DaKanji vs Immersion Reader
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
DaKanji
Learn Japanese with this comprehensive tool. Look up words in a multi-language dictionary, identify Kanji by drawing them, and add pronunciation guides to text. Organize your studies with custom word lists and practice with audio and mnemonics.
- Kanji recognition by drawing
- Multi-language dictionary
- Furigana addition to text
- Customizable word lists
- Kana table with mnemonics
- Anki integration
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Are you learning Japanese? Then you need to try DaKanji! Use the built-in dictionary to look up words in many languages, search Kanjis by simply drawing them, add furigana to texts, and much more! Feature overview: * Recognize 6500+ Kanji and all Kana offline by just drawing them * Use the inbuilt dictionary to look up words offline * Multi-language support: en, es, de, fr, ... * Detailed information about words: pitch accent, related words, ... * Detailed information about Kanji: radicals, JLPT, ... * Example sentences * Drawing or radical-based kanji lookup * 6000+ audios * Create word lists to organize your studies * Kana table with audios and mnemonics * Anki integration to send dictionary entries to Anki * Read any text with ease by adding furigana, spaces, and more to texts * Use it on all your devices: Phone, Tablet or Laptop it doesn't matter!
Immersion Reader
Easily look up Japanese words while reading ebooks with a single tap. Import custom dictionaries and export saved vocabulary for spaced repetition learning. Offers customizable themes for a comfortable reading experience.
- One-tap word lookup in Japanese ebooks
- Import Yomichan and frequency dictionaries
- Export vocabulary to Anki
- Light and dark mode themes
- Lookup neighboring words
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Look up Japanese words as you read! Features - One tap to look up words in Japanese Ebooks. Tabs to help you look up neighboring words - Import Yomichan dictionaries and frequency dictionaries - Export saved vocabulary to Anki via Anki Dojo - Light mode, dark mode, and other themes for the dictionary
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: DaKanji at 4.7 against Immersion Reader's 4.0. DaKanji also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 1) and review sentiment (77% vs 62%). Immersion Reader's advantage is update cadence (every 6 days vs every 5 weeks). On price, ratings volume, ads and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Immersion Reader sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. DaKanji asks for nothing beyond the download.
DaKanji holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 12 and 26 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 77% of DaKanji's written reviews are positive against 62% of Immersion Reader's.
DaKanji ships an update every 5 weeks, Immersion Reader every 6 days. The most recent releases landed on September 12, 2026 and July 23, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | DaKanji | Immersion Reader |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (12 ratings) — better | 4.0 (26 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 76.9% of reviews — better | 61.5% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 12 | 26 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 5 weeks | Every 6 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 | 13.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 139 MB | 80 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Dario Klepoch | Mathew Chan |
Customer experience
DaKanji
Immersion Reader
In-app purchases
DaKanji
No in-app purchases
Immersion Reader
- Immersion Reader Premium$4.99
