Improvements * Add a label to the subscription options screen indicating a sale on lifetime subscriptions. * Add the ability to opt-in to contributing flashcard statistics to a research project.
Improvements * Add the ability to display prices in in-app messages (preparing for Black Friday sale!) Bug Fixes * Fix issue where status bar was not visible during flashcards on iPhone 16 models.
Improvements * Nihongo is now published by Serpenti Sei Japan. (still Chris Vasselli behind the scenes!)
Improvements * Make the badges section on a kanji entry hug to the right side of the entry on iPad. Bug Fixes * Fix an issue where the safari integration might show that a free trial was available, when it wasn't. * Fix an issue where the text could be cutoff on the "Choose a plan" screen when using larger text sizes. * Update clear button style to match paste button style on iOS 18. * Fix the search magnifying glass disappearing immediately when tapping on search field on iPad. * Fix an issue where switching between compact and regular width while viewing the Nihongo Pro purchase screen would get you stuck in a fullscreen blank purchase screen. * Fix an issue where the grade level text could get cutoff on the narrowest iPad compact widths. (thanks Camille!) * Fix an issue where on iPad the Dictionary sidebar item would be stuck as black until tapped after doing a search.
Bug Fixes * Fix an issue where tapping on the lookup button while viewing the back of a flashcard on iPad would cause the font size of the flashcard to decrease, on iOS 18.
Bug Fixes * Fix an issue where conjugated searches would not match words after the first word in a word's meaning. * Fix an issue where the search bar text would not be preserved when switching between compact and regular width, if keyboard was visible.
Bug Fixes * Fix an issue where tapping on "Learn More" from kanji element contribution description pop up would not link to the correct location in the etymology FAQ. * Fix an issue where the free trial could appear available when it shouldn't be. * When we don't have any information about the number of strokes in a kanji, display "ー" instead of 0. * Fix an issue where Japanese text was not copyable on iOS 18. * Fix a crash when switching between regular and compact width on an iPad in certain circumstances. * Fix an issue where German, French, Spanish, and Russian searches would not properly handle conjugation leading to missing results. * Fix an issue where the information about where to download additional voices was incorrect on iOS 18/macOS 15.
Improvements * Add dark mode and tinted icon variants for iOS 18. * Add support for two new "enhanced" voices in iOS 18. Bug Fixes * Fix an issue where switching from regular to compact size and back on iPad could cause the app to get stuck. * Fix issue where all voices would appear as if downloaded on iOS 18. * Fix an issue where changing from regular to compact width on iPad while viewing a word entry from a photo lookup would cause the "X" button not to appear when popping back to the photo lookup.
Bug Fixes * Fixes to 70 kanji entries: 冊素胃久秘危失宝毒片延往更殺競支得就質師寸弟造太新写対成類旧告務喜営報属減幹義解雑暴燃衛収処金声明医集低利徳承担専巻退射従株蚕陛脳鄕貴暮疑簡
Bug Fixes * Fix a rare crash on startup. * Fix an issue where "years ago" was not translated in other languages.
Bug Fixes * Fix layout issues on some example sentences. * Fix red close buttons on Nihongo Pro screens.
Bug Fixes * Fixes to error reporting, to help me monitor issues occurring in the app.
Improvements * Improved the machine translations of the etymology FAQ in other languages. * Improved flow for downloading updated language data for users using Nihongo in another language. * Improvements to the kanji entry element data. Bug Fixes * Fix an issue where example sentences were sometimes cutoff (thanks Leo, 810Teams, wzxutaolearn!) * Fix an issue where Chinese text in the kanji etymology descriptions would become links, when running the app in Chinese. * Remove the ability to take a full-page screenshot of the etymology FAQ, it wasn't working properly. * Fix an issue where the footer below the elements section of kanji entries wasn't sized properly on iPad. * Fix an issue where no text was displayed on a kanji sound element when it didn't seem to contribute any actual sound. * Fixed incorrect sizes displayed for the language data downloads. * Fix non-centered text at the bottom of the kanji element entry screen. * Fix missing machine translated tag on kanji entries on element screen.
