The Wordify Blog
A quiet space dedicated to the exploration of vocabulary, learning methodology, and the craft of shipping a calm software product.
Around 1,000 words handle everyday conversation and 3,000 cover most of daily life. Here's where those numbers come from, how they map to CEFR levels, and why which words you learn matters far more than how many.
A step-by-step guide to putting vocabulary on your lock screen and home screen - the exact taps on iPhone and Android, how often the word changes, and what to do when a widget stops updating.
Wordify's widgets just got a significant update: a new streak widget with a GitHub-style heatmap, smarter layouts that adapt to widget size, and a small button rename that says a lot about how spaced repetition should work.
Reading 'forth' doesn't tell you it sounds like /fɔɹθ/. Spelling lies, especially in English. Here's why I added International Phonetic Alphabet transcriptions to every word in Wordify, and how it changes the way you learn.
Six months after shipping Wordify 1.0, I redesigned the whole UI from scratch. Here's what was wrong with the original, what changed in 2.0, and the design decisions behind the new look.
An honest comparison of 10 Duolingo alternatives for 2026. What each app does well, what it doesn't, and which one is right for you.
Duolingo works for millions — it didn't work for me, and not for the reasons you'd expect. Why I quit, what I tried instead, and what I built to replace it.
Most lock screen widgets show clocks, weather, or battery. A few teach you something every time you glance at your phone — here is an honest 2026 comparison.
A practical guide to spaced repetition — how the SM-2 algorithm decides when to show you each word, plus the mistakes most learning apps make. In plain English.
The honest backstory behind Wordify — how a Spain vacation turned into a side project, and what I learned building a vocabulary app for iOS and Android.
