Jalup on Android – Live!
If you have noticed the lack of post updates lately here, it’s because I’ve been busy at work on the Android version of the Jalup App. As with the iPhone version, I decided to build it up from the ground by myself, and since I was new to Android development (and Android in general), it took quite a while. But I am now happy to say that it is now live on Google Play!
Some Info
The app is modeled off of the iPhone Version. The major difference is that the Android version hasn’t caught up with the iPhone version yet in terms of features. The iPhone App was released in May this year and has had a ton of functionality and development done in the months since. Rather than delay the Android App for another 6 months, I wanted to get it out with the most vital functionality first, ready to use. As of the initial live release:
1. All the decks available on the iPhone
Kana Conqueror (Stroke order diagrams not yet added)
Kanji Kingdom (Stroke order diagrams not yet added)
Jalup Beginner
Jalup Intermediate
Jalup Advanced
Maximum Package
2. Learning and Reviewing, the full Jalup SRS system, and the same style and design as the iPhone App
3. Card Linking
4. Complete offline access (except when making a purchase)
5. Import and Export, backup functionality. With the ability to edit your own progress however you want.
6. Ability to reset your progress within app
All other features found on the iPhone will be added in.
iPhone & Android, & Jalup NEXT
The iPhone app, as always will continue to be updated and advanced. I have been working on minor improvements as I’ve been developing the Android version. But once the Android release settles down soon, both will be moving forward together. Android will play a lot of catch-up, and iPhone will blaze forward.
Jalup NEXT will still be supported, but it is highly recommended that you move over to one of the mobile apps.
If you made a purchase on Jalup NEXT, Anki, or the iOS version
You will be able to have your purchase(s) transferred over to the new Android App, for free.
- Anki users, please send me a receipt by e-mail with your request.
- NEXT users, send a screenshot of your purchases (from the Account Tab) and/or your Jalup NEXT e-mail.
If you made a purchase on Jalup NEXT or the iOS/Android version
You will be able to fully transfer your progress from Jalup NEXT to either mobile app version. You can also transfer progress between iOS and Android.
- In order to transfer from Jalup NEXT, you’ll need to e-mail me a request, and provide me the e-mail of your Jalup NEXT account. I’ll send you a .csv file of your Jalup NEXT data. Then you just need to follow a few simple instructions which I provide, and you’ll be able to upload it directly into the app!
- Transferring between iOS and Android simply requires you to export/import from one to the other.
If you made a purchase on Anki and want to transfer your progress to either mobile App
Currently this isn’t available. I’ve already tested how to do this successfully. However, the problem is right now it is very complex, so I need some time to write up a guide and make it easy for anyone to do.
FAQ
Q. I think I have access to all the cards even though I didn’t buy anything. What’s going on?
A. The first 100 cards from every level (500 in total) are free. No purchase is required to use these.
Q. If I buy Jalup Maximum on either mobile app now, will I get access to Expert, Hero, and Master when they are released?
A. Yes, if you purchase Maximum now on either mobile app, you will be able to download them for free when they are released.
Jalup on Android? Yes :)
Founder of Jalup. iOS Software Engineer. Former attorney, translator, and interpreter. Still watching 月曜から夜ふかし weekly since 2013.
So proud of you, Adam.
Congratulations on all your hard work coming to fruition.
Thanks James!
I hope people take advantage of this great system to learn Japanese.
お疲れ様
I hope you enjoy the Android version :)
Do people who have bought the decks on Next need to provide receipts or just their Next email accounts?
For NEXT users, either a screenshot of your purchases (from the Account Tab) or your Jalup NEXT e-mail address is fine.
Nice work! Downloaded. Really nice to have this option on the Android side.
You might have touched on this before, but I’m curious (as a programmer) about the code. It sounds like you have separate codebases for iOS and Android instead of using something like Xamarin to make a shared codebase, so you could develop both app versions at the same time. I’m sure you might have just wanted to go native iOS first as you were more comfortable with that, but I just hope the dual maintenance doesn’t become too big a headache for you going forward!
In any case, even the base Android app without all the fancy features is nice to have. Thanks again for all your hard work.
Yes, I’m using two separate codebases. One built in Swift and the other in Java. When I started on the iOS app, I didn’t have a big plan or anything. I didn’t even know if I’d actually be able to build it by myself. I just enjoyed learning Swift and making the app that way.Then only later did I decide I eventually wanted to make an Android version.
What took the longest was learning Java and Android as a device (since I’m an iPhone user). Going forward though, a lot of the code now just needs to be “converted over” and all the logic and process of thinking how to set things up is already done. So I think this will save me some time (hopefully).
It will just be a slow game of catch up. And I may not necessarily have both versions exactly the same though.
Thanks Matt! I hope you enjoy the app :)
Great. There are always many reasons why development goes the way it goes. I think you’re right that the porting work for other features should be more straightforward than the initial startup work. I’m sure you can handle it!
Congratulations! This is great news!
I have a couple of questions though, if you don’t mind! You state that Jalup NEXT will still be supported, but it’s highly recommended to migrate to the mobile apps. I’m assuming this is simply because the mobile apps are more fully-featured? I admit it’ll be a little sad to lose the web app… but that’s just a weird preference I’ve got. It’s probably quite worth it with the new features the mobile apps bring to the table.
Additionally, it is amazing that you are letting us transfer our purchases and progress to the mobile apps! You mention that if we buy Maximum on the mobile apps, we’ll have access to the future decks released as well. Does this also apply if we had already purchased Jalup Maximum on Jalup NEXT?
Again, congratulations! I hope that your efforts to make Jalup more accessible will help Jalup grow and grow!
The mobile apps are more fully-featured, and will be what I will continue to develop/update from here on out. Since I built the mobile apps from scratch (NEXT was built entirely by someone else), it allows me unlimited freedom with how I move forward.
