In my experience, these two are the best for actual learning: 1. Khan Academy Khanmigo - Honestly the gold standard. It acts like a tutor and basically refuses to give the answer, forcing them to think.
2. Photomath Plus - Great for algebra. It breaks down steps really well... way better than a basic chatbot. Khanmigo is literally built for safety and is super cheap now. gl!!

Adding my two cents... unfortunately, many apps are just GPT wrappers that hallucinate. - Option A: Socratic by Google (Pros: Great visuals; Cons: Feels kinda abandoned)
- Option B: Symbolab Math Solver (Pros: Symbolic engine; Cons: Highkey technical) Best choice: Symbolab Math Solver. It actually calculates steps using a symbolic engine instead of predicting text, so its way more reliable for 7th-grade algebra. gl!

Honestly, I went down a total rabbit hole trying to build my own "tutor" setup lately because most the ready-made apps just didnt hit right for me. I’m a big DIY person when it comes to tech and I figured out that if you use the right system instructions on a generic platform it works way better than any "education" app I tried... basically I spent like 3 hours one night fine-tuning a custom persona for my nieces science project because I wanted her to actually learn about photosynthesis instead of just getting a summary. Heres what I learned from my DIY journey:
- You have to explicitly tell the system its a "Socratic tutor" or it just blabs the answer immediately and ruins the lesson
- Keeping everything in one specific thread helps the AI remember the context of the previous stuff so you dont have to keep re-explaining things
- Its way more satisfying when you get the prompt right yourself instead of paying fifteen bucks for a skin of the same tech Im still tweaking the math side because it still tries to hallucinate formulas sometimes but for brainstorming essays my home-brewed setup has been a total lifesaver and actually gets her thinking. Tbh it’s a bit of a learning curve for the parent to set up but worth it if you want total control.

> I’m looking for recommendations for AI apps specifically designed for students. Honestly, I’ve spent a ridiculous amount of time doing market research on this lately because my own middle-schooler was hitting that same wall with algebra. My current setup at home is basically a mix of a few different platforms I’ve been testing—some are from the big tech giants and others are smaller ed-tech startups. From what I’ve seen, the market is really split right now between tools that focus on being a "co-pilot" and ones that are just rebranded search engines, you know? I’ve noticed that the more expensive specialized ones usually have much better guardrails, but the user experience can vary so much. Some feel super clinical and boring, while others are almost too gamified. But before I can really give you a solid breakdown of which "brand" of AI approach works best, I’m curious—what’s your son’s actual learning style? Like, does he prefer a visual interface with graphs and drawing tools, or is he more of a conversational learner who needs to talk through the logic in a chat? It really changes which part of the market you should be looking at, right?

Same here!

Been using this for years, no complaints

Commenting to find later