Study apps for university students

University study needs a different set of tools from school. Reading lists get longer, references matter, and nobody reminds you to revise. These five apps cover most of what students need. They work best in combination, and none is required.

Anki: spaced repetition flashcards

Anki shows you flashcards at increasing intervals, timed to just before you would forget them. It is popular with medical and language students, who have large volumes of facts to retain. The desktop program and AnkiWeb are free. On Android, AnkiDroid is free and open source. On iPhone, AnkiMobile is a paid app, and the fee helps fund development.

Anki looks plain and takes some setup. Shared decks exist for many courses, but cards you write yourself tend to be remembered better.

Notion: notes and planning

Notion combines notes, databases, task lists and simple wikis. Students use it for lecture notes, reading trackers and assignment calendars. The free plan covers individual use, and education accounts have historically received upgraded plans; check Notion's current terms. It needs an internet connection for some features, and its flexibility can turn into time spent arranging pages instead of studying.

Zotero: references and citations

Zotero collects references from your browser, stores PDFs, and inserts citations and bibliographies into Word, LibreOffice and Google Docs in thousands of citation styles. It is free and open source, with free cloud storage up to a limit and paid storage beyond. The iOS app lets you read and annotate PDFs from your library.

If your course involves essays with references, installing Zotero in your first week will save hours by the final year.

Forest: focus timer

Forest plants a virtual tree when you start a focus session, and the tree dies if you leave the app to use your phone. Over time you build a forest. The developer partners with a tree-planting organisation, and users can spend in-app coins towards planting real trees. It is a paid app on iOS and free with ads and optional purchases on Android.

Quizlet: flashcards and study sets

Quizlet offers flashcards and study games, with a large library of sets made by other users. The free tier covers basic flashcards. Quizlet Plus, a paid subscription, unlocks more study modes and removes ads. User-made sets can contain mistakes, so check them against your course material.

Which ones to use

Choosing a university

If you are still choosing where to study, UniversitiesDB lists universities by country and lets you compare them side by side, which is quicker than searching university websites one at a time.

Our take

Editorial opinion

For most students, Zotero and one flashcard app (Anki if you will invest setup time, Quizlet if you will not) cover the biggest gaps. Add Notion only if you will use it consistently.

By the Mobiledista editorial team. Updated October 2026.