# Phrabbit Shadowing & Dictation — AB Loop, AI Transcripts, Video

> Language learning app for pronunciation practice using audio/video shadowing and A/B looping. (iPhone/iPad app by KIYOUN KIM.)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/phrabbit-shadowing-and-dictation/id6772523674 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [KIYOUN KIM](https://appshunter.io/developer/6772523676)
- Category: Education
- Price: Free with in-app purchases
- Rating: 5.00/5 from 1 App Store ratings
- Age rating: 4+
- Requires: iOS 18.0 · 19 MB
- Languages: American English, Japanese, Korean, Chinese (Simplified, China), Chinese (Traditional, Taiwan)
- Released: 2026-06-17
- Data updated: 2026-10-01
- Monetization: free
- User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/phrabbit-shadowing-and-dictation/id6772523674/reviews.md

## What is Phrabbit Shadowing & Dictation?

The surest way to make a sentence truly your own — listen, repeat, and say it out loud.

Phrabbit is an A/B loop practice app for language learners. Grab any passage from an audio file, a video, a podcast, or a YouTube stream, loop it until it clicks, then speak it and write it.

◆ Shadowing
· Listen to an A/B range, then repeat it in your own voice
· Play your take over the original and compare the waveforms (audio files)
· The passage's subtitles show on the shadowing screen, line by line as it plays (audio files)
· Shadowing gap — leaves time to speak between loops, with a countdown
· Shadowing also works with video files and YouTube streams
· My Recordings — save your best takes and pick up on the same range

◆ Dictation
· Listen to your A/B range one sentence at a time, write it down, and compare it with the original
· With subtitles, differences are marked for you; without them, check against the source yourself
· Audio files, video files, and YouTube streams
· On iPad, write by hand — your handwriting is saved to look back at
· Attempts are kept, so you can practice the same range again

◆ A/B looping right on the waveform
· Set precise ranges with your fingertip while watching the waveform
· Loop as much as you want, adjust speed (0.5x–2.0x)
· Save important ranges as bookmarks

◆ Practice with video
· Bring in video files on your device (MP4, M4V, MOV) and loop them the same way
· Attach an SRT or VTT subtitle file, show it over the video, and nudge the sync if it drifts
· Sentence practice — tap a sentence card, or the subtitle on the video, and it becomes the loop
· No subtitles? Mark an A/B range and convert just that part with speech recognition
· Fullscreen practice — turn sideways for subtitles and range controls together
· Tap a word in the subtitles to save it to your wordbook with its context
· Videos are referenced, not copied, so they use almost no app storage

◆ Comfortable anywhere, anytime
· Background playback — loops keep running with the screen off or in other apps
· Sleep timer — auto-pause after 5, 15, 30, or 60 minutes
· Earphone remote — previous/next steps through sentences (or 5 seconds without a transcript)
· Bookmark queue — Play All runs saved ranges back-to-back, skippable from the Lock Screen
· Control playback right from the Lock Screen and Control Center

◆ Speech to text (STT)
· Turn speech into sentence-by-sentence text, synced to the waveform in real time
· See exactly which sentence — and which word — is playing as you learn
· Type subtitles yourself — practice from your own script; typed lines stay put if you run recognition later
· Apple Intelligence subtitle translation — translate a whole transcript on-device and read it beside the original (iOS 26.4+, Apple Intelligence device)
· On-device processing — your audio is never sent to a server

◆ Many sources
· Import audio files (mp3, m4a, and more)
· Import video files (MP4, M4V, MOV)
· Podcasts — browse shows curated for your language, or add one by name or RSS address
· Download podcast episodes, and bring in your Apple Podcasts subscriptions
· Practice any YouTube link as a stream

◆ Keep your library in order
· Folders — group your material, nested as deep as you like
· Favorites — mark what you open most and reach it straight from Home
· Search — finds what is tucked inside a folder, and shows you where it lives

◆ Tools that help you learn
· Wordbook — save words you don't know and review them
· AI word explanations (Beta) — tap a wordbook entry and Apple Intelligence explains it on-device, in context
· Stats — see your practice time and streak at a glance
· Works on both iPhone and iPad

Start free. A/B looping, playback speed, the shadowing gap, the sleep timer, and one bookmark per file or video are free. STT, shadowing recordings, dictation, unlimited bookmarks and wordbook (with AI word explanations), background playback, podcasts, and subtitle translation come with Premium — a one-time purchase, no subscription.

## Key features

- A/B loop practice
- Shadowing with waveform comparison
- Subtitle synchronization
- Video and YouTube stream practice
- Speech-to-text transcription
- Background playback
- Save and bookmark practice ranges

## Pricing and in-app purchases

Base price: Free.

**One-time purchases**

| Purchase | Price | Type |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Phrabbit Premium | $2.99 | one-time |



## Frequently asked questions about Phrabbit Shadowing & Dictation

### What is the main purpose of Phrabit?

Phrabbit is designed to help users improve their language pronunciation and fluency. It achieves this through a method called shadowing, where users listen to and repeat audio or video passages, and A/B looping to focus on specific segments.

### How does Phrabit's shadowing feature work?

The shadowing feature allows you to listen to a selected audio or video range, then repeat it in your own voice. You can then play your recording over the original to compare waveforms and identify pronunciation differences. Subtitles are also displayed and highlighted as they play.

