You're starting from zero, or picking up new characters one at a time. The goal is instant recognition of each character's sound — not counting dits and dahs. See Philosophy for why the app is built around this approach.
Where to Go
Open Character Training from the launcher. Leave it in Koch mode — you start with just two characters (K and M) and unlock one new character at a time. Stay at a level until you can copy at least 90% comfortably, then tap the next chip to advance.
Selecting Specific Characters
Koch isn't the only mode. The mode selector at the top of the Character Training screen offers two alternatives if you want more control over which characters you drill:
- Selected Characters — tap individual chips to pick exactly which characters to practise, regardless of Koch order. Useful for a targeted drill on specific characters you keep getting wrong.
- Koch with Exclusions — keeps the normal Koch progression but skips individually excluded characters. Useful if you want to defer a character you find especially hard without losing your place in the overall order.
See Character Training for the full reference on all three modes.
Settings to Review
-
Speed (WPM) —
keep it at a comfortable full-character speed (default
25). The Koch method deliberately trains characters at full target speed from day one; slowing individual characters down encourages counting instead of recognition. - Farnsworth WPM — the app ships with Farnsworth on by default (20 WPM). For pure single-character drilling, many learners prefer turning it off: each character is already isolated by the exercise format, so the extra inter-character spacing adds less value here than it does for words and sentences.
- Enable TTS — this is the default posture for Character Training, not just something to try: leave it on, with Normal pronunciation mode. Turning TTS on routes you into the dedicated TTS training screen, which only ever reveals a character's name after its Morse has fully played — there's no separate Text display setting to configure, nothing on screen can give it away in advance.
- Don't write characters down. Say or think the letter as you recognise it instead of transcribing it — writing substitutes a slower motor skill for the instant auditory recognition you're actually building.
Ready for a timed drill? Try the Character Match Quick Game — it uses your current Koch level automatically.