The whole thing, the same for everyone
When something costs nothing, you are right to ask where the money comes from. With Qardbox the answer is simply that there is none. You get every single feature from the first day.
What you get
- Every feature, at once and in full
- The same scope as everyone else, with no tiers
- An interface that shows your material and nothing else
- Full control over your data, because none is collected
- Your cards as a file, ready to take with you at any time
- An app that leaves you alone when nothing is due
Why this works at all
It works because there is no business model that would need financing. Qardbox is a personal project: I wanted a decent flashcard app for myself and could not find one that managed without an account, without a subscription and without collecting data.
It earns nothing and it costs nothing. There are no investors, no subscriptions and no advertising, and Qardbox is built in my spare time. That is not a complaint, just the honest answer to a perfectly fair question.
What that means for you
Above all it means that nobody has an interest in keeping you inside the app, because there is no metric here that has to go up. So you get no motivational slogans, no artificial streaks and no reminder when nothing is due for you.
You can pull all of your data out at any time, so if Qardbox ever stops, you are not left without your cards. The data copy is an ordinary JSON file that opens anywhere.
Giving something back
Money does not help, but a review on the App Store helps a great deal, ideally with words of your own. Without words all that counts is a bare star rating, and with words somebody else can judge whether Qardbox suits the way they study.
The App Store also weights recent reviews more heavily than old ones, so an honest note written today is worth more than five stars from two years ago.
Otherwise it helps to pass Qardbox on, because the app has neither marketing nor an advertising budget. Everyone who knows it was told about it by somebody it helped in their own daily routine.