Writing
Questions about Heddy
Every question the writing answers, gathered in one place.
Is Heddy free?
Heddy is free to download from the App Store, and the flashcards are free forever — unlimited, no card details, no sign-up needed to look around. The free tier also includes 20 tutoring turns to try, with Mentor and one professor. More tutoring comes from Heddy Plus, a monthly per-child plan a parent buys on aitutors.me.
Can my child spend money inside the app?
No. There is no in-app purchase at all — nothing to tap by accident, nothing to be talked into. A grown-up buys a plan on aitutors.me and the app unlocks itself.
Will Heddy just give my child the answer?
No, and it is built so it cannot. Every professor walks a four-rung hint ladder whose top rung is a fully worked similar problem followed by now redo yours. There is no fifth rung, and the function that hands out a hint takes no level argument, so there is nothing to pass to ask for one.
What is the KS3 map in the Heddy app?
It is the curriculum Heddy teaches from: 700 named concepts and 1,147 prerequisite links across seven subjects — maths, physics, chemistry, biology, English, geography and history. Every link says what must come first, and why. Tap any bright dot in the app to trace what has to come first.
Why does a prerequisite map make a tutor different from a chatbot?
A general assistant answers the question it was asked. A tutor that can see the prerequisite links can go backwards — when a student keeps slipping on solving equations, the map points at the ideas that equation-solving depends on, so the gap underneath gets found instead of re-explained at the same level.
Does the map cover GCSE?
Not yet. The map covers UK Key Stage 3 — ages 11 to 14, across seven subjects. GCSE is planned next.
Can my child spend money inside the Heddy app?
No. There is no in-app purchase in Heddy at all — no upgrade button, no credit pack, no subscription sheet. Plans are bought by a grown-up on the aitutors.me website, and the app unlocks itself the next time the child opens it.
What does my child see when the free tutoring runs out?
Heddy dozes off, and two buttons appear: Practise cards and Remind me tomorrow. There is no price on that screen, and no way to buy anything from it. Flashcards stay free and unlimited, so the app is still fully usable.
How do I actually buy Heddy Plus, then?
On the web at aitutors.me, as the grown-up, with your own account. It is a monthly per-child plan that opens all seven professors, removes the turn counter and adds the homework photo. Your child is never asked to ask you for it.
What do Again, Good and Easy do in Heddy?
They set when the card returns. Again brings it back soon, Good stretches the interval by the standard step, Easy stretches it further. Each button shows its real resulting interval underneath, so you are never guessing.
Why only three grading buttons?
Because a fourth adds a decision without adding information. More grades make a child think about the buttons rather than the card, and the extra precision does not survive honest self-assessment anyway.
How should I grade a card I guessed correctly?
Again, or Good at the most. A lucky guess is not knowledge, and marking it Easy sends the card away for weeks — it then reappears as a stranger the day before an assessment.
How many tutors are in the Heddy app?
Eight. Heddy herself, who routes you and watches your week, plus seven subject professors: Pi for maths, Quill for English, Darwin for biology, Curie for chemistry, Newton for physics, Harari for history and Mercator for geography.
Are they just one AI with different names?
No. Each professor runs a different teaching method with its own tools — Newton makes you predict before you observe, Curie builds the particle picture before any equation, Quill refuses to write your paragraph. The method is what makes them different, not the name.
How do I switch between tutors?
Type @ and the tutor's name, subject or nickname anywhere in the message box. Anything you type after the first space is carried into the new room as your first message, so you don't have to say it twice.
How do I get Heddy on my iPhone?
Two ways. Search Heddy: AI Tutor on the UK App Store, or open heddy.app in Safari and use Share then Add to Home Screen. Both open into the same product with no account required.
Does Heddy work offline?
Flashcard review does, once the app has loaded your decks — that half is designed for a bus with no signal. Tutor conversations need a connection, because they are a live conversation with a model rather than stored content.
Is Heddy available outside the UK?
No. It is UK-only and 13+, on both the App Store listing and the web. The tutors teach the UK curriculum, and the age and data rules the app is built around are the UK ones.
What is the difference between Heddy and aitutors.me?
The same tutors, reached two ways. Heddy is an app a 13+ student opens alone with no account and no parent involved. aitutors.me is the parent-provisioned subscription, which adds a family dashboard, termly reports, per-child subject seats and multi-child support.
If my child starts with Heddy, do they lose their work when we subscribe?
No. Their existing record transfers into your household intact — every point, card and session. It is a reassignment rather than a fresh start, so nothing from before the subscription is lost.
Can I see my child's conversations on either product?
Not in Heddy, by design. On aitutors.me you get a dashboard, a journey map and termly progress reports — the shape of the work rather than a transcript of every conversation.
Can I read my child's conversations in the Heddy app?
