This is a review of different Japanese learning apps in 2026, according to Rudo, he tried different apps for learning Japanese. The list of apps are the following:
Duolingo, probably the most popular app, but is a general app for every language and is not specialized in Japanese. So it might be more a de-service than a good.
Bumpo, is a dictionary kind of app, so is very specialized in Japanese, but is more like a resource type app. Also the paywall is too hard so you wont get much without paying.
AirLearn previously known as Falou, it was very wrong in some exercises and the art in the app doesn't really reflect true customs in Japan.
Renshuu, is actually a recommended app which also has a paywall but you can get real value from the free stuff.
Ringotan, is a completely free app, but it works more like a companion to a textbook, is a good app but won't get you far by itself.
LingoDeer, is more like Duolingo but a better version of it for Japanese, it has the gamification and such, is freemium like duoling but nothing too expensive.
The youtuber also mention some apps that deserve to be evaluated as well as they are mostly specialized in Japanese. He mentioned 3 apps, anki, human japanese and satoshi reader.
In my opinion however, his recommendations looked awful from what I could see. Human Japanese looked like a lazy digitization of a book trying to be mildly interactive. But the text was too long and extended and well, not fun at all. Anki, he said he make a video specialized for that and Satori reader seemed like a good app to have but nothing too revolutionary IMO.
What are your thoughts on these apps? Would you trade your app for these? Are you using these new ones? I might give LingoDeer a try and see if it does what the youtuber claim.
