Frequently Asked Questions

topos is an AI-powered flashcard app for iPhone that helps you study smarter. Paste your notes, and AI generates high-quality flashcards in seconds. Study with proven memory techniques: spaced repetition, memory hooks, and Memory Palaces.

• AI-Powered: Generate flashcards from any text in seconds (no manual card creation)
• AR Palace Builder: Scan any room with your iPhone camera to place memory locations in your real physical space — no other flashcard app does this
• Topos Coach: An AI study coach on your home screen that tells you exactly what to study each day
• Memory Science: Built-in mnemonic hooks, elaboration prompts, and Memory Palace mode
• Fair Pricing: $5.99/month or $49.99/year

Currently iPhone only (iOS 17+). iPad and Mac versions are planned for future releases.

Free Tier:

• 3 AI generations per day
• Up to 3 decks
• 1 Memory Palace
• Unlimited manual card creation
• Full study mode with spaced repetition

topos Pro:

• $5.99/month or $49.99/year (save ~30%)
• 7-day free trial on annual plan
• Unlimited AI generations
• Unlimited decks & Memory Palaces
• Advanced statistics (coming soon)
• iCloud sync (v0.2)

Free users get 3 AI generations per day. Each generation creates 5-15 flashcards from your text. The limit resets at midnight (local time). Pro users have unlimited generations.

Yes! The annual plan includes a 7-day free trial. Cancel anytime during the trial and you won't be charged.

1. Open iPhone Settings
2. Tap your name at the top
3. Tap Subscriptions
4. Select topos Pro
5. Tap Cancel Subscription

Or manage it directly from the topos app: Settings → Manage Subscription

Best:

• Lecture notes (50-2000 words)
• Textbook excerpts
• Article summaries
• Study guides
• Language vocabulary lists

Tips:

• At least 50 characters (minimum)
• Up to 10,000 characters
• Clear, factual content works best
• Avoid heavily formatted text (tables, complex diagrams)

Yes! After generation, you can:

• Edit the question or answer text
• Remove cards you don't want
• Add your own mnemonic hook
• Assign cards to different decks

Spaced repetition is a study technique where you review flashcards at increasing intervals. topos uses the SM-2 algorithm (same as Anki) to calculate the perfect time to review each card based on how well you remembered it. If you rate a card "Good," you might see it again in 3 days, then 7 days, then 14, then 30, etc.

Memory Hooks are vivid, bizarre mental images that help you remember the answer. For example:

Question: "What is mitochondria?"
Memory Hook: "Imagine tiny factories inside a prison cell, belching smoke and powering lights — that's mitochondria powering the cell."

This leverages the "picture superiority effect" — images stick better than words. You can toggle Memory Hooks on/off in Settings.

The Memory Palace (or "method of loci") is an ancient memory technique used by memory champions. You mentally place information at specific locations in a familiar space (your house, walk to school, etc.), then "walk through" to recall them in order.

How it works in topos:

1. Create a palace (e.g., "My Apartment")
2. Add locations — using AR scanning or manually
3. Assign flashcards to each location
4. Take a "walk-through" to study cards spatially

This is especially powerful for ordered information (like a speech outline or anatomy).

The AR Palace Scanner uses your iPhone camera to detect flat surfaces in your real environment and lets you tap to place memory location markers directly in physical space.

To use it:

1. Go to the Palace tab and tap +
2. Choose Scan with AR
3. Slowly move your camera around the room — yellow dots appear on detected surfaces
4. Tap any surface to place a location marker
5. Add 7–9 locations, then tap Done

Because your locations are anchored to real-world coordinates, the spatial memory association is stronger than a purely imagined palace. Works on any iPhone with ARKit support (iPhone 6s or newer).

All your flashcards, decks, and study data are stored locally on your iPhone. Nothing is uploaded to the cloud (except during AI generation — see below).

Coming in v0.2: Optional iCloud sync (Pro feature) to sync across your devices.

When you generate flashcards, the text you paste is sent to Gemini to create the cards. Gemini may use this data per their privacy policy.

We do NOT:

• Store your input text after generation
• Share your text with third parties (besides Gemini for generation)
• Use your text for marketing or analytics

No tracking or analytics at launch. We may add privacy-friendly analytics (like session counts) in the future, but any changes will be clearly disclosed.

Start with 20 cards/day (the app's default goal). Adjust based on your schedule:

• Light: 10 cards/day (~5 minutes)
• Moderate: 20 cards/day (~10 minutes)
• Intense: 50+ cards/day (~25+ minutes)

Consistency matters more than volume. Studying 20 cards every day beats 100 cards once a week.

• Again: You forgot the answer (card shown again soon, ~1 minute)
• Hard: You struggled but remembered (next review in ~1 day)
• Good: You remembered easily (next review in ~3-7 days, increases over time)
• Easy: Trivially easy (next review in ~7-14 days, increases faster)

The algorithm learns your memory and adjusts intervals automatically.

Email us at support@gettopos.app with:

• What you were doing when the bug happened
• Screenshots (if applicable)
• iPhone model and iOS version

We read every email and respond within 24 hours (usually faster).

Email: support@gettopos.app
Response time: Usually within 24 hours

We don't have phone support, but we respond to every email personally.