Nazoru vs Skritter

Nazoru is a Japanese handwriting practice app for learners working on kanji, hiragana, and katakana. Practice moves from full character outlines through dashed stroke cues and direction hints to a blank canvas, supporting progress from tracing toward writing from memory. When a learner misses a stroke, the guide and direction cue return; the next session starts at the level indicated by their memory. Built-in paths cover JLPT levels N5 to N1, Japanese school grades, frequency, and Heisig ordering. Learners can browse categories and custom lists, search kanji and words they have seen, and practice confusable kanji side by side. Nazoru can suggest practice based on kanji studied in WaniKani, Bunpro, and MaruMori. Those integrations use a read-only API key kept on the device, and practice here does not count as a review in those services. The app works offline and offers optional Google Drive backup for progress, history, and settings. Free allows two full practices per day; Unlimited costs $3.99 per month. The app has no ads or tracking.

Skritter teaches learners to write Chinese and Japanese characters on Android, iOS, and the web. In the browser, learners can write characters and receive real-time grading. Flashcards give feedback on individual strokes and bring difficult characters back more often, while spaced repetition schedules reviews. Study options include hundreds of textbooks and user-created lists; Skritter says it supports 300+ lists for popular Chinese and Japanese textbooks. Learners can import vocabulary from ChinesePod, sync saved Du Chinese words into a custom deck, and add words from the MDBG dictionary. Offline lessons and personalized review are available, but speech practice is not. Skritter has a free plan and a 7-day free trial. Listed subscriptions include Monthly at $14.99 a month, 6 months at $59.99 a month, 1 year at $99.99 a year, and 1 month at $14.99 a month. The company is identified as Inkren Inc. doing business as Skritter; its help center includes guides for mobile, website, and classroom users.