Before Installing...

What do I need to use KanjiBox?

An iPhone running iOS 16 or later, or any Android phone running Android 7.0 (API 24) or later. That covers virtually every device released in the past several years.

Do I need an internet connection to use KanjiBox?

No. KanjiBox is mostly offline: all learning content lives on your device and no network access is required to study. An internet connection is only needed for the optional Sync feature, which lets you back up and share your progress across devices.

Why is KanjiBox not free? Plenty of other apps are!

KanjiBox is mainly a passion project, and the result of a staggering number of hours of work over many years. Its current price tag is nowhere near making it a profitable use of my billable hours, but helps justify investing more time into adding features and making the app better for everyone.
Many commercial apps opt for "freemium" or ad-supported ways of funding their development. I personally prefer a simple upfront purchase price, with no hidden costs or nagging ads.

After Installing...

Below is a full copy of KanjiBox's in-app User Guide, for your reading convenience. You can access it directly from the app by browsing to the Help section.

What is KanjiBox?
KanjiBox Basics
Setting your Level
Playing
Settings
Statistics
Scores
Sync Panel
- Sync Issues
KanjiDraw & KanaDraw
Grammar (new)
Study Sets
Text-to-Speech
Contact
Extra

Important message: If you encounter any bug or unexpected crashes while using KanjiBox, please, please, contact me first by email: it is impossible for me to address bug complaints posted in App Store or Play Store reviews, as those do not provide a way to contact you in order to obtain crucial details about the problem.

What is KanjiBox? ☝

KanjiBox is a Japanese studying tool, geared at helping you memorise sets of vocabulary words, kanji, kana and grammar patterns through intelligent drilling and quizzing.
KanjiBox is particularly well suited for test preparation (JLPT, Kentei, Ninja Academy etc.) but also works great as a personal study tool.

KanjiBox Basics ☝

To start using KanjiBox, simply:

Pick a level in Settings.
Choose the area you want to study: Kana, Kanji, Vocabulary, Reading or Grammar.
Choose either Drill or Quiz mode.
Play!
When you want to review with classic flashcards, choose Flashcards.
Occasionally follow your progress by taking a look at the Statistics and Scores.
Lather, rinse, repeat...

Click on items in the list above to get more details.

Setting your Level ☝

Before playing, make sure to set your training level by going to Settings.

KanjiBox levels are modelled after official Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) levels: each set of kanji or vocabulary closely matches those required to pass the exam. Many online resources exist to help you figure out what your level might be, but if you are unsure, simply go through each level until you find one that fits.
If you are a complete beginner, select N5 (the lowest level).
If you want to train above JLPT level (if you consider yourself perfectly fluent), you can pick level 先生 (Sensei), which will drill you on the entire JIS kanji set (6355 kanji) and a vocabulary set of about 18,000 words.

Note 1: KanjiBox uses the revised (2010) JLPT scale: N5 to N1. Please read this note for more info about the revised scale, particularly if you are planning to study at N3 level.

Note 2: Level settings do not affect Kana or Grammar modes.

Note 3: In Quiz mode, you will sometimes notice questions slightly below or above your level: this is normal behaviour (see Quiz mode).

Note 4: In addition to the Level setting, also check the Cumulative Level toggle.

Playing ☝

All of KanjiBox's playing screens work on the same simple model:

The question appears in the upper part of the screen (e.g. a kanji's reading, a word definition or a kana's romaji transliteration).
Four answer choices are displayed in the middle of the screen (e.g. 4 kanji, 4 Japanese vocab words or 4 kana): only one is correct. Use the skip button (⏭) at the bottom of the choice grid when you have no idea what the answer is.
After each answer the screen flashes briefly (green for correct, red for wrong), the choices reveal which was correct, and a new entry appears in the corrections list at the bottom of the screen.
You can scroll back through the corrections list to review previous answers and tap any item to get more details.

Note 1: KanjiBox's main purpose is to help you memorise sets of kanji, words and kana. To do so, it uses a special adaptive algorithm that remembers each of your answers and uses the data to decide which questions to ask next. See the full description of the Adaptive Learning Algorithm for more gory details.

Note 2: KanjiBox puts special care in selecting three "convincing" decoys along with the correct answer. For example, kanji choices always come in two pairs of closely resembling kanji (e.g. '友' will often be paired up with '左'). This is no coincidence: KanjiBox is a mean machine out to get you.

