Kana Mind

1.66K reviews
Content rating
Everyone
100K+
Downloads
Content rating
Everyone
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About this app

Are you studying or learning Japanese? Do you want to be able to read words in Japanese aloud?

Well, you're in luck! Kana Mind is a completely free educational game that helps you practice recognizing the symbols used in Katakana and Hiragana, the first two alphabet styles used in the Japanese language.

But it is not a simple matching or "flash card" game! It uses an intelligent, adaptive memorization algorithm focused on teaching the character combinations, and measuring the player's success with each pair. You will progress at the right pace for you, regardless of whether you're learning the language, or just practicing what you already know!

Do you want to achieve 100% proficiency in the Kana? You will do so before you even realize it!


OTHER FEATURES

• Two modes: learn reading and/or writing recognition
• Learn the complete Hiragana and/or Katakana alphabet
• Store multiple player profiles
• 3 different romanization styles: Hepburn, Nippon-shiki, and Kunrei-shiki. Pick from what your country/school uses!
• Groups of characters can be toggled on or off for more focused exercises
• Free application: no ads, no personal user data collection, no in-app purchases

Read more about the motivations behind Kana Mind here:
http://zehfernando.com/2011/kana-mind-a-mobile-air-application-to-help-you-learn-japanese/

If you have suggestions, questions or bug reports, please send an email to zeh at zehfernando.com. And thanks so much to our kind reviewers for comments and suggestions!
The scientific way to practice Katakana and Hiragana!
Updated on
Apr 10, 2022

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
    App activity, App info and performance, and Device or other IDs
  • Data is encrypted in transit
  • Data can’t be deleted

Ratings and reviews

1.51K reviews
Patricia Sampson
June 9, 2024
This app only does recognition of the kana but it does it well. I know most of the hiragana but still get tripped up by a few and have just started on katakana, I like how it teaches the same letter for each kana at the same time, helps me make connections with similar shapes. Definitely a great addition to your learning Japanese toolbox, especially if you want to do it fast, you may end up dreaming about kana but you'll remember them.
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Uthael Kileanea
March 6, 2024
Great learning app. There's no time or attempt limits. It's fully offline. No ads, microtransactions or data collection. This also means your battery lasts longer. Suggestion: add a history of the last 10 or 20 letters with a note if the letter was Hiragana or Katakana. Another suggestion: setting to practice only one alphabet at a time.
2 people found this review helpful
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Dan George
July 31, 2026
Fantastic app. With this I mastered kana inside a week. I use it to keep sharp but unfortunately the bug where the instructions come up at the start of every new game is still there. Five stars when that gets fixed! Tooltip fixed, came back to this app after a long time away from Japanese. can't recommend highly enough for memorising kana.
1 person found this review helpful
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Zeh Fernando
November 19, 2014
Edit: thanks for the suggestion again Dan. I've published a new update (1.7.72) that adds an option to disable tooltips from the start, when creating games. It also allows you to start a game in "practice" mode, where it focuses in symbols you're struggling with, rather than teaching them slowly one by one.

What’s new

* The profile selector makes a distinction between "practice" and "learn" profiles with additional messaging
* Fixed font sizes and the scaling of some display items
* Fix maximum aspect ratio (removes black bars on bottom on some devices)