Just have them use it on their computer or the web?
It improved my grades so much in college that I spent the 25 bucks as a broke student so I could have it on my second hand iPad. This was before AnkiDroid even existed so it's amazing the price is still the same.
That works for people who already convinced that they want to use it. I'm talking about people who've heard it for the first time and they're not going to spend 25$ for some new app just to try. 25$ is unusually high price for an AppStore app and it's just doesn't work unless you're really determined to use it. I don't understand why people are downvoting this.
I would argue that it's almost impossible to start first with the mobile version so this situation should never happen. The computer version is essential for setting up and getting decks.
The web version remains free as well.
Anki app has an interface for adding/editing cards, and can absolutely be used without AnkiWeb or syncing. In fact, this is how I used it myself for years. I would argue that using AnkiWeb and syncing is an advanced feature for people who got the taste of having own decks and don't want to loose it.
Some people would need to buy computer first. Again, it's very hard to recommend mobile app to people if you need to add these kind of "workarounds". Especially for the main target audience - young students – many of whom live in their mobile phones and not used to spend 25$ for apps.
Every university student in the Western world has access to a Computer, and those who are poor usually have an Android Phone (with free AnkiDroid) and not a very expensive iPhone. If they can afford an iPhone they can afford the App
Well, I don't want to sound patronizing, but the world is so much bigger than your notion of "Western world" where every student with iPhone has computer.
It improved my grades so much in college that I spent the 25 bucks as a broke student so I could have it on my second hand iPad. This was before AnkiDroid even existed so it's amazing the price is still the same.