Try Nihongo vs Tomoshi Japanese Dictionary
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Try Nihongo
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TryNihongo helps you build Japanese step by step with interactive lessons and game-based practice. What you can do in the app: Learn Hiragana and Katakana with guided practice Review characters and vocabulary with flashcards Practice pronunciation with speaking activities Test yourself with quizzes and quick challenges Play Japanese learning games for more engaging study Track your learning progress as you continue TryNihongo is designed for learners who want a simple and enjoyable way to practice Japanese every day, whether you are just starting out or reviewing what you already know. The app combines study and play so you can stay motivated while building reading, listening, and recognition skills.
Tomoshi Japanese Dictionary
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Tomoshi is a Japanese-English dictionary built for producing Japanese, not just decoding it. It helps you say it and write it right. ■ Lookup · Type Japanese, kana, romaji or English; candidates appear as you type · 210,000+ entries, with English-to-Japanese reverse lookup for when you know the word in English and need the Japanese · Results follow the spelling you searched, so 「明」 does not surface entries that look unrelated ■ Definitions you can use · English definitions and part-of-speech tags · Reading, pitch accent and a pitch-accent curve · Conjugation table at a glance · Example sentences with furigana that follows the entry you are reading ■ Help with producing Japanese · Transitive / intransitive pairs: 「開く/開ける」-style verb pairs shown side by side with matching example sentences · Near-synonym notes: how similar words differ and which one fits which situation · Kanji spelling notes: what each spelling of the same word is used for ■ Remember it · Save any entry to the wordbook and review it on an FSRS spaced-repetition schedule · Listen-only drills: hear the word without seeing it and train your ear to react · A small red dot appears when words are due; after a session you see your review streak · One-tap export to Anki: card backs carry full definitions, furigana on examples and a pitch-accent curve; open the file in AnkiMobile via the Files app, and re-exporting updates the same notes · Export and import the whole wordbook, or back it up daily to your own iCloud Drive · Sign in and your wordbook and review progress sync between your phone and desktop, merging changes from each device instead of overwriting them ■ AI explanations · Paste a whole sentence for a grammar breakdown with furigana; every word in the reading is tappable and leads back to the dictionary · Expressions the dictionary does not cover are handed to AI, so you are never stuck at "no results" · When the model is not sure, it says so instead of inventing a plausible-sounding explanation ■ Reading · Public-domain classics from Aozora Bunko, graded by difficulty, with a furigana toggle — tap any word to look it up ■ Audio · Entries, example sentences and whole sentences can be read aloud with cloud-synthesised voices ■ Privacy · No account needed for anything; sign in with an email code (no password) only if you want the wordbook to sync across devices — no name or phone number collected · Lookup history stays on your phone — I cannot see it; the wordbook and review progress stay local too (with your own iCloud backup) until you sign in, and deleting your account removes the cloud copy · No ads, no third-party analytics · Crash reports are sent by default, can be turned off in Settings, and never include what you searched · Full policy: tomoshi.app/privacy/en ■ Connectivity · The first launch downloads the dictionary data once; after that, core lookup works offline · AI explanations and speech are the two features that need a connection ■ Free Looking words up is free forever: the complete dictionary data, offline lookup and the error-reporting feature are free now and will stay free. Cloud features such as AI explanations and cloud speech are free to use today, within a daily quota. Every call to them has a real server cost behind it, so they will move to paid to cover that cost. Put simply: the dictionary is free; the cloud services that cost money to run will eventually be paid. I would rather state the rule from day one. ■ Where the data comes from · Entries are based on JMdict / EDRDG and other open dictionary projects; example sentences partly from Tatoeba · Verb pairs, nuance notes and reverse lookup are AI-assisted and cross-checked by multiple models · Pronunciation and pitch accent are human-verified · Full attribution in the app under Me → Settings → Open-source licences ■ Other platforms Desktop versions for Windows and macOS are at tomoshi.app, with a select-to-look-up browser extension. Independent developer · Free · No ads
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is iOS requirement: Try Nihongo at 13.0 against Tomoshi Japanese Dictionary's 15.4. 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
| Parameter | Try Nihongo | Tomoshi Japanese Dictionary |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Update frequency | — | Every 4 days |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 — better | 15.4 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 38 MB | 19 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 12+ |
| Developer | TOT DO XUAN | Yuanyi Zhang |
In-app purchases
Try Nihongo
No in-app purchases
Tomoshi Japanese Dictionary
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Try Nihongo free?
Is Tomoshi Japanese Dictionary free?
Do Try Nihongo or Tomoshi Japanese Dictionary have ads?
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