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  • 11 March 2026 Custom Keyword size increased & UX improvement

    The Edit Keyword dialog now displays a count of characters left when editing a keyword.

    In addition the storage size for custom keywords was increased to 40 characters. It was previously 32, even though the error message when going over the limit mentioned "40 characters max", it would silently cut off keywords at 32 characters when you save.

    So now the limit is actually 40 characters, and the character count is shown so the custom keyword is saved exactly as displayed.

    I had a look in the database and there are a lot of truncated keywords. Those are typically from non-english users for example a keyword featuring the translation: "sign of the dragon (Zeichen des Drachen)". Another common reason for longer keywords is users who like to add the Japanese readings and sometimes Japanese words to the prompt.

    This closes issue #372 on Github. Thanks to Scott for bringing this to my attention.

  • 26 January 2026 Counter for new flashcards on the Study page

    There is now a counter for new flashcards shown next to the Add Flashcard button on the Study pages.

    This is useful if you're aiming to do say, 10 cards per day, you can see when you are done without having to navigate to the SRS overview.

  • 20 January 2026 Streamlining the Add Card button

    The Add Card button on the Study page no longer opens a dialog. It immediately adds the flashcard. When the server has responded, it shows a small notification at the top of screen for visual feedback. At that point you can immediately advance to the next kanji. This closes issue #333 on Github.

    I also removed the "Review new cards" option under the Edit Flashcard dialog. I suspect nobody uses this and there it is unnecessary since you can just go to the SRS page and tap the blue button to start reviewing the new cards.

    I'm really enjoying using the site on my iPhone Mini. I've been going through RTK again and at around 1200 kanji now. So this is a small improvement to the UX that came to mind while using the app on my phone. On desktop I guess it is also less clicks to add a card.

  • 18 January 2026 Fixed emailing & forgot password feature

    The website wasn't sending emails for some time now. Actually since SendGrid's free plan was discontinued. It didn't prevent new users from signing up - it was however preventing users to use the "forgot password" feature.

    Well long story short I finally fixed the emailing. Upgrading the plan on SendGrid wasn't an option, it cost too much to send less than 100 emails per day. I've now signed up on MailerSend. Currently on the free plan to check everything's working as expected. Next week, thanks to your support, I'll just go ahead and secure one year of emails with their "Hobby"plan which is plenty enough for our needs.

    If you forgot your password recently and didn't receive the email please try again and it should work.

    For any other account related questions or feedback see the email on the Contact page.

  • 11 January 2026 12-month Challenge at JapanesePod101 + free PDFs

    January sales ended.

    The 2026 Printable PDF Calendar
    This FREE gift doubles as a calendar and a language tool. Users can track their time and learn the language at the same time. 2026 Printable PDF Calendar

    Learn Japanese with Free PDFs
    Also available are a bunch of FREE vocabulary PDFs like Travel • Music • Cooking • Slang • Business • Emergencies etc. Free PDF cheat sheets and lessons.

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