EVERY WEEKEND, Shubhanker Baghel travels from Gurgaon to Ganesh Nagar, near Akshardham in New Delhi, to attend his coaching classes—the 24-year-old is gearing up for competitive exams in the banking sector. He takes the Metro, but instead of studying from books during the over an hour-long commute, he prefers to study on his smartphone. Even when he’s back home, he sticks to apps on his smartphone for the purpose of revision. Be it English or math, he has an app for almost every subject. “These apps are the easiest options available, as you can use the mobile to study/revise anytime, anywhere,” he says.

Baghel is not the only one who is shifting to hand-held devices for the purpose of studying. Affordable smartphones and a host of educational apps are making learning smarter by the day for millions of users in India. In today’s context, access, affordability, reach, convenience and effectiveness are key factors making the mobile learning experience richer. Anyone with a smartphone and an active data connection can log on to any of the app stores (Android, iOS, Windows) and avail of a horde of applications. Most of these can be downloaded for free, with a few in-app purchases.

The reach of these apps is also quite widespread. So be it a working professional in Bengaluru or a college student in a tier-II city, everybody is making use of them today. In fact, India added 52 million Internet users in the first six months of the year, taking the total user base to 352 million as of June 30, as per industry body Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI). Interestingly, 213 million—over 60%—users accessed the Web through mobile devices.

While some of the apps help users learn languages, others provide study notes, e-magazines, augmented reality, game-based study modules and so on. Take, for instance, Rockstand. Launched in 2012, Rockstand is a mobile-learning marketplace that allows users to access e-books, e-newspapers and e-magazines in multiple genres. The app provides academic content and study material for competitive exams such as IIT-JEE, CAT, MAT, GMAT/GRE, GATE, among others. Sitting at home, students can easily access content and, if need be, pay for it using direct carrier billing through their smartphones.

The ultimate plan of the founders of Rockstand? To create a 360-degree learning ecosystem on the mobile. In fact, they have no plans to move to a Web platform. “The growth is in the mobile segment. The audience and age group we are targeting are more mobile-savvy. You need to go into a medium that has more acceptance,” says Praveen Rajpal, founder and CEO, Rockstand Digital, the company behind the app. “If you have to cater to a large audience, you have to look at a device that is widely and easily available,” he adds.

When one talks about academic learning, one of the first things that comes to mind is study material, or notes. As students, we have all faced problems regarding shortage of notes. Manak Gulati, too, had a similar problem when he was a student, be it during his engineering days or master’s course at Carnegie Mellon University, US. Soon, he realised that the problem was universal and that’s when he came up with the idea of Notesgen, a platform, where users can upload and share self-prepared academic notes with others and get paid in return. “Notesgen went live in December 2014 and we launched our mobile application two months ago. We have noticed that 80% of our users are now on the app and the bulk of our sales are coming from tier II and III cities. Clearly, mobile learning is the best way forward,” he says.

Gulati believes what’s beneficial is the fact that today everyone wants information as fast as possible. However, the one problem for mobile learning in India, he says, is instilling trust in the consumer. “On the mobile platform, the user thinks twice before purchasing something. They want to ensure that it’s authentic and value-for-money first. It’s a big challenge and a gap that needs to be filled,” Gulati adds.

But one thing is for sure. Mobile learning is here to stay. These apps have not only added a new dimension to a student’s life, but have also brought in institutions, parents and teachers into the picture. Flinnt.com, for instance, is a communication and sharing platform for educational institutions that connects students to their preferred learning networks. Harish Iyer, founder and CEO, Flinnt.com, says the increased availability of “open educational resources” and the need to constantly engage learners make it imperative that even face-to-face courses have a mobile-learning component. “Flinnt’s objective was to make communication and sharing simpler for parents and students. Using the app, educators can post resources like notes, presentations, links to websites, etc, and encourage learners to discuss these and collaborate,” says Iyer.

