Frequently Asked Questions

Tap the "+" button on the Decks screen (bottom navigation). Enter a name for your deck (e.g., "Biology Basics") in the text field, then tap "Save." Your new deck will appear in the list, ready for cards.

Open a deck from the Decks screen, then tap the "+" button. Fill in the "Front" (question or prompt) and "Back" (answer or explanation) fields. You can also optionally set a difficulty level (Learning, Familiar, or Confident) from the dropdown. Tap "Save" to add the card.

Rich Flashcards are an enhanced card format designed for language learning. In addition to the standard front and back, they support four optional fields: Pronunciation (e.g., pinyin for Chinese, rōmaji for Japanese), Example Sentence (a sentence in the target language), Example Sentence Pronunciation (the romanised pronunciation of the example), and Example Translation (the sentence translated into your language). These extra fields are displayed automatically during review when present, giving you full context for each word. Rich cards are most commonly imported from the pre-made deck Shop or via a JSON file.

In a deck's card list, long-press a card or tap the edit icon. Update the front, back, difficulty, or any rich fields as needed, then tap "Update." To delete, use the overflow menu (three dots) on the card and select "Delete." Confirm to remove it permanently.

From the Decks screen, long-press a deck or tap its overflow menu. Select "Edit" to rename it or "Delete" to remove it and all its cards permanently. Deletions cannot be undone, so make sure you have a backup (e.g., the original import file) if needed.

StudyMap supports three formats: CSV (.csv), Excel (.xls or .xlsx), and JSON (.json). JSON is the recommended format for language decks because it supports Rich Flashcard fields natively and handles complex characters without formatting issues. CSV and Excel work well for simple two-column (front/back) decks.

From the Decks screen, tap the import icon or go to Import via the menu. Tap "Select File" and choose your CSV or Excel file. The first row is treated as a header and skipped automatically. Column 1 is the card front and column 2 is the back — both are required. Columns 3–6 are optional and map to Pronunciation, Example Sentence, Example Sentence Pronunciation, and Example Translation in that order. Preview the cards, edit the deck name if needed, then tap "Save." Rows with a blank front or back are silently skipped.

Tap "Select File" on the Import screen and pick your .json file. StudyMap automatically detects the file shape — it accepts three formats. A single-deck object (an object with a "cards" array) imports as one deck. A bundle (an object with a "decks" array) imports all decks at once, each keeping its own name. A raw card array (a bare JSON array) imports as a single deck named after the filename. After selecting the file you will see a preview of the cards or, for bundles, a summary showing how many decks and total cards will be created. Tap "Save" to confirm.

Only "front" and "back" are required. Rich language fields are optional. A full example looks like this:

{ "front": "学生", "back": "student", "pronunciation": "xuéshēng", "exampleSentence": "她是一个好学生。", "exampleSentencePronunciation": "Tā shì yīgè hǎo xuéshēng.", "exampleTranslation": "She is a good student." }

Legacy wordlist shapes that use "hanzi", "pinyin", and "translations" fields are also supported automatically.

A bundle is a single JSON file that contains multiple decks — for example, all six HSK levels in one file. When you import a bundle, StudyMap creates each deck separately in your library, named exactly as specified in the file. You will see a summary screen listing all the decks and their card counts before you confirm. Bundles are the format used by pre-made language packs purchased from the Shop.

The Shop is an in-app store where you can purchase professionally prepared language flashcard decks. All decks in the Shop are Rich Flashcards — they include the target-language word, its pronunciation, an example sentence in context, the sentence's pronunciation, and an English translation. Currently available languages are Chinese (HSK) and Korean (TOPIK), with Japanese and Spanish coming soon.

StudyMap offers all six HSK levels aligned to the official 2021 HSK 3.0 standard, available in three target languages: Chinese → English, Chinese → Spanish, and Chinese → Korean. Each level is sold individually (HSK 1 and 2 at $0.99, HSK 3 and 4 at $1.99, HSK 5 and 6 at $2.99) or as a Complete Bundle covering all six levels for $9.99 — saving around 45% compared to buying levels individually. Card counts per level: HSK 1 (150 cards), HSK 2 (150 cards), HSK 3 (300 cards), HSK 4 (600 cards), HSK 5 (1,300 cards), HSK 6 (2,500 cards).

The Korean TOPIK I deck covers approximately 1,670 beginner-level Korean → English vocabulary words with romanisation and example sentences, priced at $4.50. More TOPIK levels and target languages are planned for future updates.

Japanese (JLPT) and Spanish (DELE) decks are shown in the Shop as "Coming Soon." These tiles are visible so you can see what's planned, but they cannot be purchased yet. We will update the app as new content becomes available.

