App Profile: Wiktionary Reader

Csh4games

Rating: 4/5

When it comes to defining words, it’s hard to beat this. It’s just like using the Wiktionary website from 15 years ago. Love the etymology references. But the interface needs to be updated and designed to fit mobile devices of varying sizes. I would be willing to pay for that.

mtstatusquo

Rating: 5/5

For users looking for a dictionary app, this is a little different from some household names, because it simply returns what is on the Wiktionary website to the user query. Wiktionary is a constant work in progress, like Wikipedia. Often, the definitions are unhelpful - for example, resplendence (noun) is defined as being resplendent. But that has nothing to do with the app. It does what it says, I use this on an iPhone 11, iOS 17.7.2, and it’s never crashed or caused headaches. The interface is super-simple, and I appreciate there aren’t a lot of bells and whistles that detract from the core purpose and create noise. There are Bookmarks and History features that could be useful to students, but I don’t use those for day-to-day dictionary lookups. If you don’t mind Wiktionary’s drawbacks, this is a perfectly good app to do quick lookups. Worth calling out the developer’s privacy policy is much appreciated.

Snjdjdjeioqlkqkn

Rating: 5/5

I never review apps, but I'm so happy somebody made an app for this! Perfect for etymology rabbit holes. One nit: would be great if swiping right took me to the previous page instead of to the top-level search bar. Because of aforementioned rabbit holes, I go "back" a lot, and it's annoying that swiping right not only doesn't have the expected (imo at least) behavior, but also makes me lose my history (to go back to previous page you have to press the little back button at top of screen). Relatedly, would be cool if swiping left took you forward in history! Otherwise love it; it's simple but exactly what I needed. Thank you!