ShiBei First Look: Can AI-Generated Flashcards From Your Chats Replace Anki?

ShiBei is a new iOS app that skips the part of flashcard-making everyone hates: manually writing the cards. Instead, it reads through chat conversations you've had (with AI tutors, chatbots, or presumably imported text) and its own AI pulls out discoverable topics and insights, then converts them into flashcards for spaced repetition review. It syncs through iCloud and supports customizable card templates.

We took it for a spin to see whether the automation is worth the subscription price, which — spoiler — is not cheap relative to the established players in this space.

How ShiBei Actually Works

The core loop is: have a conversation (or feed it one) → ShiBei's AI scans it for facts, definitions, and concepts worth remembering → it auto-generates flashcards from that content → those cards get scheduled into a spaced repetition queue like any other flashcard app. On top of that, ShiBei has an "AI-powered topic discovery" feature that appears to suggest related concepts you haven't explicitly asked about yet, expanding your deck beyond just what was in the original chat.

Cards live in customizable templates, so you're not locked into a single front/back format — useful if you want cloze deletions for language vocab versus definition-style cards for exam prep. Everything syncs via iCloud, so there's no separate account system to manage if you're already in the Apple ecosystem, but it also means there's no official Android or web client at launch.

Pricing Breakdown

ShiBei is free to download with a limited free tier, then unlocks further usage through in-app subscriptions:

Tier	Price	Notes
Free	$0	Core app with limited AI generation/usage caps
Pro Monthly	$9.99/mo	Expanded AI card generation limits
Pro Yearly	$99.99/yr	Same as Pro Monthly, ~17% cheaper annualized
Ultra Monthly	$29.99/mo	Highest generation limits/priority AI features
Ultra Yearly	$299.99/yr	Same as Ultra Monthly, ~17% cheaper annualized

A few things worth flagging before you subscribe: $9.99/month for Pro is already above what most flashcard apps charge for their entire premium tier, and Ultra at $29.99/month ($299.99/year) puts ShiBei in territory usually reserved for professional software, not a study aid. There's no lifetime purchase option, which matters because Anki's iOS app is a single $24.99 one-time payment with no subscription at all.

Who This Is Actually For

ShiBei makes the most sense in a few specific scenarios:

• You're already chatting with an AI tutor to learn something (a language, a technical subject, interview prep) and want those conversations automatically distilled into review material instead of manually copying key facts into a separate app.
• You consume a lot of long-form AI explanations — say you ask ChatGPT or Claude to explain a concept in depth — and want the key points converted into spaced repetition cards without doing the extraction yourself.
• You're a light-to-moderate flashcard user who values automation over granular control. If you already have strong opinions about card formatting, algorithm tuning, or add-ons, ShiBei's simplicity will feel limiting compared to Anki.
• You're fully in the Apple ecosystem and don't need cross-platform access, since ShiBei is iOS/iCloud only at launch.

Where it's a weaker fit: heavy Anki users with existing decks and custom scheduling algorithms, students who need a web or Android client for shared/classroom decks (Quizlet's territory), or anyone doing dense note-taking and outlining alongside their spaced repetition (RemNote's core use case).

ShiBei vs. Anki vs. Quizlet vs. RemNote

	ShiBei	Anki	Quizlet	RemNote
Price	Free + $9.99–$29.99/mo subscriptions	Free (Windows/Android/web); $24.99 one-time on iOS	Free tier; Plus $7.99/mo or $35.99/yr	Free tier; Pro ~$6/mo or ~$59.88/yr
Card creation	AI-generated from chat conversations automatically	100% manual (or manual imports/add-ons)	Manual, plus AI-assisted study sets in newer versions	Manual notes converted to cards, some AI summarization
Sync/Platforms	iOS + iCloud only	Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android, web (AnkiWeb)	iOS, Android, web	iOS, Android, web, desktop
Best for	Turning AI chats/explanations into review decks with minimal effort	Long-term heavy-duty spaced repetition with deep customization	Classroom sharing, pre-made study sets, quick quizzes	Combining note-taking/outlining with spaced repetition
Algorithm control	Not exposed/customizable	Fully customizable (FSRS, intervals, weights)	Basic, not customizable	Semi-customizable

The Honest Verdict

ShiBei's actual idea — auto-generating flashcards from AI conversations — is genuinely useful and not something Anki, Quizlet, or RemNote do natively today (though Anki add-ons and RemNote's AI features get partway there). If you're someone who already learns by talking to AI tutors and hates the manual step of turning that into review material, ShiBei removes real friction.

The problem is the price. $9.99/month for Pro and $29.99/month for Ultra are steep asks for a single-platform, iCloud-only app competing against a $24.99 one-time purchase (Anki) and sub-$10/month competitors with years of feature maturity (Quizlet, RemNote). Try the free tier first to see whether the AI card generation is actually accurate and useful for your material before committing to Pro or Ultra — and don't commit to the yearly Ultra plan ($299.99) until you've stress-tested the free version for at least a week with real study content, not just casual chats.