Sucks compared to what? I find anki super. It is amazing what other have built for me to use, for free. It is insane value.

Anki IS amazing and DOES suck at the same time. I am very glad it exists and this is not meant as a dig at the maintainer for whom I am very grateful.

In particular, the UX is a mess. It is very hard for a beginner and frankly it feels like you are in an escape room whenever you want to do something new in terms of difficulty.

Once you are over that hump and just internalize its warts, it is AMAZING, but it IS a huge hurdle for a lot of people.

The default on iOS is pretty bad for example. Hidden hitpoints all over the card is obviously bad. And like the article states: no way to just go through all cards regardless of deck is kinda silly and annoying for no reason.