# Kanji Garden Japanese — user reviews > 113 indexed App Store user reviews of Kanji Garden Japanese by kyle coburn, rated 4.70/5 from 746 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/kanji-garden-japanese/id1338967114/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/kanji-garden-japanese/id1338967114.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 634 · 4★ 63 · 3★ 13 · 2★ 15 · 1★ 21 ## What do users think of Kanji Garden Japanese? Overall sentiment: neutral **Pros** - 🚀 Efficient kanji learning system - 👍 Clean and simple interface - 🌱 Gamified approach to kanji growth - 🔍 Detailed kanji information (readings, etymology, etc.) - ⏱️ Customizable learning pace - 🗣️ Audio pronunciation for words **Cons** - 🐛 Bugs and crashes - 🚫 Lack of updates and developer support - 💰 Expensive subscription model - 🤔 Confusing handling of multiple readings - 🔇 Missing audio for some kanji/words - 📊 Lacking comprehensive statistics and progress tracking **Commonly reported bugs** - Unresponsive UI elements - Kanji progress reset bug - Audio playback issues - Syncing problems across devices **Most requested features** - Writing practice for kanji - Ability to customize/add personal kanji - More example sentences and vocabulary - Integration with other Japanese learning resources ## Newest reviews (14 of 113) ### 2/5 — Hard to learn Japanese *2026-01-05, version 1.2* App is fine to learn about kanji, however found it difficult to find pronunciation for words and found the info rather overwhelming ### 4/5 — Forgot? *2025-10-24, version 1.3* I have never pressed the forgot button on a kanji intentionally. I have however, pushed it accidentally what seems like ten thousand gd times. The rest of the ux seems just as thoughtless. Other than that, fun and useful app ### 2/5 — UX is unbearable *2025-10-15, version 1.3* Please work on some basic UI UX principles to make this app usable ### 3/5 — Great app *2025-10-03, version 1.3* Concept makes it interesting to learn radicals and memorize meanings. App interface is very aesthetically pleasing but it needs sound bites for each kanji /sound only quizzes and more ways to interact/practice the Kanji. ### 2/5 — Great format, poor content *2025-03-29, version 1.3* I was pleasantly surprised when trying this app. The format and design of this app are great. The way reviews are made, and track how often you have practiced kanjis. There could be minor improvements overall, like showing a total of kanjis learned, or in rotation at the moment. Sadly, the quality of content reached a dealbreaker for me: reviews will bring certain vocabulary words to help you retain the different readings of the same characters, which I thought was a great way to go about it. Unfortunately, I have found a growing number of mistakes. Kunyomi and onyomi readings have many exceptions and the app does not account for them, which makes you learn mistakes. That is sadly a sin for any student having to grow on poor and erroneous knowledge. ### 2/5 — Needs updates *2024-12-07, version 1.3* 2024 update: the app keeps deteriorating, now all pronunciation samples are gone and there's no sound anymore? This is quite buggy. Often after completing challenges the arrow button at the bottom becomes unresponsive. For some challenges options are displayed at the top of the screen, with such broken layout it's impossible to tap on least one or even two of the answers. When playing through the wallpaper, the last frame is always completely black. A lot of the words just don't have corresponding audio, which makes them much harder to learn. Overall, despite all the content, this app still feels very raw and unfinished due to numerous bugs and incomplete audio content coverage. ### 3/5 — Audio Suddenly Stopped Working *2024-11-26, version 1.3* Good app, but for some reason no matter what I do it wont play audio anymore, this is frustrating, as it was a nice little feature to hear the word being pronounced when you answered. But wether I have the little speaker set to on or off, same with silent on my phone, headphones or not, just wont seem to play the audio anymore ### 3/5 — Bug for review *2024-11-26, version 1.3* There’s a bug when review where sometimes the kanji won’t be shown and a fraction on the visible answers.Going out and back into the app changes the kanji. ### 2/5 — Sound is gone *2024-11-11, version 1.3* Don’t know what has happened but in the app all sound has gone, where there previously was sound. The Audio button is gone on words and kanji, if you want the audio then you will have to use the website. I hope there will be an update of this app at some point. ### 2/5 — Needs better words *2024-08-01, version 1.3* The app is good to study words but there are a couple of issues. 1. Some of the words given are not common. There are two readings onyomi and kunyomi. Sometimes one of those would be very common but the other would be not common. I would talk to my Japanese friends and they said it’s a very rare word. I think they should drop the rare word. Kanji is already hard I don’t need to learn rare words before I learn the common words. 2. There should be a search bar to look up new words. The app gives you new kanji when you have successfully memorized all the kanji for at least a week. But if you want to add a new kanji to your deck then you have to hop between words for example let’s say I want to add the kanji 最 in order to get to it I have to click on 勉強 which leads to 強い which leads to 最強. 3. Some kanji’s have a lot more than just two common readings but they only use the same two repeatedly. 