Hey guys, as a newbie, I have a question. So, I generally peruse the community in between my reviews, and obviously have noticed a lot of talk regarding userscripts. People have suggested them to me in some of my other posts, but I have looked at them and they honestly look really complicated. I also generally don’t have access to a computer (only at work, and work at a bank, so can’t install extensions etc), and only do WaniKani on my phone when not at work, so I’m unsure if the userscripts are even available for phones. What would you say to a newb like me about this? I get the feeling from most of the things I’ve read on here that userscripts are extremely important, but I’m not sure how/if I can use them. Please help!
The most used scripts seem to be the ones allowing you to cheat : skip vocab lessons, retry mistakes… Not only can you do WK without scripts but chances are it’s also better for you unless you really know what you’re doing.
Remember WK is just a crutch, learning is made during immersion.
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I use an iPhone, so that wouldn’t work for me. Right now I’m not having issues, and am planning on starting Genki and Tae Kim sometime soon, so I’ll have all that going for me as well. I just don’t want to screw myself over.
While there are several scrips I use now, it wasn’t until level 20 or so that I actually installed some. There are users who’ve made it to the very end without ever using user scripts. So, don’t be discouraged if you can’t use scripts.
Depending on how you feel your studies are going, you might wanna complement WK with your own ways of tackling roadblocks (leeches, extra-study of those hard-to-remember-items), because some scripts help you with that. But, self-study can take many forms so just find something that works for you in your everyday life.
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Thank you! Another question. What are leeches? I’ve seen that term thrown around WaniKani too.
i do reviews on both my school laptop and my personal laptop. the school blocks most extensions so i can’t install/use any userscripts on it. on my laptop at home i do have userscripts installed. so i do reviews on both
i’d say they maybe make the experience better, but it’s not too bad without them either. 
for me mainly it’s the lesson reordering, because otherwise i’d have to do like 30-40 vocab lessons after leveling up to get to the radicals/kanji. its not a huge deal i think if you can’t have them, imho.
obviously i’m new too, i’m just sharing my thought process 
take my words with a grain of salt
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Leeches are items (words, kanji…) that you always get wrong and keep coming back to haunt you because you never manage to burn them
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o-o shivers
Since you’re using your phone, here are some apps I would recommend that would bring a lot of the same functionality you would find in userscripts (or in some cases, offer some unique features of their own):
[iOS] Tsurukame - native app with offline lessons and reviews
[iOS / Android / Web] Juken - Review App for WaniKani
I think there are some other Android-supported apps, but since I have an iPhone I don’t have any personal experience with them. I’m sure others will chime in on those, if that is what you use.
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Leeches are items that you struggle with. Like you manage to guru an item, but then fail it and it goes down to apprentice. You get it to guru. Then fail it again. And so on. So it doesn’t progress. Right now I have 105 leeches! 
There are some scripts that help you count them and quiz them specifically, since they may need some extra effort since you keep failing them. ^^;
There are people who’ve made it to lv 60 without ever addressing their leeches, but it will increase the amount of daily reviews the more of them you have (since they’re items in Apprentice and Guru all the time! )
So, that’s what leeches are about. Hope that helps. 
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Correction: The most discussed about.
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Right.
The points I really wanted to make in my post were :
- cheat-scripts aren’t recommended for people beginning the journey
- QoL scripts make the experience less “basic”, but I believe WK is a basic tool anyway and shouldn’t steal too much of one’s time, so, while using scripts makes it a bit better, it’s far from necessary
I use some scripts myself, I’m not against them at all, just wanted to say they’re not “extremely” important, as OP has been told by some. He shouldn’t let such opinions make him feel like he’s missing out, because he isn’t.
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Tsurukame for IOS is the only reason I’m able to do WK at all. I just don’t have the “sit-down” time at my computer to be able to use the website regularly.
Here’s what I would recommend for settings:
You have to be strict with yourself when using the “Allow cheating” option, but it’s absolutely required with a mobile keyboard. One good habit is to say the meaning and reading to yourself for each review item and then to let it be wrong if you missed either of those.
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EDIT: Dear OP, I missed the part about not having access to computer, feel free to ignore the rest.
One of the scripts that is very helpful and enhance your knowledge of Japanese is this one:
It identifies kanjis that were created with common phonetic compound and therefore the reading is the same. Native speakers are aware of this feature of their language and they sometimes can guess the reading of unknown kanji.
Because of that script I always try to do my lessons on computer.
Many other scripts just make your overall experience more pleasant. Some give insight into your journey (historical data), like Heatmap:
So try one or two from here:
see if you like it. You can always disable/delete all of them.
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