Tarot!

Review by eFreeware

Tarot! is a paid Android app from The Fool's Dog, priced at $3.99, based on a digital version of the 1910 Classic tarot deck designed by A. E. Waite. Waite and illustrated by Pamela Colman Smith. The deck's artwork has shaped how English-speaking readers picture the tarot for more than a century, and this app presents it in what the developer describes as the original vivid colors, as the cards looked when they first came off the press.

The main reason to consider it is the combination of that restored art with three complete books and a full set of reading tools in one place. The app carries a 4.9 average from 711 ratings across more than 10,000 installs. For anyone who wants a faithful version of this particular deck rather than a modern redrawing, the appeal is easy to see.

It has been on Google Play since October 2013, and the most recent update arrived in July 2026, bringing the app to Android version 16 and fixing problems with book and journal pages. That long run matters for a reference app: the material inside is meant to be consulted for years, not finished in a weekend.

A restored deck at the center of the experience

The core of the app is the card imagery. The developer promises a radiant restoration in which each card is vibrant and pristine, and the app lets you zoom in to study the details of the linework and color. If you have only ever seen this deck in small reproductions, the chance to enlarge a single card and look closely at the figures and symbols is the feature that justifies the download on its own.

Around that artwork sits a reading interface the developer calls intuitive and elegant, intended to work for beginners and experienced readers alike. You can allow reversed cards or turn them off, and there is an option to read with the Major Arcana only. Those two settings alone cover a lot of ground, since they let the same app serve a straightforward daily draw and a full 78-card spread without any extra setup.

The shuffle and cut are animated, and voice prompts can be adjusted to suit how you like to work. None of this is unusual for a tarot app, but it is the expected scaffolding around a deck this well known, and it keeps the focus on the cards rather than on the controls.

Twenty-one layouts plus a free form option

The app ships with 21 built-in card layouts, which is a generous set by the standards of the category. Between them they should cover the spreads most readers reach for, from simple past-present-future draws to larger arrangements for questions that need more detail.

If none of the built-in spreads fits, the free form layout option lets you place cards where you want them. That is the feature I would expect serious readers to appreciate most, because it removes the ceiling that fixed spreads usually impose. You are not limited to what the developer thought to include.

Readings can be shared by email, which is a small addition but a useful one if you read for other people and want to send them the result rather than describe it from memory. The journal keeps a record of readings as you go, and the developer has continued to fix issues with journal pages in recent updates, which suggests it is treated as a core part of the app rather than an afterthought.

Three complete books inside the app

The reference material is what separates this from a simple card viewer. Three full books come with the app, including works by Janet Farrar and Gavin Bone and by S. L. MacGregor Mathers, plus A. E. Waite's The Pictorial Key to the Tarot, the deck's original guide. E. Waite. Having the Waite text alongside the cards it was written for is a genuine convenience, since the two are usually kept on separate shelves.

The Mathers book comes from the same period as the deck's release, so the app pairs a modern guide with two classic works of occultism from around 1910. That mix gives you both an accessible entry point and the historical context, and it means the app can serve as a study tool rather than only a reading tool.

The books are not the only place meanings live. You can customize the app with your own card meanings and reading cloths, so a reader with established interpretations can carry them into the app instead of working around someone else's. Between the three books and that customization, there is a lot of room to make the app your own.

What it costs and what it assumes

This is a paid app at $3.99. For a reference app you might open for years, a single upfront price is easier to live with than a stream of prompts.

The mature 17+ content rating is worth flagging for anyone installing it on a shared device. Tarot decks and the occult literature that surrounds them deal with themes some households prefer to keep separate, and the rating reflects that.

The app supports all Android devices, and the recent update to Android version 16 keeps it current with the platform. The trade-off implied by the design is focus: this is one deck, restored and documented in depth, not a library of many decks to browse. The three books and the customization options are what you get in exchange for that narrower scope.

Who gets the most from this deck

The reader who will get the most from Tarot! is someone with a specific interest in the Waite-Smith deck and its history. If the 1910 artwork is the version you want to read with, and you would rather study the original guide than a modern paraphrase, the combination here is hard to match in a single app.

Beginners are served too, since the interface is meant to be easy for newcomers while still offering the depth experienced readers expect. The three books give a new reader a structured way in, and the option to work with the Major Arcana alone makes early practice less overwhelming.

Experienced readers who keep their own meanings and prefer to lay cards out their own way will find the free form layout and the custom meanings useful rather than restrictive. The journal and email sharing round out the workflow for anyone who reads regularly, for themselves or for others.

A considered purchase for students of the classic deck

Tarot! is a focused, well-regarded app that does one thing thoroughly: it presents a restored 1910 deck with the books and tools to study it properly. The 4.9 average from 711 ratings and the long update history all point to an app that has been looked after rather than left to sit.

At $3.99 the cost is modest for what is included, provided the deck itself is what you want. The restored art, 21 layouts, free form option, journal and three complete books make a coherent package for study and for reading. If you are drawn to this deck in particular, it is an easy recommendation; if you are looking for a broad catalog of different decks, this app is built around one.

My advice is to treat it as a reference and practice tool rather than a novelty. Readers who want the original colors, the original guide and room to add their own interpretations will find the app rewards the time they put into it.

What's new in version 2.2.2

* Update to Android version 16 * Fix issues viewing Book/Manual pages * Fix issues reloading on Journal pages