Three homework apps, three different ways of drawing the line. Photomath names the thing you get for nothing. Brainly names the thing you do not get for nothing. Mathway names neither, in the shortest of the three descriptions.
All sentences below are copied from the descriptions each company submits for its own store listing, so the wording is theirs, including the parts that read like an accident.
App onePhotomath says what is included, twice
Photomath, in the middle of its own description.
The same claim appears again as a bullet further down: “Step-by-step explanations included in our basic version (at no charge)”. That repetition is the useful signal. The paid tier is named separately, and it is named with things rather than amounts: “Photomath Plus can get you there with custom Animated Tutorials, detailed Textbook Solutions, and more!”
What that buys is a difference a student feels at 10pm. Steps for free; the animated walk-through of why a step happens, and the textbook-linked solutions, on the paid side. Photomath also puts its billing rules in the listing, including the sentence that applies to the plan rather than the app: “A subscription automatically renews unless it’s canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current billing period”.
App twoBrainly names the upgrade, and prices it per day
Brainly, closing paragraph of its description.
Immediately after it: “Upgrade to Brainly Tutor for the full experience including live human tutors.” So the line is not drawn at the app, it is drawn at a named product inside the app — and “limited features” is left undefined. There is no list of which features are the limited ones.
The price is phrased as a habit rather than a bill: “Less than a dollar a day for unlimited access.” And the promise attached to it is the one a parent should read twice, because it is a claim about an outcome: “See real grade improvement in four weeks — or we’ll make it right.” The refund line that follows is equally blunt: “Not satisfied? Full refund within 30 days. No questions asked.”
App threeMathway makes the largest claim in the shortest text
Chegg’s Mathway listing, description of 144 words.
Unlimited is the word doing the work, and nothing in that description says what it is unlimited under. The next relevant line is conditional in a way worth noticing: “If a premium subscription option is selected:” — followed by “Payment will be charged to iTunes Account at confirmation of purchase” and “Subscription automatically renews unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24-hours before the end of the current period”. What the premium option adds is not in the text.
The practical instruction is clear enough: “Simply point your camera and snap a photo or type your math homework question for step-by-step answers.” The camera is the product. Whether the answer you get is the free kind or the paid kind is a question the description leaves open.
| App | What the listing says is free | What it says costs |
|---|---|---|
| Photomath | Named: “basic step-by-step explanations”, stated twice | Named: Animated Tutorials, Textbook Solutions |
| Brainly | Named only as “limited features” | Named: “live human tutors”, priced “less than a dollar a day” |
| Mathway | Not stated | Referred to as “a premium subscription option” with renewal terms, no contents |
Four questions that work on any homework app listing
- Does the word “free” have a noun after it? “Free with limited features” is a different promise from “step-by-step explanations at no charge”.
- Is the paid tier described by contents or by amount? Contents you can compare; a price per day you cannot.
- Is there a sentence about renewal? If the listing carries one, the plan is recurring; if it also carries a guarantee, read the guarantee’s conditions outside the listing.
- What does the app actually receive from you? These three describe a photo of a maths question, a child’s question typed into a network of tutors, and a camera pointed at homework. Those are three different amounts of exposure for the same Tuesday night.
These are descriptions, not price lists. None of the three states what a plan costs in your currency today, what “limited” excludes, or whether a school already pays for the account you are about to buy. The in-app plan screen and the store’s subscription summary are the authorities for that, and they are worth one screenshot before money leaves the household.
- All quoted sentences — the three app descriptions as submitted by Photomath (listed under Google LLC), Brainly sp. z o.o. and Chegg, Inc., retrieved through the store’s public catalogue interface and compared word for word with this page.
- Two store images — supplied by the developers; the captions transcribe the headline text on each.
- Our own reading — the comparison table and the four questions. Not vendor guidance, and not a review of any plan we purchased.
The app pages here are Photomath and Brainly, on the learning and education hub. Related: how to use Duolingo for free and what you miss, is OCR free, or does extracting text cost extra, and which kids’ learning app has no ads at all.
Written by the Dlzer editorial desk. Not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Photomath, Brainly or Chegg. Product and company names are the marks of their owners, used to identify them; quoted lines are each company’s own description of what it does.