Socratic by Google

Socratic started as a photo-based homework helper: you pointed your phone at a math problem or a science question, and it returned worked explanations, definitions, and links to learning resources. For years it was one of the better-known free study apps.

There is no maintained standalone version anymore. The last standalone build was roughly 1.3.0 on Android, and the app was removed from the App Store and Google Play around October 2024. In 2025 Google folded the capability into Google Lens, so the "photograph a question, get an explanation" experience now lives under Lens' camera in "Homework" mode rather than in a separate product.

In its heyday the app covered a broad range of school subjects, parsed handwritten and printed questions from a photo, and pointed students toward outside explainers and videos instead of just handing over an answer. Those core ideas carried into the Lens successor.

Pricing was always simple: free, $0, a single tier. Socratic never had a subscription, premium unlock, ads, or in-app purchases, and the Homework mode inside Google Lens is free as well.

The main limitation today is that Socratic no longer exists as its own app, so you cannot download it — you use Google Lens instead. Separately, socratic.org (the old community Q&A site) has been read-only since 2018, with no new questions or answers.

Realistically, treat this as a historical entry: if you want what Socratic did, open Google Lens and use Homework mode. There is no reason to hunt for the discontinued standalone app.