New Mobile Apps Update - v1.0.14 - Study Friends, Recently Studied & Leeches, Profile Page, Lesson linking, Personal Synonyms & Notes, Suggest Changes and more!

Hey everyone!

Over the past few days we've submitted a new app version to the Apple and Google app stores! This new version is packed to the brim with new features and bugfixes, so let's get into it without further ado!

Study Friends

First up are the Study Friends pages. Most of you are probably already familiar with these from the website version, but just in case you aren't, here's a quick rundown:

Study Friends lets you add other users on MaruMori as your friend. When they (or you, if they add you) accept, you will be able to see their experience of the past 7 days, as well as more details about their recent studies and their overall study progress on MaruMori!

You can also see your own experience of the past 7 days and have a "friendly" competition with them on a private leaderboard. Here's what that looks like:

From this page you can also go to the details page of a friend (in the table -> 3 dots -> view activity), where you can see all kinds of statistics of their studies on MM. Here are a few examples:

Recently Studied & Leeches

Next up, we've also added the Recently Studied & Leeches pages, as well as introduced a new query (filter) option for finding your most annoying leeches.

For those unfamiliar with what leeches are, they're essentially the SRS items that just fail to stick for you. Typically indicating that you will either need to give more attention to them, or suspend them for now, if they're too overwhelming.

Speaking of giving more attention to them, that's exactly the main purpose of these pages! From these pages you can easily select the items you want (vocab & kanji only) and start a new Quick Study session! With Quick Study, you can drill (review) these items as many times as you want, without it influencing the SRS levels of the items.

Next to leeches, we also show you your most recently learned items:

As well as your most recently reviewed items:

Oh and I did mention we have a new filter for leeches too! Normally, we'd only show you items which are below SRS level 9 and with an accuracy of 70% or lower. However, now we also have a button that lets you find leeches by total wrong count. This will let you find leeches that you normally wouldn't see due to the accuracy % cutoff. Just tap on the "Get By Mistakes Count" button at the top of the table to view them!

Profile Page

I'll keep this one short, as it's pretty straightforward, but we've also implemented the Profile page! On it you will see the same data as you'd expect. Such as your latest achievements, your latest activity notifications, your Profile Share Image, as well as your JLPT Certificates and a few statistics. Basically exactly the same as on web!

One small caveat to note here is that the "edit profile" and "edit share image" modals have not been implemented just yet. They'll come with a later update!

Grammar Lesson Link Component

WE-OW WE-OW WE-OW new feature alert!

Yep! Next to some of the already existing web features, we've also added a completely new feature (which we haven't even announced on web yet, but is already live there too!). Namely a Grammar Lesson Link Component for our Grammar Lessons!

No more manually searching for a reference to one of our previous lessons! We've gone through all our content and replaced any reference to a previous lesson with an actual link to the previous lesson.

This is what it looks like:

Just tap the link and it will bring you to the corresponding lesson, and let you go back to the original lesson you were in, just by tapping on the back button! Revolutionary! ;)

Personal Synonyms & Notes

One of the most requested missing features on mobile has finally landed! You can now edit your Personal Synonyms (personal accepted answers for kanji & vocab SRS) and add your own notes to Kanji and Vocabulary during SRS lessons and reviews!

Which then shows up like:

Important Note: I've just noticed that it is currently having some issues during SRS Reviews when there are no notes or synonyms for the specific item just yet. I've fixed the issue and have submitted a new version to both app stores already, but it will probably take a few days before the new version gets approved again!

Suggest Changes

Similarly, you can now also suggest global (non-personal) changes, or submit feedback on SRS items! This means you can now let us know directly from the app if a certain grammar SRS item has issues, or suggest improvements to our Kanji and Vocabulary (for example, which answers should not be marked as correct, in case they were due to our typo leniency system).

In related news, we've been going through the huge backlog of Kanji and Vocabulary feedback we've accumulated over the years, and are nearly through the whole thing (thousands of suggestions!!!), so expect an announcement full of changes/improvements soon!

Smaller Improvements & Bugfixes!

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  Vocabulary SRS & Dictionary - Pitch Accent Diagrams now look (and sound!) normal again. We've also fixed a few issues where small kana like ゅ were causing incorrect pitch diagrams to display.

• 

  Home - Fixed an issue where some region artwork would be cutoff in the adventure card.

• 

  Grammar Library - Fixed the gray screen from popping up when a grammar point has no breakdown available yet.

• 

  SRS & Dictionary - Example Sentences - Fixed an issue where example sentences would sometimes be missing the Japanese text.

• 

  Kana Minigame - Fixed an issue where skipping the tutorial would cause the main game to say you finished the tutorial.

• 

  Adventure Dashboard - Fixed an issue where the previous chapter would sometimes disappear if you completed a tile in a different chapter.

• 

  SRS - Added a bit of extra padding to the Flip Buttons (know/don't know)

• 

  SRS - Removed the background and shade for some button sections for dark theme users.

• 

  SRS Lessons - Fixed the issue where you could close the "batch done" modal after completing 5 lessons and it would not continue onto the next batch.

• 

  Dictionary/Grammar Library Search - Fixed an issue where searching for a grammar point (from the global search) would not automatically open the Grammar Library, but rather only the More page.