Drill Mode ☝

Drill mode is the main way to improve your general level: it helps you quickly survey what you already know and focuses on your weak points. There is no particular goal nor time constraint in Drill mode: questions will keep coming until you get tired and use the back button.

Note: Because of Adaptive Learning, some questions (the ones you keep getting wrong) will start reoccurring more and more often: this is perfectly normal behaviour, not a flaw in the program! Think of it as KanjiBox's way of telling you to stop making the same mistakes already...

Quiz Mode ☝

Quiz mode adds a competitive edge to Drill Mode by timing your answers, asking questions in "waves" of increasing difficulty and giving you a score at the end.

An essential difference with Drill mode is that questions in Quiz mode are picked randomly and unaffected by your previous answers (otherwise put, it does not use the Adaptive Learning Algorithm). This is because Quiz mode is meant to give an unbiased assessment of your performance for a given level.

Note 1: The points you get for each question depend on how fast you answer (the coloured progress bar at the top). There is always a minimum amount of points awarded for an answer, even after the clock has stopped running.

Note 2: Beware! Choosing the wrong answer will remove points from your score. The only way to leave your score unaffected when you are not sure of the proper answer is to use the skip button (⏭).

Note 3: Questions in Quiz mode are offered in a steady upward progression. You will always start with a few questions below your level and end on questions slightly above it.

Note 4: Drill options, such as «Show/Hide Translation», will not affect Quiz Mode.

Note 5: Although Quiz mode does not use the Adaptive Learning Algorithm to pick questions, it still stores your answers. This means a question you failed in Quiz mode is more likely to pop up again when you switch to Drill mode. Alternating sessions of Quiz and Drill is always a good strategy to get both the fun of competitive playing and the efficiency of targeted drilling.

Additional details on Quiz mode are available in the extra info section.

Flashcards ☝

Flashcards is a simple card review system that lets you go over entries at your own pace. Simple, yes, but far from basic:

Use the previous/next buttons to move between cards.
Tap a card to flip it and reveal the back face (readings, meanings, example words and an audio play button).
Hold a card to peek at the back while your finger is down — it returns to the front when you let go, useful for a quick check without committing to a flip.

To customise the set of flashcards, tap the Settings (cog) icon in the top-right corner. This lets you select the JLPT level, toggle Cumulative mode, and set the Study Order (e.g. by progress, randomly). KanjiBox automatically sorts cards according to how well you know them: entries you know least come first, entries you already know well appear last.

Note: Viewing a card's back face (whether by tapping or holding) counts as a "seen" event for the adaptive algorithm, so items you look up frequently will surface more often in future Drill sessions.

Settings ☝

By tapping on the Settings item in the menu, you can change the following options:

JLPT Level — separate level selectors for Kanji, Vocab and Reading, each with:
- Cumulative Level: if enabled, you will be drilled on all levels up to your selected level. If disabled, questions will only be at your exact level (never below).
- Module-specific toggles such as Show Kanji Meanings, Show Translation, Show Rare Spellings, and Furigana display mode (Never / Above current level / Always).
Display:
- Colour Theme: System auto, Light or Dark.
- UI Language: the language used for KanjiBox's interface (menus, labels, etc.). Defaults to your device language.
- Kanji Language and Vocab Language: the language used for kanji and vocabulary translations, set independently of the UI language. See Other Languages for caveats.
- Japanese Font: Default, Mincho (serif) or Gothic (sans-serif).
- Disable Answer Flash: turn off to prevent the brief colour flash when you answer questions.
Audio:
- TTS Audio: enables or disables Japanese text-to-speech playback. See the Text-to-Speech section for more details.
- Speech Volume and Speech Rate: adjust TTS loudness and speed. A Test button lets you preview the current settings.
Grammar:
- Question Annotation: controls whether furigana, grammar links, both or neither are shown on grammar question sentences.
- Correction Annotation: same control for the correction/answer sentence shown after each grammar question.
Purchases (iOS and Android): tap Restore Purchases to re-apply any previously purchased grammar sets or draw add-ons.

Note 1: "Drill Options" only affect Drill mode: information display in Quiz mode is directly controlled by KanjiBox, regardless of these options, so as to ensure that every quiz taker competes in the exact same conditions.

Note 2: A Reset section at the bottom of Settings (collapsed by default) gives access to destructive actions: resetting the content database, factory-resetting all learning progress, and re-showing dismissed help tips.

