# Remembering the Kanji — user reviews > 152 indexed App Store user reviews of Remembering the Kanji by Mirai Apps, rated 3.50/5 from 23 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/remembering-the-kanji/id424471278/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/remembering-the-kanji/id424471278.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 10 · 4★ 2 · 3★ 4 · 2★ 3 · 1★ 4 ## What do users think of Remembering the Kanji? Overall sentiment: mixed **Pros** - 📚 Excellent companion to Heisig books - ✍️ Stroke order animations and writing practice - 🎯 Organized by lessons for easy review - 📋 Customizable study lists - 💾 Ability to add personal stories and notes - 🔄 Flip between RTK 1 and RTK 2 editions - 🎨 Beautiful, intuitive interface design - 📖 Comprehensive kanji reference with primitives - ⌨️ Multiple keyboard support for input **Cons** - 📖 No Heisig stories included (copyright issues) - 🔄 Lacks spaced repetition system (SRS) - 📱 Portrait mode only, no landscape support - 🔍 Search defaults to numbers instead of letters - 💾 Data loss after updates (study lists, stories) - 🐛 Backup function crashes on Apple devices - 📝 Limited space for story/notes section - ⚙️ Settings don't persist between sessions - 🔗 No cross-referencing between primitives - 💰 Expensive for feature set ($10) - ❌ Missing some kanji from latest book editions - 🎮 No progress tracking or achievement system **Commonly reported bugs** - Study lists and stories deleted after updates - Backup crashes on iOS devices - App crashes when adding multiple kanji to study list - Flashcard progress not saving - Import function crashes with CSV files - Stroke order differs from book for some kanji - App crashes on older devices (iPhone 3G, iPad 2) - Flashcard settings reset when switching modes - Lessons skip kanji from book - Notes not displaying on flashcards - Study list progress not resuming after pause - Occasional crashes during flashcard function **Most requested features** - Include Heisig stories from the book - Add spaced repetition system (SRS/Anki-style) - Landscape/split-screen support for iPad - Search default to alphabetical letters - Expand story/notes display area - Clickable primitive elements linking to related kanji - Progress tracking and resume functionality - Audio pronunciation support - Kanji compound meaning translations on flashcards - Highlight/bold/italicize text in story area - Drawing practice integrated into flashcard review - Sync progress across devices - RTK 3 support - Visual progress indicators and motivation features - Backup to cloud storage - Timed repetition system ## Newest reviews (16 of 152) ### 4/5 — Good app but please add ability to say if we got a flash card right or wrong and if wrong show again *2026-07-10* Really good companion app to the book and it’s great to have the flash cards ready to add to a list as you work through the chapters. Two things to make it even better: can you please let us say if we got a flash card correct or not, and if we didn’t, keep showing it in the queue until we mark it as correct. Secondly, can you let Apple Pencil features work with the writing. It’s great to use the pencil but would be amazing if the erase function worked so we don’t have to start from scratch! ### 2/5 — Limited *2025-05-04* Useful as a reference to quickly recall primitive elements for the kanji. No stories are provided (likely due to copyright). It would be helpful if you could reveal the kanji elements to see how some kanji build upon one another. Instead, many say “Please consult the book”. ### 4/5 — Landscape mode for iPad would be great *2024-05-21* Really like the app but would be even happier with it if it had a landscape mode (for iPad at least) as that would make it way easier to write stories using a keyboard! ### 3/5 — Useful but sorely needs updating *2021-09-29* This app is useful, particularly in combination with other Japanese learning apps and the associated book. But it has some annoying (and likely easy to fix) limitations. Reasons for taking off two stars are: - only works in portrait mode, so it is very annoying to turn tablet around, when using in combination with other apps that can support either portrait or landscape - search mode is set to numbers, and cannot be defaulted to letters - since presumably is a companion to a book, why is it not pre-populated with said book’s stories? If these issues were addressed, it could be a 4 or 5 star app. ### 3/5 — No Heisig story??? *2021-09-01* Pros- Organizes all 3 books by lesson Using writing as part of the flash card(and being able to compare it yourself as opposed to fighting with a writing AI) Cons- Setting up your own flash cards can’t be done from the kanji study itself and need to go into index No Heisig stories which are the core of the teaching style!!! Writing your own story can defeat the purpose because if you mislabel a primitive you can mess up learning other primaries and kanji. ### 2/5 — No update for 5 years ! *2020-09-13* Good and useful app to learn and polish your kanji but no update for 5 years ! Seems to be a dead app. Distributor’s web site does