Start here
Gloss is a Thai dictionary. The lookup is free. Pro is the rest of the loop: see Thai out in the world, open it, and keep it.
Look up a word
On the home screen, type Thai script, a romanization such as sawasdee, or an English meaning. Tap a result to open the entry. Press and hold a result to open the shorter word card. If Vibrate on long press is on, the phone buzzes when that card opens.
The menu
Swipe in from the left edge. The menu is grouped into reading, cards, and the dictionary. Search returns you to the home field. History is the words you have opened. Settings is where appearance, audio, and search behavior live. Contact Us is how you write in.
iPhone, iPad, and Android
The same lookup is on all three. On a wide iPad screen the entry can sit beside the results, so you can keep the list open while you read a word. A few color controls are iPhone-only and are called out under Colors.
Free and Pro
The dictionary itself does not require Pro. Pro is a one-time purchase, or weekly. It unlocks the features as they exist when you buy.
What stays free
- Search in Thai, romanization, and English, and the full entry: headword, romanization, definitions, and spoken audio.
- History, Settings, and Contact Us.
- Home tiles for a saved entry, Searches, History, Settings, and Contact.
- Text size and fonts, night mode, search options, audio volume and speed, IPA, and the fonts you can swipe on a headword.
What Pro adds
- Camera and photo scan, the web reader, documents, and the clipboard reader.
- SPELL, which walks a word in writing order.
- Tone colors on Thai and the romanization.
- Folders, cards, tests, and test statistics.
- Explore by Categories, Language Origins, and loanword marks.
- Backup and restore of your own data, the web browser choice, and home tile color.
Opening a Pro feature while you are on the free app shows the paywall. The button says Get Gloss pro. Have a code is on that plans page if someone gave you one.
Restore a purchase
Settings → Restore purchases. Pro comes back from the same Apple ID or Google account that bought it. The app does not store the receipt itself, and a backup file does not include it. On the paywall you can also restore from the plans page.
Settings shows Pro version as On or Off from that store account. It is not a switch you flip to unlock the app.
Search
The home field searches the dictionary. It can also list settings pages and home widgets, if you turn those on.
What you can type
Thai script matches headwords. A loose romanization matches pronunciation. English matches glosses and definitions. Classifiers, when shown, sit in parentheses after the definition in the list.
Tap opens the entry. Press and hold opens the word card, where you can add the word to a folder once you have Pro.
Settings → Search
- Number of results. How many matches to list. Pick a count, type your own, or choose Unlimited.
- Include settings. Settings pages show up in the same list, so you can jump to Audio or Colors from the home field.
- Include widgets. Home widgets show up in the results too.
- Show classifiers. Puts the classifier in parentheses after the definition.
- Vibrate on long press. A short buzz when the word card opens.
- Shake to go home. Shake from anywhere to return home. Shake again to go back to where you were.
A word
An entry is the headword, how it sounds, and what it means. Pro adds the writing-order walk and tone color.
On the entry
You get the Thai headword, romanization, part of speech, and the English definitions. The speaker button plays the word. Volume, speed, and per-voice level are under Settings → Audio.
When Gloss has them, the entry also shows the pieces of the word and example sentences. Related words stay with the entry. On iPad they stay in the entry column while the result list stays on the other side.
SPELL
SPELL is Pro. It steps through the word in the order Thai is written, rather than as one block of letters. If tone colors are on, each syllable is painted with its tone while you walk the letters. You can still play audio for a step when that step has a pronunciation.
Fonts on the headword
Swipe the Thai word to switch font. The list and the order come from Settings → Fonts shown. The default pair is Sarabun, then Sukhumvit. Drag rows there to reorder, use Add Font for another face, and Reset to defaults to put Sarabun and Sukhumvit back.
Marks on a word
Pro can show a small mark for how a word is used: Royal language, Formal, Historical, Informal, Colloquial, Slang, or Vulgar. Religious lists can add Buddhist language, Muslim language, Christian language, or Hindu language. Settings → Word categories turns each mark on or off. Off hides the mark. The word stays in search and on the entry. Turning a mark on asks for Pro. With Pro, the usage marks start on and the religious lists start off.
Home screen
The home screen is the search field plus tiles you pin. Hold a tile until it jiggles, tap the minus, and confirm Remove. Cancel leaves it where it is.
What you can pin
Open the menu and choose Widgets, or use the add sheet on the home screen. Free pins are a dictionary entry you save, Searches, History, Settings, and Contact. Pro also pins Camera, Photos, Web Reader, Open Document, Clipboard Reader, New Test, Continue Test, Files, My Test Statistics, Transfer Cards, Explore by Categories, and Language Origins.
Widgets
- Dictionary entry and Searches are free.
- Time studied, Past week, Folder, and Test folder need Pro, because they read your cards.
- Source language, Random entry, Tone rules, and Language origins are Pro.
Tile look
Settings → Tiles is Pro. Follow the phone lets the tiles shift a little when you tilt the device. Turn it off and they stay still. Color is Lacquer or Gold. Lacquer is the dark default. Gold keeps the same vine marks, drawn in black on gold.
Scan and read
These are Pro. They are for Thai that is already on a page, a sign, a photo, or something you pasted, so you do not retype it.
Camera and Photos
Camera points at Thai and lets you tap a word to open the entry. Photos does the same thing from a picture already on the phone. From either one you can save the word as a card before you leave.
Web Reader
Open a page and tap Thai in it to look the word up without leaving the reader. Settings → Web Browser, which is Pro, chooses the engine the reader starts from: Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, Baidu, or Yandex. Google is the default.
Open Document
Open a PDF or another file and tap the Thai in it. The file stays on the phone. It is not copied into a backup. A later app update keeps files you have opened. Deleting the app removes them.
