Support

Brotpan writes every word in Latin letters, folds similar sounds together (sch and sh, c and k, w and v…) and counts how many letters it takes to turn one word into another. Words that are close enough share a colour. It's sound, not history: two words can look related by chance, and related words can drift apart.

The words come from Wikidata, an open database anyone can edit. When nobody has entered a word for a language yet, its tile stays dashed and empty — Brotpan never guesses. Smaller languages such as Scottish Gaelic or Frisian are missing more often.

The words are the names of items in Wikidata, so now and then you'll see a scientific name or a broader term. Anyone can correct the label on wikidata.org; Brotpan picks up the new word the next time it loads that item. Words you have already opened stay as they were until you clear downloaded words in Settings.

Put a finger on a tile and slide across neighbouring tiles without lifting. Each stitch between two tiles is as thick as the change in the word. Lift your finger and the route plays back; the thickest stitch is marked as the break. Tap Keep to save it under Seams. With VoiceOver, use the action "Add to route" on each tile.

Finding new words needs an internet connection and works best with one plain noun, such as "kite" or "harbour". Items with a word in fewer than 30 of the 43 languages are left out. The built-in set of 126 words works offline at any time.

Brotpan uses the voices installed on your iPhone. When a language has no voice, the button is hidden. You can download more voices in the iPhone Settings under Accessibility → Read & Speak → Voices.

Everything — opened words, stars and seams — is stored only on your iPhone. Settings → Erase everything removes it all. Deleting the app does the same. To have a support message deleted, write to us.

You can turn notifications on or off at any time in the iPhone Settings under Notifications → Brotpan.