[Android] Flaming Durtles - Android app with offline support

It’s fast, it works, I even like the UI.

The only thing I’d change would be different colors for the level progression bars so it’d be more obvious what’s what, but I get why you’d want to avoid colors clashing.

1 Like

I really like this. The offline feature is super convenient for me. The app seems to work very well and I don’t think I’ve run into any bugs so far.
The one thing that sticks out to me that I think needs to be changed is the review screen. I automatically associate a black bar/答え with the Japanese reading, and a white bar/“Answer” with the English meaning, but on the app they both use a black bar and 答え. I struggled just doing three reviews because I’m so used to them being different.
I also think an option to allow keyboard suggestions for the English would be nice. Also, in Settings some of the options are cut off.

I love the app so far though, thank you for making it! :slightly_smiling_face:

8 Likes

Really liked it for the 200ish reviews and lessons I did, but now it’s having trouble syncing with WK. It says “there was an error talking to the Wani Kani servers.” I tried renewing my API. Maybe I’ll reinstall it?

That error usually means that WK isn’t reachable for your device because of network problems. You can retry a few times, maybe turn wifi off and on again to give it a little kick. It should go away.

Reinstalling might work as a brute force last resort option, but you would lose any lessons or reviews you did that haven’t been synced yet.

I’m adding an extra diagnostics log file by the way, so in the next build people will be able to send me a log file to help me investigate things like this. Right now I’m a bit blind to problems like this :confused:

@ejplugge
This is the by far the best App that I tried so far. Firefox + violentmonky might still be a bit more flexible but for offline use there is really no contest. So, congrats and many, many thanks!!! I am compiling a list of nice to haves and will let you known soon but as it is, the app is already a success.

One question though: When I have really limited time, I like to review only the radicals and kanjis of the current level grouped by type and with the meaning first. I can accomplish most of it with the app settings but the reading keeps coming first, except for one item once in while when the meaning do come first. Any suggestions of which combination of settings I should use?

Thanks a lot again!

3 Likes

There is a “reading before meaning” option under advanced settings, but right now there is no option “meaning before reading” because I didn’t think there would be much interest in that. So right now it’s not possible.

But it’s easy to add, I’ll put it on the list.

2 Likes

Thanks a lot! :grinning:

I’ve made a release 1.1.0 that fixes a few bugs and adds some quality-of-life improvements. This addresses the smaller annoyances and requests that have been reported here. (Many thanks for your feedback!)

You can get the update here: http://www.the-tinkering.com/flaming-durtles/test/

Version 1.1.0, 2019-08-17:

  • Added an internal debug log. If you run into problems, you can help me find and fix them by sending me your debug log. To do so, go to the settings page, and the opton for that is at the bottom of the screen.
  • First-time setup improvement: finish the first-time setup process sooner, without waiting for background audio downloads.
  • Added an option to flush all pending background tasks. This may be useful in case of problems with your API key or WK server problems. But be careful: any lessons and reviews that have not been synced yet will be lost! You’ll have to go online and sync once to get those lost lessons/reviews back.
  • Added some extra help text in settings to assist users in setting up an API token with the right permissions.
  • Remove whitespace from the API token before using it, to avoid an accidental space or newline sneaking in.
  • Fixed a problem where the horizontal level progression bars on the dashboard were not hidden properly for passed levels.
  • Added an option to allow auto-correct to work while typing answers.
  • Added an option “meaning before reading”
  • A few layout and colour improvements
7 Likes

Your app is great, thanks for making it !
I have a few suggestions. Would it be possible to add a way to detect if there’s an update to download,
and in that case, either download it via the app itself or by sending the user directly to website.
Again, thank you for creating this, I much prefer it to the other option available at the moment.

2 Likes

No, I’m not going to add anything for that. I am in the process of setting up a Google Play Store listing for this app. When that is done (should be any time now), I am going to publish it there and stop making releases this way. Then, updates will be automatically taken care of via the store, and will be automatically installed if you have set up your device for that.

4 Likes

I’m on mobile data, which I restarted a few times. Ended up reinstalling which did the trick.

Just downloaded and got set up. It’s definitely going to be a very good tool for me!

I could just be missing this, but on the wanikani site, there’s a quick way on the main screen to see the radicals and kanji on your current level that are still apprentice. Any chance of adding a link or button on the main page that takes you straight to your current kanji and radical progress? Or a visual of them on the main screen? Super not a big deal. I’m definitely enjoying the app :smiley:

I don’t have something like that so readily available. The ‘next best thing’ is this: you can choose Browse… in the menu, tap your current level, and you get a simple list of all subjects in that level, with the stage they’re in and the time until the next review.

I do want to add something like what you describe, but I’m not sure yet how to do it. Maybe I’ll make the horizontal bar chart tappable, and if you tap one of the bars it’ll take you to a page with the overview you’re looking for.

Regardless, it’s on the list.

1 Like

Regardless, your app is awesome. Thank you so much for this :smiley:

A suggestion: it would be really nice to have an option for hiding the context sentence translation during lessons, much like this userscript does!

The app’s been working well and its features are much appreciated! Thanks!

Just installed it. It’s awesome! I love all of the options, especially Anki mode.
Thank you for making this!

Works really well - I’m living all the options!

Maybe I missed it, but if not - it would be nice to be able to limit syncing to wifi only. :slight_smile:

Looks like there will be two Android apps out there with offline support. Competition!

Since offline support would be big for me, I decided to give this a shot. However, I’m lazy, so I grabbed the device nearest to me, rather than figuring out where my smartphone is to install on. (My smartphone is where I’d most likely use this app.)

Audio Download Concerns

  • User may not need audio.

I review on a bus, and don’t use headphones, so I keep my device muted.

  • User may have limited space on device.

I removed the micro SD card from my smartphone to use in another device the other day, so I need to check how much free space is on there before installing this.

  • User may not have an unlimited data plan for their cell phone.

I keep my smartphone in airplane mode and have data disabled, but if I were to accidentally be on a cell connection and had a bunch of audio start downloading…

My recommendation: When first loading user data, prompt whether to download audio or not. This gives the user a chance to opt out of audio. I see you already have a menu option for downloading audio, so they can download later.

Edit: Is there a setting to opt out of audio download for future reviews as one levels up? (Or do all future levels audio download up front?)

Disclaimer: I’m testing this on the Android device that was nearest to me, and I am not suggesting that this device specifically should be supported. I am most likely to use this app on my smartphone, not the one I installed it on to try it out.

I had two items for review, so I figured I’d give it a go. Here’s how it displayed:

Hidden for image size

  1. What am I answering?

  2. Does this normally default to focusing the input field? It didn’t for me.

By the way, the “abandon session” feature’s great.

I expect I’ll install it on my smartphone once my laziness is cured. (Or hopefully later today.)

You are fast! I remember you said we’d have the beta version on fall lol :stuck_out_tongue:

Can you notify us when Google Play Store accepts it :slight_smile: ?