Kiku pauses video on every subtitle line so you can process what was said, then carries on. It works on YouTube, Netflix and most other video sites.
Automates the "Primed Listening" technique I learned from Matt vs Japan's Immersion Dojo. It creates a silence gap on every line, giving your brain the instant it needs to fully decode the audio.
Pauses on every subtitle line, holding for a gap scaled to how long the line is.
One key jumps back and plays the line again. Press it again for another listen.
Subtitles stay hidden while listening and appear only when the video pauses.
Reads captions through the browser's own caption track, so most players work with no setup.
Holds the gap without the player surfacing its control bar over the picture.
Plays faster through music and silence, dropping back the moment dialogue returns.
Long stretches without dialogue are dead time in a study session. Kiku Pro plays them faster.
Dialogue always plays at normal speed and still pauses on every line. Only the gaps move faster, and playback drops back the instant the next subtitle appears.
Add Kiku to your Chrome or Brave browser in one click.
Open a video with subtitles turned on. Beyond YouTube and Netflix, grant the site once from the toolbar.
Kiku handles the pausing. You focus on the listening.
Pro adds one thing today, and future Pro features on top. It takes nothing away.
| Feature | Free | Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Auto-pause on every subtitle line | Yes | Yes |
| Replay the last line on a key | Yes | Yes |
| Hide subtitles while playing | Yes | Yes |
| YouTube and Netflix | Yes | Yes |
| Any other site with subtitles | Yes | Yes |
| Freeze instead of pausing | Yes | Yes |
| Speed up when nobody is speaking | — | Yes |
| Future Pro features | — | Included |
Kiku Pro is a one-time purchase. Install the free extension first, then activate it in the popup.
Get Kiku ProYouTube and Netflix work as soon as you install it. Anywhere else, open the popup and enable that one site. Kiku reads captions through the browser's own caption track, which covers most players with no setup at all.
Yes. Automatic pausing, Replay, subtitle hiding and support for sites beyond YouTube and Netflix are part of the free extension and are staying there. Pro adds features rather than fencing off existing ones.
Yes. The licence is stored in your browser profile, so if you use Chrome sync it appears on your other machines without re-entering anything.
Nothing changes. The speed-up only ever runs after Kiku has actually read a subtitle on that video, so a video it cannot read plays normally from start to finish.
No. Subtitle text and playback control happen entirely on your device, and nothing read from a page ever leaves your browser. The single exception is Kiku Pro: when you activate a licence, and about once a week afterwards, your licence key is sent to the payment provider to confirm it is valid. No page content or viewing activity is ever included, and if you do not buy Pro the extension makes no network requests at all.
Kiku is free to install. Add it, turn subtitles on, and it handles the rest.
Add to Chrome — It's Free