Furigana app: read Japanese kanji while you listen
Turn on furigana for every kanji in two switches, then follow the highlighted sentence as Yomite reads it aloud. Where the settings are and what is free.
To put furigana on every kanji in Yomite, open a Japanese book, open the reader’s display settings, turn on Furigana display, then turn on Furigana on all kanji. Both switches are off by default and neither needs Premium. While the book is read aloud, the sentence being read is highlighted, so you can match the sound you hear to the kanji on screen.
Related use case: Study and language learning
Last verified: 2026-10-15 against Yomite 2.1.2 (setting names as shown in the app). Furigana are the small kana printed above kanji; in a book’s own markup they are called ruby.
How do I turn on furigana for every kanji?
- Open a book in Yomite’s reader. Furigana settings appear for Japanese books only.
- Open the display settings in the reader. This is the sheet where you also change text size, theme and the sleep timer.
- Turn on Furigana display.
- Turn on Furigana on all kanji.
The second switch needs Furigana display to be on. If you only want the readings the book already carries, leave the second switch off.
What is the difference between the book’s ruby and automatic furigana?
| Ruby already in the text | Furigana on all kanji | |
|---|---|---|
| Where the reading comes from | The book itself, for example 黒猫《くろねこ》 in Aozora Bunko text | Added by the app for kanji that have no ruby |
| Setting | Furigana display | Furigana on all kanji (needs Furigana display) |
| Default | Off | Off |
| Premium needed | No | No |
Automatic furigana show the reading the app itself will use, so what you see is what you hear. If a reading looks wrong, register the correct one in the per-book pronunciation dictionary; the misreadings guide shows how.
How do I follow the text while it is read aloud?
The sentence being read is highlighted and follows playback. Tap a sentence to jump playback to it, which is handy when you want to hear a hard word again. Vertical text keeps both the ruby and the highlight. The reader switches between vertical and horizontal layout, so Aozora Bunko classics can stay vertical while web articles stay horizontal; see vertical text, fonts and night mode.
How do learners use it?
Listening with furigana on lets you take in the same sentence by ear and by eye, which is a way to read more Japanese than you would by looking up every word. Tapping a word for a lookup, shadowing and translation belong to Learning Mode, which needs Premium; listening itself stays in the free plan. For a free, public-domain place to start, see the Aozora Bunko guide.
What is free and what needs Premium?
- Free: Furigana display, Furigana on all kanji, the highlight, the built-in pronunciation dictionary (read-only, about 5,000 entries).
- Premium: editing the dictionary and JSON import/export, ruby auto-register (turns ruby already in a chapter into dictionary entries), Learning Mode.
- Listening time: free for up to 20 minutes a day (15 minutes + 5 minutes from the daily check-in). All on-device voices are free. See the App Store for Premium prices.
FAQ
Does it work in vertical text?
Yes. Ruby and the highlight stay in vertical layout.
Does it work for languages other than Japanese?
No. In version 2.1.2 both switches appear only for languages that use ruby, which here means Japanese books.
Can I point the camera at a paper book and get furigana?
No. Yomite does not add furigana to a camera view. Scan import (Premium) turns printed pages into text you can then listen to.
Questions or feedback: [email protected]
— Yomite Team