After working on conjugation, writing or a sound, a person needs a suitable next step. That is better decided by the job and by an attempt to apply it than by an obligatory subscription renewal.
Which apps people use
These apps are mentioned in the breakdown of this job. Open each one to compare strengths and limits. The order of the list is not a ranking of fitness.
Rank 5. Review score: 81 out of 100. App Store rating: 4.9★ · 5,128 ratings
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The best tool for systematically mastering Spanish conjugation. The adaptive system identifies gaps and skips what you already know. It does not replace a full course, but it covers the most painful gap, verb forms, better than any other app.
Praised: An adaptive placement test immediately surfaces weak tenses. A variety of exercise types and customization (choosing tenses, regular and irregular verbs) let you target exactly what you need.
Complaints: Focused on one task: conjugation. No listening, no speaking, no vocabulary beyond verb forms. Not enough to reach fluent speech on its own.
Best for: Beginners and intermediates who feel verb forms are their main bottleneck. Works great alongside any Spanish course.
Rank 1. Review score: 88 out of 100. App Store rating: 4.9★ · 17,609 ratings
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The best tool for memorizing hiragana and katakana: multiple exercise types, spaced repetition, a charming character, and ads that only appear when you make mistakes, which motivates you to be more accurate.
Praised: Users memorize hiragana in one to two weeks, varied exercise formats keep things from getting stale, and audio feedback plus the Maru character make sessions genuinely enjoyable.
Complaints: Covers only kana, with no grammar, kanji, or vocabulary, so once you master the writing system you need to move to another app. On iOS 18 it fails to launch for some users.
Best for: Complete beginners in Japanese who need to master hiragana and katakana quickly and reliably before moving on to grammar and vocabulary.
Rank 3. Review score: 85 out of 100. App Store rating: 4.8★ · 12,376 ratings
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A tool for mastering hiragana and katakana through handwritten input, stroke order, and detailed per-character progress stats, with all content accessible without restrictions.
Praised: The handwriting input feature accepts drawn characters and shows stroke order, per-character progress is visible at a glance, and sessions run without intrusive ads.
Complaints: The smart quiz algorithm sometimes gets stuck on the same characters and stops testing katakana. The app assumes you want to reinforce existing knowledge rather than learn characters from scratch.
Best for: Japanese learners who have already encountered the characters and want to solidify them through regular short tests, including handwritten input.
Rank 36. Review score: 62 out of 100. App Store rating: 4.7★ · 6,838 ratings
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The best mobile tool for learning to write kanji with spaced repetition and full JLPT coverage, available as a one-time purchase with no subscription.
Praised: Spaced repetition with handwriting input via Apple Pencil, JLPT-level structure, the ability to hear a word in context, and real user progress after months of practice.
Complaints: Stroke order is incorrect for some kanji or the algorithm interprets it too strictly, there are pronunciation errors at higher levels, and there is no grammar or listening comprehension practice.
Best for: Japanese learners who want to systematically master kanji and related vocabulary. Should be paired with separate resources for grammar and speaking practice.
Rank 8. Review score: 78 out of 100. App Store rating: 4.9★ · 3,742 ratings
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A strict conjugation trainer with flexible settings for tenses and dialects, available as a one-time purchase. It delivers something other apps do not: systematic drilling of conjugations until they become automatic.
Praised: Flexible settings let you choose the tenses, dialect, and verb type you need. Audio pronunciation helps you internalize stress shifts as forms change. A wide database covers rare and irregular verbs.
Complaints: Conjugation only, with no context of how forms are used in sentences, no speaking practice, and no listening. Without a baseline vocabulary using the app from day one is difficult.
Best for: Intermediates and advanced learners who know Spanish but get confused on tenses and irregular verbs. Works great as a daily warm-up alongside a main course.
