Uptime app alternatives, for 5-minute Hacks fans

By the edgi team Facts checked October 19, 2026

The best alternative to Uptime, the 5-minute "Hacks" learning app, is edgi: it's free, a Lesson takes 60 seconds, and every idea you finish becomes a card on a Map of what you know. Uptime's own app is still live, too: it was updated on October 15, 2026, though uptime.app now sells an "AI capability operating system" to companies. For more book summaries there's Blinkist or Headway, and Shortform goes deeper; for saved ideas, Deepstash; for a free course, Kinnu.

We make edgi, and we built it to be the most fun way to learn a new idea in a minute. This page is about the learning app, not website uptime monitors.

Prices are from each app's US App Store listing, checked October 19, 2026.

Is the Uptime app still around?

Yes. "Uptime: Get smarter, stand out" is on the US App Store, rated 4.73 from 2,725 ratings, and it has shipped at least 25 updates from May 18 to October 15, 2026, the latest being version 6.74.0. Its listing still describes the product its fans know: "5-minute summaries (which we call Hacks)" of "the world's top non-fiction books, podcast episodes, documentaries, and online courses," as text, audio, or "visual stories you can tap through." Its help center, in articles dated August 21, 2026, says "Uptime Free will give you access to one Hack a day, which will be chosen by Uptime."

What changed is the website. uptime.app now redirects to a page titled "The AI capability operating system," which describes "five-minute sessions from named experts, in Microsoft Teams, Slack and the Uptime app" for "enterprise teams," sorted into four academies. We found no download link for the app on it. So the app and the website now describe two different customers. We don't know what Uptime plans for the app, and nothing on its pages says.

Two details if you're staying: the App Store listing offers Premium "free for 7 days," while the help center says "for the first 3 days after joining Uptime." And the nine Premium prices on the App Store, from $3.99 to $69.99, aren't labelled monthly or yearly, so check the screen before you start a trial.

Uptime's listing also names documentaries and online courses among the things it summarizes, and none of the summary apps below lists either. If that's what you use it for, keep it.

Top pick: edgi, one idea you play in a minute

A Hack gives you a book's or a course's takeaways in five minutes. edgi gives you one idea in 60 seconds and makes you use it before you leave: drag, guess, tap, decide. Finish it and the idea becomes a card in your collection, lit up on a Map next to everything it connects to. A year on YouTube leaves a watch history. A year on edgi leaves a map of the ideas that shaped you.

There are more than 104,000 ideas on edgi, 44,000 of them with a Lesson, joined by 296,000 connections. The next Lesson is whatever the last one made you curious about, so there's no reading list to keep up with and no Hack chosen for you. It's free.

Uptime's listing promises "tips and tricks that you can implement in your everyday life." Here's one of those ideas done edgi's way: you rate how sure you are you can stop a sliding dot in a tiny zone, play four levels as the zone shrinks, and rate yourself again.

Self-efficacy Self-efficacy is an individual's belief in their ability to act in the ways necessary to achieve a specific goal.

60-second Lesson

Self-efficacy

Rate how sure you are, then play. Your belief that you can do a thing grows most from doing it, in steps small enough to win.

Play it here Read about self-efficacy

More book summaries: Blinkist, Headway or Shortform

If Uptime's book Hacks were the part you loved, these three are the same idea at different depths.

Blinkist has "9,000+ top books and podcasts," 15 minutes each, by its App Store listing, and one free summary a day. Premium runs $12.99 to $119.99 on the App Store, and a Pro tier is $139.99.

Headway has "1700+ book summaries" in "less than 15 minutes," with Premium listed from $12.99 to $89.99. Our Headway alternatives page covers that whole shelf.

Shortform is the one to pick if five minutes felt like a trailer. It sells "Chapter-by-chapter comprehensive summaries and analysis" with exercises, at $23.99 a month or $194.99 a year on the App Store.

Ideas you save: Deepstash

Uptime lets you save quotes and insights as "Sparks" and sort them into Boards. Deepstash is built around that habit: you save "idea cards" from nonfiction books, and its listing says you can "Create and share your own ideas." It has a free tier, and Pro Yearly is listed on the App Store at prices from $29.99 to $119.99. Our Deepstash review has the details.

A subject, free: Kinnu

Kinnu's general-knowledge app costs nothing. It holds 100 pathways and 899 lessons, from Norse mythology to macroeconomics, and it's slower than a Hack: a course you work through in order. See our Kinnu review.

Pick something else only if…

• You want documentaries and online courses summarized: Uptime itself.
• You want a book's chapter-by-chapter analysis: Shortform.
• You want 15-minute summaries of 9,000+ books and podcasts: Blinkist.
• You need Android. edgi runs on iPhone and in the browser.

FAQ

Is the Uptime app still available? Yes. The Uptime learning app is on the US App Store, and its latest version came out on October 15, 2026. Its website, uptime.app, now describes "the AI capability platform for enterprise teams."

Is Uptime free? In part. Its help center says Uptime Free gives you one Hack a day, chosen by Uptime. Premium opens up the rest; its App Store listing offers a 7-day free trial and its help center says 3 days (October 2026).

What's the best app like Uptime? edgi, if you want to learn ideas in a minute for free, with a card for every idea and a Map of what you know. For book summaries, Blinkist or Headway.

Is edgi free? Yes. Lessons, cards and the Map are free, and Sets unlock with coins you earn by learning, not money. An optional Pro subscription adds extras like offline access.