imiwa? vs Nihongo
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
imiwa?
A comprehensive offline Japanese dictionary supporting multiple languages for definitions. It includes kanji information, example sentences, and conjugation tools, making it suitable for learners of all levels.
- Offline Japanese dictionary
- Multilingual definitions
- Kanji database
- Example sentences
- Conjugation tools
- Romaji search
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A complete Japanese dictionary that lives entirely on your device. No internet connection, no subscription, no ads — just fast, powerful lookup whenever you need it. SEARCH ANY WAY YOU THINK Type in kanji, kana, or romaji for Japanese, or search directly in English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, or Russian — imiwa? finds the word you mean. Only English is guaranteed for every entry, but on supported devices, imiwa? uses Apple Intelligence, entirely on-device, to translate the rest into your language. MASTER KANJI YOUR WAY Don't know the reading? Draw it by hand, search by radical, or use SKIP and Four Corner codes. Every kanji page shows correct stroke order, calligraphic styles, JLPT level, school grade, and every word that uses it. POINT YOUR CAMERA AT ANY TEXT Scan a menu, a sign, or a page of a book and look up any word instantly. Live text recognition finds Japanese as you point, and document scanning corrects the perspective on photographed pages. UNDERSTAND WHOLE SENTENCES Paste or type any Japanese sentence into the Analyser and watch it break down into dictionary-linked words, with every conjugation explained and traced back to its base form. A built-in copy of Tae Kim's Guide to Japanese Grammar links directly from the words and grammar points you look up. LEARN AT YOUR OWN PACE Study with flashcards built on a proven spaced-repetition algorithm — from your own vocabulary lists, JLPT levels, school grades, or favorites. Browse full Hiragana and Katakana charts, a searchable counters reference, real example sentences for nearly every word, and keep personal notes, saved vocabulary lists, and a full search history, all exportable. AT A GLANCE Add a Word of the Day or Kanji of the Day widget to your Home Screen, and use Siri Shortcuts to jump straight to the app's tools. On Apple Watch, put today's kanji and word right on your watch face. imiwa? was built on the JMDict and KanjiDic dictionary files from the Electronic Dictionary Research and Development Group, continuing the work of Jim Breen's EDICT project, with example sentences from tatoeba.org. imiwa? is and will always remain free and fully functional. Optional in-app purchases let you support its development — no feature is ever locked behind a paywall. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Nihongo
This app is an offline Japanese study tool that functions as a dictionary, translator, and flashcard creator. It helps users learn Japanese by analyzing text from their surroundings, such as signs and menus, and creating personalized study materials.
- Offline Japanese dictionary
- Picture-to-text translation (OCR)
- Automatic flashcard creation
- Reading assistant with furigana/romaji
- Spaced repetition flashcards
- Search in English, Japanese, or romaji
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Nihongo is an offline Japanese dictionary, picture-to-text translator, flashcard app, and reading assistant. Our app helps you learn Japanese naturally, using the words you encounter in daily life—on menus, signs, manga, emails, books, and more. In addition to the dictionary, you can take a picture of Japanese text or paste it from any source. Nihongo will then translate the text, add furigana or romaji, and create flashcards so you can study and steadily build your vocabulary. Here are the complete features of the app: DICTIONARY * Over 200,000 words, 205,000 example sentences, and 6000 kanji entries. * Every word clearly marked as common, uncommon, or rare. * Add your own notes to any dictionary entry. * Quickly identify transitive/intransitive word pairs. * Audio pronunciations of words and example sentences (Requires Nihongo Pro) PHOTO LOOKUP (OCR) [Pro] * Look up words just by taking a picture. * Uses Google Cloud Vision to provide high-quality text recognition. * Just tap on a word to look it up. CLIPPINGS (READING ASSISTANT) [Pro] * Adds furigana or romaji to text pasted into the app. * Tap on any word to see its definition without leaving the clipping. * Flashcard deck automatically created so you can study the new words in a clipping. * Display text horizontally or vertically. * Have Nihongo read any clipping out loud. FLASHCARDS [Pro] * Flashcards automatically generated from words you lookup in the dictionary or paste into the app. * Nihongo learns what words you know, and won't bother you again with words you've mastered. * Built-in kanji flashcard decks up through Middle School. * Intuitive spaced repetition flashcard system for vocabulary and kanji drawing. * Level up flashcards by studying every day. * No penalty for missing a day of study, come back anytime. SEARCH * Search using English, Japanese, or romaji. * Supports searching for conjugated words in both English and Japanese. * Search for kanji using radicals and stroke counts. SAFARI EXTENSION [Pro] * Add furigana or romaji to webpages. * Tap on words to see definition within Safari. Nihongo Pro Terms of Use Read our full Terms of Service at https://nihongo-app.com/terms_of_use.html. This app is only possible because of the JMDict (edrdg.org) and Tatoeba (tatoeba.org) projects. I highly encourage you to support these incredible projects that make apps like Nihongo possible!