Another prominent feature in the mobile-learning space is the use of 3D technology and augmented reality. It not only helps students, but teachers as well, as it helps bring subjects to life in great detail. An apt example of this is the app Smartur—students just have to position the smartphone on top of a diagram printed on a page and the smartphone displays it in 3D form. Smartur also includes study modules, flash cards and game-based practices, with content based on the CBSE and NCERT syllabi. Neeraj Jewalkar, founder and CEO, Smartur, says the idea was to create something that could be both affordable and useful for schools. “In 2012, while looking at schools for my son, I realised that most of them were not up to date with technology. So I decided to build something that could be used in the classroom,” says Jewalkar.

Smartur was first launched in the US as a PC-only project in 2014, but when Jewalkar brought the concept to India later that year, he realised that schools did not possess the requisite hardware for it. Eventually, he moved to a platform that was easier for Indians to use—the mobile. “We launched the app in March this year and, in only a few months, we have 2,000 schools using it. More than schools, it’s, in fact, teachers who are keen on it. They feel digital learning is essential for students,” adds Jewalkar.

A view shared by Archana, additional principal, Slate—The School, Hyderabad: “The app brings even a dry subject like science to life. It has taken classroom teaching to a different level,” she says.

There is, of course, stigma attached to smartphone addiction, especially among students, but Jewalkar says we need to look beyond it to make learning more engaging. “People believe smartphones distract students, but it’s time to look at them as productive devices,” he says.

The app Byju’s, in fact, wants to make learning both productive and addictive. It converts academic content into videos and simulations, and also uses animation and interactive modules to help students. “The idea behind Byju’s was to help students fall in love with learning by making it engaging and addictive. Who would not like to learn on the go? Mobile learning makes teachers accessible to anyone, anytime, anywhere,” says Divya Gokulnath, a director at Byju’s.

While all these and many more apps handle academic content, there are others like EnglishLeap and Duolingo that focus on helping one learn languages. English, for instance, is a language that many Indians struggle with. But now, armed with a smartphone, one can learn the nuances of spoken English on the go. The month-old EnglishLeap app, founded by Indian Institute of Management (IIM) graduates Apar Sureka and Saurabh Chopra, focuses on spoken English and vocabulary building.

Another language-learning app that’s very popular among users is Duolingo. Launched by Luis von Ahn and Severin Hacker in 2012, it helps users learn more than 20 languages, including English, Dutch, Turkish, Swedish, Spanish, French, etc. “There is a serious hunger for language knowledge—especially English—so we think the potential is big,” says Gina Gotthilf, vice-president, marketing and communications, Duolingo, which has had more than 10 million installs through Google Play Store so far. “To succeed, apps need to be able to function relatively well offline and without consuming huge amounts of data,” says Gotthilf.

The future certainly looks mobile-first.

More than schools, it’s teachers who are keen on digital learning. They feel it is essential for students. People believe smartphones distract students, but it’s time to look at them as productive devices
Neeraj Jewalkar,
founder and CEO, Smartur, an academic app that uses 3D technology

The growth is in the mobile segment. If you have to cater to a large audience, you have to look at a device that is widely and easily available
Praveen Rajpal,
founder and CEO, Rockstand, a mobile-learning marketplace

There is a serious hunger for language knowledge—especially English—so we think the potential is big. To succeed, apps need to be able to function relatively well offline and without consuming huge amounts of data
Gina Gotthilf, Vice-President, marketing and communications, Duolingo, a language-learning app

On the mobile platform, the user thinks twice before purchasing something. They want to ensure that it’s authentic and value-for-money first. It’s a big challenge and a gap that needs to be filled
Manak Gulati, founder, Notesgen, an online marketplace for academic notes

App store

Rockstand
Allows users to access e-books,
e-newspapers and e-magazines in multiple genres for academic and competitive exams
Available on: Android, iOS, Windows

Notesgen
Allows users to upload and sell
self-prepared academic notes
Available on: Android, iOS

Flinnt
A communication and sharing platform for educational institutions, which connects students to their preferred learning networks
Available on: Android, iOS

Duolingo
Help users learn more than 20 languages, including English, Dutch, Turkish, Swedish, Spanish, French, etc.
Available on: Android, iOS, Windows

EnglishLeap
An English language-learning app
Available on: Android

Smartur
Displays 3D image of diagram when smartphone is positioned over the printed version
Available on: Android

Byju’s
Converts academic content into videos and simulations, and also uses animation and interactive modules
Available on: iOS, Android