# Japanese Dictionary - Nihongo — Kanji, kana, vocab and grammar

> Offline Japanese dictionary, translator, and flashcard app for learners. (iPhone/iPad app by Serpenti Sei Japan.)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/japanese-dictionary-nihongo/id881697245 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [Serpenti Sei Japan](https://appshunter.io/developer/1767544234)
- Category: Reference, Education
- Price: Free with in-app purchases
- Rating: 4.80/5 from 1,829 App Store ratings · 253 written reviews indexed
- Age rating: 4+
- Requires: iOS 17.0 · 474 MB
- Languages: American English, Dutch, French (France), German (Germany), Russian, Chinese (Simplified, China), Mexican Spanish, Chinese (Traditional, Taiwan)
- Released: 2014-07-13
- Data updated: 2026-08-27
- Monetization: freemium
- User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/japanese-dictionary-nihongo/id881697245/reviews.md

## What is Japanese Dictionary?

Nihongo is an offline Japanese dictionary, picture-to-text translator, flashcard app, and reading assistant.

Our app helps you learn Japanese naturally, using the words you encounter in daily life—on menus, signs, manga, emails, books, and more. In addition to the dictionary, you can take a picture of Japanese text or paste it from any source. Nihongo will then translate the text, add furigana or romaji, and create flashcards so you can study and steadily build your vocabulary.

Here are the complete features of the app:

DICTIONARY
* Over 200,000 words, 205,000 example sentences, and 6000 kanji entries.
* Every word clearly marked as common, uncommon, or rare.
* Add your own notes to any dictionary entry.
* Quickly identify transitive/intransitive word pairs.
* Audio pronunciations of words and example sentences (Requires Nihongo Pro)

PHOTO LOOKUP (OCR) [Pro]
* Look up words just by taking a picture.
* Uses Google Cloud Vision to provide high-quality text recognition.
* Just tap on a word to look it up.

CLIPPINGS (READING ASSISTANT) [Pro]
* Adds furigana or romaji to text pasted into the app.
* Tap on any word to see its definition without leaving the clipping.
* Flashcard deck automatically created so you can study the new words in a clipping.
* Display text horizontally or vertically.
* Have Nihongo read any clipping out loud.

FLASHCARDS [Pro]
* Flashcards automatically generated from words you lookup in the dictionary or paste into the app.
* Nihongo learns what words you know, and won't bother you again with words you've mastered.
* Built-in kanji flashcard decks up through Middle School.
* Intuitive spaced repetition flashcard system for vocabulary and kanji drawing.
* Level up flashcards by studying every day.
* No penalty for missing a day of study, come back anytime.

SEARCH
* Search using English, Japanese, or romaji.
* Supports searching for conjugated words in both English and Japanese.
* Search for kanji using radicals and stroke counts.

SAFARI EXTENSION [Pro]
* Add furigana or romaji to webpages.
* Tap on words to see definition within Safari.

Nihongo Pro Terms of Use
Read our full Terms of Service at https://nihongo-app.com/terms_of_use.html.

This app is only possible because of the JMDict (edrdg.org) and Tatoeba (tatoeba.org) projects. I highly encourage you to support these incredible projects that make apps like Nihongo possible!

## Key features

- Offline Japanese dictionary
- Picture-to-text translation (OCR)
- Automatic flashcard creation
- Reading assistant with furigana/romaji
- Spaced repetition flashcards
- Search in English, Japanese, or romaji

## Pricing and in-app purchases

Base price: Free.

**Subscriptions**

| Subscription | Price | Period |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Nihongo Pro (Monthly) | $4.99 | per month |
| Nihongo Pro (Annual) | $49.99 | per year |
| Nihongo Pro (3 Months) | $11.99 | per 3 months |

**One-time purchases**

| Purchase | Price | Type |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Nihongo Pro (Lifetime) | $179.99 | one-time |
| Pitch Accents | $9.99 | one-time |
| Nihongo Pro (Lifetime) | $179.99 | one-time |


## What do users think of Japanese Dictionary?

Overall sentiment: positive

**Pros**

- 🚀 Excellent dictionary
- 👍 Comprehensive features
- 🔒 Offline compatibility
- 👍 Helpful example sentences
- 👍 Intuitive interface
- 👍 Useful flashcard system
- 👍 Detailed kanji information
- 👍 Accurate OCR and translation
- 👍 Valuable for learning Japanese

**Cons**

- 🐛 Occasional bugs and glitches
- 💰 Subscription model could be expensive
- 🔍 Difficult to manage flashcards

**Commonly reported bugs**

- Freezing issues when tapping on kanji
- Font size problems
- Inconsistent OCR and translation accuracy

**Most requested features**

- Handwriting input support
- Customizable flashcard settings
- Monolingual dictionary feature
- Improved backup and sync functionality
- Statistics and progress tracking

## Recent user reviews (10 of 253)

All indexed reviews: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/japanese-dictionary-nihongo/id881697245/reviews.md

### 5/5 — Very helpful

*2026-07-18, version 1.34.4*

This app has helped me look up words I didn’t know

### 5/5 — Best Japanese Dictionary

*2026-06-20*

Great resource for learning Japanese.