No, and that is deliberate rather than an oversight. Heddy shows no parent a conversation. The guardian email collected at the upgrade moment is a receipt and a safeguarding contact only, never a feed of what was said.
What happens if my child says something worrying to an AI tutor?
Every tutor hard-fails to the same fixed line on any safeguarding indicator: If you're struggling, please talk to a parent or call Childline 0800 1111. No tutor can route around it, and it overrides whatever lesson was in progress.
Why is the app 13+ rather than for younger children?
Because an app anyone can open without an adult must be honest about who it is built for. The protections owed to under-13s are stricter than a no-signup product can meet, so younger children are served by the parent-provisioned aitutors.me service instead.
What is Heddy?
Heddy is an iOS app from aitutors.me carrying eight AI tutors — Mentor plus seven subject professors — who walk you to an answer with hints rather than handing it over. It also carries a free, unlimited flashcard system built from your own sessions.
Does Heddy just give you the answer like other AI apps?
No, and it is built so it cannot. Every tutor walks a four-rung hint ladder whose top rung is a fully worked similar problem followed by now redo yours. There is no fifth rung, and no way to skip to one.
How old do you have to be to use Heddy?
13 or over, and in the UK. That floor is deliberate — the app is designed for a teenager opening it alone, and the rules that protect younger children are stricter than a no-signup product can honestly meet.
Do I need an account to use Heddy?
No. There is no signup screen anywhere in the first run — no email, no password, no continue-with-Apple. Three introduction slides, one Start learning button, and you are in the product.
If there's no account, is my progress saved?
Yes. From your first real action the app keeps your points, cards and history on the device and on our servers, tied to that device rather than to a name. Nothing is asked of you; nothing is thrown away either.
What happens if a parent later subscribes?
Your existing history transfers into their household intact — every point, every card, every session. It is a reassignment, not a fresh start, so nothing you did before the subscription is lost.
What is free in the Heddy app?
All flashcards, forever — unlimited decks, unlimited reviews, the whole Atlas library, and no daily cap. Reviewing a card never spends a tutor turn. A starting allowance of tutor conversation is free too.
What is a Pi Turn?
One new problem started with a subject professor. Turns are spent when a problem begins, never during one, so a hint ladder that has started always finishes even if your balance hits zero mid-conversation.
Will Heddy interrupt me with a paywall?
No. No purchase or upgrade prompt appears during an active session, by rule. The upgrade screen is reachable only from a screen at rest — the home screen, the empty-allowance state, or your own tap.
What is the Atlas in the Heddy app?
A library of ready-made flashcard decks covering all seven subjects Heddy teaches plus the main UK academic competitions. Adopting a deck copies it into your own shelf, where you review it and can edit it like any deck you made yourself.
Do Atlas decks cost anything?
No. The whole Atlas is free and unlimited, like every other flashcard in the app. Reviewing an adopted deck never spends a tutor turn.
Should I use ready-made decks or make my own?
Both, in that order. Adopt an Atlas deck on day one so your first review isn't an empty shelf, then let sessions with a tutor add cards about your own specific gaps — those are the ones that move a grade.
What is the carry moment in Heddy?
Taking a specific flashcard you keep getting wrong directly to the subject tutor who owns it. You land in their room with the card's question, answer and the gap it was testing already sent as your first message.
Do I have to type the question again?
No. The opener is sent for you, not offered for editing. That is deliberate — the moment you most need help is the moment you are least willing to compose a paragraph explaining yourself.
Does my card text get sent over the internet as free text?
No. Only the card's ID travels in the link. The app looks the card up on the server, checks you own it and that the subject is on your plan, and builds the message there. Free text in that link is forbidden by design.
What is the hint ladder?
Four rungs of escalating help. Rung one orients you, rung two narrows the problem, rung three names the method, rung four works a fully solved SIMILAR problem and then says now redo yours. There is no fifth rung and no way to request one.
Can I make the tutor just tell me the answer?
No. The refusal is structural, not a personality setting. The function that reveals a hint takes no level argument at all, so there is no code path that can be asked for a fifth rung — the top of the ladder returns a worked twin and stops.
Isn't a worked similar problem basically the answer?
No, and the difference is the whole point. A twin shares the method and not the numbers. You still have to carry the method across to your own problem, which is the step that actually forms the memory.
Does Heddy have streaks?
It shows momentum — a three-day streak, stated as a fact — but never loss. There is no warning that a streak is about to break, no countdown, and no notification designed to make a child anxious about returning.
Will Heddy show a paywall in the middle of my work?
No. No purchase or upgrade prompt appears during an active session, as a rule in the build. The screen shown when free tutoring runs out contains no price at all — it offers flashcards and remind me tomorrow.
Why won't Heddy write my essay?
Because the voice on the page is the thing being assessed. Professor Quill will interrogate a paragraph until you find a better word yourself, but he will not write or rewrite it — and no tutor will finish work that is being marked as yours.
