If your child wants to learn to read Japanese, Hiragana Quest is one of the first apps you will be pointed to. The questions parents ask are always the same: is Hiragana Quest any good, is it free, is it suitable for a child, and what happens once the last character is learned?
We run an online Japanese school for children growing up outside Japan, and hiragana is where almost every one of our families starts. In October 2026 we read the app’s own App Store and Google Play listings, its privacy label and its version history, rather than repeating other reviews. Here is the honest picture, including one thing about the app’s website that confuses a lot of people.
Hiragana Quest in one paragraph
Hiragana Quest is a mnemonic app that teaches the two Japanese kana alphabets, hiragana and katakana, to read and to write. Each character comes with a short picture story (a mnemonic), its sound and an on-screen stroke guide to trace. Two mascots, Hirako and Katato, carry the learner through levels, and there are self-tests along the way. The App Store listing says it was developed in Tokyo at the Go! Go! Nihon studios by the team behind the study game Study Quest.
- What it teaches: hiragana and katakana only. There is no kanji, no vocabulary course, no grammar and no speaking practice.
- Price model: free to download, and the first 7 hiragana are free. The rest is unlocked with a one-time in-app purchase (hiragana, katakana, or both together at a discount). There is no subscription. Prices differ by country, so check your store for today’s figure.
- Platforms: iPhone and iPad (iOS 13 or later) and Android. Google Play shows over 100,000 downloads.
- Age rating: 4+ on the App Store.
- Privacy: the App Store privacy label reads Data Not Collected.
- Still maintained? Yes, quietly. The most recent update we found was December 2025 (version 0.6.2), and the app has been updated on and off since 2018.
Learned the letters? Give them someone to read to.
TOMODACHI JAPAN is an online Japanese school for children growing up outside Japan. They talk with peers their own age in Japan every day, taught by teachers working at Japanese schools, in small classes of 8.
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The website problem: hiraganaquest.com no longer loads
Older reviews and the app listing point to hiraganaquest.com. When we checked it in October 2026, the address returned a hosting company’s Site Not Found page. Some reviews also credit a studio called Future Retro Studios, and the Android package name still carries that name, while the current store listings name Go! Go! World (the company behind Go! Go! Nihon) as the publisher.
None of this means the app is unsafe or abandoned. It does mean the App Store or Google Play listing is the source of truth for price, updates and support, not the old website. If you search the name and land on a dead page, that is why.
What Hiragana Quest does well
We want to be fair to it, because for its one job it is genuinely good.
- Mnemonics make the first week painless. A child who links a shape to a picture story stops confusing similar characters far sooner than one copying rows of letters.
- It teaches writing, not just recognition. Tracing each stroke on the screen builds the right stroke order from the start, which saves untangling bad habits later.
- Self-tests are built in. The app checks what has stuck, so you are not guessing whether your child has really learned a row.
- One payment, no subscription. For a family that only needs kana, that is cheaper and simpler than a monthly app.
- No data collected, no chat. There is nobody for a child to talk to inside the app, which is reassuring for younger children.
Is Hiragana Quest good for kids? It depends on age
The 4+ rating tells you the content is safe. It does not tell you the app is built for a four-year-old, and the listing never claims that. The mnemonics are short stories written in English, so the app works best for a child who can already read English comfortably.
| Age | How well it fits | What we would do |
|---|---|---|
| Under 6 | Weak on its own | Sit beside them, say the sounds aloud together, and keep sessions to five minutes. Picture books read aloud matter more at this age. |
| 6 to 8 | Good with a parent nearby | One row a day, then find that character in a book or on a snack packet the same day. |
| 9 and up | Very good | Most children can work through hiragana independently in a few weeks of short daily sessions. |
| Heritage speakers (Japanese spoken at home) | Good, with a twist | They already know the sounds and words, so link each character to a word they say at home rather than to the English story. |
One honest note about the listing’s promise to learn over a hundred characters in a few hours. Recognising characters can happen that fast. Reading a sentence without stopping to decode each letter takes weeks of actual reading. Plan for both.
