Kotoba Snap

Snap Japanese you don't know and turn it into flashcards. Recognition, lookup and review run offline; bring your own API key for optional AI translation.

Snap a photo. Turn the Japanese words in it into flashcards.

Menus, street signs, packaging, a page of a novel — whenever you run into Japanese you don't know, just photograph it. Kotoba Snap recognizes the text, splits it into words, and lets you pick the ones worth learning.

Interface languages: English and Simplified Chinese. The app starts in Simplified Chinese — switch to English under Settings → Language. Japanese interface is not available yet.

· Photo to text — handles vertical Japanese, recognized on your device · Instant lookup — offline dictionary with readings, part of speech, JLPT level · Read it again — recognized text is kept with the photo, readable with furigana any time, and still selectable while furigana is on · Build cards by hand — written form, reading, meaning, part of speech and JLPT level, with dictionary lookup while you edit · Verb conjugation — expand any verb into its full set of forms and usages, with transitive and intransitive marked · Spaced review — scheduling handled for you, no deciding when to revisit · Source photos — browse cards grouped by the picture you found them in · Reference translation — Japanese sentences translated into Simplified Chinese on your device. Requires iOS 18 or later and the Simplified Chinese interface; one language pack is downloaded the first time, offline after that. A Japanese-to-English path is not available yet. · AI translation — optional, off by default. Enter your own API key and the recognized text can be translated by Claude, ChatGPT or DeepSeek. Photos are never sent, and the key stays on this device.

Note: definitions are provided in Simplified Chinese and English.

No account. No sign-up. The dictionary ships with the app: capture, recognition, lookup and review all run on your device and need no network. The reference-translation language pack is downloaded once on first use, and works offline after that. AI translation is optional and off by default; once you enable it and enter your own API key, translating sends the recognized text to the provider you chose.