• Notes: Notion, or Goodnotes on an iPad
• When your phone wins every study session: Forest (free), Opal (strict), or prettysmart (studying earns your screen time)

What makes a study app worth it

Two questions sort the good apps from the time-wasters: does it make you recall the answer, and does it space your reviews over days?

That’s what the research rates highest. In the best-known review of study techniques, practice testing and spaced practice were the only two rated high utility. Summarizing, highlighting and rereading were rated low (Dunlosky et al., 2013).

That’s also why an AI summary of your notes isn’t studying until something quizzes you on it.

Compared at a glance

Flashcards and memorization

Quizlet

The fastest way to find a set someone already made, and to drill it with games.

• Free: a free account covers flashcards, practice questions and activities, but Learn is limited to a set number of rounds per flashcard set and you get one practice test per set, with ads.
• Paid: Quizlet Plus and Plus Unlimited remove the limits; the US App Store lists them at $9.99 and $44.99 without saying which is monthly.

Watch out: Lists online quote everything from $19.99 to $35.99 a year, so check the app before you trust any of them.

Anki

The most powerful free flashcard app, if you’re willing to set it up. It supports the FSRS scheduler, the most modern way of spacing reviews.

• Free: Anki is free on Windows, Mac and Linux, AnkiDroid is free on Android, and AnkiWeb sync is free.
• Paid: AnkiMobile costs $24.99 on iPhone, once.
• Drawbacks: it’s the only app here you pay for up front on iPhone, and the setup takes time; it’s easy to spend more time building decks than studying them.

Knowt

Quizlet-style sets with unlimited free Learn mode, matching games, spaced repetition and practice tests, plus a library of millions of sets.

• Paid: Knowt Ultra removes ads and adds AI summaries of PDFs, videos and lectures, and AP, SAT and ACT prep, for $149.99 a year or $24.99 a month; the App Store shows several other price points too.
• Drawback: ads on the free tier, and the AI tools are paid.

Brainscape

Flashcards that ask how confident you are and repeat the shaky ones more often, plus certified decks for exams.

• Free: type unlimited cards and study 2,500 pre-made ones.
• Paid: Pro is $95.99 a year, $59.99 every six months, or $19.99 a month, with a $199.99 lifetime option.
• Drawback: images and sound on your own cards are paid.

RemNote

Notes and flashcards in one place: you make cards inside your notes, annotate PDFs, and it schedules reviews with FSRS.

• Free: unlimited notes and cards, 3 annotated PDFs and 5 image occlusion cards.
• Paid: Pro is $96 a year on the website, but $149.99 a year in the iPhone app, the biggest gap on this list.

Gizmo

Game-style quizzing with streaks and lives, and imports from Quizlet, Anki, YouTube, PDFs and slides.

• Free: unlimited cards, but lose 15 hearts and you wait 10 minutes, and you get 2 imports a day.
• Paid: Gizmo Unlimited is sold weekly or yearly, with prices shown only inside the app.
• Drawback: a weekly plan is easy to overpay on.

AI study tools

Gemini Notebook (formerly NotebookLM)

Google renamed NotebookLM to Gemini Notebook on July 16, 2026. You add your own sources, such as PDFs, websites, videos or text, and ask questions; answers cite where they came from, and it can make audio overviews and, for some users, quizzes and flashcards.

• Free: 100 notebooks of 50 sources each; Google AI Plus starts at $4.99 a month.
• Student deal: the free year of Google AI Pro is for US college students 18 and over, not high schoolers.
• Drawback: a summary isn’t practice, so use the quizzes, not just the summaries.

Focus and the phone

Here’s the part most lists skip. English schools that banned phones saw exam results rise slightly, mostly for the lowest achievers (Beland and Murphy, 2016).

But a 2025 study of 30 UK schools found no difference in grades, because students made the phone time up after school (SMART Schools commentary).

The battle is the evening at home, when homework happens. For the full comparison, see the best app blockers for studying.

