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You Asked for Android — So I Built It. YomiPlay for Android Is Here

After YomiPlay passed a thousand downloads on the App Store, plenty of people kept asking online, "Is there an Android version?" Now there is. This post is both the Android launch note and a full re-introduction to what YomiPlay does — turning audio and video into Japanese study material you can shadow, edit, and revisit.

YomiPlayAndroidJapanese LearningAI Subtitles

A nudge from the users

The response to YomiPlay after its App Store launch has been better than I expected. Downloads have passed a thousand, and honest reviews and feedback keep trickling in.

But the single most common question was this one:

"Is there an Android version?"

It started as a few scattered messages, then kept resurfacing across different platforms. As an engineer who builds products in a fairly no-nonsense, head-on way, it's hard to look away from a real user need staring right at you. So over the past while, I ported YomiPlay to Android — and now, the Android version is officially live.

This post does two things: it explains how to get and install the Android version, and it takes the chance to walk through everything YomiPlay can actually do — whether you're an existing iOS user or a newcomer the Android release just brought in.

The short version: what YomiPlay is

In one line: YomiPlay turns the audio and video you love into Japanese study material you can listen to, read, shadow, edit, and revisit.

It isn't a player — it's a complete learning flow:

Import audio/video → offline AI auto-subtitles → translation and reading aids → sentence-by-sentence focused listening and shadowing → edit while you listen → keep it locally and share to the community

Here's the breakdown, feature by feature.

Core features at a glance

1. Import from many sources

Upload local audio/video, pull podcast audio, download from YouTube and similar platforms — meeting recordings, Japanese podcasts, channel videos all enter the same study flow.

2. Offline AI auto-subtitles

Once imported, YomiPlay uses on-device (offline) AI recognition to transcribe speech into subtitles. Nothing has to be uploaded, so it's better for privacy — and it turns "I can't catch that" into "I can see it."

3. Subtitle-synced playback for focused listening

Tap any subtitle line to jump straight to that moment. For drilling a single sentence over and over, it's far more precise than dragging a scrubber.

4. Subtitle translation

Switch subtitles to a language you know better for side-by-side understanding — lowering the barrier to a first pass so your attention goes to the parts that are actually hard.

5. Reading annotations (building on YomiMark)

  • Automatic Japanese readings (furigana)
  • English etymology notes on katakana loanwords (gairaigo)

Especially helpful for learners who "sort of get it, but can't read it smoothly or catch it by ear."

6. Text-to-speech (TTS)

Any subtitle line can be read aloud — handy for checking pronunciation and practicing shadowing.

7. Refine subtitles while you listen

Machine transcription isn't the finish line. You can correct the text as you listen, turning a one-off into a more accurate version tuned for your own review — and the act of refining it is itself great study.

8. Keep it locally + share to the community

Your finished subtitle material lives on-device, so studying needs no connection. If you like, share the good stuff to the community so one great piece of content creates more value.

About the Android version: why a direct APK download

This part deserves its own explanation, because the experience differs from iOS.

The Android version isn't on an app store — you download the APK directly from this site (toshiki.tech) and install it.

Plenty of people hesitate the moment they see "APK / sideload": "Is that safe?" Completely fair. Let me be clear:

  • A single, transparent source: the APK is distributed only through the official download page. It's the same app I signed and built myself — no third-party repackaging.
  • Why not the store: as a solo developer, direct distribution lets me push updates to you faster, without being stuck in long store reviews. The Android version is currently v0.1.0 and iterating quickly, so installing directly means you get improvements first.
  • How to install: download the APK and tap it; if the system asks to "allow installing apps from unknown sources," grant it once. The whole thing takes seconds.
  • Privacy: the core speech recognition runs entirely on-device, offline — your audio and video are never uploaded.

If you'd still rather go through a store, feel free to stick with the iOS version for now; a store listing for Android is something I'm evaluating too.

System requirements (Android)

  • OS: Android 9.0 or later (API 28)
  • Storage: about 1.2 GB free
  • RAM: 4 GB or more recommended

(The offline AI model needs a certain amount of storage and memory — the better your device, the smoother transcription runs.)

Who YomiPlay is for

  • Engineers and professionals reviewing Japanese meeting recordings
  • Japanese learners who want to treat podcasts and YouTube as real material
  • Long-term learners who want to turn "I listened to it" into "material I can review"
  • Anyone who needs subtitles they can edit, cue, read aloud, and export

Come give it a try

From iOS to Android, what YomiPlay is trying to do hasn't changed: to turn every audio and video input into visible growth in your ability.

And if this Android release exists because you asked for it — thank you. Keep telling me where it can be better.

Developed with care by Toshiki.Tech