RealKana is a free, simple website that lets you practice both hiragana and katakana by drilling them over and over. You choose which kana you practice, and can select different fonts as well.
Pros
- Free!
- Allows you to study with different fonts. This is great because some kana look different when in different fonts (as well as when typed / hand written). This will help you to figure out those differences.
- Allows you to choose columns to limit what you’re studying. Only know columns あ through な? No problem, you can choose to study only those and ignore the rest (for now!).
- Also has katakana, too, for when you get there.
- iOS app available.
Cons
- Doesn’t save your progress.
RealKana is an oldy but a goody. If you’re just starting to learn Japanese (see Tofugu’s reviews of Japanese textbooks to get started!) you should be using RealKana. There’s nothing fancy, but you don’t need anything fancy because you’re only going to be learning kaka for a short amount of time.
iOS App
RealKana also has an iOS app available too. It’s $2.99, which might turn off some people, but considering you always have the option of using the free site, it’s not too bad.
The app also hasn’t been updated in almost two years, but I’m not sure it really needs to be. RealKana does what it does very well, and doesn’t need any new, fancy bells or whistles to do it.
Final Word
If you’re learning hiragana or having trouble with it, drill on RealKana for a while. You’ll see your hiragana improve.