Statistics ☝

The Stats page gives you a full snapshot of your learning progress. At the top, a streak counter shows your current and best study streaks. An overall mastery progress bar and percentage follow, summarising how much of your active level you have covered across all modules.

Below that, module cards for Kanji, Vocab and Reading navigate to per-module statistics, while cards for Kana, KanjiDraw and KanaDraw open a quick-breakdown popup. A 2×2 grid shows four totals at a glance: Total Items, Mastered, Learning and New.

The colour scheme is self-explanatory: bright green means fully mastered, darker green means well-known, orange and red indicate items you are still struggling with, and white means items not yet seen in a drill or quiz.

Note 1: Tap any progress bar to see an exact count breakdown by learning stage: Mastered, Learning, Reviewing, Struggling, Failing and New. When every item in a level is mastered, the bar turns gold.

Note 2: All statistics are local to your device. If you use multiple devices, sync your data via the Sync Panel to keep them consistent.

Scores ☝

The Scores section lists the quiz highscores you have earned so far in Quiz Mode, sorted by points. Tap any score to see a detailed breakdown: total points, correct answers out of total, accuracy percentage, and session duration. You can filter the list by module type (Kanji, Vocab, Reading) using the settings icon.

Scores sync across devices via the Sync Panel. There is no global leaderboard.

Sync Panel ☝

KanjiBox can sync your learning progress (drill and quiz answers, study sets, preferences and scores) with an online server. This lets you share the same data between multiple devices and recover your data if you ever reinstall the app.

To get started, open the Sync section and create an account:

Enter your email address as your login (it will never be used to spam you, but a valid address is important in case you ever need to recover your account).
Choose a password and confirm it.
Tap Create Account. If you already have an account, tap Sign In instead.

Once signed in, you can:

Tap Sync Now to manually trigger a sync at any time.
Enable Auto-sync on resume to have KanjiBox sync automatically each time the app comes to the foreground.

A live progress display shows the five sync phases (Connect, Upload, Download, Sync Sets, Sync Profile) as they complete.

Note 1: In case of a sync conflict (data updated on two separate devices before syncing), a Sync Conflict dialog appears. For settings conflicts, you can resolve each one individually with Keep Local or Use Server; if there are two or more conflicts, Keep All Local and Use All Server batch buttons appear. Learning-data conflicts (kanji, vocab, etc.) are grouped by category and resolved automatically using the most recent values. Closing the dialog with the ✕ button hides it without resolving anything — unresolved conflicts will reappear.

Note 2: You can update your password by using the Create Account form with your current email and a new password.

Fixing sync issues:

If you encounter difficulties syncing between devices, first make sure you are using the very latest version of KanjiBox. If updating does not solve the problem, use the Advanced panel on the Sync screen:

Force Re-upload All — pushes all local learning data to the server, overwriting the server copy. Use this if the server is missing data that exists on your device.
Force Re-download All — wipes local learning data and replaces it entirely with the server copy. Use this if your device has stale or corrupt data and the server copy is the one you want to keep.
After confirming that sync is correct on one device, repeat on any other devices you want to keep in sync.

KanjiDraw & KanaDraw ☝

KanaDraw and KanjiDraw teach you kana and kanji writing with an emphasis on proper stroke order, direction and positioning. Both modules work identically, except for the material they cover.

Despite their deceptively simple interface, KanjiDraw & KanaDraw use the same adaptive techniques as all other drill modes to optimise your learning curve. Entries you fail to write correctly will re-occur with increasing frequency; those you have mastered won't show up as often. KanjiBox will also give you clues adapted to your level on a given kana/kanji (an outline of the first few strokes or a full animation of the entire character), being more lenient at first and progressively requiring more precision.

KanjiDraw offers three sub-modes:

Mirror: copy the kanji shown to you (you still have to figure out stroke order).
Missing Kanji: fill in the missing kanji in a compound word, the same as the Missing Kanji drill.
Kanji Reading: draw a kanji based on its reading, the same as the Kanji Reading drill.

KanaDraw offers two sub-modes:

Mirror: copy the kana shown to you.
Romaji to Kana: draw the kana that matches a given romaji hint.

The drawing screen toolbar changes depending on what phase you are in:

While drawing: Done (submit your strokes), More Hints (reveal an extra reference stroke), Undo (remove last stroke), Clear (start over).
After grading: Next (go to next question), Replay (watch the correction animation again), Stroke Numbers (toggle numbered stroke order overlay on the canvas).