This is a huge update to Nihongo, taking a massive leap forward in making kanji more understandable to learners. Most Japanese dictionaries present kanji as a compilation of individual elements with their own specific meanings. This is actually a common misunderstanding of how kanji work. The truth is, each element can contribute a different thing to the kanji — a specific meaning, a broad category, or a pronunciation. Understanding the true contribution of each element can unlock a richer understanding of every character, helping you to remember them easier, learn new characters faster, and even guess at rough meaning and pronunciations for characters you've never seen before. This information has always been available, but until now it required the use of an etymological dictionary and knowledge of a verbose and esoteric set of terminology like “ideogram” and “phonosemantic compound”. This update compiles this information into a user-friendly, learner-focused presentation that unlocks the learning potential of this content (without requiring a degree in linguistics). Other Improvements * Update clipboard permission footer string to remove reference to iOS 16 * Add kanji readings for non-joyo kanji (thanks Andrew!) * Add a clearer error message when sync fails because another one of your devices is on a later version of the app. Bug Fixes * Fix meaning text for 把. (thanks Björn!) * Fix issue where tapping on search tab while unviewed photos were remaining in photo lookup mode, popping all the way to search screen would not be prevented on iOS 17. * Fix 私から being parsed as ひそから (thanks Gerhard!) * Fix 細かいお金 in french (thanks Alexis!) * Fix contained words for 三重県 (thanks 810Teams!) * Fix search bar not transitioning to compact correctly. (thanks to a bunch of you!)
Bug Fixes * Fix issue where the Safari integration was not working properly on iOS 17.4.
Bug Fixes * Fix an issue where some parts of the app were not updated for the new text supporting different trial lengths. * Fix an issue where the layout of the Nihongo Pro banner on the word triage screen was incorrect.
Bug Fixes * Fix issue where search bar would disappear when switching to compact width on iPad OS 17.1.
Improvements * Prepare for a Black Friday sale -- stay tuned!
Bug Fixes * Adds some additional logging to help track down bugs.
Improvements * Move the search bar into the dictionary tab when the dictionary tab is made fullscreen. Bug Fixes * Fix an issue where search result cells could be oversized on iPad. * Fix an issue where sometimes the All Plans screen would not dismiss automatically after a purchase is completed. * Fix a potential crash when viewing the All Plans screen. * Fix a crash when using the keyboard to swipe the end of deck card to correct, ok, or wrong. * Fix an issue where switching to compact mode while viewing a word entry from a photo lookup on iPad would cause the app to switch to an empty dictionary tab. * Fix an issue that could cause the app to lag while data is syncing. * Fix an issue where resetting flashcard progress would not restore flashcards that had been removed from kanji decks. * Fix an issue where sharing a photo to Nihongo would always cause the sidebar to reappear. * Fix an issue where sync icon is settings tab did not spin while sync was in progress. * Fix an issue that could cause a crash when switching to compact mode while one of the "Study" section items was selected. * Fix issue where Japanese handwriting keyboard introduced in iOS 17 would not work with search-as-you-type. * Fix an issue where the app could launch without a search bar, when it was previously launched in the background to perform a sync.
Improvements * Updated App Store screenshots with latest icons and iPad layout. Bug Fixes * Fix an issue where tabbing away from Nihongo on a Mac while the recent searches screen was visible would cause the sidebar to become garbled. * Fix issue where tab bar would become stuck permanently visible on flashcard screen when transitioning from regular to compact width on iPad. * Fix a bug causing the navigation bar to be corrupted when switching from compact to regular width under certain circumstances. * Fixed a crash when updating the sidebar latest dechks under certain circumstances. * Fix issue where leaving and returning to the app while viewing the photo lookup screen with chrome dismissed would cause the navigation bar to reappear. * Fix an issue where when tapping on a photo to bring back the navigation chrome would not animate, when viewing photo from anywhere other than the photo lookup flow. * Fix an issue where the clipping paste button could break when on large dynamic text sizes. * Fix an issue where the "View Conjugations" text wouldn't appear under certain circumstances.