not exist anymore... ### 4/5 — Great companion app *2020-08-02* Great companion to the book, supports versions 5 and 6 of the book. On Apple, the backup crashes every time, so only 4 stars. I have to screen capture to back up my progress. ### 3/5 — Not bad *2020-05-31, version 3.5* One great feature would be more hyperlinks i.e. clicking on a radical takes you to list of kanji with that radical. ### 3/5 — Search uses wrong keyboard but good otherwise *2020-04-08* It’s very annoying that search brings up the numeric keyboard when I literally never search by number. It should default to alphabetical so I can check kanjis by name easily. ### 4/5 — Really good *2019-11-22* 2 things would get it 5 stars. - preload Heisig stories - app should remember where I left off on a study list. It’s not fun when you’re trying to practice 500 randomized kanji, get through half the list, pause and then cannot continue from where I left off. Adding an SRS kind of memorization system would be great. ### 2/5 — Lacks spaced repetition system *2019-02-02* Study lists are useless without some way of tracking progress. In fact, if you are serious about studying kanji, there is only one study list: all of the kanji in the RTK book. What you need is for the app to help you organise which Kanji to review over time, which is exactly what the spaced repetition system does. Also we found the stroke order to be different to what is shown in the book for some kanji (e.g. convex). Finally, being the official app and not having the original RTK stories makes it feel overpriced, especially when spaced repetition is available in other free apps. ### 4/5 — feature request *2016-05-15* can you please add a feature to add a difficult kanji during flashcard mode to study list so we can separate kanjis that needs more reviewing, thanks ### 2/5 — No stories! *2015-11-25* I bought this app SO excited to have a mobile version of the book. (I own all three books). But after downloading I noticed there are NO stories included from the books! That was a huge disappointment. :( ### 2/5 — Missing crucial SRS system *2015-10-30* Review is a critical feature of the Remembering the Kanji method. When I purchased it, I just assumed it had an SRS system built in. It doesn't. This app is relegated to a reference only, of which there are many. Without SRS review, it's incomplete. ### 2/5 — Great for some, frustrating for me. *2015-09-16* If you are using the book this is a great companion app as long as you don't care at all about spaced repetition. However if you are like me, and don't want to waste time studying things you don't need to study, and require the efficiency of SRS, than this app is a little bit of a let down. Hopefully they add SRS for both writing and reading in the future. If they do it will be the perfect companion app, but till then I'm not using it. But again, if you don't care about SRS I think you will enjoy this app very much. Give it a shot. ### 3/5 — Great, except… *2015-08-02, version 3.4* Like others have said, this is a great app and a necessary companion to the book. It's incredibly useful. However, the last two updates have deleted all of my study lists. That is *not* acceptable. ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — Very disappointed *2020-08-05* I should have read the reviews before spending $10 on this app. Without the stories this is just a robust kanji dictionary, and there are plenty of other free or cheaper apps that do the same thing. I’m going to try to get a refund ### 1/5 — You would think it would included *2020-06-08* Audio and more of a actual compliment too the book to study with ease. I WANT A REFUND ### 1/5 — Impossible to Import Stories *2019-05-21* App claims you can import stories for the kanji, but there is no function to do so. Can I get a refund now? ### 1/5 — Incorrect/redundant vocabulary *2019-02-03* Many of the words and vocabulary provided with the Kanji are either redundant or incorrect. As such this app is only useful for studying the Kanji meanings on their own; if you intend on studying Kanji by learning a few associated words (and readings) for each one I would not recommend this app. ### 1/5 — Badly needs an update *2016-09-27, version 3.5* This app should be updated. It's purely living off the name of the book and doesn't come close to living up to its name as a study assistant. First of all, it is a reference that doesn't take advantage of the split screen multitasking of the iPad. 2nd of all, it's vastly overpriced for what is essentially a repurposed list of kanji. It doesn't even have a horizontal landscape view. Yep. It is locked into vertical orientation. It doesn't include the heisig stories but it should provide that even just as an option. Don't pay for this app. ### 1/5 — Horrible after recent update *2015-08-08, version 3.4* This app was amazing prior to the most recent update where all of my notes were wiped. To put the icing on the cake, any new notes I make aren't saving. Until this gets fixed no matter how helpful it is I can't recommend further use unless you don't need/want notes. ### 1/5 — Imports broken / upgrade wipes stories *2015-08-01, version 3.4* Good/useful app, but the last 2 updates have wiped all stories and on the latest it appears to import from CSV but no stories appear ### 1/5 — crashes *2014-11-01, version 3.1* this app crashes everytime you try to use the flashcard function ...very annoying... ### 1/5 — Gimped *2013-12-02, version 2.1* This used to be my favorite app till I updated it to find that key testing features were removed. It is now far less useful for self study. ### 1/5 — Like an unloved child *2013-10-24* This app has potential yet it's neglected. It crashes constantly and hasn't been since January. Don't buy it because you don't get any value for your money. ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Wonderful companion app to book! *2026-06-10* Lovely app. Thank you! If there was any suggestion for easier studying for the way I learn would be to have a form of next button when in writing practice mode so do not have to go back two screens to practice writing the following kanji in the same lesson. ### 5/5 — Awesome. *2020-11-07, version 3.5* Love this app. No longer need a box of pesky flash cards. Very helpful and great system for learning Kanji. ### 5/5 — Best App for Heisig method *2020-08-27* Don’t believe naysayers — this app is amazing and worth the money, especially if you’re already using the accompanying books to learn Kanji via Heisig method. Pros: -Kanji separated out by lessons, easy review -Practice reading kanji -Practice writing kanji -Primitives given on back of card -Blank space (“story” area) to make use of Heisig’s story or memorable mnemonics OR ability to create your own. This is a fantastic space to expand or link knowledge (like Chinese v Japanese words/additional references). Also the ability to use any installed keyboard (Chinese, Japanese) and not just English keyboard support is fantastic! -Watch kanji being drawn in real time with stroke order — super clean, beautifully scripted -Ability to create your own study lists -Chinese readings index -Japanese readings index The only con I see is that it doesn’t offer automatic timed repetition (like Anki), but this is minor considering that the app isn’t just meant to be a basic flashcard review app. The true worth of this app is to have you structure/stack your knowledge while you’re actively learning, so that you can rehearse it later with ease. Genius :) ### 5/5 — Great app to have alongside RTK *2019-06-16* Great as a companion app for the book. The Study Lists are a great way to keep track of your progress by placing, for example, all the kanji you’ve learned in a week into 1 study list. Unfortunately, this app does NOT have a SRS (spaced repetition software); but it’s not like it needs it, after all you can just use Anki or Koohii. TL;DR: great for sort-term study and keeping track of your progress. ### 5/5 — Use this with the book *2017-11-08* I would have liked an Anki-style priority system with the flash cards in this app (ie shuffling the deck around based on your results) but otherwise it’s absolutely perfect to use in tandem with the book. I also highly recommend using a cheap stylus (saves a lot of paper!). ### 5/5 — Great as a companion to the books *2017-07-30* If you’re using the Heisig books, this app is very useful. You can study a lesson from the book at home, and then use the app wherever you are to review the lesson until you’ve mastered it. Because the app has a mode where all of the characters from a lesson are displayed on the screen at once, it’s easy to zip across them and say the meanings out loud, without having to flip through flashcards, and it also reinforces which characters were in the same lesson, which can help you remember the stories. Also, the app has a stroke order practice mode where you trace over the strokes of a kanji, filling it in - this makes it easy to compare what you drew with what the character is supposed to look like, because they end up overlaid. Other reviews have commented that the app doesn’t have an SRS, and that’s true, I use it in conjunction with an SRS. But even without that, I find the app very useful as a tool to working through the book. ### 5/5 — 100% excellent *2016-11-30* I can't fault it. This app has made reviewing the kanji an enjoyable process I consider it an essential companion to the books. Thank you!!! ### 5/5 — Incorrect data *2015-07-27, version 3.3* This is a good app for a good book. FYI, there is a switch in the configuration menu to switch between 5th and 6th editions. ### 5/5 — Great app *2015-04-06, version 3.2* Great app. But hopefully there will be function to highlight words in story frame with italic or bold (the way web version does) ### 5/5 — Really well designed app! *2015-01-06, version 3.2* I've been skeptical about the Heisig keyword method, but finally decided to give it a try. This app complements the book perfectly! I like that I can add my own stories directly, the production/drawing functionality is absolutely wonderful. You can switch between the 5th and 6th editions of the book. Well done. --- *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.*