Nazoru vs Turtle Practice

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.

Turtle Practice is an AI-powered Chinese stroke-order practice app for elementary-age children. Its library contains over 3,000 words from the Hong Kong Primary Learning Word List. During handwriting practice, AI analyzes strokes in real time and responds when the order is incorrect. Hint Mode gives beginners step-by-step guidance, while Dictation Mode supports entered-text practice and dictation tests. Learners can create and share custom word lists with children or friends, and the listed capabilities include pen-control exercises and custom word practice. The app supports Traditional and Simplified Chinese, with Cantonese and Mandarin audio. Turtle Practice runs on iOS and Android. Its Free plan is a free download, and no free trial is listed. Turtle Learn identifies the maker as Kazoo Technology (Hong Kong) Limited, headquartered in Hong Kong; the project began as a 2022 pilot and was established in 2024. Kazoo says it does not use targeted-advertising cookies for children or sell personal data, and its policy says student data is not used or shared for advertising.