Yes, if you purchased Jalup Maximum on NEXT and transfer to one of the mobile apps, you will get access to future decks released as well.
And thank you Josh!
Oh, that makes perfect sense. It’s a whole different ballgame when you can shape an app exactly how you want to.
Thank you so much!
Hey Adam,
I know you’re busy, but is there any expected time to add the rest of Expert to Next (and the app, as well)? I will be done with the 500 cards on Next soon and was considering how I should proceed after that.
If it’s going to be a long time, I would have to consider switching over to Anki, which would be unfortunate, especially since I would want to resume using Next or the app when those have all the content.
It’s tough for me to answer.
I am currently on card 700/1000 of Expert. However, that’s just the first run. Then I need to go through each card and make sure there aren’t any problems. Then I need to write the code to seamlessly add them into the apps.
The big delays over time have been caused by the app development. It’s just me trying to do way too much, and the apps take priority right now. Manually creating the card links is a tedious, frustrating, and slow process.
So not really sure what to say right now, but if you did use Anki in the interim, there will be a guide coming on the site on how to export your progress from Anki to one of the mobile apps.
Totally get that. Especially getting the Android app up to speed is top priority.
For what it’s worth I’m anxious for expert/hero as well. I’ll technically be ready for it in two weeks but luckily I’m planning on taking a break in reading cards and switch to testing on audio only from jalup stories. That will buy me some time but not sure how much.
Just add 10-20 cards a day and pretend your doing it for the first time like us lol ;) you might even finish the first pass by the end of the year.
Good luck!!!
Yes, that’s probably what I should do. I have a tendency to try to do as many as I can in one day, and then not want to touch them again for a while.
I need to take my own advice haha.
Probably I’m in a similar situation. I bought everything on NEXT and few weeks ago I purchased Expert stage 3 for Anki.
As Expert is not on mobile yet (I’m thinking about iOS version), I don’t see a point in switching right now. But what about future? At this pace I’ll continue with Expert/Hero on Anki. It would be nice to have it uniformed in one tool, will you provide migration option in future (whenever you’ll add missing decks to mobile)?
I definitely will pick up the speed as things settle a bit. Yes, I’ll still offer the migration feature in the future (assuming nothing technical causes that to change).
Hey!
You said here that people who already purchased the Anki decks can get those same decks for free in the phone apps. I was wondering if this only applies for people who bought the Anki decks before you made this post? Or conversely, if I buy the Decks in the android app, can I also get the Anki decks? I was thinking of buying some of the Anki decks before you made this post because I do not have an iphone.
I think I want to learn your decks on android in the future when the Android app catches up more to the iphone one, but while the android app is in its current bare-bones state where its not that different to just doing it in Anki, (I think?) I’d rather start and do the beginner ones in Anki until the android app is updated more so I’m not jumping around between different SRS apps since I’m already using Anki for other stuff.
That’s fine. If you buy the Anki decks now, I will still offer the Android app promotion later. Just e-mail me later to remind me.
However, even in its bare-bones state, the mobile apps still offers the most powerful feature of all, card-linking. For anyone that has used this, they know this is not to be underestimated as just a bare add-on. For most, it’s a game changer.
The card linking feature is amazing and should not be underestimated. For me, it made all the difference and was the most important feature. No searching Anki to find a definition for a definition word…and no cluttered cards unlike if you choose to copy word definitions into all your cards.
In general thanks for Porting to Android, this was the main buying decision, because i had a eye on this program for quite a while, altough it is a bit costy.
But anyways im now learning 2 days with it after, i already learned around 2000 vocables trough a different course, and altough i knew these vocabulary i still have trouble understanding most sentences because i know the parts, i also understand the grammar but i am to slow in using this know how, because i have to analyze the sentences, not knowing them by heart.
So thanks for porting, keep up the good work. Hope there will be some updates, i.E. the Pending features from iOS, and the Situations, and things like speech training.
Yes, the Jalup series (and especially Jalup Beginner) places a heavy emphasis on grammar. So even with a ton of vocabulary under your belt, it really challenges you to get a deep understanding of the language.
There will definitely be a lot of updates coming soon. Before I start adding in all the new updates, I wanted to just make sure that the core of the app has been working for everyone without issue. So far, it’s been running smoothly. So expect some big things soon :)
:D On this place from a Programmerkolleagure point of view, this app is very well done.
Easy to use, but maybe the Linking Feature should be explained somewhere? I just found because i knew it was there, for someone not activley checking this, its not that obvious, maybe coloring of “old learned stuff” in contrary to new stuff would also be a nice idea.
In general i couldnt find any Bugs in the functions of the android app.
But if you need a tester for a feature, i volunteer, since i know how hard it is to verify that a feature works, if you have the idea how it SHALL be used but you dont know how it could be used :)
However keep up the good work, hoping to get some updates soon because i have right away the feeling that it really is stitching things together.
This is awesome, thanks Adam. Just wondering, you said you can transfer purchases from iOS to Android, but didn’t detail how-to (only did for Anki and NEXT). I don’t have to do it now, but might be purchasing soon and may switch devices after.
For now it’s a manual process (since the app doesn’t require an account and is completely offline). You send me an e-mail with your request (if you want to switch) and receipt, and I’ll give you a promo code. The import/export progress works exactly the same on iOS on Android versions, so you just use the same .csv file between both.
Hey! I was wondering if there’s an ETA for Expert on Android, noticed that iOS already has cards till Expert, too bad none of my apple devices are new enough to run ios 11.
Hello Devin,
I don’t have a specific date in mind just yet, but it will be an update in the near future. And it will be a free upgrade to people who have currently purchased Jalup Maximum, just like in the iOS version.