4. Unless you already know a lot of words and their meaning, the example sentences are completely useless. They show you the readings of the other kanji in the example sentence but they don’t tell you what they mean and a lot of them are very complex advanced words. 5. Minor nitpick. It shows you all the kanji you’ve learned on a spreadsheet but the kanjis go all the way out to the edge. When the picture is saved it looks terrible and not worth posting. It’s a great idea to have the chart but it just needs a little touch up. Lazy if you ask me. 6. If the app is scrolling upwards and you hit next then the next screen is black. I have to close and relaunch the app. 7. If I take a break and come back later in the day I can’t continue from where I left off. It’ll show me a new word. I’ll select the definition. Then in the next screen it wants me to enter the reading but the input box is not responsive. I have to quit and go back to the main menu. 8. They have a chart that shows when the next kanji is scheduled for review but the chart is confusing and difficult to read. ### 1/5 — Abandon ware *2024-04-22, version 1.3* Charging $120 for an app that hasn’t been updated in 3 years and has very solvable problems. This is no more than someone’s passive income stream. ### 1/5 — It didn’t even work *2024-04-06, version 1.3* I trued to start using the app, but before I could even see anything it just said “Unable to connect to Kanji Garden to download required functionality. Please try again later!” Like, what does that even mean? ### 3/5 — With a Few Tweaks… *2024-03-29, version 1.3* This is a good app, which with a few tweaks could be a great app. But it seems it’s no longer being actively developed. Some of the words given to practice are archaeic and no longer used. It would be great to be able to remove them from the list. Focusing on words and pronunciations that are rarely used is not efficient. Similarly, there are some common words that don’t seem to come up for practice, so it would also be great to be able to add new words for practice. Another useful addition would be to be able to specify kanji that YOU confuse a certain kanji with. That way the app could give you both definitions when guessing the meaning to make things harder and make you think more about the differences between the two kanji. ### 2/5 — Good, but… *2024-02-22, version 1.3* I enjoyed my time with it but, as others have pointed out, this is actually more of a “free-to-start” service than a fully free experience. You’re only given a month of unlimited access before you have to upgrade to keep your momentum going. Otherwise the number of daily reviews is more limited (and I think you go from being able to study 5 kanji at a time to just 2 without upgrading.) Definitely did not know this when I started using it, and it’s currently not mentioned on the App Store page. ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — Spam emails *2026-06-16, version 1.3* Unable to unsubscribe from your emails as the u subscribe button doesn’t work. Apple should remove ### 1/5 — Thieves *2026-05-14, version 1.3* I unsubscribed at the end of April and turned off my automatic renewal option. They have continued trying to charge my card every other day since May began. I had my card locked temporarily but had to briefly unlock it today and their latest attempt to charge me went through. They have zero customer support and there is no way to remove my card info from their app. Avoid unless you want to be charged by these thieves eternally. Despicable. ### 1/5 — Amazing but abandoned *2026-01-30, version 1.3* I would love to give this 5 stars as it single-handedly brought my kanji knowledge back, but sadly it has been abandoned by the creator with a lot of N1/2 kanji left out. If development continues or if the rest of the kanji are added, I would change the score and continue to recommend it. As is, look elsewhere for a kanji app that might get updated. ### 1/5 — They don’t explain things well, confusing *2025-03-30, version 1.3* They don’t do things on a logical order. It’s confusing. Was lost in the first 10 minutes . ### 1/5 — Pretty good but way overpriced *2024-12-21, version 1.3* $5 a month or $50 a year is quite unreasonable for an app that essentially never gets updated— last time was 4 years ago. Subscriptions models can make sense when new features are regularly added, but doesn’t apply here. Sure, you can pay $125 to unlock the app permanently, but that’s super expensive for what’s just a kanji app and considering the very good kanji apps there are out there. Not for me, uninstall. ### 1/5 — No support *2024-11-19, version 1.3* This app used to be amazing- I’ve been using it daily for over a year and I’ve learned a ton from it. Now I need to update my payment method as my credit card expired, but the page refuses to load and no one responds to requests for support so I’m not going to be able to use it anymore. I’m trying really hard to give them my money but I guess the developer has moved on from this app. 