The daily text does not appear

Either your dictionary is still too small for a text to be assembled — add words in your ordinary sessions — or today’s text has already been read, in which case the next one arrives the following day. On the free plan the number of daily texts is capped.

The news has too many unfamiliar words

Switch the article to a lower level — the switcher sits above the text. The same story opens, retold more simply.

I do not want to add words from reading to my dictionary

Tapping a word only shows the breakdown and saves nothing. A word enters your dictionary only after a separate action in the popover.

The mobile app has no journal

That is correct: the journal exists on the web only. Entries written in the browser are not shown in the mobile app.

← How the service works

Practice

Reading

You can read the daily text, news and materials in the Texts library. The daily text draws on your dictionary, news retells real articles by level, and the library lets you add your own material. The website also has a journal for short personal entries. Pinyin, translation and word explanations help you understand what you read.

The daily text

A short everyday story the service writes for you personally. It is built from words in your dictionary — first of all the ones due for review soon; mastered words are left out. The difficulty follows your level and the level of those words.

The text appears on the dashboard once your dictionary has enough studied words. The current material stays until you finish reading; the next arrives on a new day. Older texts are available in the history.

Tapping a word shows pinyin and a translation. Nothing is added to your dictionary: the words in the text come from it already.
Pinyin and the full translation are switched on above the text, and the font size changes there too (tapping the size that is already selected changes the typeface instead, so repeated taps cycle through the available fonts).
There is audio: the word being read aloud is highlighted as it goes.
Texts you have finished are kept, so you can reread them in the history.

On the free plan the number of daily texts is capped; the subscription has no cap.

News

Every other day the service takes one article from Chinese outlets and retells it in simpler language. You are not reading the original: the substance and the facts are kept, but the text is rewritten so it can be read at your level.

Every article has three versions — for beginner, intermediate and advanced HSK levels. The one matching your level opens by default; you can switch versions inside the article, above the text.

Tapping a word shows pinyin and a translation, and the same popover lets you add the word to your dictionary.
The key words from the article are listed below it.
Pinyin, translation, font size and audio work the same way as in the daily text.
Topics are everyday and informative: science, culture, nature, society, people, travel, technology, business. Politics, crime and conflict are kept out of the selection.

Every published article stays in the archive, which can be browsed by month and by topic.

The journal

The journal is a place for your own short entries in Chinese: a few sentences about your day, at your level. The section is absent from the mobile apps and works on the web only.

Entries are tied to dates: one per day, and you move between them through the calendar or the list. While you write, the entry saves itself as a draft; a separate button marks it published. Deleting an entry happens in the same place.

A search across your dictionary sits next to the text, so you can look a word up without leaving the entry.
Pinyin and a translation of the entry are switched on with toggles; the translation is produced by the service while it is on.
Words already in your dictionary are highlighted inside the entry.
Entries are visible only to you.

Length and reading tools

In the daily text, choose a short, medium or long next material. The choice applies to the next text and does not rewrite the current one. If your vocabulary is still small, Tomyo uses a length it can prepare.

Tap a word to open its card; the whole-sentence action shows the sentence with pinyin, translation and audio. News uses the same tools. A sentence translation helps when you know individual words but cannot understand the overall meaning.

Your text library

Texts lets you create material outside the daily feed: generate it from your dictionary, paste an existing text or write an essay. Questions and collaboration are available there too. It is a separate section with its own saving rules and limits.

Reading on other sites

A Chrome extension pilot is available for ordinary Chinese web pages. It shows dictionary meanings on hover and saves selected words; once you connect an account, they are sent to your Tomyo dictionary. The extension is currently installed from a folder.