Help
Answers to common questions, and a human when you need one.
What can I import?
Texts: paste Japanese or Chinese text, or import EPUB, PDF (including vertical Japanese), TXT, and SRT subtitle files. Words: CSV, TSV, and Anki .apkg decks. Media: podcasts by search or RSS, YouTube videos, and your own video files.
Does it work offline?
Yes. Analysis, dictionaries, reviews, and saved texts all live on your phone. Downloaded podcast episodes play and transcribe offline too. Only things that are inherently online — fetching a web page, searching for podcasts, streaming a video — need a connection. The optional AI explanations also need a connection: they send only the sentence you ask about, and only when you tap.
What's the Lock Screen widget?
Add it from your phone's widget gallery. It shows one word you're reviewing — its reading, its meaning, and the show or book it came from — and you can grade it (Got it or Forgot) right there, without opening the app. Choose Japanese only, Chinese only, or both. New readers get 30 starter words on day one. On Android it's a Home Screen widget, rolling out now — not every reader has it yet; Lock Screen widgets are an iPhone thing. Separately — once a day, if you have your Daily review reminder turned on — there's a "Try reading this" notification: a real sentence from something you read or listened to, with a word you're reviewing in it.
What's hands-free shadowing?
In a podcast or your own audio file, tap Shadowing, then turn on "Shadow automatically." Each sentence plays, then the app goes quiet for exactly as long as the sentence took, so you can say it back — then a soft tick, and the next sentence. You choose the pause ("Pause between sentences": as long as the sentence, 1.5×, or 2×) and how many times each sentence plays ("Repeat each sentence": once, twice, or three times). It keeps going with your phone locked and put away — the Lock Screen shows where you are, like "Shadowing · 12 of 80" — and reopening the episode picks up at the same sentence. On iPhone it arrives in the next update; on Android it's rolling out now. Videos keep today's on-screen shadowing instead.
Do I need an account?
No. Reading, readings, the dictionaries and your saved words all live on your phone, and none of it asks who you are. Two things are optional and separate. iCloud sync copies your library between your own iPhones and iPads through your own Apple ID — not an account with me, and I cannot see what is in it. AI explanations send only the sentence you tapped, and only at the moment you tap. Everything else works signed out and with no connection.
Does it do Chinese as well as Japanese?
Yes, and not as an afterthought. Japanese and Chinese each get their own analysis engine, built for that language — furigana and pitch accent on one side, pinyin and tone changes on the other — because one general-purpose word-splitter handles both roughly. Simplified and Traditional Chinese are equals throughout. One app, one saved word list, both languages.
Simplified or Traditional Chinese?
Both, as equals. Search matches both scripts, the dictionary shows your preferred form, and on iPhone, Traditional-only sources (including Taiwan’s Ministry of Education dictionary) are built in.
How do I report a wrong reading or meaning?
On iPhone: tap the word, then the feedback button on its card — the report carries the exact context, which is what makes the fix possible. On Android: Settings → About → Send feedback, or the Community screen, and include the sentence. Fixes to readings and meanings ship regularly on both.
How do I restore my purchase?
On iPhone: Settings → Restore Purchases. Subscriptions are handled by Apple and follow your Apple ID. On Android: Premium (called Toku Reader Unlimited in the Android app) is billed by Google Play and follows your Google account. On a new phone, sign in with the same Google account, then open Settings in Toku Reader and tap Restore a purchase if it does not unlock on its own.
How do I cancel or get a refund?
Premium renews automatically until you cancel. Cancel in Settings → Apple ID → Subscriptions (iPhone) or the Play Store → Payments & subscriptions (Android). Refunds are decided by Apple (reportaproblem.apple.com) or Google (the Play refund policy); I cannot issue them, but email me and I’ll help you find the right page.
Can I get my data out?
Always. On iPhone, export your words to Anki (TSV) or a JSON backup file any time in Settings → Your Data. On Android, use Export words on the Your words screen (an Anki deck, CSV or a JSON backup). Your data is yours.
Still stuck?
Email me directly — I read everything. Include what you were doing and what you expected to happen; screenshots help.
Get the app
iPhone and iPad on the App Store · Android phones and tablets on Google Play