The biggest difference seems to be how the app is advertised on the store:
“Memrise: Learn Languages Free”
It seems to concentrate on MemRise’s own language courses and it’s not advertised as an app to learn (virtually) anything (as I think the web version does).
I wonder how many people who use the app find they can learn other things besides languages?
This page explains searching for courses (including non-languages) on an Android device. [Thanks AlanH]
This screen-shot provided by Atikker shows what a course looks like on an Android device:
It only looks that way (above) when I go into a course (I have to tap the flag/hat on this image). The main page of this course looks like this
jinglebingle. nice word 
I would like to make this thread aware or this other (and vice versa):
One consequence of this is that unless users go onto the web, they will not see the suggestions I make for similar or follow-on courses.
Guess there is no way of that except I am trying (in the short description) to encourage users to look at the web version for fuller details.
I don’t think I have asked this question but:
Does the app show the “Leader Board” ie how you are doing on a course by Week, Month and “All time”? ie does it show your position and score?
And how many people does it list? Is it 10 like the web?
Yes, weekly, monthly and all time: http://feedback.memrise.com/knowledgebase/articles/621876-leaderboard-explained-android
On my iOS app, it lists 15 users for each.
Thanks. That’s good.
And that article is useful (you obviously know your way around!) as I often get asked about that.
Yesterday I had the opportunity to introduce an Apple iPhone user to MemRise.
However sadly, without them signing up, neither the downloaded App nor viewing the web version via a (limited) browser was anything like I was expecting via a pc web portal.
I struggled to show them say “bird” courses or other key words (like DW7) which I know usually work.
I did eventually manage to navigate away from the intros to see “map” courses but not other subjects, that easily.
I was trying to show them the benefits before they signed up, so failed in that respect.
Also it was ‘interesting’ seeing the ‘famous’ flying and space look instead of our old familiar interface.
I need to investigate this further.
PS
I had a look on an Android smart-phone yesterday using the browser.
It is quite tricky (and probably not what a newcomer would expect) but once you get to courses, you can then search by keywords.
Although I haven’t numbered this one, but I have managed to gain access to an Android phone to load the MemRise App and I am shocked how different it all is!
It looks like a kids ‘fun & games’ app, not a serious site for learning (IMHO).
I found it incredibly hard to get started.
I struggled to understand how it worked.
I found it hard to find any of my courses even thought I was logged in as DW7
I found it hard to know if there were any other non-language categories or courses.
I struggled to know how to search for courses.
I am not sure what a newcomer would think and I will always point them to the web version (which also has so much more information about courses and of course the MultiMedia levels).
I do see the advantage of the app - it can be easy and addictive to keep scoring points!
This is sort of relevant:
@DW7,
As a taster, here’s a couple of screenshots of the opening exchanges of one of the chatbot exercises:
[Edit: Sorry! This is starting to stray off topic.]
Yes, I apologise for my part. It often happens with these announcements.
Do you think we (you or me) should move them to the “Differences” thread?
Although the comments about the new features on the app is of course relevant.
Done - hope you approve of how I’ve done it. DW7
Between us, I think we could delete these last three posts.
Correct me if I am wrong, but not only is the Android app easier because of the given letters in a spelling test, but if one gets and answer wrong first time and right next time one gets 45 points BUT on the web one only gets 15 points.
Is that because of more goes at it on the web or is it really easier to score points on the app?
@joshua - is there disparity?
I’m only going by my personal experience with this, but I switched all my learning over to the android app I think around April last year and shortly after switched back to web only learning.
What I noticed is that besides being given letters which makes it easier (though the option exists to show the full keyboard), and points being off, there is a difference in the “punishment” (more lenient) after getting something wrong.
I also had a strong feeling that the timing schedule of when words would be reviewed was different.
Again, I didn’t sit down and really try to test for differences/bugs, so I don’t know if the reviewing schedule was messed up normally, or only after getting something wrong. I do remember clearly though that multiple times I missed a word, was correct on other words from the same learning level, and the word I got incorrect was moved to be reviewed in something like 5 days where the correct words were a shorter time period. I suddenly started noticing that my retention was consistently ~75% whereas before I would rarely miss answers. I got kind of discouraged until I realized that all my problem words coincided with the words I learned on the app.
Additional things I found is that doing speed review actually affects the schedule of words tested in it. This is crazy I think. Speed review is good as fun and to maybe test your speed at reviewing levels, but there are just way too many variables that could allow you to cheat or that could give you hints but this affects the actual learning schedule.
This all really stood out to me, because I started using the site in 2012 and the thing that really comforted me was the fact that if you put the time in, and water your plants/review within a couple of hours of when they are ready to be reviewed, you really couldn’t go wrong. They had actually, at least for me, figured out the exact timescale of when planted seeds would get hazy in my memory, prompt review right then, and that would then solidify the memory. It was (and still is on the website), like cheating while learning but without cheating yourself. Instead of kind of winging when new things should be learned and old ones reviewed, it just made everything super efficient. The fact that this, the actual genius of the website as a nearly foolproof way to master how the brain memorized vocab, was less a focus in the app transition than was artwork for handfuls of planets that scroll by nonstop when shifting through levels was a really big red flag.
The thing is that since the review method is easier in the app, it’s not standing out to people that there is less efficiency. You can just mindlessly tap while colors are exploding around you. It’s more of a game similar to the speed review. That should totally be something that people can use for hours at a time like a very productive game, but so far the raw learning in the app does not equal the website. I am just keeping my fingers crossed that the review algorithm isn’t altered on the website and I can get through my courses before anything drastic happens.
For the record, and as mentioned in another recent topic, the app version now only features ‘official’ Memrise produced language courses. User-created language courses and non-language courses have been removed from the course selection list.
Currently, the only way to follow user-created courses on the app version is to start learning them on the web version. They will then be synched across to the app.
This change will have a significant impact on the number of new learners joining the many high-quality user-created courses.
on the site, the “meet the natives” does not really function. And the longer courses need already 10-20 sec to even load. One nice thing since the speed review started to function again: in some came one the audio functioning!!!
I wonder how much time do we have til they take the site down (I suspect memrise, although a small company, cannot survive as app with 100 “official” courses, the market is too ruthless here)
