Snap. Scan.
Read Kanji from Any Image.
Take a photo, pick from your library, or load a screenshot — Kanji Lens recognizes kanji from any image and shows furigana, meanings, JLPT levels, and stroke order in under 3 seconds. Completely offline.
Learning kanji shouldn't be this hard.
You encounter kanji everywhere in Japan — on signs, menus, documents. But looking them up is painfully slow.
Dictionaries require radicals you don't know
Traditional dictionaries need you to know the radical or stroke count. But if you're a learner, that's exactly what you don't know yet.
Translation apps give translations, not understanding
Translation apps tell you what a sentence means, but not how to read each kanji. You learn nothing about the individual characters.
Other OCR apps limit your free scans
Some popular alternatives give you only a handful of free scans per week. Hit the limit early, and you're stuck until it resets.
Everything you need to read Japanese.
Powered by Apple Vision OCR and MeCab morphological analysis. All processing happens on your device.
Read Kanji from Any Image
Snap a photo with your camera, or pick any image from your library — screenshots, textbook pages, manga panels, signs. Kanji Lens recognizes the text in under 3 seconds. Supports both horizontal and vertical text.
Furigana for Every Word
MeCab morphological analysis correctly splits compound words and displays phonetic readings (furigana) above every kanji — not just characters, but real words.
JLPT Level for Every Kanji
Instantly see whether a kanji is N5, N4, N3, N2, or N1. Focus your study on the characters that matter for your current level.
Stroke Order Animation
Watch exactly how each kanji is written, stroke by stroke. Built from KanjiVG data with smooth animations for intuitive learning.
Wordbook & SRS Quiz
Save scanned words to your personal wordbook. Review with spaced-repetition quizzes (9-stage interval) that adapt to your memory.
100% Offline
All dictionaries (13,108 kanji + 270,000 words) are bundled in the app. Works on the subway, in the mountains, overseas — no Wi-Fi needed.
See it in action.
From scanning to studying — every screen is designed for fast, intuitive learning.
Three steps. Three seconds.
From image to understanding — no typing, no radicals, no internet required.
Capture or choose an image
Take a photo with your camera, or pick any image from your library. Screenshots of news articles, textbook pages, manga panels, restaurant menus — any image with Japanese text works.
Crop & scan
Optionally crop to focus on specific text. Tap scan — Apple Vision OCR recognizes the characters, then MeCab splits them into real words with correct readings.
Read, learn, save
See furigana, meanings, JLPT levels, stroke counts, and radicals at a glance. Tap any kanji for detailed info and stroke order animation. Save words to your wordbook for later review.
See how we compare.
Built for learners who want understanding, not just translation.
| Feature | Kanji Lens | App A | App B |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free OCR scans | Unlimited | Limited / week | Unlimited |
| Furigana display | ✓ | Partial | − |
| JLPT level | ✓ | − | − |
| Stroke order animation | ✓ | − | − |
| Morphological analysis | MeCab (C++ native) | − | − |
| Vertical text | ✓ | ✓ | Limited |
| Offline mode | Full (all features) | Partial | Degraded |
| Kanji dictionary | 13,108 kanji | ~4,000 | − |
| Vocabulary entries | 270,000+ | 250,000 | − |
| Price model | $14.99 (one-time) | $19.99+ | Free |
Core features are free. Forever.
Unlimited OCR scans, furigana, and kanji details — no paywall on the essentials. Upgrade to Pro for power features.
- ✓ Unlimited OCR scans
- ✓ Furigana + meanings
- ✓ JLPT level display
- ✓ 13,108 kanji dictionary
- ✓ 50 wordbook entries
- ✓ 10 scan history records
- − Stroke order animation
- − Quiz mode
- − Unlimited wordbook
- ✓ Everything in Free
- ✓ Unlimited wordbook entries
- ✓ Unlimited scan history + search
- ✓ Stroke order animation
- ✓ SRS quiz mode
- ✓ Unlimited folders
- ✓ Ad-free experience
- ✓ Learning statistics
Start reading Japanese today.
Download for free. Unlimited scans.
No account. No internet. Just point and read.