Both modules also provide a Flashcards view that works like Flashcards for plain kana or kanji, but displays animated stroke order for each entry.

KanjiDraw and KanaDraw have two draw-specific settings (available via the gear icon):

Stroke Hints: controls when KanjiDraw shows you hint strokes — Off, Adaptive (default) or All.
Show Correct Strokes: controls when KanjiDraw shows a correction — Off, On Mistake, or Always.

In normal use, KanjiBox automatically selects kanji to focus on during your use of KanjiDraw. If you want to manually pick a set of kanji, have a look at the Study Sets section (select kanji for your set type when creating it).

KanjiDraw and KanaDraw are paid add-ons, purchasable individually via in-app purchase. Both include a 7-day free trial (the countdown starts the first time you open either draw mode and is shared between them). A banner shows how many days remain. Once the trial expires, the drill buttons are disabled until you complete a purchase. If, for any reason (reinstalling the app, switching devices...), they ask you to purchase again: tap Restore Purchases in Settings — you will not be charged a second time.

Note 1: KanjiDraw relies on a database of kanji strokes (Kanji VG, ©2009 Ulrich Apel) to evaluate your input. While this database is very thorough and generally accurate, errors are possible, particularly for advanced or rare kanji. Feel free to contact me if you encounter persistent stroke issues.

Note 2: KanjiDraw and KanaDraw use a handwritten font style as a drawing model. This can sometimes lead to small differences between what you are used to seeing in print or on screen and what KanjiBox expects you to trace.

Grammar New! ☝

Grammar mode is a fill-in-the-blank sentence drill. Each question shows a Japanese sentence with one word replaced by a blank; you pick the correct word from four choices. Grammar drills are a great complement to vocabulary and kanji study, as they help you understand how words function in real sentences and reinforce your grasp of particles, verb forms and common expressions.

Grammar content is organised in sets by topic (particles, counters, keigo, etc.). The Grammar menu shows all available sets with their topic, question count and your current progress. Sets you have not yet purchased display a DEMO badge; tapping them opens a dialog where you can try a free sample of demo questions or purchase the full set via in-app purchase. Sets with no demo questions are shown locked and are not playable until purchased.

An All Sets card appears at the top of the list once you own at least one set, letting you drill across all your purchased content in one session.

Like all other drill modes, Grammar uses the Adaptive Learning Algorithm to focus on the patterns you find most difficult.

Note 1: Grammar sets are purchased individually, so you can buy only the topics you need.

Note 2: Grammar has no JLPT level selector — questions are grouped by topic rather than by level.

Note 3: Purchases are tied to your Apple or Google account and can be restored from Settings » Restore Purchases at any time.

Study Sets ☝

KanjiBox automatically manages the sets of entries it drills you on, using rather complex techniques based on the Spaced Repetition System (SRS) to optimise your learning curve within your chosen level. However, if you want to create your own set of entries to drill on, you can use Study Sets to build custom sets of Kanji or Vocab words.

On the main Study Sets screen, tap the + button to create a new set. Give it a name and choose a type (Kanji or Vocab). A search bar and sort controls (Last Modified, Created, Entries) let you find and organise your sets as the list grows.

To add or remove entries from a set, tap the set name to open its detail page and then tap Add Entries. In the search screen, typing a kanji automatically switches the level filter to All so you can find any character without adjusting the dropdown — your previous level is restored when you clear the search. Tap Add All to bulk-add all results from a kanji search in one step.

To rename or delete a set, tap the pencil (✏️) icon in the navigation bar of the detail page to enter edit mode, then use the on-screen Save, Cancel or Delete controls.

Once you have added at least a few entries, tap the set name to start drilling with KanjiBox's standard modes (Vocab and Reading drills for word sets, Kanji and KanjiDraw for kanji sets).

Text-to-Speech ☝

KanjiBox includes built-in Japanese text-to-speech (TTS): words and kanji can be read aloud automatically during drills and from detail views. To enable it, go to Settings » Audio and turn on TTS Audio. You can adjust the volume and playback speed independently, and use the Test button to preview the result before drilling.

TTS quality depends on the Japanese voice installed on your device. On both iOS and Android, the built-in Japanese voices are generally excellent. If you hear robotic or low-quality speech, check your device's accessibility or language settings to ensure a high-quality Japanese voice is downloaded.

