# Kaname: Japanese Grammar — JLPT practice: N5 N4 N3 N2 N1

> Japanese grammar practice app focusing on practical application and contrastive analysis. (iPhone/iPad app by Jakub Dwojak.)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/kaname-japanese-grammar/id6801993668 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [Jakub Dwojak](https://appshunter.io/developer/6801993670)
- Category: Education
- Price: Free with in-app purchases
- Rating: 5.00/5 from 1 App Store ratings · 1 written reviews indexed
- Age rating: 4+
- Requires: iOS 18.0 · 11 MB
- Languages: American English, Polish
- Released: 2026-08-20
- Data updated: 2026-09-15
- Monetization: freemium
- User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/kaname-japanese-grammar/id6801993668/reviews.md

## What is Kaname?

Kaname teaches Japanese grammar the way real command of a language works: it does not ask whether you remember a rule, but whether you can use it.

The whole JLPT range – N5 through N1.

FOUR INDEPENDENT COMPETENCES

Every grammar point carries four separate mastery scores:

• Recognition – what the pattern adds to a sentence
• Cloze – whether you pick the right form in a gap
• Contrast – whether you tell it apart from a confusable one
• Production – whether you use it yourself, unprompted

A session steers questions to wherever you are weakest. A pattern you recognise perfectly but keep confusing with a similar one will get mostly contrast questions. That is what separates Kaname from ordinary flashcards.

CONTRAST PAIRS

なら or たら? そう or らしい? はず or わけ? The app puts confusable patterns side by side in concrete situations and explains every time why this form is the natural one – and the other is not.

SPACED REVIEW

Intervals of 4 hours / 1 / 4 / 7 / 14 / 30 / 90 / 180 days, adjusted to your results. “Mastered” requires a high score in every competence that can be tested for that pattern, plus three successful reviews spread over at least three weeks. One good day is not enough.

STUDY PLAN

New patterns from a higher level appear only once the previous level has settled into review. Instead of piling on material, the app makes sure the foundation actually holds.

SCAN JAPANESE FROM A PHOTO

Saw a sentence in a manga or a textbook? Take a photo. The text is recognized on your phone – the photo is never sent or saved anywhere. You pick a sentence from the recognized lines, correct it if needed, and save it.

CATCH YOUR OWN SENTENCES

Save a sentence you caught and pin it to the pattern you are practising – it comes back in your reviews as your own example. The catalog pattern stays canonical; your sentence sits beside it as a personal example.

AI ANALYSIS – SEPARATE, AND ONLY IF YOU ASK

Write your own sentence and the model tells you what exactly is off and why, instead of a bare “wrong”. It also spots grammar patterns in text you paste in.

This is an extra layer and entirely optional. Without it the app counts progress and schedules review exactly the same; every call happens on your explicit request, with the remaining count shown next to the button.

WHAT IS FREE

The whole of JLPT N5, with its contrast pairs and all four exercise types. No time limit, no session limit, no ads. Plus a few AI analysis calls each month.

WHAT YOU CAN BUY

Levels N4, N3, N2 and N1 – one at a time, in bundles, or all at once. A one-time purchase, no subscription and no account; access does not expire.

Anyone who bought Premium earlier gets N2 and N1 at no extra cost. The promise made in this app's description is kept.

AI Analysis is a separate subscription, because it is the only part that costs something every time it is used: PLN 14.99 monthly or PLN 119.99 yearly, auto-renewing, cancellable in your Apple ID settings. It does not cover JLPT levels and never will.

PRIVACY

• No account, no sign-in
• No ads, no tracking
• No analytics, no third-party libraries
• All progress stays on your device
• Study, review and scanning work without an internet connection

The network is used only by AI analysis, and only when you invoke it: the practiced pattern and the sentence you wrote go to the server. Your study history does not, nothing about you does, and a photo never does – the text in a photo is read by the phone itself.