• 

  SRS Lessons - Fixed an issue where the pronunciation audio would not change between items when manually tapping the play button.

Pfew! That was a big new update! Yet another step closer to the mobile app having complete feature parity with the website! Just a bit more and we'll be able to release it out of early-access!

P.S.: For those that might not know: If you are a subscriber or have a lifetime account, you can try the mobile app through the following links:

iOS app:

https://testflight.apple.com/join/MfpPbqCq

Android app:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.foxlabs.marumori

In the coming months the app will release from early access into general release, meaning everyone will get access to the app, regardless of subscription status. But until then, we'll keep implementing missing features first!

N2 Content Drop #18

December is upon us. But you know what isn’t? Seasonal depression. Why not? Because 99% of doctors recommend fire Japanese grammar lessons as the #1 way to boost one’s mood over the holidays. So whether you’re a Christmas lover, or if the only holiday cheer in your life is the one you give when the holidays are over–fear not! I have just the thing. (It’s five new N2 grammar lessons, vocab, kanji, and a reading exercise. Oh and grammar SRS points. Ho ho ho!)

This batch’s grammar lessons feature such distinguished points as ～に際して for “occasions”, ～際, which is different from ～に際して, and ～からして, which will allow you to superficially judge others in Japanese, just like you’ve always wanted.

And for the vocab enthusiasts in the building, we’ve got words like 発明 (“invention”), 格闘 (“hand to hand combat”), and 嫁 (“bride”). They all come together beautifully in certain contexts, trust me.

And in this week’s reading exercise, two friends discuss their favorite Studio Babli movies, someone makes a mistake that any of us could make, really, with tofu, and two rivals battle it out for the last set meal at lunch.

Happy start of December, and happy studies!

2000+ Discord Members Giveaway + New Free Trials For All!

2000+ Discord Users Giveaway & Fresh New Trials for everyone!

Okay so it’s a little delayed, but I’m happy to announce that in honor of hitting over 2k Discord members, we’re throwing one of our patented and much-beloved (by many, I’m told) MaruMori giveaways!

Similar to last time, the giveaway has two parts to it.

Part 1: All un-subbed users get new free trials! (Yes, an actual giveaway!)

We’re giving everyone who’s not currently subbed another chance to check out the site for free. Y’know, so you can get a feel for the vibes, and the kanjis. Your fresh new free trial can be activated whenever you’d like by clicking the corresponding button on the homepage.

Part 2: Win a lifetime or yearly sub!

From now until December 4th, complete at least 6 grammar lesson tiles and be automatically entered to win a lifetime membership, or one of three yearly subscriptions!

Winners will have their accounts automatically upgraded, and will be notified via email.

Oh and if you’re already subbed but still want in on the fun, that’s allowed too! If you win, you can still either upgrade your subscription (e.g. monthly to yearly) or simply give it away to someone else! ‘Tis the season, after all.

Okay, that’s all about that. Time to open the floodgates and let the giveaway-ing… commence!

Best of luck to all!

JLPT Mock Exams - First Listening Sections now Live!

Wait, off in the distance… is that… is that what I think it is? Is that what you think it is???

Well, one of us is wrong, because it’s not a 2025 trap remix of Jingle Bells featuring Ho-Ho-Ho Williams.

Rather, it’s the joyous sound of our JLPT mock exam listening sections! All playing at once in a cacophonous sonic barrage!!!

That’s right, we’ve pulled it off just in time for the December JLPT. They said we couldn’t do it, and they were almost right, but with a little Maru magic, anything is possible. (Not legal advice.)

Anyway, I’m thrilled to announce that we now have listening sections available for our JLPT mock exams! We’ll be adding more as we go, but for now, there is one full listening section for N5, one for N4, and one for N3. Expect N2 early in the new year, and more of everything as we move forward.

Our listening sections carefully follow the same format as the actual test, giving you a nice idea of how you’ll perform on the real thing. This also means no pausing, and no skipping ahead, so get ready to lock in! We’ve also included our own hand-crafted artwork, featuring many fun and cool MM references!

And if you’ve never taken a JLPT listening test, don’t worry. We’ve got instructions and examples before each section, just like the real test. If you already know the drill, you can also skip these, so no worries.

We hope this is just what you needed to top off your JLPT prep for December, or any upcoming JLPT efforts.

Best of luck, and may the Maru be with you!

N2 Content Drop #17

Anodda day, anodda victowy for da OG (original grammar). Publishing da grammar articles, reading da readings, mastering the vocabs.

What can I say? I remember memes from a few years ago and can aptly apply them to my daily life. It’s on my resumé!

In this week’s drop, we’ve got a string of short(ish) grammar lessons for you, featuring topics such as おまけ～ for “on top of that”, ～ずに済む for “get away without…”, and yet another round-up article! This one features emphatic statements, so get ready to emphasize, exaggerate, and just go crazy.

For vocab, we’ve got 博覧会, 展覧会, and ご覧, all of which use the kanji 覧, so you have to be friends with them. It’s a requirement. I’m sorry…

Then, practice practice practice with this week’s reading featuring a healthy instant ramen (dubious), the adventures of Mochi the dog (cute), and hyaluronic acid injections (...?).

All of this and more available now, in the Sands of Mastery.

Happy studies!