Note 1: TTS is disabled in Quiz mode for drill types where it would provide an unfair advantage (e.g. Reading mode).

Note 2: On some devices, TTS may not be available if no Japanese voice is installed on the system.

Contact ☝

Any question left unanswered? Comments burning to be made? Suggestions? Do not hesitate to contact me: iphone@kanjibox.net.

Extra Stuff ☝

Everything below this line is absolutely extraneous and not required in the slightest to properly enjoy and use KanjiBox. Feel free to read on, but don't say you weren't warned (think about it, you could instead go for a walk in the park, I bet it's beautiful outside right now, go play with your kids/pet/spouse/date, do your taxes, I don't know... There are so many better ways to use those next five minutes of your life).

Note about revised JLPT level N3 ☝

As of 2011, the JLPT committee updated their level system from 4 levels (J4 to J1) to 5 (N5 to N1). New levels are generally considered to match former ones, except for N3, which has been added between former J3 and J2 (now N4 and N2).

Warning! There is no official description of the content for N3 level, and therefore all lists currently available on the web for N3 (kanji or vocab) are built from more-or-less informed guesses and estimates (some of them wildly off the mark). KanjiBox's N3 sets are built based on a mix of 1) reports from previous JLPT N3 tests, 2) Japanese grade school levels (for Kanji), and 3) word frequencies in the Tanaka corpus (for Vocab). The result is a rather arbitrary split between N2 and N3 that makes it a little easier to tackle the latter. However, there is absolutely no guarantee that the actual JLPT N3 test will match this estimate: please do not rely on it blindly. Feel free to send me any corrections you may have based on mock or past N3 exams.

Other Languages ☝

In addition to English, KanjiBox supports other languages for Kanji and Vocab translations. You can choose a translation language independently of the app's interface language via Settings » Kanji Language and Vocab Language. This support is still experimental and subject to the following caveats:

Non-English translations only exist for some levels (starting from N5 and going up to N3–N2, depending on the language). Drilling or quizzing outside of these levels will result in a mix of non-English and English translations. English translations used as fallback will appear in italic when a non-English language is selected.

For more information about translations, to submit corrections or contribute translations in your language, check out the translation project in the online version of KanjiBox. You can also contact me directly.

KB Online ☝

There is a free version of KanjiBox available online. To log in, create an account with an email and password — if you previously synced from your device, you can use the same Sync login.

The online version offers a few additional features, including full-text drill and quiz modes and the ability to compare quiz scores with other users.

About the Adaptive Learning Algorithm ☝

KanjiBox uses a special algorithm to adapt to your level by storing all your answers and using the data to pick new questions. In effect: entries you consistently answer incorrectly will come back increasingly frequently, while those you appear to have memorised well will only be asked episodically.

Another effect of KanjiBox's adaptive algorithm is that you do not have to worry about breaking down each level into smaller study sets: KanjiBox does it automatically for you. After a few rounds of questions, you will notice that KanjiBox slows down the introduction of new questions (how slow depends on how well you are doing) to let you focus on the set of problematic entries.

While there is always an element of randomness, the general order and interval at which any entry (word, kanji, kana...) appears is perfectly controlled and optimised to make your learning curve as smooth as possible.

More on Quiz Mode ☝

Quizzes are split in waves. Each wave can vary in size (usually between 4 and 15 questions) with a consistent level (as well as specific display options for things such as furigana or kanji readings...). During each wave, you must answer at least 60% (50% for JLPT 3 and 4) of all questions correctly, otherwise the quiz stops.

The number of points awarded for each (correctly answered) question depends on: level, wave, speed of the answer, speed of an African swallow carrying a coconut.

Picking an incorrect answer will remove a proportionate amount of points. For our probability-adverse friends reading: this means trying to guess answers is always a bad idea.

The safest strategy for questions you don't know is to use the skip button (⏭). The question will still be considered failed, but your score will not go down.

Upon successful completion of the final wave (levels have between 7 and 10 waves, depending), you will receive a bonus number of points (100 to 500, depending on level).

High scores are kept separately for each level (switching levels does not reset scores in other levels).

Troubleshooting...

Contact Email

Please send support requests, bug reports and suggestions to iphone@kanjibox.net.

EDRDG License Acknowledgement

This application uses the EDICT and KANJIDIC dictionary files. These files are the property of the Electronic Dictionary Research and Development Group, and are used in conformance with the Group's licence.

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KanjiBox

for iPhone & Android