Explanations and example sentences were written specifically for this app.

Kaname (要) is the rivet that holds a folding fan together – hence the figurative “the crux, the thing that matters”. Because that is what this is about: the difference that decides.

TERMS

Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Privacy Policy: https://jd-japanese.pl/kaname/1.2/en/privacy.html

## Key features

- Four independent mastery skills
- Contrast pairs for confusable patterns
- Spaced repetition learning
- Personalized study plans
- Sentence mining with custom examples
- Offline functionality

## Pricing and in-app purchases

Base price: Free.

**One-time purchases**

| Purchase | Price | Type |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Premium — Full Access | $8.99 | one-time |


## Recent user reviews (1 of 1)

All indexed reviews: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/kaname-japanese-grammar/id6801993668/reviews.md

### 5/5 — Simple and Enjoyable Experience

*2026-08-31*

Kaname is a clean and well-designed app with a smooth user experience. It's easy to navigate, intuitive to use, and feels polished overall. A really convenient app that's enjoyable to explore and use daily!

**Developer response:** Thank you for the great review! I'm glad you're enjoying the design and the overall experience.

## Frequently asked questions about Kaname

### What is the learning methodology of Kaname?

Kaname teaches Japanese grammar through four independent mastery skills: recognition, cloze, contrast, and production. This approach focuses on whether you can use grammar points in context, rather than just recalling rules. It utilizes spaced repetition and personalized study plans to ensure a strong foundation.

### Does Kaname have ads?

No, Kaname does not contain advertisements. The app prioritizes a distraction-free learning environment, with no ads or tracking implemented.

### What levels of Japanese grammar does Kaname cover?

The free version of Kaname covers all of JLPT N5 grammar. Premium unlocks levels N4 and N3, with future plans to include N2 and N1 at no additional cost.

### How does Kaname handle progress tracking?

All of your progress in Kaname stays on your device, as the app does not require an account, sign-in, or analytics. This ensures complete privacy and offline functionality for your learning data.

### Is Kaname available on multiple devices?

Currently, Kaname is supported on iPhones. The app is designed to work entirely offline, allowing you to study without an internet connection.

### How often is Kaname updated?

The latest version of Kaname is 1.1.0, which was last updated on August 30, 2026. Updates aim to improve the learning experience and expand content.

### What is the price of Kaname Premium?

Kaname is free to download and use for JLPT N5. Premium, which unlocks N4 and N3 levels, is a one-time purchase with no subscription required. The price is subject to increase when N2 and N1 levels are added.

### Can I use my own example sentences in Kaname?

Yes, Kaname supports sentence mining. You can save interesting sentences you encounter and attach them to grammar points you are studying, making them part of your personalized review sessions.

## Version history (last 5 releases)

### 1.3.4 — 2026-09-14

You can disagree with the AI

If the model rejects your sentence and you think it was fine, say so with one tap.
Your answer counts, and the correction and explanation stay on screen — they are worth
reading either way. One thing you may be used to has changed: the grade does not enter
your review schedule until you confirm it — before, it was recorded on its own, right
after the model answered.

Writing in kana is no longer a mistake

A sentence written without kanji where the dictionary uses them will no longer be
marked down. The kanji spelling now appears as an alternative, not as a correction —
because writing a word in kana is never a mistake.

Your own sentences, for reading only

For a sentence in My Sentences you now choose whether it comes back only among the
examples for its construction, or in questions as well. Until now there were two
states: both at once, or neither. The choice survives restoring a backup.

Fill-in questions no longer give themselves away

An option that produced an ungrammatical sentence once slotted into the gap — the same
particle twice, for instance — could be ruled out at a glance, without knowing any
grammar. Those are gone, along with options meaning exactly the same as the correct
answer.

You choose which apps you see

In Settings, under What you see, you decide separately about the recommended apps and
about the rows in Your Japanese. When something is hidden, the section says outright
that it is showing an incomplete picture — what you have done does not change, and a
hidden row comes back at any time.

