Nihongo Lessons vs Brain Infinity
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Nihongo Lessons
This app helps learners of all levels achieve Japanese fluency. It uses a flashcard format to teach vocabulary, grammar, and writing systems, with advanced spaced repetition for effective retention. Content is sourced from real manga for advanced learners.
- Learn Hiragana and Katakana
- 7000+ handcrafted sentences
- Professional voice actor audio
- Advanced Spaced Repetition System (SRS)
- Vocabulary and grammar from manga
- Flashcard learning format
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A new app for people serious about becoming fluent in Japanese, from the maker of Nihongo: a modern Japanese dictionary. Nihongo Lessons is based off the excellent Japanese Level Up (Jalup) series, and is made to help all levels of learners. * If you're a complete beginner, the app starts you off by teaching you to write the Japanese alphabets hiragana and katakana, and then quickly starts building your vocabulary and grammar fundamentals. * If you're at an intermediate level, you can jump into content that will help you grow your Japanese grammar, vocabulary, and listening skills more efficiently than ever before. * If you're an advanced learner diving into the world of native content or studying for JLPT N1, Nihongo Lessons can help fill in the gaps in your knowledge with vocabulary and grammar pulled directly from real manga. Instead of a traditional textbook, everything in Nihongo Lessons is in a flashcard format. Flashcards are easier to take in, easier to know how much to learn and how often to review, and simplify the mountain of information you need to absorb. Each flashcard introduces one new sentence for you to understand, and every new sentence introduces exactly one new word, grammar point, or concept. This keeps you constantly moving forward in your learning journey - never bored, never overwhelmed. * Learn to write hiragana and katakana, the main alphabets of the Japanese language. * Progress from beginner to fluent across 7000 handcrafted sentences, each introducing a single new word or concept. * Listen to sentences spoken out loud by a professional voice actor. * Advanced Spaced Repetition (SRS) to help you retain everything you've learned for the long-term. * Nihongo Lessons doesn’t just plop a fun game on top of the language. It engages the brain’s natural urge to solve problems by making learning the language itself the game.
Brain Infinity
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Math, logic, memory, attention and language in about three minutes. 10-question sessions, 30 levels, 3,000 English and 3,000 Japanese questions, with a brain companion. ■ Reasoning challenges 900 four-choice puzzles in 15 formats across 5 areas. Runs of 10 at Easy, Standard or Hard clear with 5, 7 or 9 correct; 45–120 seconds per question. See guides, clues and explanations, with diagrams for some puzzles. Resume anytime. ■ Training and Action Lab Normal runs mix 7 focus, 2 review and 1 stretch questions, with fewer repeats. Hints give clues; review explains why. Up to two reports per run; offline reports retry later. Action Lab has 10 hands-on formats: numbers, patterns, memory, attention and words. Play 10 untimed puzzles at three difficulties. Progress and bests are saved. Starting and resuming attempts is free. ■ Training builds a colony Build seven colonies, each with six facilities up to Lv.10, using Lumina and Core levels from training. Open rooms, follow flagged goals and meet the crew. Restore 36 areas per colony for journals and the next colony. Command three companies, capture generators and reclaim the core within four minutes. Upgrades strengthen your side; area difficulty is fixed. Practice is free. Expeditions restore equipment without Lumina or XP. ■ Records and community Infinity ends after three mistakes or timeouts. Composite anomaly starts with 45 seconds, extended by correct answers. Rankings show this week, last week and all-time records. You join automatically; your name and new records are public. Opt out in Settings. The Community feed shares your name, bests, streak milestones and main missions. Celebrate milestones. Sharing starts on; turn on Opt out of sharing achievements in Settings to stop new posts. Published posts remain. Sharing, rankings and analytics have separate controls. No free-text posts, images or chat. ■ Review and daily goals The notebook keeps 200 misses from all modes. Filter by category and retry up to 10 pending questions for double Lumina and Core XP per answer. Reviewed entries are read-only. Normal training and challenge runs award 1 Lumina and 10 Brain Core XP per answer, right or wrong; skips, unanswered timeouts and reports do not. Daily missions cover training, reasoning and Action Lab. Finish all three for a calendar mark. Track medals, streaks and all 30 levels. Research Lab shows your Brain Core and Neural Index, an in-game indicator, not a medical or intelligence assessment. Normal questions allow 30 seconds, including time away from the app. A silver medal (80%) unlocks the next level. Bronze 60%, silver 80%, gold 100%. ■ Optional accounts and cloud saves Play without linking an account; progress stays on your device. Link Google or Apple in Settings to save progress, your name and birth year privately in the cloud and restore on another device with the same account. Birth year is not public. If both saves changed, choose one; XP and items are not combined. Purchases and ad/analytics consent are not transferred. Unlink or request account deletion in Settings. Deletion starts removing public data and holds the last cloud save and app account for 30 days before permanent deletion. Cancel with the original account during that period to restore the last cloud save. Public data and unsynced changes are not restored. ■ Display, ads and data VoiceOver, large text, high contrast, reduced motion, effect captions and three music tracks. Set reminders and sound in Settings. A banner appears at the end of Lab. A full-screen ad may appear before results, at most once per five completed runs, never while answering. The optional one-time Remove ads purchase hides both, with no renewal. Every puzzle plays without it; restore with the same store account. Questions work offline. Purchases, ads, rankings, feed, cloud/accounts, reports and analytics need a connection. Analytics runs after the age check while sharing is on; stop it in Settings. See the Privacy Policy.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Brain Infinity at every 5 days against Nihongo Lessons's every 3 weeks. Brain Infinity also leads on device support (3 vs 1) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17). On price, ads and in-app purchases 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. Nihongo Lessons sells 13 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month and Brain Infinity sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Nihongo Lessons ships an update every 3 weeks, Brain Infinity every 5 days. Both last shipped on October 24, 2026.
| Parameter | Nihongo Lessons | Brain Infinity |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (129 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 84.8% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 129 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | Every 5 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 17 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 258 MB | 72 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Serpenti Sei Japan | YUTA UEDA |
Bugs and requests
Nihongo Lessons
Reported bugs
2 issues- Explanation modal flashed and cannot be brought back
- Unclear how to interact with cards (swiping direction)
Requested features
11 requests- Add notifications
- Add a way to add own notecards for review
- Add meaning and context for some words in dictionary
- Add monthly subscriptions or lower prices
- Add Kanji section
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- Add Kanji decks
- Add dark mode
- Automatically play audio when flipping card
- Teach word in context, then quiz for understanding using only the Japanese word
- Surface Japanese definition and make user remember the word
- Optimize for iPad
Brain Infinity
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Nihongo Lessons
- All Access Monthly7 Days trial$4.991 Month
- All Access Yearly7 Days trial$49.991 Year
- Beginner Deck (Discounted)$59.99
- Champion Deck (Discounted)$59.99
- Expert Deck (Discounted)$59.99
Show 8 moreShow fewer
- Master Deck (Discounted)$59.99
- Intermediate Deck (Discounted)$83.99
- Beginner Deck (Discounted)$101.99
- Beginner Deck$119.99
- All Decks (Discounted)$149.99
- All Decks (Discounted)$254.99
- All Decks$299.99
- All Decks (Discounted)$299.99
Brain Infinity
- Remove Ads$2.99
Questions
Is Nihongo Lessons free?
Is Brain Infinity free?
Do Nihongo Lessons or Brain Infinity have ads?
Which is updated more often, Nihongo Lessons or Brain Infinity?
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