MeteorMath Release Notes v2026.11.01

Highlights

• A smarter learning engine. MeteorMath now uses spaced review, tracks first-try answers, and brings missed facts back within a few questions. In our simulations, a student who answers perfectly masters the 10 × 10 table in 40 days instead of 73.
• Safer progress. Lowering the table size no longer erases progress on the bigger facts. When two devices create progress for the same student, MeteorMath now merges it into one record instead of keeping duplicates.
• Start at the right level. New students can set a starting point. Existing students can mark facts complete from the progress table.
• 14 new explorers bring the avatar lineup to 38.
• Better keyboard support. Hardware keyboards now work in iPad missions. On the Mac, the answer field is ready for typing as soon as a mission starts.

Learning Engine

The biggest change in this release is how MeteorMath picks the next problem. Every rule below is designed to help kids learn faster without making missions feel punishing.

Choosing the next fact

• Missed facts come right back. A fact your child gets wrong now returns within a few questions, while it's still fresh. Before, brand-new facts could crowd it out.
• Extra attention for tough facts. Facts that have gone unmastered for a long time, facts that slipped after being mastered, and facts just missed all get extra weight. The boost for brand-new facts is now capped at 2× (down from 5×).
• No back-to-back repeats. A fact won't repeat within 3 questions. When only a few facts are left to learn, MeteorMath mixes in known facts that haven't come up recently.
• Challenging, never crushing. While other facts are available, a mission includes at most 2 long-unmastered facts in any 5 questions. When first-try accuracy drops below 80% and the last two questions were unmastered facts, the next question is one your child already knows.

Pacing new material

• New facts are introduced only when recent first-try accuracy and speed show that your child is ready.
• MeteorMath works on a small set of facts at a time, so practice stays focused.
• The number of new facts per mission scales with mission length: one for every 10 questions, and never fewer than 3.

Spaced review

• Mastered facts come back for review at growing intervals, up to 30 days apart.
• Intervals are based on how much time has actually passed since your child last saw the fact. A child who practices once a day is no longer re-tested on every newly mastered fact eight days in a row.
• Review facts are mixed into missions without crowding out the facts still being learned.

Fairer scoring

• The first try counts most. MeteorMath now tracks first-try answers. A retry after a miss earns partial credit. A retry never extends a streak, never affects the speed baseline, and never unlocks a new fact.
• Credit for the flipped fact. A correct first-try answer to 7 × 3 earns half a step of credit toward 3 × 7. Your child still has to answer 3 × 7 to master it.
• Rule facts. Facts with 0 or 1 follow simple rules, so they're mastered after 3 fast, correct answers.
• More time for longer answers. Your child gets an extra half second for each digit beyond the first before an answer counts as slow.
• A fresh clock for retries. The answer timer restarts after a wrong answer.

By the numbers

We ran synthetic students through the old and new learning engines, with one mission per day:

The higher rate of first-try wrong answers is intended. Hard facts now come up more often, and the limit on tough facts plus the mix of easy wins keep missions from feeling punishing.

Starting Point and Progress Adjustment

• Starting Point for new students. When you create a profile, a new slider asks, "Already knows the facts up to?" MeteorMath marks those facts complete and reviews them now and then. Everything else is learned from the beginning.
• Adjust Progress for existing students. The Multiplication Table Progress screen has a new Adjust button. Choose a factor with the Mark Complete Through slider, then confirm. Adjusting never weakens progress your child has already earned, and the facts you mark are scheduled for review.
• If a student has already completed every fact up to their table size, the Adjust screen says so.

Progress Protection

Protecting your child's hard-earned progress was a priority in this release.

• Changing the table size keeps progress. Before, lowering the Max Factor and then finishing a mission deleted progress on the bigger facts. Now that progress is kept and returns when you raise the Max Factor again. The Max Factor slider explains this.
• One record across devices. If two devices both created progress for the same student before iCloud finished syncing, MeteorMath now merges the records and keeps the stronger history for each fact.
• Tidier records. Deleting a profile removes all of its progress. Opening a profile that has no missions no longer creates an empty progress record.
• Compatible with earlier saves. Progress from earlier versions loads unchanged. Mastery rules were only loosened, so a fact your child has mastered stays mastered.
• Problems are reported. If saved progress ever can't be read, the error is now reported to us automatically so we can fix it.

Profiles and the Multiplication Table

• 14 new explorers. Choose an airplane, fighter jet, fire engine, garbage truck, race car, robot, kangaroo, panda, snake, unicorn, princess, Santa Claus, Christopher Columbus, or George Washington. There are now 38 explorers in all.
• Cancel a new profile. A brand-new profile now has Cancel and Save buttons, and Cancel discards it.
• Clearer Learning list. Each fact now shows how many more answers it needs (for example, "3 to go"). The old mastery percentage could read 85% for a fact that wasn't mastered yet.
• Progress that matches the table size. The profile's progress row now reflects the selected Max Factor.
• A complete table. The progress grid now includes the 0 row and column. A square turns green only when your child has mastered the fact in both orders, such as 4 × 6 and 6 × 4.
• Grown-ups only. Deleting a profile now requires a grown-up to answer a two-digit multiplication question first.
• Faster iCloud sync. Profiles that sync from another device now appear in the profile list as soon as they arrive. You no longer need to leave the list and come back.

Missions

• Feedback you can read. "Correct!" or "Correct! Try to be faster." now appears under the answer, so kids know why the answer glowed green or yellow.
• iPad hardware keyboards. Type answers with the number keys, fix mistakes with Delete, and submit with Return. Escape asks whether to abort the mission.
• Mac improvements. The answer field is ready for typing as soon as a mission starts, and Return always submits the answer.

Bug Fixes and Reliability

• Fixed progress on the bigger facts being lost after lowering the Max Factor.
• Fixed duplicate progress records when two devices set up the same student before iCloud finished syncing.
• Fixed a crash when opening Adjust Progress for a student who had already completed their table.
• Fixed a bug where the problem on screen could change mid-mission without the progress counter moving.
• Fixed the Return key sometimes not submitting answers on the Mac.
• Fixed profiles synced from iCloud not appearing until you left the profile list and came back.
• Fixed the Learning list showing a misleading mastery percentage for facts that weren't mastered yet.

Download MeteorMath on the App Store