Shinobi vs Callback
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Shinobi
Learn Japanese through engaging, illustrated stories. This app offers immersive reading and listening practice with interactive tools for vocabulary, kanji, and grammar. Track your progress and build fluency with daily new content and SRS flashcards.
- Illustrated Japanese stories
- One-click word translation and explanations
- Full-page translation view
- Furigana toggle
- Japanese audio with slow speed option
- Kanji learning in context
- SRS flashcards for vocabulary review
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Learn Japanese by reading stories you'll actually want to finish. Illustrated, JLPT-aligned stories with native audio take you from your first hiragana all the way to N2. Downloaded more than 400,000 times by learners who stopped memorizing word lists and started reading real Japanese. WHY SHINOBI WORKS Most apps teach Japanese in isolated pieces. Shinobi teaches it the way it sticks: in context. Every kanji, word, and grammar point appears inside a story, with images, audio, and a reason to remember it. READ REAL JAPANESE FROM DAY ONE - 91 levels of graded stories covering JLPT N5 to N2 - Curriculum reviewed by native Japanese teachers - Tap any word for its reading, meaning, and examples - Grammar explanations built right into the text - Furigana toggle to raise the challenge as you improve - Full-page translation whenever you need it LISTEN AND SPEAK - Native Japanese audio for every story - Slow mode for tricky passages - Shadowing practice to improve pronunciation and rhythm MAKE KANJI AND VOCABULARY STICK - Save words as you read - Review them with smart spaced-repetition flashcards - Quizzes after every story to lock in what you learned A NEW STORY EVERY DAY - A daily Japanese news story, with double XP for 24 hours - Download stories for offline reading TRAIN LIKE A NINJA - Climb the ninja ranks as you progress - Streaks, badges, and rewards to keep you consistent - Live Activities on your lock screen so you never lose your streak Whether you're a total beginner or preparing for the JLPT, Shinobi turns daily reading into real fluency. Download Shinobi Japanese and read your first story today. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Callback
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Callback prepares you for iOS developer interviews — on the train, in a waiting room, or the night before the real thing. Everything works offline. There is no account to create, nothing to sign in to, and no network connection required — only anonymous screen-view analytics on our own server. WHAT YOU GET • Eleven topics — Swift, Memory Management, Concurrency, SwiftUI, UIKit, Networking, Persistence & Data, Behavioral, Testing, Architecture & Patterns, and Mobile System Design — each with focused lessons and a bank of interview-grade questions. • Short, readable lessons with syntax-highlighted Swift, each ending in a quick check so you find out immediately whether it stuck. • Timed mock interviews with a pause-safe timer that survives backgrounding, so a phone call doesn't cost you the session. • A review queue that automatically resurfaces every question you got wrong or flagged — the fastest way to turn weak spots into strong ones. • Behavioral questions come with a model-answer rubric you score yourself against, because that's how they're actually assessed. • A readiness score that weights recent answers more heavily than old ones and accounts for how much of each topic you've actually covered. • Full VoiceOver support, Dynamic Type throughout, and Reduce Motion respected. PRIVATE BY DESIGN Your progress lives on your device and nowhere else. There is no advertising, no crash reporting, and no third-party SDK. The only thing the app sends is anonymous screen-view analytics (which screen you opened, app/OS version, device model — no identifiers) to our own self-hosted Umami server. You can export everything you've done as a JSON file, or erase it in one tap. Get the callback.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Callback at none against Shinobi's 10. Shinobi's advantage is update cadence (every 9 days vs every 2 months) and iOS requirement (16.4 vs 18.0). On price, 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. Shinobi sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month. Callback asks for nothing beyond the download.
Shinobi ships an update every 9 days, Callback every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on November 4, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Shinobi | Callback |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.9 (845 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 95.3% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 845 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 9 days — better | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 16.4 — better | 18.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 117 MB | 2 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Jeremy Pitault | Vladimir Babin |
Bugs and requests
Shinobi
Reported bugs
2 issues- Occasional crashes or freezing
- Inconsistencies in translations and definitions
Requested features
4 requests- Ability to adjust text size
- Option to read stories without illustrations
- More advanced quizzing and comprehension testing
- Expanded story library and content variety
Callback
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Shinobi
- Monthly Premium Subscription$9.991 Month
- Monthly Premium$17.991 Month
- Yearly Subscription$33.991 Year
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- Yearly Subscription$45.991 Year
- Yearly Subscription7 Days trial$57.991 Year
- Yearly Subscription3 Days trial$57.991 Year
- Yearly Subscription$57.991 Year
- Yearly Subscription1 Year trial$99.991 Year
- Yearly Premium Subscription$119.991 Year
- Streak Restore$0.99
Callback
No in-app purchases









