Getting started
Create your account, pick your level and start your first session.
Review & SRS
How the algorithm schedules your reviews and measures mastery.
Subscription
Hibi+, billing, free trial and refunds.
Account & devices
Syncing, progress backup and switching devices.
Learning Japanese
Kana, kanji, romaji and everyday study tips.
Technical problems
Stuck sync, bugs and reports.
The free version gives lasting access to the first 60 N5 words, the full kana learning, the first chapter of the grammar course and a first dialogue. That is enough to really get started. Hibi+ unlocks the rest of N5, the rest of the grammar and all of the dialogues. The N4 to N1 levels will be added progressively and are included in the subscription; for now, only N5 is available.
It is not mandatory, but that is the idea: a little every day beats one long session now and then. If you miss a day, your streak resets to zero, but your progress stays intact. Overdue reviews simply wait for you the next day.
Hibi uses spaced repetition (a modern algorithm, FSRS): it tries to show you each word just before you would forget it. Every time you answer, it notes how hard it felt and recalculates the date of the next review. The better you know a word, the longer the intervals grow (a few days, then weeks, then months). For the detail of the principle, see the blog.
Yes. The kana are the foundation: start with hiragana, then move on to katakana. Hibi includes both in full, so you can learn everything in the app. Romaji stays available when you need it, but the goal is to drop it quickly and read Japanese directly. To understand how to learn the syllabaries, see the blog.
Hibi+ offers a 7-day free trial. Nothing is charged before the trial ends: you can cancel it at any time from your store’s subscription settings before the deadline, and you will pay nothing. If you do nothing, the subscription starts automatically at the end of the 7 days.
Hibi works with an account (email address and password). Your progress, favorites and preferences are saved automatically on our servers, then show up on every device where you are signed in. You have nothing to run yourself: everything syncs in the background. Your data is hosted on servers located in the European Union, and there is no advertising tracking.
Can’t find your answer?
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