Bug Fixes * Fix a crash when switching from regular to compact to regular width while a "latest deck" shortcut is selected. * Fix an issue where iCloud preference syncing might not be properly disabled. * Fix an issue where transitioning the "edit flashcard" screen from compact to regular width on iPad could corrupt the navigation bar under certain circumstances. * Fix the size of the kanji stroke viewer when resizing from compact to regular width on iPad. * Fix a crash that could occur when the app is launched in the background to sync data.
Bug Fixes * Fix an issue that could cause a crash when switching between regular and compact mode on iPad. * Fix an issue where swiping back from a clipping to the clipping menu when the tab bar is dismissed could cause tab bar to become misplaced. * Fix status bar color when dismissing photo gallery by opening an app link. * Fix status bar color in dark mode on photo gallery. * Fix an issue where the navigation bar would not appear fullsize by deafult on iPhone for tabs other than search. * Fix an issue where the toolbar at the bottom of the photo gallery would appear non-translucent. * Fix an issue where the name of dictionary history decks would not update in the sidebar at midnight. * Fix sidebar coloring and recent searches behavior when running on Mac.
Major Features * New iPad Layout - The app now features a sidebar when running on iPad, for quick access to more features. * Clippings - Clippings up to 250 characters long can now be created without a subscription to Nihongo Pro. Other Improvements * You can now use a physical keyboard to mark flashcards. Spacebar to flip, arrow keys to mark the cards. * The Nihongo Pro paywall has been redesigned. * When you try to dismiss the photo lookup viewer without having viewed all the photos you imported, you will now be prompted to confirm that you wanted to dismiss without viewing all photos. * App preferences are now synced between devices, even when Nihongo Pro isn't purchased or data syncing is disabled. * Add a clearer error message when sync fails because another one of your devices is on a later version of the app. * When switching Apple accounts on your device, you will now be able to continue using Nihongo Pro features until the previous account's subscription expiration date, and then you will told explicitly that you changed Apple accounts. * Over 1,000 new word entries. * Over 3,500 new example sentences. Bug Fixes * Fixed the the translation of 細かいお金 in French. * Fixed the contained words for 三重県. * Fixed an issue that could cause the app to fail to launch for some users. Instead, these users will now see an alert explaining that iCloud syncing of preferences has been disabled due to a bug in iOS. * Updated Apple Silicon Mac version to use "System Settings" terminology instead of System Preferences on latest macOS releases. * Fix an issue where in some alerts "OK" would appear unlocalized in other languages. * Fix an issue causing the first card displayed to sometimes not lock into vertical or horizontal swipe direction. * Fix an issue where an incorrect conjugation table was displayed for the word 売れる. * Fix incorrect furigana on よろしくお願いします example sentence. * Fix image colors not bleeding through navigation bar in photo viewer.
Bug Fixes * Fixes to allow proper targeting of in-app messages for an upcoming Nihongo Lessons sale. * Fixes to debug logging. * Fix an issue causing debug URLs to cause the app to freeze.
Bug Fixes * Fix an issue what would cause slowdown when deleting a photo from a word entry, when it had been processed for OCR. * Attempt to fix an issue causing occasional hangs.
Improvements * Improved speed of transitioning from selecting images from photo library, to viewing the OCR screen. Bug Fixes * Fix an issue that could very rarely cause a prompt to appear asking for permission to connect to local devices on the network. * Fix issue where you could tap multiple times on "Add" button when selecting from photo library, causing odd behavior. * Fix an issue where purchases could not be properly reactivated after tapping the restore purchase button. * Fix an issue where sharing an image to Nihongo from certain apps could cause the app that it was shared from to become unresponsive. * Fix an issue where the Paste button would not appear in the clippings tab when running on Mac.
Bug Fixes * Fix a rare crash due to memory corruption. * Fix an issue where purchases were sometimes not recognized.
Bug Fixes * Fix an issue where lifetime subscription would sometimes "expire".
Bug Fixes * Fix a crash when searching while the "Try the Safari Integration" banner is visible.
Bug Fixes * Fix an issue causing the app to become unavailable on Macs. * Fix an issue where searching in German, Spanish, French or Russian might not properly handle conjugated text when running iOS 16.4.
