Help
Using Second Nature Dojo
A quick tour. The app is a rehearsal aid — it assumes you already learned the form from an instructor and want a prompt while you practise it alone.
First launch
Pick the art you train. That sets the word the app uses for a form — poomsae, kata, taolu, hyung, or just "form" — and suggests a matching app icon. Not sure? Choose "I'm not sure yet"; you can change it any time in Settings ▸ Style.
Your library
You start with the first forms of your art already loaded. A segmented control switches between Forms, Combos, and Playlists — including two ready-made ones, a WT and an ITF color-belt curriculum. Use filter & sort to narrow a long list, and Settings ▸ Library to also show forms from other arts.
Favorites
Star a form, combo, or playlist from its detail screen, or from a card's long-press menu, to add it to Favorites, shown above the segmented control. Tap a favorite to open it, or its play button to start practising immediately with your saved settings. Free for everyone.
Practising a form
- Open a form and tap Start practice.
- Choose the language, the prompt length — full description, short memory-jog, or just the step number — and where the step number appears.
- Pick an advance mode (below) and whether to speak the steps aloud.
- Work through the form. Tap the prompt card to hear the current step again.
The gear icon reopens these settings mid-session without losing your place.
Advance modes
- Manual — tap the left or right side of the screen, or the Back / Next controls.
- Timer — advances on its own after a countdown you set; pause whenever you need to.
- Voice — say "next", "back", "repeat", "restart" (this form only), or "stop" (back to the main screen). In a playlist, "next form" or "end" skips to the next form. Saying "repeat" again on the same step adds more detail.
With both spoken prompts and voice control on, mute the prompt so the microphone doesn't hear it as a command.
Voice control in another language
Voice control recognizes your commands on your phone — your voice is never sent to a server — so the speech model for your practice language has to be installed on the device. If you switch to another language (Korean, Japanese, Spanish and so on) and see a message that voice control isn't available for it:
- Open Settings ▸ General ▸ Keyboard.
- Add that language's keyboard and make sure Dictation is turned on.
- Return to Second Nature and try the mic again. iOS may need to download the language first.
Some languages may not be available for on-device recognition at all. In that case, use Manual or Timer mode — spoken prompts don't depend on this speech model.
Fading off the text
The Progressive drill — on a form's screen, free for everyone — runs the form three times back to back: full instructions, then short, then numbers only, to wean you off the written prompts.
Start and done calls
The traditional preparation and finishing calls for your art play automatically around each form. Turn them off in Settings ▸ Style.
Playlists & Quiz Me Pro
Group several forms and combos into an ordered playlist and run them back to back — a full belt-test in one session. Quiz Me shuffles the playlist once and takes you through it in random order.
Your practice record
Every completed run-through — solo, in a playlist, quizzed, or a drill pass — is counted for today, this week, and all time, plus a current and longest streak across everything you practice (any art, any form, counted together). Counting is always on; seeing the Training Log — and the streak — needs Pro, so your history is already there if you subscribe later.
Daily reminder
Turn on a once-a-day nudge to practice, at a time you choose, in Settings ▸ Notifications. It mentions your streak when you have one, and tapping it resumes your last practice. Free, and off by default.
Home Screen widgets
Add the Practice widget for a one-tap jump back into your last session, or Favorites to see your favorites right on your Home Screen. Both free.
Adding your own Pro
Create a form with New in the library, or import one from JSON under Manage Library. You can edit any form, including the built-in ones, and export a single form, a category, or the whole library to share it.
iCloud sync Pro
Turn on Settings ▸ Data ▸ Sync library with iCloud to keep your library, playlists, settings, and training log the same across your devices, through your own private iCloud. Off by default — nothing leaves your device until you enable it.
Something wrong in a form?
Bundled forms can have mistakes, especially the newer ones and the translations. Report a form issue and we'll correct it.