Real Japanese SRS. Built for the iPhone.
The Japanese app for learners who have outgrown matching games. Voice tutor, reading miner, and a real SRS engine — best on iPhone, also runs in your browser.
Built for adults who actually want to learn.
Three pillars where Checkpoint quietly out-classes the gamified competition — without losing the loop that brings you back tomorrow.
Spaced repetition that learns you back
Miss a word and it returns sooner. Nail it and you will not see it for weeks. The algorithm Anki users trust, in a UI you will actually open.
Actually speak. It answers back.
Tap the mic and have a conversation. Your tutor corrects grammar, grades pronunciation, and only uses vocab you have already learned.
Any text becomes a deck.
Paste manga, lyrics, an NHK headline. Checkpoint finds the unknowns, shows pitch and definitions, and saves them to study.
Built on the boring research everyone else skips.
Three principles from the vocabulary-acquisition literature. Implemented in the app, not just the marketing.
Top words first.
Vocabulary ranked by real frequency. You learn the 2,000 words that carry roughly 80% of conversation before chasing the tail. (Paul Nation's research.)
Chunks, not isolated words.
Every word arrives with the collocations it actually appears in. You learn to say what natives say, not catalogue isolated lemmas.
95% coverage is the goal.
We track how many words on a real Japanese page you'd recognise. Harder material unlocks when the coverage math says you're ready — not when a calendar says you are.
Progress you can see at a glance.
A world-map journey from N5 to N1. Mastered kanji stamp into a collectible grid. The wrapper is a game; the substance is a course.
A clear path. Locked units tease, not gate.
Visual JLPT spine, starting at N5 with N4 live and N3 on deck. Reading, writing, and roleplay gate advancement. You always know what is next.
Stroke by stroke. Every kanji.
Trace each one with the correct stroke order, then prove it by writing. SRS surfaces the ones slipping before you forget.
Free while we earn it.
Open beta is on the house. Paid plans launch alongside iOS — beta testers keep a permanent founders discount.
Everything below is live and free while we’re in open beta.
- · Full SRS engine, all review types
- · AI voice tutor — speak, get corrected
- · Reading miner — paste any text, mine the unknowns
- · JLPT N5 + N4 content live, more on the way
When iOS launches, here’s the deal for everyone who showed up early.
- · Permanent founders discount on whatever the price is
- · iOS + Web access
- · N3, N2, N1 unlocked as content ships
- · First in line for new features
Anki-grade learning under a Pokémon-grade compulsion loop.
The bet, in one line.
Start where you are.
Get to where you are going.
Best on iPhone. Free while we earn it. No credit card.