Improvements * Add a "Contact Support" button when you attempt to restore purchases, but the purchase cannot be found. Bug Fixes * Switch method of verifying purchases. * Fix an issue where Nihongo data would appear in iCloud's Manage Storage screen as Nihongo Lessons. * Fix an issue where the "Creating backup..." screen was not translated into languages other than English. * Fix a rare crash due to memory corruption.
Bug Fixes * Fix an issue where the background of the tab bar will sometimes disappear on iPad/Mac. * Give appropriate error message when purchase fails because internet connection is offline. * Fix an issue where you could potentially see your subscription lapse when sharing a single media & purchases account across two different iCloud accounts.
Bug Fixes * Fix a rare crash on the search screen. * Fix a rare crash when initializing the database. * Give a more understandable error when purchase fails because of a network issue. * Fix an issue where the app could become unresponsive when launching for the first time in TestFlight. * Give a more understandable error when loading purchase information fails. * Fix an issue where when a subscription lapses and then comes back, sync wasn't being automatically re-enabled.
Improvements * When the app cannot connect to the app store to load pricing information, an alert will now tell you why. Bug Fixes * Fix an issue where changes to Nihongo Pro purchase state might not be detected properly. * Add missing Chinese translation for text on photo lookup settings screen. * Fix a rare crash when attempting to display an alert, but there appears to be no open windows in the app. * Fix an issue where sending an image to Nihongo using the share extension would not work properly if the app was previously open to a photo from a word entry. * Fix issue where purchases from TestFlight would carry over to production. * Fix an issue where non-English language searches could sometimes be missing some results. * Fix an issue where layout on purchase screen could be messed up on 4-inch screen sizes.
Bug Fixes * Fix a crash when selecting "use on-device text detection" under certain circumstances. * Fix an issue where using the backup function could cause your data to appear missing until you restart the app. * Fix an issue where restoring purchase could report that it didn't find your subscription, when it really did. * Fix a crash when something is preventing data from being stored to iCloud-synced preferences. * Fix an issue where the purchase screen could never stop loading after switching iCloud accounts.
Bug Fixes * Fix a crash when tapping on a word in a clipping or photo on first launch after updating to latest version, with a non-English dictionary language. * Fix an issue where the safari integration would sometimes not detect that Nihongo Pro has been purchased. * Fix an issue where the purchase screen was not scrollable on smaller screen sizes.
Improvements * Paste and Clear controls on the clippings screen have been redesigned to accomodate the new paste button introduced in iOS 16. Bug Fixes * Fix an issue where tapping on the (i) button on the flashcard menu would not update the displayed selection. * Fix behavior on flashcard menu where selecting a deck would shift the scroll position, and on iPad would animate the selection a second time. * Fix issue where downloaded speech voices would not appear as selectable on iOS 16. * Fix an issue where the Nihongo Pro purchase screen would not be scrollable if it was opened before products were loaded from the app store, did not overflow the screen when the loading indicator was visible, and did overflow the screen once the loading indicator was replaced with the available products. * Fixed an issue where the purchase screen could indicate the availability of the 14-day free trial even though it had already been used. * Fix an issue where there was a horizontal blue line on the purchase screen on iOS 16. * Fix an issue where Nihongo debug URL's (used for support) would not work on iPad. * Fix issue where romaji and sync icons are out of alignment with the rest of settings on some devices on iOS 16.
Bug Fixes * Fix an issue causing error reports not to be sent to the developer.
Bug Fixes * Fix an issue where word flashcards where the primary mapping of kanji to furigana is ambiguous (without relying on the common readings of the kanji) would not list any option on the edit flashcard screen for a version of the flashcard with furigana, even though it appeared that why be default. * Fix an issue where flashcards appear off-center after transitioning from compact to regular width with a dictionary entry displayed. * Fix a crash when tapping the "view definition" button on the flashcard screen right as the final flashcard is sent away. * Fix a rare crash on launch.
Bug Fixes * Fix a rare crash on launch.
Bug Fixes * Fix a crash when running the app on iOS 14.
Bug Fixes * Fix a rare crash when using the handwriting keyboard.
