# Kanji Mosaic

> Kanji Mosaic (App Store name: "Kanji Mosaic: Learn Japanese") is an iPhone and iPad app by ToneSeed that teaches Japanese kanji by building each one from the pieces it is made of. Learners study the components (radicals and other recurring parts), assemble every kanji by hand, write each stroke with stroke-order feedback, and decode kanji they have never studied. It covers all 2,136 jōyō kanji plus 407 extras across JLPT N5 to N1, along with hiragana and katakana. Free to download; Kanji Mosaic Pro is a monthly or yearly subscription.

Kanji Mosaic is built on one idea: kanji are not 2,000 unrelated drawings, they are combinations of a few hundred pieces. For example, 明 (bright) is 日 (sun) + 月 (moon), and 休 (rest) is a person 亻 leaning against a tree 木. The app teaches each piece before the first kanji that uses it, so every new kanji becomes a short puzzle rather than a new picture to memorize. Each learned kanji becomes a tile in a mosaic that grows as the learner studies.

## At a glance

- Platform: iPhone and iPad, iOS 26 or later (Apple Pencil supported). No Android version.
- Content: 2,543 kanji (all 2,136 jōyō + 407 extras), 965 pieces, 5,503 common words, 92 kana
- Levels: JLPT N5 to N1, plus common non-jōyō and name kanji
- Interface languages: English, German, Spanish, French, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil)
- Account: none required; works offline; progress and handwriting stay on the device
- Category: Education (secondary: Reference)
- Developer: ToneSeed (also makes Hanzi Mosaic for Chinese, the ToneSeed ear training app and ToneSeed Fretboard Trainer)

## How the method works

1. **Learn the pieces**: components and radicals, each with a name and meaning.
2. **Build the kanji**: drag the pieces into place; they turn from pictures into strokes and the tile sets. Pinch any kanji to take it apart.
3. **Memory story**: every kanji has a mnemonic that explains its real structure, plus readings, common words and example sentences.
4. **Write every stroke**: trace with a finger or Apple Pencil, then write from memory in reviews. Every stroke is checked for shape, direction and order.
5. **Mystery Kanji**: decode the meaning, or the borrowed sound of a phonetic component, of kanji the learner has never studied, using pieces they already know.
6. **Reviews**: an FSRS-style spaced repetition model tracks meaning, pieces, reading and writing as separate strengths.

## Key features

- All 2,136 jōyō kanji plus 407 extras, each tagged with its JLPT level
- 965 pieces (components and radicals), drawn from real stroke data so they keep their true proportions
- Mystery Kanji exercises that build the skill of guessing new kanji from their parts
- Handwriting recognition for every kana and kanji, with stroke order, direction and shape feedback
- A memory story (mnemonic) for every kanji; learners can also write their own
- Confusable kanji shown side by side
- Hiragana and katakana with stroke order, tracing and look-alike quizzes (e.g. ソ vs ン)
- 5,503 common words with readings, example sentences and on-device pronunciation audio
- Daily sessions of 5, 10, 15 or 20 minutes; new material pauses when reviews build up, so there is never a backlog
- 20-second placement check: start at hiragana or skip straight to kanji
- Mosaic views: tiles grouped by JLPT level, a constellation of how pieces connect, and artworks (a wave, Mount Fuji, a koi, a torii, a landscape) made of learned kanji
- Siri, Spotlight and Shortcuts actions to start a session

## JLPT coverage

| Level | Kanji |
|---|---|
| N5 | 79 |
| N4 | 166 |
| N3 | 367 |
| N2 | 367 |
| N1 | 1,404 (includes 172 jōyō kanji not on any JLPT list) |
| Extra | 160 (common non-jōyō and name kanji) |
| Total | 2,543 |

Teaching order: N5 → N1 → extras. Within a level, curated kanji come first, then kanji by newspaper frequency. Every piece is placed before the first kanji that uses it.

## Pricing

- Free: download, all hiragana and katakana, placement check, the first 15 kanji and one Mystery Kanji
- Kanji Mosaic Pro unlocks every kanji, piece, word and artwork
  - Yearly: US$39.99 per year with a 7-day free trial
  - Monthly: US$9.99 per month
  - Prices vary by country; auto-renewing subscriptions managed through the App Store

## Who it is for

- Complete beginners who want to learn hiragana, katakana and their first kanji
- JLPT candidates at any level from N5 to N1
- Learners who find rote kanji flashcards hard to retain and want to understand how kanji are built
- People who want to handwrite kanji correctly, including with Apple Pencil on iPad

## Data sources and licensing

Kanji meanings and readings are derived from KANJIDIC2 and JMdict by the Electronic Dictionary Research and Development Group (CC BY-SA 4.0). Stroke data and piece boundaries come from KanjiVG by Ulrich Apel (CC BY-SA 3.0). Memory stories, confusables and sentences are curated on top.

## Privacy

No account and no advertising identifier. Learning progress and handwriting stay on the device. Pronunciation audio and alternative memory stories are generated on the device. Anonymous usage analytics (Firebase) help improve lessons.

## Official links

- [Website](https://toneseed.app/kanjimosaic)
- [App Store](https://apps.apple.com/app/kanji-mosaic-learn-japanese/id6816248001)
- [Support](https://toneseed.app/kanjimosaic/support)
- [Privacy policy](https://toneseed.app/kanjimosaic/privacy)
- [Terms of use](https://toneseed.app/kanjimosaic/terms)
- [Contact](mailto:support@toneseed.app)
- [Hanzi Mosaic](https://toneseed.app/hanzimosaic): the same method for Chinese characters (HSK 1 to 9)
- [ToneSeed](https://toneseed.app): the developer's other apps