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is monetization model: imiwa? at free against Nihongo's freemium. Nihongo's advantage is rating (4.8 vs 4.5) and update cadence (weekly vs every 3 weeks). On price, review sentiment, 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. imiwa? sells 9 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month and Nihongo sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Nihongo holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Nihongo has 1.9K ratings behind it against 259, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 91% and 91% positive.
imiwa? ships an update every 3 weeks, Nihongo weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 19, 2026 and October 21, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | imiwa? | Nihongo |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.5 (259 ratings) | 4.8 (1.9K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 90.8% of reviews | 91.3% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 259 | 1.9K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | Weekly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Freemium |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 18.6 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 799 MB | 493 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Pierre-Phi di Costanzo | Serpenti Sei Japan |
Customer experience
imiwa?
Nihongo
User reviews
imiwa?
From 259 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Excellent dictionary with comprehensive features
- 👍 Intuitive and user-friendly interface
- 💡 Offline functionality is very useful
- 🚀 Fast lookup and analysis of text
- 👍 Detailed kanji information including stroke order
Room to improve
- 🐛 Occasional crashes and stability issues
- 🔋 App takes up a lot of storage space
- 👎 Some translations and example sentences are unreliable
- 👎 Lack of handwriting input for kanji lookup
Nihongo
From 1.9K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Excellent dictionary
- 👍 Comprehensive features
- 🔒 Offline compatibility
- 👍 Helpful example sentences
- 👍 Intuitive interface
Room to improve
- 🐛 Occasional bugs and glitches
- 💰 Subscription model could be expensive
- 🔍 Difficult to manage flashcards
Bugs and requests
imiwa?
Reported bugs
3 issues- Search function sometimes becomes unresponsive
- Settings menu not fully accessible on some devices
- Clipboard auto-paste feature can be distracting
Requested features
4 requests- Add option to change app theme/color scheme
- Improve export/sharing capabilities for vocab lists
- Implement handwriting recognition for kanji lookup
- Expand example sentences and improve their translations
Nihongo
Reported bugs
3 issues- Freezing issues when tapping on kanji
- Font size problems
- Inconsistent OCR and translation accuracy
Requested features
5 requests- Handwriting input support
- Customizable flashcard settings
- Monolingual dictionary feature
- Improved backup and sync functionality
- Statistics and progress tracking
In-app purchases
imiwa?
- Gift a cookie$1.991 Month
- Gift a drink$4.991 Month
- Gift a burger2 variants$9.991 Month
Show 2 moreShow fewer
- Gift a cocktail$19.991 Year
- Gift a meal$49.991 Year
- Gift a drink$4.99
- Gift a burger$9.99
- Gift a cocktail$19.99
Show 1 moreShow fewer
- Gift a meal$49.99
Nihongo
- Nihongo Pro (Monthly)7 Days trial$4.991 Month
- Nihongo Pro (3 Months)7 Days trial$11.993 Months
- Nihongo Pro (Annual)7 Days trial$49.991 Year
- Pitch Accents$9.99
- Nihongo Pro (Lifetime)2 variants$179.99