Major Features * Handwriting Search - Search for kanji by drawing them with your finger. Other Improvements * Once we reach the last bucket of kana search results, don't prioritize hiragana results over katakana results. * Added back the full-size dictionary entry popovers on iPad as an option available from the formatting menu. * Delete Deck button will now always be visible on the deck details screen, instead of having to tap "Edit" for it to appear. * Non-English users will now be alerted when they import a flashcard deck containing words that have been removed from the dictionary (this already occurred in English). * Flashcards can now be swiped during the flip animation. * Rename "remove from deck" to "remove from review" during review mode, where selecting that option will reset the word to unknown. * Increased vertical size of quick suggestions toolbar for radical keyboard. Bug Fixes * Fix an issue where rotating the radical keyboard on iPad would leave a big blank space below the keyboard. * Fix the issue where search as you type didn't work properly with the Chinese handwriting keyboard. * Fix issue where searching using a Japanese keyboard when running the app on an M1 mac was broken. * Update feedback email signature when coming from a Mac. * Remove "pour" from front of translations of "to X" in French. * Fix an issue where the tab bar could end up missing if you dismiss the photo lookup screen while zooming in/out. * Fix issue where "mark known" and "remove" prompts from the triage screen had non-standard appearance on iPad. * Fix issue where insertion point would appear below keyboard on clipping edit screen. * Fix an issue where you could get an "unable to add photo" error when loading an image from "files". * Fix an issue where the clipping text editor could erroneously use a Chinese font. * Fixed various words that were pronounced incorrectly. * Improve behavior for re-downloading human audio when it is deleted from the cache due to the device running out of disk space. * Fixed the parsing of the tara form of an i-adjective. * Fixed the parsing of the the tari form. * Fix a crash when trying to load a corrupted image file. * Fix an issue where the set level menu on kanji flash card says “never” instead of “never review” * Fixed an issue where the M1 Mac version referring to itself as iPad in sync dialogs, etc. * Fix issue where opening a clipping link when app is not open already is not creating clipping. * Fix issue where after viewing one of the keyboard tutorials, there would be a blank space above the keyboard where the tutorial banner was. * Fix an issue where a single pixel line was visible at the bottom of the flashcard screen. * Fix an issue where the auto clipboard search feature was not working when running on an M1 mac. * Fix issue where radical keyboard would display underneath the home indicator. * Fixed an issue where the 謹 kanji page contained a broken character.
Bug Fixes * Fix an issue where the navigation bar would be broken when swiping back from a clipping when the navigation bar was not visible. * Fix a crash when trying to import a flashcard deck that contains a word that has been removed from the dictionary. * Fix issue where purchase screen would indicate a free trial was available when it had already been used.
Bug Fixes * Fix issue where the manage subscription screen would sometimes appear as if you didn't have an active subscription, even though you did. * Fix a rare crash when clipping data is corrupted. * Fix a rare crash when performing a dictionary search. * Fix a rare crash on the kanji deck screen. * Fix a crash when sharing a flashcard deck under certain circumstances. * Fix an issue where flashcard deck order would be displayed incorrectly after moving a card on the deck details screen, and then scrolling away and back to the same part of the list of words. * Fix an issue where text in a clipping could become invisible when the device switches between light and dark mode and the app is not active.
