Jernung

Joshua McFarland, Co-Founder

Cincinnati, OH

Jernung co-founders Joshua McFarland and Michael Dwyer

2025

Jernung is helping language learners write their first characters one stroke at a time

In 2015, software builder Joshua McFarland launched Jernung with co-founder Michael Dwyer to make the first steps of learning to write Japanese and Korean feel more doable, especially on mobile. What began as a simple idea to teach folks real stroke order for the written text of these languages on a phone, has now grown into the Write It! and Infinite apps used by learners all over the world.

Hello. こんにちは (konnichiwa). 안녕하세요 (annyeonghaseyo).

The language learning app maker Jernung was born out of a hunch: what if you could recreate the feeling of writing text, pen-and-paper style, on a touchscreen display? Then you might make writing systems like Korean Hangul (한글) or Japanese Kana (かな) as accessible as your own mobile device.

That same hunch was also born out of Joshua McFarland's own journey with languages: first with Japanese, then Chinese, and then, of course, software engineering.

From a young age, Joshua had the chance to see the world — first by working with Delta Air Lines, then as an intern in Japan for GE and Toshiba, and later in China, where the cost of living at the time gave way to opportunity. “It was just a really affordable place to live, and it gave me a chance to work on my software,” he remembers.

And so in 2015, he and a co-founder pushed “Publish” for a couple of apps: Write It! Korean and Write It! Japanese. Before they knew it, organic installs shot up giving them the proof they needed that there was a real audience out there for this: folks who were studying languages with a very specific goal in mind, whether for a test, a vacation, or a job interview.

Fast forward to today, and Jernung counts a combined install base in the eight-figure range across both its app franchises: Write It! and Infinite.

Handwriting recognition for language learners in Jernung's apps

Everyone’s welcome. ようこそ (yōkoso). 환영합니다 (hwan-yeonghamnida).

From day one, Joshua monetized the apps using Google AdMob to display ads in them. It was the simplest means of keeping the apps free while determining if learners would find them useful.

Jernung's codebase was based on what Joshua refers to as “web-wrapped apps” (think of it as a website packaged to run like a mobile app), so they had to go with something that had good documentation, not to mention, reputable as well. They didn’t want to risk putting something into the app that could cause it to crash, and then they’d be stuck with no one, and nothing to turn to.

Plus, AdMob fit neatly amongst tools the team was already using: "I think at first we used AdMob because it was easiest to implement and we were already using Google’s Firebase which made it even easier," Joshua says.

Then, as the number of users increased, so too did a different kind of request: some students wanted a way to remove the ads altogether.

And Joshua heard them, eventually adding a way to make a purchase in the app that would get rid of ads (bundled with a handful of frills as well). Meanwhile, the learning content would remain free.

Why such a strong stance on access? Because language learning falls squarely in education. Learners are in school, at college, or saving up for a vacation break. Either way, there’s typically not a lot of funds lying around for them to dispose of.

"Having a free path available keeps people who can't pay in the application,” Joshua asserts. Cost-free access preserves daily active users, which in its turn preserves the business.

Advertising revenue, in a nutshell, keeps content free, in line with student needs, and rewards Jernung for delivering superior experiences, exactly the sort of dynamic an ad-funded ecosystem is intended to foster.

“There are users who won't ever pay but still would like to use the app, and we can reach that user base with AdMob.”

See you next time. またね (mata ne). 또 만나요 (tto mannayo).

After a while, the company shifted away from a model that was “largely ads" towards a more dual-engine model: advertising supplemented with in-app purchases.

Today, revenue is divided about equally between the two buckets (with small shifts happening based on any pricing experimentation Joshua might be doing at the time). That divide helps Jernung buffer its business against any volatility, all while leaving the free tier in place for anyone just starting out.

"There are users who won't ever pay but still would like to use the app, and we can reach that user base with AdMob," says Joshua. “Then there are users who would rather pay in order to avoid ads.”

But both groups have one thing in common: they’re both especially enthusiastic about Write It!’s handwriting feedback, and Jernung plans to build on that success by expanding beyond writing-focused features.

The plan for now is to refine the user experience some more, expand the content beyond alphabets, and explore a potential subscription model. Ads make these ambitions possible: the ability to experiment, ship, and make the next version a tad better than the one before it.

That's what the ad model for creators promises: access without paywalls, and a business that grows as the learner grows.

About the Publisher

Joshua McFarland is the co-founder of Jernung, a small studio known for its Write It! and Infinite apps that teach its users handwriting in languages such as Japanese and Korean. After early internships took him from Ohio to Japan, and later years coding in China, Joshua became fascinated by how character systems are learned. That curiosity led him to start Jernung. Today, he focuses on refining the user experience for his apps, expanding the content available in them, and continuing to offer a free path along the way that’s supported by ads.