### 5/5 — Спасибо вам за ваши труды

*2026-06-06*

Это прекрасно исполненный русско-японский словарь. Использую его каждый день, пользоваться им одно удовольствие. Видно, что вдохновлён красным англо-японским словарём “Japanese”, но при этом ориентируется на Ру-сегмент. 
Из замечаний, могу выделить только то, что при поиске некоторых слов, в маленькой карточке слова показывается только доп. информация, но не перевод. Но это мелочь, по сравнению с тем, какой труд и любовь были вложены в данный проект.
心より感謝申し上げます❤️

**Developer response:** Thanks so much for the kind words about the app!

I'm not sure I totally understand the issue you're describing. I wonder if it's something specific to the Russian translation that I haven't noticed because I don't speak Russian?

I would love to dig into this and figure out how to fix it for you. Would you mind reaching out to me at support@nihongo-app.com with a screenshot of the issue?

Thanks!

### 5/5 — Un outil incontournable pour tous ceux qui veulent apprendre le japonais.

*2026-06-04, version 1.34.1*

Avec ses multiples fonctionnalités, cette application qui est bien plus qu’un dictionnaire est mon compagnon de tous les jours dans l’apprentissage du japonais. Bravo!

### 5/5 — Шик

*2026-06-04*

Шик

### 5/5 — Lo recomiendo

*2026-05-29*

Es la mejor herramienta que tengo para estudiar, puedo ver la conjugación de verbos, adjetivos y frases de ejemplo.

### 3/5 — 👍🏻

*2026-05-25*

A really good app with good explanations

### 5/5 — No better Dictionary

*2026-05-22, version 1.34*

This dictionary does it all. Massive word catalogue, stroke order, SR flash cards, pronunciation, example sentences, the list goes on. This has been my go to for years, and though I’ve tried others, I always returned to this one. Easily five stars.

### 5/5 — Best Japanese learning app

*2026-05-16, version 1.33.5*

I love this app.  Easy to look up kanji, in context.  Stroke order, example sentences, vocab lists, testing yourself.  Best app out there for all levels

### 5/5 — good

*2026-05-11, version 1.33.4*

exactly what i needed

## Frequently asked questions about Japanese Dictionary

### What does the Nihongo app do?

Nihongo is an offline Japanese study tool that combines a comprehensive dictionary, a picture-to-text translator, and a flashcard system. It helps users learn Japanese by analyzing text from their environment, such as signs and menus, and creating personalized study materials.

### What are the key features of Nihongo?

Key features include an offline dictionary with over 200,000 words, a photo lookup tool using OCR to translate text from images, a reading assistant that adds furigana/romaji to pasted text, and an intelligent flashcard system with spaced repetition for vocabulary and kanji.

### Is Nihongo free to use?

The app offers a freemium model. While some core dictionary and search functionalities are available for free, advanced features like audio pronunciations, photo lookup, the reading assistant, and enhanced flashcard capabilities require a 'Nihongo Pro' subscription.

### What devices is Nihongo compatible with?

The provided description does not explicitly state compatibility with specific operating systems (iOS or Android) or device types. However, it is described as a mobile application, suggesting it is designed for smartphones and tablets.

### How can Nihongo help me learn Japanese vocabulary?

Nihongo helps build vocabulary by allowing you to look up words from your surroundings via photos or pasted text. It automatically generates flashcards for these words, which you can then study using an intuitive spaced repetition system designed to help you master new terms effectively.

## Version history (last 5 releases)

### 1.34.4 — 2026-07-13

Update App Store metadata.

### 1.34.3 — 2026-06-05

Bug Fixes
* Fix a rare crash when finishing or leaving kanji flashcard triage.

### 1.34.2 — 2026-06-04

Bug Fixes
* Fix an issue that could affect app launch reliability, especially on iPad when iCloud-synced settings were slow to respond.
* Fix an issue where the Nihongo Pro paywall could show placeholder text before trial details finished loading.
* Fix a rare crash when finishing or leaving kanji flashcard triage.

### 1.34.1 — 2026-05-27

Improvements
* Improve messaging shown after free Photo Lookups run out.

Bug Fixes
* Fix an issue where search-only Japanese forms could appear as flashcard options.
* Fix a rare crash when opening kanji flashcard triage.
* Fix an issue where the camera shortcut tip could remain visible after long-pressing the camera button.

### 1.34 — 2026-05-21

Major Features
* Multi-Word Search - Searching for a sentence now shows search results for all the words in the sentence.
* Kanji Breakdown Updates - More than 1000 kanji entries have new or updated element breakdowns, and visual histories for 300+ additional kanji have been added.
* Frequently Asked Questions - An FAQ has been published with answers to common questions about the app. Access it from the Settings tab.

Other Improvements
* Add support for tapping flashcard marking tabs to mark cards, in addition to swiping or using the keyboard.

Bug Fixes
* Restore the standard flashcard flip animation on iOS 26.3 and later.
* Improve romaji search for katakana words typed with dashes.
* Fix an issue where changing romaji settings during a flashcard session would not update the visible card immediately.
* Fix an issue where the end-of-deck screen in flashcards could behave like a flippable card.
* Fix an issue where declining the flashcard statistics research prompt could allow it to appear again later.
* Fix an issue where search-only Japanese forms could appear as flashcard options.
* Fix several issues with kanji etymology text, links, and historical element display.

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## More apps by Serpenti Sei Japan

- [Nihongo Lessons](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/nihongo-lessons/id1640204242)

All apps by Serpenti Sei Japan: https://appshunter.io/developer/1767544234

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*Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-08-27.*