Major Features * Search As You Type - Search results will now appear as you type instead of waiting for you to hit "search". Other Improvements * 1802 new word entries added, and 2174 new example sentences added. * Introduced a new purchase screen for Nihongo Pro, including a single list of all the features of Nihongo and whether or not they require Nihongo Pro. * Clippings on iPad now use the same word lookup popover as iPhone. If you don't like this new behavior let me know, and I'll consider adding a setting to re-enabled the old behavior. * Make the underline on clippings text thinner and further from the text. * Removed blank and duplicate searches from recent searches list. * Add full page screenshot support to example sentences screen, clippings screen, and conjugation table. * Flashcard audio enabled state will no longer sync between devices. * Added a link to Nihongo's Instagram page to the settings screen. * Added a link to Nihongo Pro's terms of use to the settings screen. * Tapping on a disabled speech button will now explain that audio is part of Nihongo Pro, rather than just sending you to the purchase screen. * When you do not have the system email app configured on your device, anywhere we used to pop up a mail compose screen will now list the email address to email instead. Bug Fixes * Fix an issue where certain labels in Russian and Chinese would shrink when you left the app and returned to it. * Fix an issue when a word had different pitch accents when used as different parts of speech, where in some cases we wouldn't use the pitch accent for the most common part of speech. * Fix an issue where some words that have a different pitch accent when used as a name were using the name version of the pitch accent. * Added pitch accents to words that were previously omitted because they did not have a matching part of speech in the dataset, but had multiple pitch accents listed. * Fix issue where pitch accents for proper nouns were being applied to pronouns. Should fix pitch accents for any pronouns that were homonyms with a proper nouns, if there were any. * Fix an issue where furigana for example sentences with tatoeba indexes with readings that don't exist in JMdict would look messed up. * Add mention of swiping right to undo onto "mark yourself" tutorial screen. * Fixed an issue where clippings could become unresponsive to touch on iPad after navigating to a word entry and then returning to clipping. * Fixed an issue where if you tap quickly you can attach multiple photos at once, leading to unexpected results. * Cleanup cards on startup that are pending but have progress out of the pending card range. * Fix an issue where "Done" button would turn to "Edit" button while still in edit mode after deleting a flashcard from the deck details screen. * Fix issue where locking and unlocking device would trigger clipboard contents to be searched again, when automatic clipboard search is enabled.
Bug Fixes * Fix an issue where deleting the text of any note but the last one would cause a crash. * Fixed a crash that could occur on the last card of a review session. * Fix an issue that could cause language pack data to need to be re-downloaded after app update. * Fix an issue where two copies of the same flashcard could be created in rare circumstances. Existing duplicate flashcards will be removed upon upgrading to this release. * Fix an issue where clipping text could become impossible to read after a switch between dark and light mode. * Fix an issue where the Safari integration would not run on Apple Silicon Macs. * Fix an issue where kanji drawing during flashcard could appear in incorrect colors. * Fix an issue where when a user is required to accept new iCloud terms of service, Nihongo would act like they changed iCloud accounts and prompt them to reset their data.
Improvements * Changed when ratings are requested to be less intrusive.
Bug Fixes * Fixed an issue where the kanji drawing erase button was misplaced on devices without a home button.
Improvements * The kanji drawing area's erase button will now move up when the tab bar is visible, so you can press it immediately after opening the app. * Updated in-app screenshots to reflect latest UI changes. Bug Fixes * Fixed an issue where "Done" text would not appear when flashcard session was complete on iPad. * Fix an issue where part of speech markings would not be applied properly on non-English flashcards with non-machine-translated meanings, where the English word had sense-specific parts of speech. * Fix an issue where clippings that had been deleted could show up in the word entry screen as a "contained in clippings". * Fix issue where example sentence colors are messed up when a popover is being displayed on iPad. * Fix issue where version history and release notes text is sometimes cutoff. * Fix an issue where changing the word frequency filter for a clipping would not immediately update the word count in the flashcard menu. * Show a different word should be grayed out when you only have one word available for a kanji. * Fix issue where contents of flashcard navigation bar could get squished when transitioning to compact mode. * Fix an issue where flashcard progress could sometimes be reset unintentionally.
Major Features * Flashcard Audio - Words can now be spoken aloud as you study them in flashcards. Other Improvements * Audio prosody and pitch has been improved for common and uncommon words using text-to-speech. * App will now take up about 200MB less space on your device. * Default font size for clippings has been increased. * Made it easier to email me, by changing support email address from support@serpentisei.com to support@nihongo-app.com * What's New screen updated to include links to full release notes, leave a rating, and send feedback. * Added a mechanism to deliver in-app messages. * Over 400 new words and 900 new example sentences. Bug Fixes * Fixed a rare crash on the kanji flashcard screen. * Fixed an issue where duplicate katakana would appear as furigana on words containing both katakana and kanji. * Fixed issue where 私 audio would be spoken twice. * Fixed an issue where putting two fingers on the screen while looking at the flashcard deck screen could cause cards to show up as selected, but no actions available.