What’s new

The Mac and Windows apps update themselves when you choose Install. For Chrome, download the latest and load it again.

1.17.26 30 September 2026

Mac 1.17.26 · Windows 1.17.26 · Chrome 1.17.26

Test me, pick from three: Settings → Test me asks → Pick from three, and each test question comes with three answers to press (A, B or C on the keyboard in Chrome). Your pick is marked like any answer, and the next question comes with its own three.
Chrome: YouTube. Turn on a video's captions and Explayn follows what is said as it plays — press the "Explain this page" key and the video so far is explained, then ask anything about it.
How your words stand: known, still learning and new, over A–Z (and at the top of Your Words on a Mac).
Fixes from the eleventh review: stale answer buttons can't answer a newer question; a restored Mac chat keeps its options.

Mac 1.17.25 · Windows 1.17.25 · Chrome 1.17.25

Flip through your words: every word you've looked up as a card, the ones due first. Say what it means, turn it over, then Knew it (it comes back later) or Not yet (back tomorrow) — the same spacing as Test me, with nothing sent anywhere. Chrome's side panel (A–Z, or the toolbar icon when words are due), Recent → A–Z on Windows, Recent Chats → Your Words on a Mac.
Ask next: two questions you might want to ask next sit under an answer — press one to ask it.
Chrome: Google Docs — highlight words in a Doc and Explayn offers them, as on any page.
How your words stand: A–Z shows how many you know, are still learning, and haven't tested yet (Chrome, Windows).
The neural reading voice tries again on a fresh connection when Microsoft drops a sentence.

Mac 1.17.24 · Windows 1.17.24 · Chrome 1.17.24

Back up and restore: every chat as one file, brought back here or on another computer of the same kind — Chrome's Options, Windows' Save ▾, Recent Chats on a Mac.
Notes on chats on a Mac (right-click a Recent chat) and Windows (✎ on a Recent row).
This week counts the tests you got right and keeps a day streak.
Windows: Save ▾ gathers notes, flashcards and your words; the Recent header fits on one line.
Chrome: "/" goes to the search; A–Z can test you on one of your words.

Mac 1.17.23 · Windows 1.17.23 · Chrome 1.17.23

Translate: words in another language offer Translate in place of Example — into yours, with a line on any idiom that doesn't carry over. Follow-ups carry on in your language.
Settings → About you: a few words ("first-year nursing student") so answers fit you.
Chrome: add your own note to a chat; A–Z can test you on one of your words; / goes to the search.
Windows: the tray icon says how many chats are due a test.
Fixes: Answer length no longer shortens Test me's marking; an unset Answer length shows Default.

Mac 1.17.22 · Windows 1.17.22 · Chrome 1.17.22

Your words, A to Z: every word you've looked up, once, with what it means — choose one to open its chat, or save them all as a Markdown glossary.
Settings → Answer length: shorter first answers (a line or two) or fuller ones (with an example).
Chrome: explain one chapter of a PDF from the reader's Contents; the toolbar icon counts chats due a test.
Fixes: a reviewed word stays in Your words; Key terms links come back on a reopened chat.

Mac 1.17.21 · Windows 1.17.21 · Chrome 1.17.21

Key terms: on a card about a whole page, PDF or file, Key terms lists the words a newcomer needs — click one to hear more about it, in the same chat.

Mac 1.17.20 · Windows 1.17.20 · Chrome 1.17.20

How the last test went: your chats show each one's last verdict — Right, Partly right or Not quite.
Press ? in the card for its keys (Chrome and Windows).
Chrome: Review a past chat straight from the toolbar icon when one is due.

Mac 1.17.19 · Windows 1.17.19 · Chrome 1.17.19

Keep a chat from the card: the star in its header, on Mac, Windows and Chrome.
Test me verdicts in colour — Right green, Partly right amber, Not quite red.
Chrome: show only your starred chats; listen to a past chat from the side panel.

Mac 1.17.18 · Windows 1.17.18 · Chrome 1.17.18

Keep. Star a chat and it is never dropped when older chats are — in Chrome's side panel, on a Recent row on Windows, from a Recent row's right-click menu on the Mac. It stays starred however much you carry it on or review it.
Windows: Show all reaches every chat you keep.
What's new is a click away from the update notice on Mac, Windows and Chrome.

Mac 1.17.17 · Windows 1.17.17 · Chrome 1.17.17

Keys 1 to 5 in the card (Chrome and Windows): Explain, Simpler, Example, Why it matters, Test me.
Chrome: Listen in the PDF reader no longer reads the page buttons aloud, and Explain this PDF no longer sends their label; the welcome page shows how to remember what you learn.
This week counts new lookups only — a review or a follow-up on an old chat isn't one.

Mac 1.17.16 · Windows 1.17.16 · Chrome 1.17.16

This week: how many things you looked up and were tested on, over your recent chats.
Chrome's PDF reader: explain one page — the button on a page's top corner sends that page alone.
Chrome: rest on a word you've looked up and choose test me — it counts as a review; move through your chats with the arrow keys.
From 1.17.15: spaced review really spaces out.

Windows 1.17.15 · Chrome 1.17.15 · Mac 1.17.14

Fix: spaced review now really spaces out. On Windows and Chrome, a chat saved again after its review question lost its place in the schedule and came due the next day, every time. It now waits 3 days, a week, two weeks, a month — and comes back tomorrow only if you got it wrong. (The Mac was not affected.)
Chrome: optionally mark words you've looked up on every page (Options → Mark words I've looked up); the side panel's Save menu holds notes and flashcards.
iPhone and iPad: Review, with the same spacing.