We just launched Soroban: Mental Math Abacus, an iPhone and iPad app for Japanese abacus arithmetic and mental math practice.
This is a quick build note from the app team, because the interesting part was not just putting an abacus on a screen. The harder design question was how to make a traditional practice routine feel usable in short mobile sessions without turning it into a noisy math game.
The product shape
The app focuses on repeatable practice:
- guided lessons for bead movement and place value
- an interactive virtual abacus for free practice
- Flash Anzan for fast visual number recognition
- speed drills and daily challenges
- workbook-style exercises
- private progress tracking and iCloud sync
- English, Japanese, and Simplified Chinese support
The App Store page is here:
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/soroban-mental-math-abacus/id6762503522
Why SwiftUI worked well here
Soroban practice has a lot of small state changes: beads move, columns update, drills advance, timers run, and the learner needs immediate feedback. SwiftUI fits that loop well when the state model is kept simple and the visual pieces are broken down into small components.
The abacus itself is a good example. Each column can be treated as a stable little unit with its own value, bead state, and visual hints. That made it easier to reuse the same mental model across the iPhone and iPad experiences instead of building two unrelated interfaces.
The main UX constraint
Mental math practice can become stressful quickly if every interaction feels like a test. We tried to keep the app centered on short practice sessions: enough structure to make progress visible, but not so much pressure that learners avoid opening the app.
That affected the interface more than expected. The app needed drills and timers, but also calmer lesson flows, clear progress states, and enough free-play space to let learners explore the abacus without always chasing a score.
iPhone and iPad differences
The iPad can support a more spacious practice layout, but the iPhone has to be tighter and more deliberate. The smaller screen pushed us toward a focused tab structure and compact practice hubs rather than trying to shrink the whole iPad experience.
For an education app, that ended up being a useful constraint. The iPhone version has to answer one question immediately: what should the learner do in the next five minutes?
Localization and progress
Soroban is used by learners in different language contexts, so localization was part of the product rather than a final-pass polish task. The app currently supports English, Japanese, and Simplified Chinese.
Progress tracking is private and practical: streaks, lesson progress, and practice history are there to help learners continue, not to create a public leaderboard.
What we are still looking for
We would love feedback from iOS developers, educators, parents, or anyone who has tried abacus or anzan training:
- Does the App Store positioning explain the app clearly enough?
- What would make a virtual abacus feel more natural on touch screens?
- For short daily practice, would you prioritize lessons, drills, free play, or progress review?
- Are there accessibility or localization details we should pay extra attention to?
Happy to answer questions about the app structure or the learning design choices.
