Simple Furigana vs Japanese Ruby
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Simple Furigana
Easily add ruby characters (furigana) to Japanese text. This app supports both hiragana and romaji annotations for kanji, and works with both vertical and horizontal layouts. Share or print your annotated text, or use the extension to add furigana directly within other apps like Safari.
- Add furigana to Japanese text
- Supports hiragana and romaji
- Vertical and horizontal layouts
- Print or share annotated text
- In-app extension for Safari and other apps
- Offline annotation
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Having trouble reading Japanese? Use SimpleFurigana - a fast and lightweight iPhone Application to add Ruby Characters (Furigana) to Japanese Text. SimpleFurigana automatically annotates Chinese characters (kanji) in Japanese text with hiragana or romaji (latin characters). Both vertical (tategaki) and horizontal (yokogaki) layouts are supported. Annotated text can be printed or shared. No network connection is required for annotation. Use the furigana app extension to add furigana to selected text in Safari as well as many other apps. You can even add furigana to entire webpages to help you navigate the web in Japanese.
Japanese Ruby
This app automatically adds furigana (ruby characters) to Japanese text. It supports input via camera, photos, pasting, and handwriting, making it ideal for beginners learning Japanese. You can also export text with furigana to PDF via email.
- Add furigana to Japanese text
- Input via camera
- Input via photo library
- Handwriting recognition for kanji
- Export to PDF with furigana
- Study with hiragana or English
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This is an APP that add ruby characters (furigana) to Japanese inputted by camera, photo, pasting, handwriting for Japanese beginner automatically. Usage 1: You can copy characters from Safari, and paste them into the text box, and study Japanese with hiragana or English characters. Usage 2: You can study Japanese by camera or photo library. Usage 3: You can input unknown kanji by handwriting and check how to read it. Usage 4: You can input text with keyboard, and send the text with ruby in PDF by mail.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Simple Furigana at 59% against Japanese Ruby's 0%. Japanese Ruby's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 4) and iOS requirement (10.0 vs 17.6). On price, update cadence, 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. Simple Furigana sells 4 one-off in-app purchases. Japanese Ruby asks for nothing beyond the download.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 4 months. The most recent releases landed on October 26, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Simple Furigana | Japanese Ruby |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.5 (271 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 59.1% of reviews — better | 0.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 271 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months | Every 4 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.6 | 10.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 23 MB | 102 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | telethon k.k. | Microstone Inc. |
Customer experience
Simple Furigana
Japanese Ruby
Bugs and requests
Simple Furigana
Reported bugs
20 issues- Furigana is only 70% accurate
- Cannot copy text entirely
- Sometimes makes mistakes
- Does not recognize kanji words more than two when clicked or highlighted
- Only reads numbers, not all of them
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- Does not read documents after scanning
- Does not input copied text anymore
- Not working since last update
- Does not scan pictures as advertised
- Furigana is not furiganing
- App crashes from time to time
- Incorrect furigana for 'library'
- Cannot be used on iOS 16.3.1 iPad Pro
- No longer usable
- Does not scan or is confusing
- Cannot read documents after scanning
- Does not recognize kanji words of more than two characters
- Only reads numbers, and not all of them
- Does not read documents after scanning
- Does not input copied text anymore
Requested features
12 requests- Add UX for 1 tap and 2 taps for immediate furigana
- Add furigana for vertical documents
- Import photos for furigana generation
- Option to set language to Chinese
- Ability to select specific character ranges for manual pronunciation alteration
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- Add 'Aozora Bunko format' for plain text output
- Add option to center furigana over kanji
- Add English translations for some phrases
- Allow users to edit incorrect furigana
- Add support for English and other languages
- Add functionality to send furigana-enabled text messages
- Option to always have the app in Furigana mode
Japanese Ruby
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Simple Furigana
- Ipadic DictionaryFree
- UnidicFree
- NAIST JDicFree
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- JumandicFree
Japanese Ruby
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Simple Furigana free?
Is Japanese Ruby free?
Do Simple Furigana or Japanese Ruby have ads?
Which is updated more often, Simple Furigana or Japanese Ruby?
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