### 1.3.3 — 2026-09-10

The family section now counts ten apps

Keigo (politeness), Onomatope (mimetics), Kifuku (pitch accent) and Shindan (level test)
have joined the family. On the Today tab, in “Your Japanese”, they stand at the end of the
list, in release order – the same order holds in every app of the family, so the section
reads as one picture no matter which side you look at it from.

Four new cards in “More Japanese Practice”

In Settings each of the four new apps has a card of its own, and it leads straight to that
app's App Store page rather than to a search. A sister you already have installed opens
right away, without a detour through the store.

Progress from the four new sisters finally shows up

Kaname looked for progress only from the apps it knew by name, so Keigo, Onomatope, Kifuku
and Shindan had no way of appearing in the section – it looked exactly as if they were not
installed at all. Their row now shows the percentage and the weakest spot, just like every
other sister's row.

### 1.3.2 — 2026-09-09

A meaning question has one correct answer

The options could include a pattern meaning exactly what the question asked about –
「〜ことができます」 (“can, be able to”) next to 可能形 (“can, be able to, be possible”), or 「から（理由）」
next to 「ゆえに」 (“because of, owing to”). Both glosses were true, so the question had no
answer, and picking a good one could count as a mistake. Those pairs are now recognized and
never stand together. Options still come from related patterns – that is what makes this
question worth asking – but related is not the same as interchangeable.

A sentence written in kanji where the pattern uses kana now counts

In writing tasks the pattern 「もう少し時間がほしいです。」 keeps 「ほしい」 in kana, because that is how the
catalog stores it – while 「欲しい」 is just as correct and just as natural. Until now such a
sentence went to self-assessment, so the app asked you about something it already knew. A
matching reading is now enough, in both directions. Your sentence stays on screen exactly as
you wrote it – it is never swapped for the pattern. Romaji is still a different matter:
there, spelling is judged by you or by the AI check.

The percentage at the end of a session counts correct answers

Under “Correct 8 of 8” stood the average mastery score – a different quantity, with a
percent sign, three rows below. Both numbers were true, but it read as “eight out of eight,
so 99%”, and a session with even one writing task could never reach a hundred, because
self-assessed “good” has a ceiling of its own. That row is now accuracy: eight out of eight
is one hundred percent. The mastery score has not disappeared – it stayed where it means
“how much of this you know”, on the pattern's own screen.

The highlight now appears in both places on the check screen

The sentence shows up twice on that screen: in the question card and, below it, in the card
with the translation. The pattern being practiced was marked only in the first one, so two
identical sentences one under the other differed in color for no reason and looked like a
glitch. Both now point at the same place.

The progress bar fills up on the last question

At “7 / 7” the bar sat at six sevenths – exactly where it sat at “6 / 7”, because the label
and the bar were measuring two different things. The bar now shows what the label says. The
price is a bar that is no longer empty on the first question, and that is a deliberate
choice: a bar is not a counter, and one seventh reads as “you are near the start”.

The analysis counter tells the truth about when it resets

A subscription's analysis allowance renews from the day you bought it, not on the first of
the month – bought on the 20th, it runs from the 20th to the 20th. The screens said “this
month” next to it, which simply was not true, even though the renewal date beside it was
right. They now speak about the period. The free allowance still renews on the first of the
month, and the wording for it is unchanged.

### 1.3.1 — 2026-09-07

Options in a gap differ by form, not by vocabulary

Until this version, a wrong option in a gap question came from another pattern's example
sentence — and the verb of that sentence came with it. A sentence about reading a book
would get 「飲みません」 among the answers, so you could rule it out with a dictionary
alone, knowing nothing about the form being practiced. Measured across the catalog: 1,112
of 1,438 questions had at least one such option, and 168 could be solved outright without
any grammar. Every option now carries this sentence's vocabulary — only the form differs,
which is exactly what the question asks about.

