What I'm Building
I work on WordSen every day. Here's what's happening.
Beta launches late May 2026
I aimed for April. I missed it. The app needed more polish before strangers used it, and I'd rather hand testers something solid than rush. The first wave is small (5-10 people) so I can act on feedback fast.
If you're learning Japanese and have an iPhone, get on the list. There will be more waves after the first one.
Join the BetaWhat I've shipped
✨ Charms More engaging study sessions
Built a charm system where you pick one of eight charms before each study session and it changes how you earn rewards for that run.
🏆 The trophy case Long-term motivation
Mastered cards in the Word List now bear a kanji brushwork stamp tied to the level they came from, plus a red seal if you added an image.
Offline mode that actually works Study anywhere
Fixed a nasty bug where rating a card with no internet hung the app, and added an audio cache so previously studied cards still play on the subway.
Better animations everywhere Study sessions feel alive
Energy and koins now fly across the screen as little chips that land in their pills with a satisfying pulse, and the rating buttons got layered haptics.
WordList loads instantly No more waiting around
Tracked down a calculation that was running 2 million times per render, cached the result, and the Word List now opens with zero wait.
Hide and delete Make the study list yours
You can now hide built-in cards you already know cold, or delete cards you created yourself.
The "MAX" energy fix Animations that don't lie
If your energy is maxed out, the pill now just shows MAX instead of faking a +5 animation that didn't actually do anything.
Momentum celebration you can actually see Daily wins feel like wins
The daily momentum hit got a Balatro-style stamp with confetti and layered haptics so you actually NOTICE when you cross the line for the day.
Typing got fixed Smoother feedback flow
Bug reports, card reports, and Oracle notes had a cursor-disappears-under-keyboard bug that's now completely fixed.
New study header Less clutter, more focus
Replaced the cluttered study screen header with a clean rainbow-arc progress ring and a display options menu (toggle furigana, romaji, English, image blur).
Smarter bug reports One tap, full diagnostics
Bug reports now auto-attach diagnostic data when you send them, so I get the full picture from one tap instead of two.
Cloud Functions live in production Faster card creation, more secure
All six server-side functions are running in production, making card creation, Oracle, audio, and unlocks faster AND more secure.
Card creation got FAST 4 seconds instead of 15
Moved the AI work to the cloud and card creation went from 15 seconds to about 4.
Oracle learned to listen Ask Japanese questions by voice
Redesigned the Oracle AI assistant so you can talk to it instead of typing, and gave it a personal notebook for saving what you learn.
Browse your whole vocabulary See every word you're learning
Built a word list so you can see everything you're studying, with filters for review, in progress, and mastered.
Security lockdown Your data stays yours
Did a full security audit: database protection rules, encrypted storage, and cleaned up logging.
🍡 Dango, mochi, and taiyaki Treat your fox, get a study buff
Your Kitsune can now eat three different treats (each one a one-hour study buff) and you can pet the fox to make little hearts float up.
Hide and seek (but for koins) Bonus koins from your fox
Added a mini-game where your fox sniffs out buried koins with a little celebration dance when it finds them.
The fox got smarter Natural pet movement
Rebuilt how the Kitsune moves around its room so it navigates furniture without getting stuck and looks way more natural.
Furniture shopping! Decorate your fox's room
Added a store, an inventory, and drag-and-drop room placement so you can decorate the fox's room with koins you earned from studying.
🦊 The Kitsune comes alive Your 3D pet arrives
Imported the 3D fox model with full animations (walking, running, idle, jumping) and this was the moment the app started feeling REAL.
Flashcards that actually work The core study experience
Launched the core study experience: spaced repetition, male and female audio, custom images, and furigana on everything.
🎤 Say it and study it Add words by voice
Added voice card creation: record a word, WordSen figures out what you said, generates audio and an example sentence, and adds it to your deck.
🚀 We're live Website launches, beta signups open
Launched the WordSen website, started writing the dev blog, and opened beta signups.