VocabSnap helps Japanese learners snap a page, detect the underlined words they chose, and turn them into flashcards with meaning and hiragana reading for fast review.
Made for JLPT crammers, novel readers, and learners frustrated by how hard it is to look up unknown kanji words one by one.
Recognition may make mistakes—double-check important words.
When you're reading a Japanese novel, textbook, or manga, the hard part is knowing how to quickly find the exact word, its reading, and whether you want to remember it later.
Traditional kanji lookup depends on radicals, stroke counting, or already knowing part of the reading—exactly the friction many learners hit.
Most tools translate everything on the page. That helps tourists, not a learner who wants to isolate a few specific words and save them for review.
Looking up kanji individually turns an enjoyable reading session into a research project. You lose context and motivation.
Pre-built decks contain someone else's vocabulary. You need a way to collect the words that actually appear in what you're reading.
Underline the kanji words you want to learn on the page. For library books, use manual mode on your phone.
Use your iPhone camera to capture the page. VocabSnap focuses on your marked words only.
Flashcards appear instantly. Swipe, tap to flip, and long-press for deeper references like example sentences.
Export to external flashcard systems or games, including VocabGames, so your study workflow stays flexible.
Capture specific underlined words in bulk—not full-page translation. Focus on what matters to you.
See meaning and hiragana reading instantly, so you spend less time fighting lookup friction.
For library books, borrowed books, or pages you can't mark—circle words directly on your phone.
Review with swipe cards, tap to flip, and long-press for deeper external resource lookup.
Export in bulk to external study systems and games for a workflow centered on your own vocabulary.
Keep the experience simple, responsive, and interoperable without extra clutter.
Snap underlined kanji in one go
iPhone camera pointed at the page
Capture the words you chose
Detected underlined words as items
Check meaning and hiragana fast
Flashcard detail with reading
Review with simple flashcards
Swipe and tap-to-flip interaction
Export to the tools you already use
Bulk export & external resources
A short walkthrough showing the exact workflow from page snap to flashcard review.
I built VocabSnap because I got tired of breaking my reading flow every time I ran into a kanji word I could recognize vaguely but could not quickly pronounce or look up. I passed JLPT N1 in one shot, skipping N5 through N2, and that taught me something important: N1 is not the end of learning. It is the beginning of being able to enjoy harder material and still run into words worth capturing.
This app became a practical way to keep reading novels and manga without turning every unknown word into a research project. Instead of drowning in somebody else's prebuilt deck, I wanted a way to collect the words that actually appeared in what I was reading.
That is not the main goal. VocabSnap is designed to help learners capture specific marked kanji words they want to understand and remember, rather than replacing the reading experience with full-page translation.
Use manual mode and circle the words on your phone after taking the photo. Perfect for library books, borrowed books, or any unmarked pages.
It is built for serious Japanese learners, especially JLPT-focused readers who want a faster way to look up and collect unknown kanji vocabulary from real reading material.
Yes. The app supports bulk export to external flashcard systems and games, including VocabGames, our sister app for gamified vocab review.
No. Recognition and automated interpretation can make mistakes, so users should always double-check important words. We believe in honest, non-exaggerated claims.
We love feedback! You can suggest new features or report issues directly on our feedback portal: sv7.featurebase.app.
Capture the kanji words you care about, review them your way, and keep moving through real Japanese text with less friction.
Available now on the iOS App Store.