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How to use your Anki decks on iPad (free, without the $25 app)

Anki is brilliant on the desktop, but the official iPhone/iPad app, AnkiMobile, costs $25. If you just want to review your existing decks on an iPad, you don't have to pay for it. Here's the free way — with your images, LaTeX, and chapter hierarchy intact.

First: get your deck as a .apkg file

A .apkg is Anki's deck export — a single file that bundles your cards, note types, and media. To create one from the desktop app:

• Open Anki on your computer and find the deck you want.
• Click the gear next to the deck (or File → Export) and choose Export.
• Set the format to Anki Deck Package (.apkg), include media, and — importantly — tick “Support older Anki versions.” This writes the deck in the legacy format that almost every third-party reader understands.
• Save the .apkg, then get it onto your iPad (AirDrop, iCloud Drive, email, or a shared folder).

Then: open it in a flashcard app that reads .apkg

Several iOS apps can import a .apkg. We build one — Synapse — so here's how it works there, but the idea is the same elsewhere:

1. Import the file

   In Synapse, go to the Study tab, tap the ＋ in the top-right, choose Import, and pick your .apkg. Synapse rebuilds the deck and chapter hierarchy (the A::B::C structure becomes nested decks) and renders images and LaTeX math.

2. Study it

   Open the deck and start reviewing. Synapse uses a proven SM-2 spaced-repetition schedule, so each card comes back right before you'd forget it.

3. Sync across devices

   Sign into iCloud and your decks and progress sync automatically between iPhone and iPad — no account to create.

If the import looks off, fix the deck first

Occasionally a deck won't import cleanly — usually because it was exported in the newest format, or it has odd formatting. Two quick fixes:

• Re-export with “Support older Anki versions” enabled (the legacy format reads and writes most reliably).
• Tidy it in a browser first. Our free, in-browser .apkg editor opens a deck, lets you reorder, rename, split, or edit cards, and re-saves a clean copy — entirely on your device, nothing uploaded. Handy for trimming a giant deck down to the chapter you actually need.

Why bother (vs. just buying AnkiMobile)?

AnkiMobile is a fine app and a fair way to support Anki's developer. But a modern reader can add things the classic app doesn't: a private, on-device AI study coach, an Apple Pencil scratchpad for working problems beside the card, and a free tier to try it all. The point is you have options — and keeping your decks portable as .apkg files means you're never locked in.