Hi Matt,

I’ve been using Mochi for around 6 months and I really like the app. But after taking a break for about 2 months, I came back to a huge backlog: more than 1100 cards due today.

The problem is not that I want to avoid reviewing them. The problem is that this number makes it practically impossible to restart the habit. I do not have time to review 1100+ cards, but I would be very willing to review around 50 cards per day consistently.

What I’m looking for is not just a “limit new cards per day” setting, because I already stopped adding new cards. What I need is a way to limit the number of due review cards shown per day, for example:

“Show me a maximum of 50 due cards today.”

The important part is that within those 50 cards, the normal learning loop should still work. So if I get a card wrong today, I would like to see it again later in the same session/day. Right now, when the backlog is huge, it feels like I keep seeing old overdue cards, but I don’t properly work on the ones I fail today. That makes the review session feel less effective.

I understand the argument that a daily review cap can create a growing backlog and may be less “optimal” from a spaced repetition perspective. But in this situation, the alternative is worse: the backlog is so large that I simply stop reviewing altogether. A slightly imperfect recovery mode would be much better than giving up because the due count is too overwhelming.

Maybe this could be implemented as an optional mode, for example:

Daily due review cap: choose 25 / 50 / 100 / custom. Recovery mode: only show a manageable number of overdue cards per day. Failed cards stay active today: if I fail one of today’s selected cards, it comes back later in the same session/day. No deletion or archiving required: the remaining overdue cards stay in the backlog and are gradually introduced over the following days.

This would be extremely useful for people who are coming back after a break, illness, travel, exams, burnout, or just a busy period. I think many users do not need a perfect theoretical schedule in that moment — they need a way to rebuild the habit without being crushed by the backlog.

For my use case, I would love to set something like:

Maximum 50 due cards per day, but still repeat failed cards today.

Is something like this possible, or could it be considered for a future update?

Thanks for your work on Mochi, love it.