Open the Shop tab (bottom navigation), tap the language you want to study, then browse the available decks and bundles. Tap a card to see a detailed preview with sample cards, then tap "Buy" to complete the purchase through Google Play. All payments are handled securely by Google Play Billing — StudyMap never processes or stores your payment details.

After a successful purchase, the button on the deck card changes to "Download." Tap it to download your deck files. A progress bar shows the download status. Once complete, the deck(s) will appear in your Decks screen, ready to study. If you close the app before downloading, the Download button will still be available the next time you open the Shop — your purchase is remembered.

Tap "Restore Purchases" in the top-right corner of the Shop home screen. StudyMap will query Google Play for all purchases associated with your account and mark them as owned. You can then tap "Download" on each deck to re-download the cards. Note that the card data itself is not backed up to the cloud — only your purchase entitlement is restored through Google Play.

Yes. When you own the Complete Bundle for a language pair (e.g., HSK Complete Bundle — Chinese → English), all six individual level products for that pair are automatically marked as owned. You will not see a "Buy" button for any of those individual levels.

All purchases are processed by Google Play and are subject to Google Play's refund policy. You can request a refund through Google Play within the eligible window — typically within 48 hours of purchase. To request a refund, go to play.google.com/store/account/orderhistory on your device, find the relevant order, and tap "Request a refund." StudyMap and Momentum Apps Limited do not process refunds directly. If you have trouble with a purchase, contact us at [email protected] and we will do our best to assist.

StudyMap offers three review modes: Manual Review for free-form self-assessment, Dictation Review for active recall by typing or speaking, and SRS Review which uses a spaced repetition algorithm to schedule cards based on your performance over time.

Go to the Review tab (bottom navigation) and tap "Manual Review." In the setup sheet, select one or more decks, set the number of cards using the slider, choose which difficulty levels to include (Learning, Familiar, Confident, or all), and optionally toggle Reverse Order to show the back of the card as the prompt. Tap "Get Started" to begin. Swipe or flip cards at your own pace — this mode does not affect SRS scheduling.

From the Review tab, tap "Dictation Review" and configure the same options as Manual Review (decks, card count, difficulty, reverse order). In this mode you type or speak your answer before flipping the card to check it — it is designed to strengthen active recall. Like Manual Review, Dictation Review does not update SRS scheduling.

SRS (Spaced Repetition System) Review uses the SM-2 algorithm to schedule each card at the optimal moment for long-term retention. Cards that you find easy are shown less frequently; cards you struggle with come back sooner. From the Review tab, tap "SRS Review," select your decks, and tap "Get Started." Each session presents cards that are due today (based on their scheduled interval). After revealing the answer, rate yourself using four buttons: Again (complete blank — card returns in 10 minutes), Hard (correct but difficult — interval shrinks), Good (correct with effort — standard progression), Easy (effortless recall — interval grows faster). The app shows the next scheduled interval beneath each button so you know exactly when a card will return.

StudyMap uses an SM-2–based algorithm. New cards start with no interval. Rating a new card Good schedules it for 1 day; Easy schedules it for 4 days. From the second review onward, Good applies the current interval multiplied by the card's ease factor (starting at 2.5). Easy adds a further 1.3× boost and increases the ease factor. Hard reduces the interval to 60% of the current value and lowers the ease factor slightly. Again resets the card and shows it again in 10 minutes, lowering the ease factor. The ease factor is clamped between 1.3 and 2.5 to prevent intervals from becoming impractically short or long. As a card accumulates successful reviews, its difficulty label updates automatically: under 7 days = Learning, 7–21 days = Familiar, over 21 days = Confident.

Yes. During an SRS session, tap the settings icon (gear) in the top-right corner of the review screen. You can toggle "Reverse Card Order" to show the translation as the prompt instead of the target-language word. You can also toggle "Show Pronunciation" to hide or reveal the romanisation on the back of the card — useful for practising reading without pronunciation hints.

Go to Settings → SRS Settings. Use the "New cards per day" slider (5–100) to cap how many brand-new cards are introduced per session. Use the "Max reviews per day" slider (20–500) to cap the total number of cards reviewed in a single day across all sessions. These limits help prevent overwhelming review backlogs.

Open Settings (bottom navigation) and tap the "Dark Mode" card. Choose System (follows your device setting), Light, or Dark. The app restarts immediately to apply the change. This affects backgrounds, cards, and all UI elements.

In Settings, tap the "Language" card. Select English, Spanish, or Korean (한국어). The app restarts to update all text including card labels, menus, and review prompts. Your language choice persists across sessions.

In Settings, tap "SRS Settings." Adjust "New cards per day" (default 20, range 5–100) and "Max reviews per day" (default 100, range 20–500). These settings apply globally across all decks. Tap Save to apply. If you want to study more intensively, increase both sliders; if you want to avoid large daily queues, reduce them.