Elvin
Photograph your homework.
Learn the words. Done.
Elvin reads the words from your sheet, you start practising. Everything on your iPhone, nothing in the cloud. No account, no server, no ads.
For iPhone with iOS 17 or later. Made in Switzerland by Cubera Solutions AG.
From homework sheet to practice in one minute
No more typing out word lists. Elvin does the tedious part, you practise.
Photograph
Point the camera at your vocabulary list. Elvin reads the table right on the iPhone and works out by itself which column is English, French or German.
Check
You see all the word pairs that were found at a glance. A typo? Correct it, add or remove a pair, done. Or type the words in by hand straight away.
Practise
Elvin puts together 12 words per round and prefers the ones you don't know well yet. Words you get wrong come back within the same round.
Five ways to practise, so it never gets boring
Before each round you choose how you want to answer and in which direction you practise.
Type
Write the translation. Small variations like "it's" instead of "it is" still count.
Speak
Say the word out loud. Speech recognition runs on the device, no internet needed.
Multiple choice
Tap the right translation. Ideal for seeing new words for the first time.
Random
Elvin alternates between typing and speaking, just like it might be in the exam.
Dictation
Elvin reads aloud, you write on paper. Afterwards you get the list to compare and correct.
Every word sticks by exam day
Enter the exam date and Elvin plans with you.
Progress per set
A word counts as "known" once you got it right on two different days. The card shows how many are still missing and how many days are left.
Daily reminder
While an exam is coming up, Elvin reminds you once a day at a time you choose yourself. Locally on the iPhone, without a push server.
Weak words first
Words with many mistakes, a long break, or that you have never practised come up more often. Shortly before the exam the rounds get bigger.
Built for kids. That's why everything stays on the device.
📸 Scanning
Photos of your homework are read directly on the device with Apple's text recognition. The photo is not saved and never leaves the device.
📚 Vocabulary and progress
Your words, sessions and exam dates live in a database inside the app. They are part of your normal iPhone backup, which you control yourself in the iOS settings.
🤖 AI model
A small language model (Qwen2.5 1.5B, Apache 2.0) is downloaded once from huggingface.co, about 1 GB. As with any download, Hugging Face sees your IP address, but no content from the app. After that it runs fully offline.
🎤 Speech
Read-aloud and speech recognition run on the device using the iOS speech features. No recordings are transmitted.
🔔 Reminders
Reminders are scheduled locally on the device. There is no push server.
🗑️ Deleting
If you delete a set or the app, the data is gone. We keep no copy.
All the details for parents and teachers are in the full privacy policy.
I don't want my boys bombarded with ads while they study. And with teenagers I take privacy seriously: I don't want them to have to open an account with some AI provider just to do their homework. With Elvin everything stays on the phone, and that's what won me over.
Frequently asked questions
Who is Elvin for?
For school kids learning French, German or English vocabulary, and for parents who want a break from quizzing. The app speaks to children directly and works without an account and without ads.
How much does Elvin cost?
Nothing. Elvin is free, with no subscription and no hidden costs. We at Cubera know that families already have enough expenses. Learning vocabulary shouldn't add to them.
Which languages does Elvin support?
Vocabulary in German, French and English, in both directions. The app itself is available in German, French and English.
Does Elvin need internet?
Only once, to download the AI model (about 1 GB, best over Wi-Fi). Scanning, practising, speaking and reminders all work completely offline after that.
What is the AI model for anyway?
Apple's text recognition reads the table on the photo without any AI model. The model only steps in when a page isn't a clean table, and it accepts answers written differently from the list, for example "it's" instead of "it is". It runs exclusively on the iPhone.
What happens to the photo of my homework?
It is read directly on the device and then discarded. Elvin does not save the photo and does not upload it anywhere.
Which devices does Elvin run on?
On iPhones with iOS 17 or later. The AI model needs about 1 GB of free storage.
Who is behind Elvin?
Elvin is made by Cubera, an agency in Switzerland.
Elvin is coming to the App Store
The app is in testing. Get in touch if you would like to try it early.