### Can Phrabit be used with video content?

Yes, Phrabit supports practicing with video files (MP4, M4V, MOV) and YouTube streams. You can loop specific sections of videos, and if subtitle files (SRT, VTT) are available, they can be displayed and synchronized with the video.

### Does Phrabit offer any speech recognition capabilities?

Phrabbit includes a speech-to-text (STT) feature that converts spoken audio into sentence-by-sentence text, synced in real-time to the waveform. This helps learners see exactly which sentence is playing and can be used to create subtitles if none are available.

### What devices is Phrabit compatible with?

Phrabbit is available for iPhone and iPad devices, indicated by its supported devices list. It is designed to run on Apple's mobile operating systems.

### How often is Phrabit updated?

The latest version of Phrabit, 2.1.1, was released on September 1, 2026. The app was initially released on June 17, 2026, suggesting a relatively recent update cycle.

### Is Phrabit free to use?

Yes, Phrabit is available for free. While the app itself is free, it does have in-app purchases, which may offer additional features or content beyond the core functionality.

### Does Phrabit have ads?

No, Phrabit does not contain advertisements. The app is ad-free, allowing for an uninterrupted learning experience.

## Version history (last 5 releases)

### 3.1.0 — 2026-09-27

Hide the subtitles and listen by ear. You can also set a sentence's timing yourself, right on the waveform.

• Hide subtitles — the whole file, the sentences you pick, or just the A/B range. Tap a hidden sentence to loop it. (Audio files)
• Sentence timing — in a subtitle card's ⋯ > Edit, drag the start and end on the waveform. Neighboring sentences follow the boundary, and Restore original range takes it back any time. (Audio files)
• Select All in the library — pick everything in a folder, or every search result, and move it to another folder in one go.
• Search in folders and All Items is no longer hidden behind the tab bar (iPhone, iOS 26 and later). In the library and the wordbook, the search field now sits right under the title.
• When speech recognition comes back empty, Phrabbit tries once more with another engine. If it still can't make subtitles, it tells you what to check.
• Opening Phrabbit no longer stops the music another app is playing — only pressing play does.
• After shadowing or dictation on a video or YouTube, playing on no longer runs past the end of the A/B range.
• Dictation — on iOS 27, the buttons just above the keyboard (such as Check answer) now respond reliably, and on small screens Save no longer hides while you correct an answer with the keyboard up. The YouTube answer screen can now put the keyboard away.
• On iPad (iOS 27), the enlarged handwriting view now fills the screen when you turn it sideways.
• Tap anywhere on a library row to open it, not just the title.

### 3.0.0 — 2026-09-15

Dictation is here. Listen to your A/B range one sentence at a time, write it down, and compare it with the original.

• Dictation — on audio, video and YouTube. With subtitles, the differences are marked right away; without them, check against the video yourself.
• On iPad you can write by hand, and your handwriting is saved to look back at later.
• Dictation attempts are kept, so you can practice the same range again.
• Subtitle cards light up word by word as the speech goes, karaoke-style. (Files transcribed from now on.)
• Speech recognition finds sentence ends more accurately. Sentences that used to stop before their last word no longer do. (Files transcribed from now on.)
• Pick a playback speed directly, from 0.5x to 2x.

### 2.1.1 — 2026-09-01

Bug fixes.

• Fixed full-screen practice on a YouTube video opening black, with sound but no picture, when the iPad was held in landscape. Rotating the device while in full screen now keeps the video on screen too.
• Fixed the preview thumbnail staying on the previous video when you paste one YouTube link and then another before tapping Add.
• Fixed the Translate button in the transcript header being cut off in the English interface on narrow screens, including Display Zoom.

### 2.1.0 — 2026-08-24

Video with subtitles can now be practiced one sentence at a time.

• Subtitle sentence practice — open the sentence cards for a video that has subtitles, and tapping a card turns that sentence into the A/B loop. No marking a range by hand for every sentence. The sentence playing now is marked in the list, and Current Subtitle brings you back to it once you have scrolled away.
• Tapping the subtitle on the video does the same thing. When one sentence is split across several short subtitle lines, the whole sentence is still what repeats.
• The sentence cards can sit beside the video in full screen. They do not cover the picture — the video moves aside to make room.
• On iPad and other wide screens, the video is on the left with subtitles, bookmarks, and your recordings on the right.
• Tap the picture to play or pause. In full screen, that same tap still brings the controls back.
• Landscape full screen now fills the screen. Fixed the black margin left on one side, and the top buttons being cut off on narrow screens using Display Zoom.
• Sentence ends are found more accurately, in speech-recognition transcripts and video sentence cards alike. A period in "Mr.", "J. R. Smith", "4.9", or "e.g." is no longer read as the end of a sentence.
• Podcast covers now appear with no connection, and load more lightly as you scroll.

### 2.0.1 — 2026-08-21

Bug fixes.

• New episodes are there as soon as you open a podcast. A show you had opened before could hand back a list saved up to several hours earlier, with anything published since simply missing and nothing to say so.
• Opening a podcast is much faster too. The more episodes a show has, the bigger the difference.
• When there is no connection, or the podcast's own server does not answer, the last episode list you received is shown, with a note above it: "Saved list · may be out of date". Shows brought in from Apple Podcasts now open in that state too.
• Fixed the "translation finished" notice staying on screen after a transcript translation instead of going away.

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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 2026-10-01.*