Onboarding

Right after signing up, a short assistant takes you through your start in two steps: you name your subject and choose where to begin. If subscriptions can be booked, you choose your plan in a third step. The app then takes you to the place you chose and shows you how it works in a short tutorial.

The whole thing takes a few minutes, and you can change any step until you finish.

When onboarding starts

Onboarding starts automatically as soon as your account is ready — that is, after signing up and, if needed, after confirming your email address. It runs once. Where to change individual details afterwards is described below.

You can switch the language and toggle between light and dark mode in the top right while you work through it. The progress display always shows which step you are on, for example Step 1 of 2, or Step 1 of 3 with the plan step.

The steps in detail

Step 1: What are you studying right now?

Your subject becomes your first folder.

• Subject – the only required field. Enter what you are studying right now, such as “Anatomy” or “Constitutional law”. Below it you find six suggestions: Mathematics, German, English, Biology, History and Computer science. Clicking a suggestion puts it in the field.
• Exam date (optional) – the date of your exam, today or later. The app does not accept dates in the past.

If study companions are active in your version, one of them greets you at the top of the step. You can pick a different one right there. If you do not pick one, you keep the one that greeted you. You can switch companion or put it to sleep at any time.

Next takes you to step 2 as soon as you have entered a subject.

Step 2: Where would you like to start?

Here you choose where you start in the app. Look around first is preselected.

Choice	Where you land	Tutorial
Upload your material	Your folder’s sources in the explorer	Source library
Ask the tutor	Your folder’s learning chat	Learning chat
Create cards from text	The card creator	Create your first AI flashcards
Look around first	The dashboard	Dashboard basics

Back takes you back to step 1, and Let’s go finishes onboarding. If there is a plan step, the button is called Next and takes you to step 3.

You can skip a tutorial. In Settings you find it under Tutorials by the name in the table and can start it again there.

Step 3: Choose your plan

This step only appears when subscriptions can be booked. It shows Free, Pro and Premium side by side, with all limits and features as on the plans page, see Plans and limits.

• Start for free – you start on Free and land where you chose in step 2. You can try many Pro features once on Free.
• Start with Pro or Start with Premium – the app first sets up your folder and exam date, then takes you to payment with Stripe. After the purchase you come back to the place from step 2, and the tutorial starts. If you cancel the payment, you start there on Free.
• Monthly or Yearly – if there are yearly prices, you choose the billing period here.

If you already picked a plan on the website, the step names it, for example “You picked Pro on the website.”, and highlights its button. You can still take any plan. Your browser remembers this preselection for a week. If you confirm your email address on another device, you see the plans there without a preselection.

What happens automatically afterwards

• Your subject becomes a folder. If a folder with that name already exists, the app uses it instead of creating a second one. Upper and lower case do not matter.
• If you entered an exam date, it appears in your calendar as an all-day event linked to your folder. The entry has your subject in its title, such as Exam: Biology.
• The learning path in the understanding map also counts down the days to this date once the map has concepts.
• You land where you chose in step 2, and the matching tutorial starts. This also applies if you wanted to open a different page before onboarding.
• If the tutorial cannot start, you still land there, just without the tutorial.

Changing the setup later

You change what you entered during onboarding here:

Item from onboarding	Where to change it later
Folder	Sidebar, folder list
Exam date	Calendar
Study companion	Settings, Appearance
Plan	Plans page via Manage plan in the account menu, see Plans and limits

If you move the exam date in the calendar, the learning path in the understanding map keeps counting down to the date from onboarding.

If you interrupt it

If you interrupt onboarding, your browser remembers your progress, and you continue where you left off the next time you open it. If you had started the earlier, longer assistant, you start again at step 1.

If the folder cannot be created

If the app cannot create the folder for your subject, it shows an error message after Let’s go. Onboarding is then not finished yet, and your entries are kept. Try again in a moment.

Common questions

Can I go through onboarding again? No, it runs once. The table above shows where to change individual details afterwards.

Do I have to enter an exam date? No, the field is optional. You can add dates in the calendar at any time.

Why am I asked about a subject? Because your first folder is created from it. Folders are the frame for cards, sources, notes and tasks. You create more folders yourself afterwards, see Folders.

Do I have to take out a subscription? No. With Start for free you use Flashcard Motion on Free. You can choose a different plan on the plans page at any time.

What happens to my answers? They are stored in your account as your starting configuration, including which plan you chose in the plan step. Details are in Privacy.