Where Hiragana Quest stops
Every kana app ends at the same place, and this is not a criticism of Hiragana Quest in particular. It is simply the edge of what any alphabet app can do.
- Knowing the letters is not knowing the language. After the last character, your child can sound out words but may not understand them. Vocabulary and grammar have to come from somewhere else.
- No kanji. Real Japanese text mixes kana with kanji from the first school year in Japan.
- No speaking, no listening to real people. The app never asks your child to say anything to anyone, and that is the part most children lose first.
- Motivation runs out with the levels. Once the mascots have nothing new to unlock, the reason to open the app disappears.
Hiragana Quest compared with other kana options
| Option | Best for | Teaches writing? | Beyond kana? | Talk to a person? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hiragana Quest | Readers of about 7+ who want kana fast | Yes, stroke tracing | No | No |
| Duolingo Japanese | Teens building a daily habit | Limited | Yes, words and phrases | No |
| Gus on the Go | Very young children, first words | No | About 90 words | No |
| Dinolingo | Ages roughly 2 to 8 | Little | Yes, words and songs | No |
| Printed worksheets | Children who like pencil and paper | Yes | Depends on the set | No |
| A live small-group class | Using Japanese with other children | Yes, with a teacher | Yes | Yes |
For a wider map of what each app actually contains, see our guide to Japanese learning apps for kids.
A four-week plan that uses Hiragana Quest properly
- Week 1: the 7 free characters. If your child enjoys them, buy the hiragana unlock. If not, you have lost nothing.
- Weeks 2 to 3: one or two rows a day, five to ten minutes. Each evening, hunt for that day’s characters in a picture book or on packaging.
- Week 4: stop adding characters and start reading. Short Japanese books for kids written all in hiragana are ideal.
- After that: katakana in the same app if you bought it, and, more importantly, someone to use the language with.
What TOMODACHI JAPAN adds after the app
Hiragana Quest is a good way to learn the letters. We are not a replacement for it, and many families will use both: the app for kana, and a live class for using Japanese. What we add is the part no app has:
- Friends of the same age in Japan. Children talk with Japanese children, which gives them a reason to read and speak that no level-up can.
- Teachers at Japanese school standard. Our teachers are selected from Japan’s working teachers, so reading and writing are taught the way Japanese schools teach them.
- Small classes of 8. Every child speaks in every lesson.
- Live lessons, not recordings. Someone notices when your child hesitates, and helps right then.
Frequently asked questions
Is Hiragana Quest free?
Partly. The download is free and the first 7 hiragana are free. The full hiragana course, katakana, or both are unlocked with a one-time in-app purchase. There is no subscription. Check your app store for the current price in your country.
Is Hiragana Quest good?
For learning to recognise and write kana, yes. It is rated 4.6 out of 5 from 194 ratings on the US App Store. It is not a full Japanese course, so plan what comes next before your child finishes it.
Does Hiragana Quest teach katakana and kanji?
Katakana, yes, as a separate unlock. Kanji, no. For kanji you will need another resource.
Is Hiragana Quest safe for children?
It is rated 4+ and its App Store privacy label says Data Not Collected. There is no chat or contact with other users inside the app.
Is there a Hiragana Quest app for Android and PC?
There is an Android version on Google Play. On computers, the App Store lists it for Apple silicon Macs. There is no separate Windows version listed.
How long does it take a child to learn hiragana with it?
Recognition can come within a couple of weeks of short daily sessions. Reading smoothly takes longer and comes from reading real books, not from the app.
In short
Hiragana Quest is a well-made, one-payment app that does one thing well: it teaches kana. It suits children who already read English, with a parent beside the younger ones. Use the App Store or Google Play listing, not the old website, for current details. Then give your child what the app cannot: books to read, and other children to speak Japanese with. If that is what you are looking for, our guide to raising a bilingual Japanese child abroad is a good next step.