The pattern in question is marked in the sentence

In a “what does this mean here” question the prompt named the pattern, but finding it in
the sentence was on you — even though the answers are meanings and test nothing of the
sort. The practiced fragment is now marked in your accent color, the one you picked in
Settings, with an underline added when the system “Differentiate Without Color” setting is
on. Readings above kanji stay where they are. Gap and contrast questions get no marking,
because the spot is already visible; writing tasks get none by design — marking would hand
over the length and place of the change to someone who has yet to write it.

The dot and the count now mean “there is work”, not just “there are reviews”

The marker on the app's row and the count on the Today tab asked about reviews only. So
the first day of study looked exactly like a finished one: no reviews, because there is
nothing to review yet, while a full session of new patterns waited on the Today screen.
Both now count the whole day's plan. The Review button stays with reviews alone — it says
what it will unlock, not whether there is a reason to go in.

The “Got it, ask me” button spans the full width

After a new pattern is introduced, the button that moves you on was a narrow pill in the
middle of the bar, while the other two buttons in the same place in a session — Next and
Done — span the full width. It now looks like them.

### 1.3.0 — 2026-09-06

An answer that reads the sentence correctly no longer gets “Not this time”

In a question about meaning, one of the options can be a pattern that contains the one
being asked about — 「ても構わない」 next to 「ても」, for instance. Its meaning is a true
reading of the sentence on screen, so choosing it was sound reasoning, and the app counted
it as a miss. It now has an outcome of its own: it says the sentence was read correctly,
and shows what the question was about. It counts as neither a hit nor an error — it leaves
mastery alone, does not move the review date, and stays out of your accuracy. The question
simply comes back.

Contrast questions stop coming back with the same pair

A hundred and sixty-eight patterns out of a hundred and eighty-eight have exactly one
contrast pair, and nearly every pair has two sentences. Question choice followed your
weakest skill, so while contrast sat low it kept returning to those same two screens. The
weight of that question type now fades after each pass through all the material there is.
Contrast questions do not disappear: they get rarer and spread out over time.

The same pair no longer asks twice in one session

A session used to make sure the same screen did not come back. That was not enough,
because what is being practiced is the distinction, not the sentence: 「は」 against 「が」
in a second sentence is still 「は」 against 「が」. When both halves of a pair fell due on
the same day, the same distinction could be asked twice in a row.

Answer buttons of equal height

Height followed the length of the option, so an answer wrapping onto two lines made a tile
twice as tall as its neighbor. Size means nothing here, and it looked as though it did.
Tiles in one question now match the tallest, while still growing with the text at larger
type sizes rather than clipping it.

An announced level and an untouched level stop looking alike

An empty progress bar meant two different things at once: “there is no material yet” and
“the material is there, nobody has touched it”. The first has no scale on which zero would
say anything; the second does.

Review intervals written the way the language writes them

The “Interval” row on a pattern's page showed a fraction of a day with a point that
ignored the language of the interface. Every other number in the app followed the local
convention. Now this one does too.

A faster start

The Today screen recomputed a fingerprint of the whole catalog more than a hundred times
per launch instead of once per pass — five hundred and sixty-three patterns each time.
After the fix: eight passes instead of a hundred and nine to two hundred and seventeen.

## More apps by Jakub Dwojak

- [Katsuyokei: Conjugation](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/katsuyokei-conjugation/id6802813564)
- [Joshi: Japanese Particles](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/joshi-japanese-particles/id6803144744)
- [Kazoekata — Japanese Counters](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/kazoekata-japanese-counters/id6803676309)
- [Bunmyaku: Japanese Reading](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/bunmyaku-japanese-reading/id6804188062)
- [Kuzushi — Casual Japanese](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/kuzushi-casual-japanese/id6805788146)

All apps by Jakub Dwojak: https://appshunter.io/developer/6801993670

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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 2026-09-15.*