GENKI Kanji for 3rd Ed.

I had the same issue of the sound working with the Genki vocabulary app until I read a review that said in order for the audio to work, your phone cannot be in Silent Mode. I turned off silent mode and the playback audio totally worked! Same for this app as well. Just make sure silent mode is turned off.

I wanted to try this because it follows the textbook but it’s not that useful. Aside from the audio only working with earbuds, the way it teaches and reviews kanji could be more helpful. It gives you all the info about a kanji in the study mode and in the check mode it just asks if you know it. For an app that costs $6 I’d like to see more interactivity (choosing the right kanji from a list of similar looking ones, writing out the strike order with your finger, guessing the kanji from a list of options based on the other characters in the word, etc). I’ve seen these features on other apps that I didn’t have to pay for.

When using the app, I was mad that there was no sound through the speaker phone, and thought it was broken or a scam. Only to have a friend tell me in Japanese culture, they believed it’s rude to play things outloud on your phone in public. He told me to try using headphones. Sure enough, audio works when connected to headphone!!! Wish the app says that to avoid the miscommunication. But anyways, if you use it, audio only works when connected to headphones. I guess to avoid the app making a scene or being rude in public, they automatically had audio only work with headphones. I would give it 5 stars if they created the ability to play through the speaker, so I don’t have to use headphones in the comfort of my own home. But since here we are only headphones available, 4 stars.