Clipboard Reader
Paste Thai from a message or a note, then tap a word. The reader’s own controls are Find in text, Document settings, and Files for things you have opened before.
Cards and tests
Pro keeps words you actually looked up. A folder is a set of those cards. A test is a pass through a folder.
Files
The menu item is Files. That is the library of folders and cards. Prebuilt folders ship with the app. Swiping Delete on one hides it and leaves your own cards alone. Settings → Restore prebuilt folders, which is Pro, brings a hidden folder back, or restores all of them.
Transfer Cards moves cards in and out of the app. My Test Statistics shows what you have studied: due now or not studied, reviewed today, streak, and how many cards are new, learning, or further along.
New Test
Begin Test starts a session. If one is already open, you can continue it from this screen too. Basic Settings:
- Test type. Simple, or Spaced Repetition.
- Max number of cards. A count, All, or Endless.
- Card categories. Which folders are in this test. The screen title uses the folder name when one is selected.
- Show. Any mix of Thai Script, Pronunciation, Definition, and Audio. The label lists what is on, or None.
- Answer. Tap to reveal, or Type Thai.
During a test
Simple grades are Incorrect and Correct. Spaced Repetition grades are Again, Hard, Good, and Easy. Again means you want it back soon. Easy means you knew it.
Continue Test lists sessions still in progress, then completed ones grouped by day.
More settings on a test
- Commands. Repeat incorrect cards brings misses back before the session ends. Show statistics opens a summary at the end.
- Display. Two optional top fields (this session’s correct and incorrect counts, or that card’s correct percent), headword size, definition size, and the card background.
- Card selection. Gather order is Due or Random. Manage new cards, and New card ratio, control how many unseen cards are mixed in. The ratio is a percent.
- Scoring. Spaced repetition can use FSRS or SM-2. Desired retention is the FSRS target, from 70% to 99%. Simple scoring stays on Incorrect and Correct.
Categories and origins
Both of these menu items are Pro. They are for browsing, not for the search box.
Explore by Categories
Lists group words you can open like any other entry. The groups include Letters (consonants and vowels), Numbers, Essentials for getting started, Idioms, and Situations such as a restaurant, shopping, travel, and health. Religious lists live here too, and they are the same lists you can mark on an entry.
Language origins
Language Origins, in the menu, is the longer view of where words come from. Settings → Loanword origins, also Pro, is the reference for those source scripts. The Source language home widget is the short version of the same idea.
Settings
Open Settings from the menu. Rows that need Pro are hidden until Pro is on, except where a control is visible and turns the paywall on when you enable it.
Text
Separate faces, weights, and sizes for Thai and for English. Thai covers the headword on an entry, the headword in results, Thai in history, and Thai components. English covers screen titles, app UI, the English gloss, definitions, romanization, IPA, part of speech, section labels, and supporting copy. Each row shows a sample in the current face. Reset text to defaults puts the fonts, weights, and sizes back.
Colors
Night mode is the dark look, and it is free. The Settings row shows Day or Night.
Tone colors are Pro. When they are on, each syllable is painted by its tone: Mid, Low, Falling, High, and Rising. Thai and the romanization use the same palette, and SPELL uses it too. Light mode and night mode keep separate palettes. Randomize Colors picks another preset for the palette you are looking at. On iPhone, each tone has a color picker. Reset colors to defaults restores both palettes. That asks you to confirm first.
Audio
Volume is the overall level. Playback speed is a percent. Voice volume is a separate adjustment per voice. Reset audio to defaults restores volume, speed, and those voice adjustments, after you confirm.
Dictionary rows
- IPA pronunciation. Show IPA places a phonetic spelling under the romanization. Hidden removes that line. The word and the romanization stay.
- Word categories. The usage and religious marks described under A word. The Settings value reads All shown, Off, or how many are hidden.
- Fonts shown. The swipe list for headwords. Default reads Sarabun, Sukhumvit.
- Restore prebuilt folders. Pro. Bring back a folder you swiped away on Files.
About, review, and reset
About this app shows the version and the lexicon notices: NOTICE, the LEXiTRON license, data provenance, terms, and privacy. Terms of use and Privacy policy are also on the Settings list itself. Loanword origins sits there when Pro is on. Write a review opens the store review page once the listing is available.
Restore defaults puts night mode, type, colors, search, audio, the web browser, tiles, fonts shown, and entry marks back as they shipped. It asks before it does that. It does not delete folders, cards, or history.
Your data
An App Store or TestFlight update keeps folders, cards, opened files, and settings. Deleting the app clears what was only on the phone. That is expected.
Backup Database
Settings → Backup Database is Pro. It writes a JSON file named Thai Dictionary Backup.json, and you keep that file in Files, Drive, email, or anywhere else. The info button on that section explains the file.
The file includes flashcards, folders, study days, and test settings. It includes search history and saved links. It includes app settings: text, colors, search, audio, web browser, home tiles, fonts shown, IPA, word-category marks, clipboard and document preferences, and similar options stored on the phone.
It does not include the dictionary. That ships with the app and can be replaced by an update. Your cards are not stored in the dictionary file. It does not include PDFs, photos, or other files you opened. It does not include a paid plan. Gloss does not keep a copy of the backup on its own servers.
Restore Database
After you delete the app or move to a new phone, use Restore Database and pick that same file. Each backup has a format number. A newer app still reads an older file: it restores fields it still uses and skips the rest. A setting that was added after you made the backup is left as it is on the phone. Restoring a newer file into an older app skips fields that version does not know.
What an update changes
Installing an update does not reset folders, cards, opened files, or settings. Uninstalling does. If you might delete the app or switch phones, keep a Backup Database file somewhere that is not only inside the app.