Anki SRS on the Nintendo DS

So far the available options for taking your Anki deck mobile are not that great. I'd love to have a proper Anki iPhone app with syncing and stats. I've toyed with the idea of building my own for my first iPhone app project, but unfortunately there aren't 36 hours in a day, so I've never found the time to start it.

Today I spotted an interesting tweet by @2nihon about his attempts to get his Anki deck onto his Nintendo DS.

He has yet to put it into action, but the tools are on the way and I'm looking forward to reading more about it.

2nihon said on Tue 2009/06/16 01:49 JST:

There are actually already two versions of Anki available for regular and jailbroken iPhones: http://ichi2.net/anki/download/ The version for regular iPhones was just released the other day, or at least I just noticed it the other day, AFTER I had bought my Nintendo DS. Doh!

I am going this route because there isn't a full version of Anki for the DS yet, and I'm not inclined to go learning a programming language...too busy learning this language! ^o^ My Anki deck is ready to import once I get my flash cart and memory card in the mail. I'll update my blog with the results.

Thanks for the tweet and post!

Enrico Bianco said on Tue 2009/06/16 02:19 JST:

I have an Android phone myself, so I've thought of developing Anki SRS for the Android. There really do need to be more ways to take Anki on the road. =)

Chris Gaunt said on Tue 2009/06/16 14:52 JST:

I took a look at the iPhone apps previously but it seems the stock iPhone app requires a constant connection to a local machine via WiFi. I hope someone will come up with a proper iPhone app with offline study and syncing some day.

If I can get a copy, even an old copy, of an anki deck onto my DS it will be useful.

2nihon said on Tue 2009/06/16 16:31 JST:

Very true. I took a look at iAnki and gave up. :) I'll let you know how the DS thing goes.

Joe said on Sat 2009/07/04 11:29 JST:

AnkiMini for the iPhone/iPod touch was released recently, it syncs with the Anki server and allows you to do reviews offline. The only thing is that because Apple won't support it in its current form, you have to jailbreak to use it. But I've been using it for the past couple days and it's perfect, my whole Anki deck on the go, offline. Here's the link: http://ichi2.net/anki/ankimini/

2nihon said on Mon 2009/08/03 06:05 JST:

Thought you might enjoy an update, Chris. Been using ndsrs for over a month now. It's OK. By its simplicity, it ensures that I spend more time studying than I do working on nitpicky things like revising kanji stories or adjusting word order. Fix it later, buddy, because right now it's study or nothing.

The features I miss most are sync and editing. Sync is not really a deal-breaker for me, as the DS is my primary on-the-go study tool and I have it with me all the time, so the simple Anki-based intervals work well for me.

You can do a one-way sort of editing: if you need to change a card, all you need to do is modify the line in your original text file and re-import it. Still, I can't add any notes to my cards ('change this later') or modify them ('oh! I got this great new idea for a story but...I can't edit it and I don't have a pen and paper...').

Since they already crammed Opera into a DS (and integrated it into the DSi), if enough people from the Anki community and the DS homebrew community got together, we could certainly fit Anki in there. There are slot 2 memory cards that increase the DS's built-in 2MB of operational memory up to 32MB. A stripped-down version of Anki could certainly use a 1GB flash kart and 32MB of operational memory. I just don't have time to learn C++ to do it myself. :P

xyz` said on Fri 2009/08/14 13:26 JST:

http://digital-haze.net/ankidssync.php
oh hey look at that

Thierry Régagnon said on Mon 2009/08/17 07:41 JST:

Every morning, on my way to work, I use Anki Online with my iPhone for reviewing : http://anki.ichi2.net/

I am often too tired when I am back home to review. I am now spending all my review time with the online version. I only use the desktop app to add new cards.