Learn kanji with a widget on your Home Screen

A kanji widget puts a Japanese character on your phone’s Home Screen, with its meaning and reading, so you see it every time you pick up your phone. It turns the glances you’d make anyway, to check the time or a message, into a few seconds of practice. It works best alongside a short daily review that checks what you really remember.

What a kanji widget shows

A widget is a small window from an app that sits on your Home Screen next to your app icons. A kanji widget shows one kanji at a time: the character, what it means, and how it’s read. 森, for example, shows “forest” and もり (mori).

The difference between kanji widgets is which kanji they show, and when. One that cycles through a list at random shows you kanji you already know as often as the ones you’re about to lose. A better widget knows what you’re learning: it shows today’s new kanji, brings back the ones that are fading, and changes during the day.

Why it helps

You don’t learn a kanji by seeing it once. You learn it by meeting it again, in words, over days and weeks. A widget makes some of those meetings happen with no effort at all: the kanji is simply there when you unlock your phone.

Glancing isn’t the same as remembering, though. Recognising 森 when “forest” is printed right beside it is much easier than recalling “forest” when you see 森 alone. That’s why a widget works best together with short reviews, where you see the kanji on its own and have to remember its meaning and reading before you check. The guide to learning kanji explains how the two fit together.

How Chirami’s widgets work

Chirami has a small and a medium widget for the Android Home Screen.

• The small widget shows one kanji with its meaning and reading.
• The medium widget adds two buttons: Story, which opens the kanji and plays its story, and Review, which starts a review.
• What you see is chosen for you. The widgets show the kanji you’re about to forget first, then today’s new ones, not a random rotation. They change through the day.
• Reviews take about two minutes. You answer Again, Hard or Got it, and Chirami schedules each kanji’s next review.
• Stories explain the shape. Every N5 and N4 kanji has a story: how it’s built from its parts, and a line to help it stick. Each story says whether it’s the kanji’s real origin or a memory trick.

You choose where to start, from the kana or any JLPT level from N5 to N1, and how many new characters a day: 3, 5 or 8. The widgets are part of Chirami Pro.

How to add a kanji widget on Android

1. Install Chirami from Google Play, then choose your level and your pace.
2. On your Home Screen, touch and hold an empty space.
3. Tap Widgets.
4. Find Chirami and tap it to see its widgets.
5. Touch and hold the small or the medium widget, slide it to where you want it, and lift your finger.

These are Android’s standard steps. The menus can look a little different from one phone maker to another.

Getting the most from your widget

• Put it on your first Home Screen page, where you’ll see it most often.
• Choose a pace you can keep. Three new kanji a day that you review properly will take you further than eight that you skip.
• Read the word, not just the meaning. Say the reading under your breath when you see it. Kanji are read differently in different words, and onyomi vs kunyomi explains why.
• When a kanji won’t stick, look at its parts. 休 is a person (亻) leaning against a tree (木). Once you know the pieces, most kanji are new arrangements of old ones. The guide to radicals shows the most common.
• Do the review once a day. It’s the moment you find out which kanji you really know.

Common questions

Is there a kanji widget for Android?

Yes. Chirami has a small and a medium kanji widget for the Android Home Screen. Chirami is free to download, and the widgets are part of Chirami Pro, which has a 7-day free trial on the yearly plan.

Can a widget teach me kanji on its own?

Not on its own. A widget keeps kanji in front of you, which helps, but you still need to test yourself and to meet each kanji in real words. Use it together with short reviews and some reading.

Will the widget keep showing kanji I already know?

Chirami’s widgets put the kanji you’re about to forget first, then the new ones you’re learning today. Kanji you know well come back less and less often.

Does it work without the internet?

Yes. Learning in Chirami works offline, and your progress stays on your phone.

Sources

• Android Help: Add apps, shortcuts & widgets to your Home screens

Written by the Chirami team with the help of AI, then checked against JMdict, KANJIDIC2 and the sources above. How we write. Spotted a mistake? Email support@brightsmilesolutions.org.