Forest

Stay off your phone and a tree grows; leave and it withers.

• Free: Forest is now free, including focus sessions and blocking other apps during them, with occasional ads outside sessions.
• Paid: Forest Plus is $5.99 a month or $32.49 to $35.99 a year.
• Drawback: it times your focus but doesn’t teach you anything.

Watch out: Several lists still call it a one-time $1.99 to $3.99 purchase; that version isn’t sold anymore.

Opal

Strict, scheduled app blocking.

• Price: the free plan is one rule; Pro is $99.99 a year or $19.99 a month, with Hard Mode, which the maker says you can’t turn off. Students can apply for up to 50% off.
• Needs: iOS 18, so older iPhones are out.

prettysmart (ours)

prettysmart is a flashcard app and a phone lock in one: it locks the apps you pick, and every card you review earns some screen time back. AI writes the cards from your notes, a PDF, photos or a typed topic, and FSRS schedules the reviews.

That’s the gap the phone research points at: Forest and Opal block but don’t teach, and Quizlet and Anki teach but don’t touch your other apps. It’s not the only app built this way; ScrollToll, Recess and Study Lock also make you study to unlock.

• Price: free to try, then $28.99 a year or $11.99 a month in the US.
• Drawbacks: iPhone only (iOS 16.4 or later), a subscription with no student price, no public deck library, and the lock runs on Apple’s Screen Time, so you can change it in Settings.

Planning

MyStudyLife

A school planner that understands rotating and week A/B timetables, with homework, exams and grades, free forever.

• Paid: MyStudyLife+ is $39.99 a year or $6.99 a month, though its site doesn’t spell out what the paid plan adds.
• Drawback: its US App Store rating (4.5) is the lowest of the free apps here.

Subject help

Khan Academy

Free lessons and practice in math, science, economics and the humanities, from a nonprofit.

• Paid: the AI tutor, Khanmigo, is $4 a month or $44 a year.
• Drawback: the app is a subset of the website; test prep and some tools are only on khanacademy.org.

Photomath

Point your camera at a math problem and get step-by-step solutions; the basic steps are free.

• Paid: Photomath Plus, with animated tutorials and textbook solutions, is $69.99 a year or $9.99 a month.
• Drawback: it hands you the answer, so it only helps you learn if you work the problem first and use it to check.

Notes

Notion

One place for notes, assignment trackers and class dashboards.

• Free: Notion has a free plan, and the Plus plan is free for students who sign in with a school email (many schools qualify, not only .edu addresses).
• Paid: otherwise Plus is $12 a month or $120 a year. It needs iOS 18.
• Drawback: it organizes, it doesn’t quiz you.

Goodnotes

Handwritten notes and PDF annotation, best on an iPad with a stylus.

• Free: 3 notebooks.
• Paid: Essential is $11.99 a year and Pro $35.99 a year. It needs iOS 18.6.
• Drawback: on a phone it’s mostly a viewer.

Pay on the website, not in the app

Subscriptions bought in the iPhone app can cost more than the same plan on the web. RemNote Pro is $96 a year on its site and $149.99 a year in the App Store, while Notion is about the same either way.

Tip: Before you subscribe, check both.

Student discounts: who actually qualifies

• Google AI Pro, free for a year: US college students 18 and over only.
• Notion Plus, free: needs a school email address.
• Opal, up to 50% off: after an application.
• Gizmo: a student toggle appears if you’re eligible.
• Khanmigo: $4 a month for anyone.

Most “student” deals are built for college students; check the rules before you count on one in high school.

Still recommended elsewhere, but gone

• StudyBlue now redirects to Chegg.
• Tinycards now redirects to Duolingo.
• RefME now redirects to Cite This For Me.
• Forest’s one-time purchase is no longer sold; Forest is free with an optional subscription.

Taking AP classes?

The apps matter less than how you use them. Our exam guides cover what’s on each test, what to memorize and what to skip, with a free deck each: how to study for APUSH, how to study for AP Biology and how to study for AP Psychology.