HelloStory: Japanese Stories

4.9
149 reviews
1K+
Downloads
Content rating
Everyone
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About this app

HelloStory helps you truly use the Japanese you've learned by reading stories at your level—and it's completely free.

As a graded reading app, HelloStory offers a wide variety of stories tailored to different JLPT levels, helping you apply Japanese effectively while mastering natural expressions.

Our features help you not only read but truly understand each story:

★ Dive into Stories of Your Level
Enjoy engaging tales across a wide range of topics, crafted by experienced native authors to reflect real, natural Japanese.

★ Instant Understanding Made Easy
Access professional, bilingual translations for every word and sentence—no more guessing, just clear meaning in real time.

★ Listen and Learn Naturally
Immerse yourself in audio recordings by native speakers. Sharpen your listening skills and perfect your pronunciation effortlessly.

★ Multiple Display Modes
Toggle between Kanji, Hiragana, or Romaji to help you recognize and read Japanese characters with confidence.

★ Save and Master Challenging Words
Add tricky vocabulary to your personalized wordlist. Our AI-powered flashcards prioritize what you need most, ensuring focused review and long-term retention.

★ Completely Free
All stories and features are available at no cost—no hidden fees, no clickbait.

Start reading to boost your Japanese skills today with HelloStory!

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Have any questions? Feel free to contact us at support@yuspeak.com
Privacy Policy: https://www.yuspeak.com/hellostory/privacy.html
Terms of Use: https://www.yuspeak.com/hellostory/terms.html
Updated on
Jan 29, 2026

Data safety

Safety starts with understanding how developers collect and share your data. Data privacy and security practices may vary based on your use, region, and age. The developer provided this information and may update it over time.
No data shared with third parties
Learn more about how developers declare sharing
This app may collect these data types
Location, Personal info and 2 others
Data is encrypted in transit
You can request that data be deleted

Ratings and reviews

4.9
129 reviews
Patrick Heneghan
July 19, 2025
Have read a few articles, and love the app so far! A lot of the stories are dialogues, and thus include a lot of natural spoken language on everyday topics. This is something I need more exposure to at this stage so I'm using this app a lot at the moment. There are plenty of stories that are 95% N5 vocabulary so it's great for beginners. A couple of requests: please always reveal hiragana when looking up a word. And please make it possible to copy words or sentences to the clipboard - thanks!
3 people found this review helpful
Did you find this helpful?
YuSpeak
July 21, 2025
Thanks so much for the kind words! You can tap the top right corner and check your Display Mode settings. If Hiragana is enabled, it should display automatically when looking up words. And we'll definitely pass along your suggestion about copying materials to our team! In the meantime, you can save words in-app to review and strengthen them later.
Greg Ducharme
January 23, 2026
This is honestly the best method an app I've found for learning to both speak and read. Pair this with an app dedicated to kanji study, and you're gold. If I could add one thing that could make learning Japanese easier with this app, is a double translation to help distinguish the logic structure of Japanese vs English . The literal translation, and the contextual one. i.e. Contextual: First, I asked, "Do you have any work stress." Literal: First, "Work Stress, is there?" asked.
1 person found this review helpful
Did you find this helpful?
YuSpeak
January 27, 2026
Thank you for your kind words! We're happy to hear that you find the app helpful. We appreciate your suggestion regarding the literal translation for distinguishing Japanese logic. We'll definitely pass it along to the team for consideration. Thanks again for your valuable feedback!
Eva
March 3, 2026
Easy to learn! ⭐ You can check out the meaning of the sentence, and for each word, there's a pronunciation speaker too. It's a very pleasant and fun experience. The best part is that there's a lot of free stories to read! Best free learning Japanese app! ✧*。٩(๑˙╰╯˙๑)و✧*。
Did you find this helpful?
YuSpeak
March 6, 2026
We included all these features because we know having sentence meanings and pronunciation helps you learn more comprehensively and effectively. It’s all designed to make your Japanese learning fun and efficient! We also have handy review tools you can try :) And if you’re enjoying HelloStory, don't forget to recommend us to your friends and family!

What’s new

Bug fixes and performance improvements.