Who is Heddy?
A snowy owl who is the guide of the app that carries her name. She teaches no subject. Her three jobs are working out what you should do today, handing you to the right subject professor, and noticing what kind of week you're having.
Is Heddy an AI friend or companion?
No, and the app is built to avoid becoming one. She has moods rather than feelings, does not ask about your personal life, and every conversation she has is pointed at a piece of work. An AI companion for a teenager is a risk we have chosen not to take.
Why an owl, and why is she drawn rather than photorealistic?
An owl reads as watchful rather than cheerful, which is the register we wanted. She is drawn — flat, generated shapes, not a rendered face — because a realistic face invites a relationship with someone who does not exist.
What should I do first in the Heddy app?
Bring one real problem you are actually stuck on — tonight's homework, not a test question. Ask Heddy, let her route you to the right professor, and work the hint ladder to the end rather than giving up at rung two.
What do I do if I have no flashcards yet?
Adopt a deck from the Atlas. It is a library of ready-made decks across every subject and the main UK competitions, and it exists precisely so your very first review isn't an empty shelf.
How do I get more out of a tutor session?
Say what you tried, not just what you don't understand. I got 4x = 12 and then I got stuck gives a tutor something to work with; I don't get question 7 makes them start with a question of their own.
Are flashcards in Heddy really free?
Yes — unlimited, from the first tap, with no subscription and no daily cap on how many decks you hold. Reviewing a card never spends a tutor turn. Cards cost us almost nothing to serve, and they are the habit the whole product depends on.
Who writes the flashcards?
The tutor does, from the session you just had. Type /cards in any professor's room and the lesson becomes a deck. You can also adopt ready-made decks from the Atlas, or take a card someone else published.
How often do cards come back?
On a spaced-repetition schedule that stretches as you get them right, capped at 90 days so nothing disappears before a termly assessment. Twenty cards a day, fixed — enough to matter, small enough to actually do.
Is ChatGPT better than Heddy for homework?
For breadth, speed and cost, usually yes — it is free, already installed, works on any device, handles any subject at any level, and will give feedback on an essay at midnight. Heddy is narrower: UK KS3, seven subjects, eight named tutors, and a hint ladder that stops one rung short of the answer on purpose. If the goal is a finished piece of homework, a general assistant is faster. If the goal is that the student can do the next one alone, the refusal is the point.
Will ChatGPT just give my child the answer?
It may well try not to, especially if asked to teach rather than solve. But a general assistant is built to be helpful to whatever is asked of it, and a student who rephrases the request persistently enough will usually get the finished answer. Nothing in the product structurally prevents that. Heddy's top hint rung is a fully worked similar problem, and the function that gives a hint takes no level argument — there is no fifth rung to ask for.
Can we use both?
Yes, and plenty of families sensibly do. Use a general assistant for the things it is genuinely better at — breadth, translation, explaining something outside KS3, reading a long document, talking out loud. Use Heddy for the subject a student is actually stuck in, where the point is not the answer to tonight's question but being able to do the next one.
Is AnkiMobile good for a secondary school student?
Its scheduling is superb and its demands are high. You must write every card, design the templates, and manage settings and backlogs alone. Most teenagers stop at the card-writing, which is why the algorithm's quality never gets a chance to matter.
Does Heddy use FSRS like Anki can?
No. Heddy runs SM-2 with fixed constants and a 90-day interval cap. FSRS is a genuine improvement on SM-2 and Anki's optional support for it is a real advantage — we are honest that we are behind there.
Why does AnkiMobile cost money on iOS when Anki is free elsewhere?
The desktop and Android apps are free and open source; the iOS app is a one-off paid purchase that funds the project. It is a fair deal and a genuine barrier for a student without their own payment method.
What is Brainscape's Confidence-Based Repetition?
You rate how well you knew each card on a five-point scale, and the app uses that rating to decide when the card returns. It is a self-assessment-driven scheduler rather than a right-or-wrong one.
Is a five-point scale better than Heddy's three buttons?
It gives the scheduler more input, and that is a real argument. The counter-argument is that nobody can reliably distinguish their own 60 per cent recall from their own 75 per cent, so the extra precision may be noise a child spends attention on twenty times a session.
Does Brainscape include a tutor?
No. It is a flashcard platform with curated and user-made decks. When a card keeps defeating you it can reschedule it, which is the limit of what any flashcard app can do without a teacher attached.
What does Gauth do?
You photograph a homework question and it returns an answer with an explanation, across a wide range of subjects, with tutor help available on top. It is a homework-answering app rather than a teaching one.
Is Gauth or Heddy better for exam results?
Heddy, if you use it properly, because being walked to an answer forms memory that reading a solution does not. Gauth is better for getting a wide range of homework finished, which is a different goal.
