Kikoe 聞こえJapanese you can finally hear.
Bring any Japanese audio or video — a podcast, a drama clip, a YouTube video, a voice memo. Kikoe turns it into a lesson: every line transcribed with furigana, translated into your language, ready to replay, look up and shadow.
Download on the App StoreFor iPhone · Free to startFrom audio to lesson in three steps
No textbook dialogues. Learn from the Japanese you actually want to understand.
Import anything
Audio and video files, videos in Photos, podcasts, YouTube and links. Pick the part you want.
Read along
Lines light up as they play. Tap a word for its reading and meaning, tap a line to hear it again.
Shadow it
Record yourself right after the speaker and compare. Your recordings stay on your phone.
Built for listening
Everything in Kikoe serves one goal: hearing more of the Japanese around you.
Furigana everywhere
Readings over every kanji, so the sound and the writing finally line up.
Your language
Natural translations into 12 languages, line by line, next to the Japanese.
Starts in seconds
The opening is ready to listen while the rest is still being processed.
Keeps working
Leave the app after importing. Kikoe tells you when the lesson is ready.
Words with their sound
Save a word with the line it came from and replay the original audio.
Offline listening
Saved lessons play without a connection, on the train or on a plane.
Free to start. Pro when you listen more.
Your daily minutes are shown in the app before you import.
Free
For trying Kikoe every day
- 15 minutes of transcription a day
- 60 minutes a day in your first week
- One import at a time
- Furigana, word lookup, shadowing
Kikoe Pro
Monthly or yearly subscription
- 120 minutes of transcription a day
- Three imports at a time
- 10 GB of cloud storage
- Bilingual subtitle export (SRT)
- Full learning backup
Prices are shown in the App Store in your currency. Cancel any time in your App Store account settings.
Questions
Is Kikoe free?
Yes. Importing, read-along with furigana, word lookup and shadowing are free, with a daily transcription allowance. Pro raises the allowance and adds export and backup.
What can I import?
Audio and video files, videos from Photos, podcasts, YouTube videos and web links — anything you have the right to use for your own study.
What happens to my audio?
It is uploaded to our servers to be transcribed and translated, and stored in your account so your lessons open on your devices. Delete a lesson or your account and it is removed. Shadowing recordings never leave your phone.
Which languages are supported?
Kikoe teaches Japanese. Translations and the app itself are available in English, Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), Korean, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Indonesian, Thai and Vietnamese.
Do I need an account?
You can try the built-in sample right away. Importing your own audio needs an account — Sign in with Apple or email.