A spaced repetition app that builds its own cards
A spaced repetition app schedules your reviews so a fact comes back right before you'd forget it, no sooner. Nearly every one makes you build the cards first. TangoLango is the one that writes them for you, which is why people who bounced off Anki tend to stick with it.
- FSRS scheduling, the open-source engine inside Anki
- Cards written for you, with native audio
- 10 minutes a day, on your phone
The scheduler is easy. The card-building is what stops people
Open most spaced repetition apps and you get an empty box. Anki, Mochi, RemNote, Quizlet: powerful, but you supply every card. That's fine for a handful of facts. For a language, where you need thousands of words inside real sentences with audio, the building becomes the reason you stop. The reviews were never the hard part.
So we flipped it. You tell the app what you want to learn, and it generates the card: the sentence, the translation, native audio, ready to review. The scheduling runs on FSRS, the open-source algorithm that predicts when you're about to forget something and shows it to you just before. Fewer reviews for the same memory. If you're curious how that beats the older approach, we wrote up FSRS versus the older SM-2 algorithm.
When you want the blank box instead
If you're studying anything other than a language, or you genuinely like crafting your own cards, use Anki. It's free, open-source, and there's nothing it can't hold: anatomy, chess openings, your friends' birthdays. It runs the same FSRS scheduler once you switch it on, so the science is identical. We're not trying to out-Anki Anki. We do one thing it doesn't: build the language cards so you don't have to.
Built for the language, not just the schedule
Because we only do languages, every card is shaped for one. Every sentence uses words you already know plus one new one, so you're never drowning. The audio is a native speaker, not a robot. And the sentences come from your own life if you want them to, the message your landlord sent, the sign you couldn't read. There's an in-app tutor to ask when you're stuck. It's a spaced repetition app made for language learning, and there's a fuller explainer on how the spacing schedule actually works for languages. Spaced repetition is one of a handful of methods we build the whole app on.
"Everyone tells you spaced repetition works, then hands you an empty deck. The empty deck is where most people quit. We decided the app should fill it for you."
Frequently asked questions
What is the best spaced repetition app?
It depends what you're learning. For any subject with full control, Anki, and it's free. For a language without building every card, an app that generates sentence cards with native audio and schedules them for you, which is what TangoLango does. Both run the same FSRS scheduler, so pick on the work you'll actually keep doing, not the algorithm.
Can ChatGPT do spaced repetition?
Not really. ChatGPT can write flashcards or quiz you in a session, but it doesn't track what you know or schedule reviews over days and weeks, which is the entire point of spaced repetition. You need something that remembers your history and times each review. TangoLango uses an AI tutor to build the cards and a real scheduler (FSRS) to time them, so you get both halves.
Does Duolingo do spaced repetition?
Duolingo resurfaces words over time with its own system, but you don't control the schedule and it only covers its fixed course, not your own material. If spacing is what you're specifically after, a dedicated spaced repetition app gives you real control over what comes back and when.
What is the 2 3 5 7 method?
It's a fixed schedule where you review something after 2, then 3, then 5, then 7 days, one of many simple spacing patterns. It works, but a fixed interval treats every card the same. A modern scheduler like FSRS adjusts to how hard each specific card is for you, so easy words come back rarely and tricky ones come back often. You review less for the same result.
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