I Built the Japanese App I Wanted After Quitting Noisy Language Apps
I wanted a Japanese app I could open at night without feeling yelled at.
Why I built it
I started with the usual apps. They were good at getting me to come back. They were less good at helping Japanese stay in my head.
The habit worked, but the learning felt thin. I could keep a streak and still feel slow with kana. I could finish a lesson and still not know what I had learned. The app was loud. The Japanese was quiet.
I wanted something else. I wanted a Japanese app I could open at night without feeling yelled at.
What Inku is
Inku is a calm Japanese learning app. It teaches kana, kanji, vocabulary and useful phrases, with pronunciation audio and spaced review. It started on iPhone and now also runs in a web browser.
The review is meant to feel finite. You open the app. You do a few cards. You stop. That is not a growth hack. It is the product.
Food, travel, and more.
Start with kana, then build vocabulary from N5 to N1 and phrases for everyday situations. The iPhone app has 2,568 vocabulary cards, 960 kanji and 407 phrases, verified 2026-10-16.
Who it is for
Inku is for people who want Japanese to stick, but do not want their phone to yell at them. It is for the person who studies after work, on the train, or right before bed. It is for the learner who wants a small honest session instead of another scoreboard.
If that sounds like you, read why Inku exists or start learning with the introductory lesson.
Common questions
What is Inku?+
Inku is a calm Japanese learning app for iPhone and the web. It teaches kana, kanji, vocabulary and phrases with flashcards, pronunciation audio and spaced review, and there are no ads. The About page has the current details.
Why build another Japanese learning app?+
Existing apps are designed to make you come back, not to make Japanese stick. I wanted a tool that respected adult attention: a finite daily session, no streak guilt, no infinite feed, and audio that plays inside the review instead of next to it.
Who is Inku for?+
Adult learners who want Japanese to stick but do not want their phone yelling at them. People who study after work, on the train, or before bed. The current catalog spans beginner kana and JLPT N5 through N1 vocabulary.
How is Inku different from Duolingo or Anki?+
Duolingo is gamified and broad across 40+ languages. Anki is infinitely flexible and mostly DIY. Inku is opinionated, Japanese-only, and shipped with a curated deck plus bundled pronunciation audio — no setup, no streak panic, no leaderboard.
Related reading
- About InkuSee what Inku teaches today, who makes it and how it works on iPhone and the web.
- Why Inku existsRead the product principles behind short sessions and a quiet daily routine.
- Inku vs AnkiCompare prepared Japanese decks with building and maintaining your own.
- Best Japanese flashcard appsSee how seven common Japanese study apps differ before you choose one.
