# Kumotan — Learn English on Bluesky !

> Learn English on Bluesky ! (iPhone/iPad app by Rie Tamura.)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/kumotan/id6757349745 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [Rie Tamura](https://appshunter.io/developer/1842653665)
- Category: Education, Social Networking
- Price: Free
- Age rating: 12+
- Requires: iOS 16.4 · 44 MB
- Languages: American English, Japanese
- Released: 2026-03-09
- Data updated: 2026-10-02
- User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/kumotan/id6757349745/reviews.md

## What is Kumotan?

Kumotan is an app that helps you learn English while browsing your Bluesky timeline.

■ Perfect for you if:
・You want to make your social media time productive.
・You want to learn English through topics you're interested in.
・You find creating vocabulary lists tedious.
・You're a Bluesky user.

■ Main Features

【Learn from Timeline】

Long-press any English word while reading posts from people you follow to add it to your vocabulary.

【Your Personal Vocabulary】

Saved words are automatically added to your vocabulary list with translations and example sentences.
Review them anytime for easy study.

【Look Up Posts】

Translate and analyze entire posts with one tap. Learn while understanding context.

【Track Your Progress】

Check your word count and daily progress. Share your achievements on Bluesky!

【Images & Links】

View images and links in posts for better context understanding.

【Thread View】

Tap a post to see the full thread including replies.

■ Supported Languages
Japanese / English

■ Requirements
・Bluesky account login required.
・DeepL API key required for translation (free plan available).


## Version history (last 5 releases)

### 1.0.8 — 2026-09-13

Improvements
- The text of the post a word was saved from is no longer stored in the public record in your Bluesky PDS. Only the link to the post remains there. Nothing changes inside the app: the post text is still kept on your device as before.

Please note
- Because of the above, restoring with "Restore from PDS" — after switching devices, for example — brings your words back without the text of the post each one came from. The link to the post is still restored.

### 1.0.7 — 2026-09-01

Changes
- Removed the feature for learning from YouTube captions. The way it fetched captions did not fit YouTube's Terms of Service. Words you already saved from captions stay in your vocabulary list, and the YouTube tab still works.

Improvements
- VoiceOver support. The controls inside a post — like, repost, read aloud and the rest — are now reachable individually, along with links, hashtags and mentions, and the full post text is read out.

Fixes
- Fixed audio sometimes playing while the device was in silent mode. Audio now stays quiet whenever silent mode is on, and plays when it is off.
- Temporary Bluesky outages now show a message explaining what happened instead of a generic error.

### 1.0.6 — 2026-08-26

New
- AI-powered word explanations. Look up a word's meaning, example sentences, and usage on the spot (requires your own Google AI Studio API key).
- Two new quiz modes: word text input and sentence writing. Sentence writing comes with hints and explanations.
- Voice input in quizzes. Answer sentence writing and word text input questions by speaking.
- Text-to-speech for posts. Tap the speak button to hear a post read aloud.
- Phrase registration. Registered phrases are highlighted in orange in the post text and in the word panel.
- Multilingual word registration.
- Import your word list from a JSON file.
- YouTube videos that have subtitles now show a "View subtitles" button, and you can choose the subtitle language.
- Report posts and accounts, and block accounts. Blocked accounts can be reviewed and unblocked from Settings.
- Posts carrying adult or graphic moderation labels are now hidden from every feed automatically.
- Tapping a notification now opens the screen it refers to.

Improvements
- Refreshed app icon and splash screen with the new cloud design.
- Cleaned up the visual design across the app and improved dark mode.
- Learning stats (streak and level) are now based on the day a quiz was completed, fixing date drift.
- Faster tab switching.
- Faster post submission.
- Errors are now shown on screen with details.
- The Terms of Service and Privacy Policy can be reviewed and agreed to before signing in.

Fixes
- Fixed date offsets in the weekly chart.
- Improved the reliability of word registration and sync.
- Fixed the celebration animation sometimes not appearing on a perfect quiz score.
- Fixed large image attachments sometimes failing to upload.

### 1.0.4 — 2026-04-06

・Added language selector for YouTube subtitles (EN/JA)
・Registered words are now highlighted in the feed (can be toggled in settings)
・Added pinned tabs feature
・Bug fixes for image viewer and post deletion

### 1.0.3 — 2026-03-28

• Added a YouTube tab that filters your Following timeline to show only posts containing YouTube video links.
• You can now show or hide individual tabs from the Settings screen.
• Updated the YouTube subtitle button icon for better visibility.

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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 2026-10-02.*