Toku Reader compared
Written by Darren Nah, who builds Toku Reader. Checked September 2026.
I build Toku Reader, so I am not a neutral party and I am not going to pretend to be. What I can do is be accurate. Every page below says what the other app is genuinely good at, in the cases where it is the better choice, and links to its own store page so you can check me. Every number was read off a live page in September 2026 and is dated where it appears.
Comparisons
- [Satori Reader alternative](/compare/satori-reader) — for when you have read through a curated library and want to read the things that are not in it.
- [Todaii alternative](/compare/todai) — for when graded news is no longer the only thing you want to read.
- [LingQ alternative for Japanese and Chinese](/compare/lingq) — one app that covers dozens of languages, against two engines built for these two.
Guides
- [How to read NHK Easy News on your iPhone](/read/nhk-easy-news) — a method, step by step.
- [Furigana on any Japanese website](/furigana-on-any-website) — the thing browser add-ons do on a laptop, on the phone instead.
- [Podcasts you can tap](/podcasts) — a real podcast, a transcript that follows the audio, and every word one tap from its meaning.
What Toku Reader is, in four lines
- You bring the text — an article, a website, a book, a printed page, a podcast, a video, your own audio file.
- Tap any word for its reading (ふりがな for Japanese, pinyin for Chinese), its meaning, its pitch accent, and the form it is in.
- Two separate engines, one for Japanese and one for Chinese, both running on the phone with their dictionaries inside the app.
- No account. Nothing is uploaded to read a page. It works on a plane.