Japanese21 vs Squirk
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Japanese21
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Master Japanese in 21 days with Japanese21! Learn Japanese through a structured 21-day course designed for real-world conversations. Practice with Speech recognition, track your progress, get advice from a teacher, and learn while driving your car. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Squirk
This app acts as a personalized spelling tutor for children aged 4-8. It adapts to each child's learning level, focusing on mastery through spaced repetition and phonics-based word introduction. Parents can track progress via a dashboard, and children earn collectibles for motivation.
- Personalized learning levels
- Spaced repetition for memory
- Phonics-based word introduction
- Parent progress dashboard
- Collectible rewards system
- Voice or keypad spelling input
- Dyslexia-friendly mode
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Squirk is a one-to-one spelling tutor for children ages 4 to 8. There is nothing for you to plan or teach. Hand your child the device and Squirk takes it from there. Five to ten minutes a day is all it takes. STARTS AT THEIR LEVEL, NOT THEIR AGE Most spelling practice hands every child the same list. Squirk works out where your child actually is and builds from there, so a child who is ahead is not bored and a child who is struggling is never lost. There is no fixed grade to keep pace with, and nothing to fall behind. WHAT YOUR CHILD GETS Spelling that holds. Not words crammed for a Friday test and forgotten by Monday, but words secured well enough that your child writes without stopping to think about them. Five to ten minutes a day. HOW IT WORKS A word is not finished the first time your child gets it right. It comes back days later, and again after that, and only counts as mastered once it has survived the gap. New words arrive in an order that builds, grouped by the letter patterns they share rather than by the alphabet. WHY IT WORKS Two things decide whether spelling sticks. Practising at the edge of what a child can already do, rather than below it or far beyond it. And meeting a word again just as it begins to fade, which is what turns recognition into memory. Squirk is built on both, and the words are drawn from established sources including the Fry and Dolch lists and Orton-Gillingham letter-pattern sequences, each one reviewed before a child ever sees it. BUILT ON REAL PHONICS SEQUENCES Words are drawn from established sources including the Fry and Dolch lists and Orton-Gillingham letter-pattern sequences, introduced in an order that builds rather than jumps. Every word is reviewed before a child ever sees it. SEE EXACTLY WHAT THEY KNOW The parent dashboard shows which words and letter patterns your child has mastered, which are still in progress, and how often they practice. For homeschool families it doubles as a record of work. CALM, NOT OVERSTIMULATING One thing, done well. No firehose of unrelated games, no flashing cross-sells, no noise. A quiet screen built for focused practice. REWARDS WORTH COMING BACK FOR Children unlock Squirkies, 96 collectible characters earned by mastering words, then take them to the Magical Land to play. Master enough and Super Squirkies start to appear. They can be dressed up and taken to the Magical Land to play. SPELL BY VOICE OR BY KEYPAD Your child can say the letters out loud instead of typing them, which helps children who are still building keyboard confidence. The on-screen keypad is always available, and your child reviews and fixes their answer before submitting either way. BUILT FOR YOUNG CHILDREN No ads, now or later. No third-party trackers or analytics. No in app purchases. Speech recognition runs entirely on your child's device, so voice audio is never recorded, stored, or sent to us. A parent gate keeps settings and purchases out of small hands, and dyslexia mode adjusts font, spacing, and contrast. Privacy Policy: https://privacy.squirklearning.app Terms of Use: https://terms.squirklearning.app Questions? Email support@squirklearning.app
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Japanese21 at every 4 days against Squirk's fortnightly. Squirk's advantage is iOS requirement (15.1 vs 17.6). On price, ads, in-app purchases 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. Japanese21 sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Squirk sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $7.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Japanese21 ships an update every 4 days, Squirk fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 25, 2026 and October 29, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Japanese21 | Squirk |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | — | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Number of ratings | — | 1 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 4 days — better | Fortnightly |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | — | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.6 | 15.1 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 383 MB | 47 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | OLE PETTER HAUGEN | Meridian Strategy Studio LLC |
In-app purchases
Japanese21
- Japanese21 Pro$19.99
Squirk
- Squirk Plus — Monthly$7.991 Month
- Squirk Family — Monthly$11.991 Month
- Squirk Plus — Yearly$79.991 Year
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- Squirk Family — Yearly$119.991 Year