残念 ### 1/5 — Used to be fantastic :( *2024-11-09, version 1.3* This app used to be fantastic, but unfortunately, the developer hasn't updated the app in years and doesn't respond to support requests. Until recently, the app played audio for most kanji readings, but the audio files are apparently no longer available. I loved Kanji Garden, but I think it's time to find a different tool for studying kanji. ### 1/5 — Scam *2024-05-27, version 1.3* Third party pay service doesn’t facilitate the cancellation of subscriptions and the only way to do so is to contact the developer that doesn’t respond to emails. ### 1/5 — No support *2024-05-10, version 1.3* I really like this app and don’t mind paying for it but I let my account lapse, and the reactivating feature doesn’t work. I’ve emailed support and there has been no reponse. ### 1/5 — App stopped working *2024-04-25, version 1.3* I used to love this app, but now it won’t even load for me. It gets stuck on a loading screen whenever I open it, so it’s basically useless now. Can’t even contact the developer through the app store, because it just routes me back to the broken app. Sad! ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Great for spaced repetition *2026-02-05, version 1.3* Been using this app for years, in conjunction with other tools and learning methods. This is the best way I've been able to remember multiple kanji readings. One small addition I'd like is to be able to continue to access the audio versions of the readings that pop up when you learn a new word so that I can review the proper pitch accent. Other than that small nitpick, I'd say this is the most consistent tool I've used to learn how to read Japanese. Also I really like the animated feature that shows your progress filling in the little grid. ### 5/5 — Best Kanji App *2025-03-03, version 1.3* I looked at all the available apps, anki, wani kani, etc. this one is the best. Nice design and has all the features you need and none of the ones you don’t. ### 5/5 — Enjoyable *2024-11-04, version 1.3* This app was clearly developed with care and attention. I find the learning pace to be wonderfully addictive. The progress map of all kanji to learn fills me with motivation whenever I look at it. Although the appearance is spare, I like that it doesn’t (when subscribed) set a limit on the amount of kanji you can learn at a time like WaniKani does, and it’s much cheaper than WaniKani. ### 5/5 — Very helpful! *2024-07-02, version 1.3* I really enjoy this app, I like the challenge it gives and the pacing seems great. The only negative is that the export features don’t seem to work. Not enough to take a star away though. ### 5/5 — An Ingenious Tool for Learning Kanji *2024-06-14, version 1.3* An Ingenious Tool for Learning Kanji This is the first review I’ve ever written, and it’s all because of the extraordinary dedication and detail put into Kanji Garden. I felt the least I could do is spend a little time writing something positive about it. I even subscribed after the trial! Many reviews have already highlighted the app’s strengths, so I’ll try to add something different. I keep discovering new content as I learn. As mentioned, the kanji are structured to build on each other, which is extremely helpful. Initially, I thought the example sentences were too advanced, but then I realized you can press on almost anything for more information. This feature made the app invaluable to me. The vocabulary, example sentences, and the unique learning method make each kanji a lesson in and of themselves that prepares you for the next. If you’re serious about learning Japanese Kanji, this app and its innovative style are definitely worth having as tools in your arsenal. Highly recommended! ### 5/5 — I like it better than Anki ngl *2024-04-13, version 1.3* To preface, I’m an ultra-beginner so I have no idea how well this app scales for learning more complex characters/strings. But that said… I’ve tried a few Kanji apps as well as several Anki kanji decks and none of them stick for me. This shouldn’t be as revolutionary as it is, but this app is actually transparent about the different readings a character has (even within the on’yomi/kun’yomi series) instead of making you memorize the differences by brute force and guesswork. For me, this extra effort into teaching me how kanji work is part of what makes them stick. I agree with others that it would be nice to have an option to “continue reviewing” past its set schedule for you. I’d also like to have the reviews get harder by asking for typed input after a certain proficiency threshold is reached (right now, you have to manually toggle for all kanji you’re learning whether you want multiple choice or typed answer input). Other than that, it’s been really helpful to get me actually learning kanji and I’m going to pay for the full version once my free trial continues. ### 5/5 — Straight to the point kanji *2024-02-17, version 1.3* No distractions, no gimmicks. Just pure kanji learning. Using the app was a bit jarring at first as once you sign in it is straight into learning kanji meanings and readings. The interface is really simple and clean making it easy to focus on what you’re there to do; learn kanji. ### 5/5 — Fantastic! *2024-01-21, version 1.3* Great way to learn kanji! ### 5/5 — love it!! *2024-01-09, version 1.3* This is such a good app for a pleasant approach and way to learn kanji! I enjoy the fact that the name of the app isn’t meaningless because I was shocked to find out that you can actually grow kanji character as if they’re plants, for some reason I find it cute. But it’s a great and fun way to learn kanji!! Definitely recommend. ### 5/5 — It’s good to learn kanji *2023-12-24, version 1.3* It’s gets tougher to remember both onyomi and kunyomi, however learning this help me immersing to watch movies and anime with subs. Overall great app if you review by yourself most of the kanji. It takes a lot of work, that’s what I learned from this app. --- *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 2026-09-03.*