Does Heddy answer questions from a photo?
It can read what you are looking at, but it will not solve it for you. Use /hint on a problem in front of you and you get the next nudge, not the answer — the ladder tops out at a worked similar problem.
How is Heddy different from Khanmigo?
Both refuse to hand over answers, which is rare and to Khanmigo's enormous credit. The differences are curriculum (Khan Academy's own library versus the UK KS3 and GCSE syllabus), structure (a Socratic conversation versus a fixed four-rung ladder), and a spaced-repetition flashcard system Khanmigo does not have.
Is Khanmigo available in the UK?
Khan Academy itself is available worldwide and free. Khanmigo's availability, pricing and features have varied by country and school agreement, so check Khan Academy's own current terms rather than trusting any comparison article, including this one.
Which is better value?
Khan Academy is a non-profit with an extraordinary free library, and it is very hard to beat on value. Heddy's argument is fit rather than price: a UK exam syllabus, eight subject specialists, and cards that come out of your own sessions.
What is Knowt?
A free flashcard and notes app that grew by giving away the study modes Quizlet moved behind a subscription, and by letting students import their existing Quizlet sets. It also generates cards and notes from material you paste in.
Is Knowt or Heddy better value?
Both give their flashcards away. Knowt gives you more breadth for free across every subject and age. Heddy gives you free unlimited cards plus a metered allowance of real tutoring, but only for seven UK school subjects and 13+.
Can either one explain a card I keep getting wrong?
Knowt can generate an explanation from the material. Heddy can hand the card to the subject professor who taught you, with the front, back and the misconception it was testing already sent. Those are different depths of help.
Is Photomath better than Heddy for maths homework?
For finishing tonight's homework, yes — it is faster than anything else and its worked steps are excellent. For understanding the topic well enough to answer an unseen question in an exam, no, because it solves the problem for you.
Is using Photomath cheating?
It depends entirely on when you look. Reading the solution after a genuine attempt, to find where you went wrong, is revision. Photographing question one and copying twelve answers is not, and your teacher will find out at the assessment rather than at the marking.
What does Heddy do instead?
It walks a four-rung hint ladder and stops at a fully worked SIMILAR problem, then says now redo yours. You never get the solution to your own question, because carrying a method across to your own numbers is the step that forms the memory.
What is Question.AI?
A homework-solving app: you type or photograph a question in almost any subject and it returns an answer with reasoning, largely free to use. It is an answer engine rather than a teaching tool.
Is a free solver good enough?
For finishing homework, often yes. For learning, the price isn't money — it's that reading correct reasoning produces the feeling of understanding without the retrieval that makes it last, and you discover the difference in an exam.
Why would I use something slower than a free solver?
Because the struggle is the mechanism. Heddy's hint ladder tops out at a fully worked SIMILAR problem, so you always have to carry the method to your own numbers yourself — which is the step that forms memory.
Is Heddy a Quizlet alternative?
Only partly. Quizlet is a flashcard platform with an enormous library of user-made sets. Heddy is a tutoring app whose flashcards come out of its own lessons. If all you want is a set on Spanish verbs tonight, Quizlet is faster.
What can Heddy do that Quizlet can't?
Teach you. When a card keeps defeating you, Heddy lets you carry that exact card to the subject tutor who owns it, with the question already asked. A flashcard platform can tell you that you don't know something; it cannot explain it.
Are Quizlet sets accurate?
Sometimes. Most are made by other students, so quality varies widely and errors propagate through copies. A set for your exact exam board is worth checking against a textbook before you trust it into your long-term memory.
What is RemNote for?
It merges note-taking and spaced repetition: you write notes and mark parts of them as flashcards inline, so revision comes out of the same document you were learning from. It is popular with university and medical students.
Is RemNote good for a secondary school student?
It can be excellent for an organised older teenager who already takes structured notes. It asks for a workflow, though — you have to be the kind of student who writes notes worth reviewing, which is not most fourteen-year-olds.
What does Heddy do that RemNote doesn't?
It teaches. RemNote schedules the cards you made from the notes you took; Heddy's cards are written by a tutor who watched you get something wrong, and a card that keeps defeating you can be carried back to that tutor.
What does Socratic by Google do?
You photograph or type a question and it finds explanations, videos and web resources matched to it, free. It is a very good search-and-explain tool rather than a tutor that converses with you.
Is Socratic by Google actually Socratic?
Not in the method's original sense. The Socratic method is teaching by asking the learner questions until they reach the answer themselves. Socratic the app retrieves an explanation, which is useful and is a different thing.
Is Heddy free like Socratic?
Flashcards are free and unlimited forever, and there is a free allowance of tutor conversation. But Socratic is entirely free with no limits, and on price alone it wins.
Heddy is free to start, and the flashcards stay free forever.
Get Heddy on the App Store