Kansai-ben of the Day 1.0.45
Kansai-ben of the Day is on the App Store for iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch. It teaches you one Osaka and Kansai dialect phrase a day, from the polite to the downright rude. Each phrase comes with its reading in kana, its standard-Japanese equivalent, its English meaning, an everyday example, a yakuza-movie example, and a note on who says it and when not to.
なんでやねん (casual): Why on earth?! Oh, come on!
「財布忘れたから、お昼おごってくれへん?」「なんでやねん!」
Every phrase is labeled polite, casual, rough, or rude, so you know who you can say it to. There are sixty-six, all hand-written, one a day, and then the cycle starts over. A widget puts today's phrase on the Home Screen and the Lock Screen, complications put it on the Apple Watch face, and your device's Japanese voice reads it aloud.
It collects nothing, and it works offline.
It's made by Pragmaphilia Labs: Miss Sakamoto, creator and project lead (and our Lab Director); John Mifsud, executive producer; and Tamamo, language consultant. Two honest notes. The phrases were written by Miss Sakamoto, not by a native speaker, so if one sounds off to a Kansai ear, please tell us. And the device's voices speak standard Tokyo intonation: the readings are right, but the Kansai music isn't.
Requires an iPhone or iPad with iOS or iPadOS 26 or later; the Watch app, watchOS 11 or later.
Status: version 1.0.45 for iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch has been on the App Store since October 31, 2026. The Mac version, with today's phrase in the menu bar and on the desktop, is in Apple's review and coming soon; when it ships, it will be announced here and in What's Cooking.
For iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch. The Mac version is coming soon.