PLEASE — Add a “Pause Content Updates” Toggle

WaniKani Feedback
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PLEASE — Add a “Pause Content Updates” Toggle

Hi, I’m a Level 60 user.

I’ve been using WaniKani for years, and I recently noticed that the meaning for a kanji I had already learned has been changed.

The “Last Cord”-- The Change That Prompted This Post

I originally learned 緒:

Thread + Someone = Together

But today I logged in and saw the meaning had been updated to:

“Cord”
(Alternatives: Connection, Mood)

I did not learn “cord” two years ago.
I did not learn the vocabulary (由緒, 内緒, 一緒, 由緒正しい, 内緒話) with relation to the kanji as “cord” either. I learned the meaning for each of those in relation to together.

The Problem

I completely understand that WaniKani is being improved for new users, and I think that’s great.

But at the same time, it shouldn’t quietly overwrite the material that existing users already learned and retained through the original system.

That makes the product feel like it’s regressing for people who have already paid and studied using a different version.

Additonal Example

1. 抜 (Level 25)

Around two years ago, what I learned was:

Fingers + Friend = Extract

Update:

  • “Pull out” added as the primary meaning
  • “Extract” moved to the allow list
  • Mnemonics updated

I did not learn “pull out,” I learned extract.

2. 抽 (Level 49)

What I learned was:

Fingers + Reason = Pluck (like Chewbacca)

Update:

  • “Extract” added as the primary meaning
  • “Pluck” moved to the warning list
  • Mnemonics updated

So, the meaning I memorized (Extract) has been reassigned to another kanji.
This creates disorientation, and honestly, it feels like being I’m being gaslit by the system.

It’s already incredibly hard to retain this many kanji and vocabulary over time.
Changing the meanings and mnemonics after users have memorized them undermines that hard work.

Three Suggested Solutions

1. Add a “Pause Content Updates” Toggle in Settings:

A toggle in account settings that says:
“PAUSE CONTENT UPDATES as of [selected date]”
Let each user essentially “freeze in time” their kanji/vocab data to the state it was in on a specific date. Maybe even if/when they hit Level 60.

This would give us veteran users stability while allowing WaniKani to continue improving for new learners.

2. Require Manual User Confirmation for Each Content Update

When a kanji or vocab is updated, prompt users to approve, reject, or even just acknowledge the change in their own system, for each change.

3. Create a User Script That Freezes Content

A community script that replicates the feature discussed in Number 1 for users who want to lock their current mnemonics/meanings in timespace.

Temporary Workaround

For now, if I feel something has changed without my knowledge, I Google:

“[insertKanjihere]” content updates wanikani

Then I manually restore the meaning I originally learned in all caps in User Synonyms.

Example:

“抽” content updates wanikani
→ User Synonyms: PLUCK

In Closing

I love WaniKani, and it has helped me a lot over the years.
But as a long-term user, these kinds of quiet changes degrade the experience I paid for — and the memory system I built over time.

A “toggle in space time” button or user’s manual review of new changes would go a long way toward preserving user trust and learning consistency.

Thanks for reading. I hope the temporary work around can be helpful for other users that may share in my frustration.

10 Likes
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This should be something that’s relatively easy to fix since they have the data of when you unlocked the kanji and when you burned it. That data is available for us too but creating a script is a bit difficult as we don’t have a comprehensive list of kanji changes (or do we?)

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This is actually pretty impossible to implement in any system ever in any practical manner

I actually had someone ask me a feature along these lines and it made me want to quit professional software development forever

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You finished years ago. It’s time to move on to anki+immersion or full time immersion.

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It really isn’t, just version the subject data by date and query the correct one based on user preference. They already have a data_updated_at field in the subject API, they would just have to keep older versions of entries and allow selecting based on an arbitrary cutoff date. It’s a weekend project.

That almost certainly won’t happen though given that they apparently can’t find a way to serve the existing purely static data without having to lower session timeouts and removing features to let the DB run smoothly…

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The problem with versioning data like that is that the database grows in file size like crazy

Which, given what you said, makes it not an option for them

(lol heroku)

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boy i hope meanings of words or their usage don’t ever change in the coming years or decades…

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an other batch of useless primary meaning updates:

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That seems overly harsh to me. Also they mostly seem to have added more allowed words and have not really removed old ones?

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It’s harsh because multiple people ask them to stop changing the primary meanings of words and kanji as it is very detrimental to the learning process and like always they’ll ignore the request or give bad solutions like here.

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Conversely, most of the changes they do make are based on feedback and requests from multiple people suggesting the changes. Which is of course the classic problem for pretty much every company/product. Different groups of customers demanding changes which are diametrically opposing in nature.

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