Stop Opening Apps to Study: The Complete Wordrop User Manual

Most vocabulary apps are built on a lie.

They tell you: "Just open the app every day."

Then life happens. You skip one day. Then two. Then the streak is gone, the guilt sets in, and the app gets deleted.

Wordrop is built on the opposite idea.

You never open it to study. It comes to you — silently, automatically, while you're already working.

This guide shows you exactly how to set it up so vocabulary starts accumulating in the background, with zero daily discipline required.

What you'll be able to do after reading this

• Get Wordrop running in under 5 minutes
• Import the right word pack for your level and language
• Tune the quiz frequency so it never feels annoying
• Understand every screen and every setting — no guesswork
• Know the one setting most users miss (that makes all the difference)

Before you start: What Wordrop actually does

Imagine you're deep in a coding session. VSCode open, headphones on, flow state engaged.

Suddenly — a tiny floating card appears in the corner of your screen.

"xin chào"

Underneath, in bold yellow: hello

You glance at it for 2 seconds. The card vanishes. You keep coding.

That's it. That's Wordrop.

No app to open. No notifications to dismiss. No study session to schedule. Just 20-second micro-quizzes surfacing while your keyboard is idle — perfectly timed to exploit the natural micro-gaps in your workday.

The science behind it: ACM research found developers have dozens of 5-30 second idle moments every hour (context switches, waiting for builds, reading docs). Wordrop hijacks those moments and fills them with vocabulary review.

Step 1: First launch — Adding your first words

When you open Wordrop for the first time, you'll see the onboarding screen.

You have two options:

Option A — From Online Library (recommended for most users)
Browse and download curated word packs built specifically for your language pair and profession.

Option B — From Computer
Import your own words via a .wordrop pack, a .packs backup, or an Anki .apkg deck.

> Tip: If you're coming from Anki, choose "From Computer" and drag your exported .apkg file. Wordrop reads it directly — no conversion needed.

Step 2: Pick your word pack

After selecting "From Online Library," you'll see the Word Libraries screen.

Filter by:

Available packs at launch:

Click DOWNLOAD next to the pack that fits you. It installs in seconds.

> Which pack should you choose? Start with "Common" if you're building general fluency. Add the "PM" pack if you're a developer, PM, or anyone who communicates in English at work. You can always add more packs later from Settings.

Step 3: Set up your language pair in Settings

Once onboarding is complete, open Wordrop's main window and go to the Settings tab.

The key settings to configure:

App Language

Learning Languages

Focus & Quiz Delivery

• Force Open Quiz Popup — when enabled, quizzes appear even over fullscreen apps. Great for developers who live in full-screen IDEs.
• Pause During Calendar Meetings — Wordrop detects active calendar events and pauses automatically. No quiz during your standup.
• Pause During Screen Sharing — skips quizzes while you're on a video call or screen share. Essential for professionals.

Step 4: Configure the "Idle & Block Apps" setting

This is the setting most users miss. And it's arguably the most important one.

Click IDLE & BLOCK APPS SETTINGS in the Settings panel.

Here you configure two things:

Idle Threshold

Think of this as: "How long do you need to stop typing before Wordrop thinks you're between tasks?"

For developers: a threshold of 5-10 seconds is ideal — it catches the natural breaks between typing bursts without interrupting active coding.

Never Interrupt While These Apps Are Open

Default blocked apps include Keynote, Webex, Webex Meetings, PowerPoint, Microsoft Teams, and Zoom. You can add any app from your system using + ADD APP.

> Pro tip: Don't over-block. The more apps you block, the less Wordrop can teach you. Start with just video call apps, and add others only if the quizzes genuinely disrupt your workflow.

Step 5: Tune your Learning Mode

Go to the Learning Modes tab.

Session Config

Daily Words

> Completing all words in a day marks them done for that day. Each word is re-delivered later for bonus practice — and changes apply from tomorrow.

Enabled Quiz Modes

• Recall — See the native word (e.g., xin chào), type the English equivalent. The hardest mode. The most effective for long-term retention.
• Reverse Recall — See the English word, type the native translation.
• Flashcard — See the native word, the English word is revealed. You rate your own confidence. Available on the free tier. No typing required.

At least one mode must remain enabled.

Elder Word Whisper

Word Reminder Bubble

Step 6: Watch the quiz appear

Now close the settings window and get back to work.

Wordrop runs silently in the background. After your keyboard has been idle for the threshold you set, a quiz overlay will float onto your screen:

The quiz appears directly over your current workspace — no app-switching, no disruption to your window layout. It floats above everything.

Here's the key thing: Wordrop never steals keyboard focus. If you're mid-keystroke, the quiz waits. It only appears when you genuinely pause.

You can see it working over any app — including your IDE:

When you're in Recall or Reverse Recall mode, you type your answer directly. When you're in Flashcard mode, you click Rate Confidence to tell Wordrop how well you remembered the word.

The menu bar: Your quick control center

Click the Wordrop icon in your macOS menu bar to open the control panel:

From here you can access:

The progress bar at the bottom shows how many words you've completed today vs. your daily goal.

Track your progress

Open the My Progress tab to see your learning stats:

At the top:

The Activity Map shows your learning history over time — similar to a GitHub contribution graph, but for vocabulary.

Below the map: achievement tracks for Streak, Mastery, Reviews, Accuracy, and Speed. Each track has multiple tiers to unlock.

Dungeon Map: The gamified layer

For users who want a more structured challenge, open the Dungeon Map from the menu bar or the Dashboard.

The Dungeon Map shows every word pack you have active, with a progress counter showing how many words you've mastered out of the total.

"The dungeon gates are open, Traveler. Don't just stand there."

It's a simple but effective motivator — watching that mastered count climb from 0/150 to 150/150 is genuinely satisfying.

Your word library: Full control over what you learn

Access the Word Library from the Dashboard sidebar.

Here you can see every word in your active packs, with:

Use the search bar to find specific words, filter by language or type, or use + ADD to add individual words manually.

You can also IMPORT additional packs or EXPORT your entire word list as a backup.

A full day with Wordrop — what it actually feels like

8:00am — You open your laptop, Wordrop silently starts in the background.

8:23am — You're reading a PR. Keyboard idle for 7 seconds. A card appears: "gia đình → family". Gone in 3 seconds.

9:45am — You're waiting for a build. Another card: "lifecycle". You type it. Correct. The card vanishes.

12:30pm — Lunch break. Wordrop pauses (you set the calendar block for your lunch event).

3:10pm — You're stuck reading docs. Three cards appear in a row. You get two right, miss one. Wordrop schedules that one for more frequent review.

5:30pm — End of day. Wordrop shows you completed 18 of your 20 daily review words and 7 new words. Streak: 12 days.

You didn't open a study app once.

Common questions

The quiz appears at a bad time. Can I dismiss it without answering?

Yes — click the [ × ] button in the top-right corner of the quiz overlay. The word won't be marked as reviewed.

I want to temporarily pause quizzes during a focus session.

Click the Wordrop icon in your menu bar → Pause Quizzes. Pauses are temporary until the end of the day or until you manually resume.

Can I change my word pack without losing progress?

Yes. Go to Settings → Word Pack and select a new pack. Your existing progress for learned words is preserved.

How many words should I add per day?

For most people, 10 new words/day is the right balance. At this rate, you'll see meaningful results in about 3 months. If quizzes feel overwhelming, drop it to 5. If you want to go faster, try 15-20 — but don't exceed what you can realistically absorb.

Does Wordrop work offline?

100%. No internet connection required after the initial word pack download. All your data stays on your Mac.

The one mindset shift that makes Wordrop work

Most people try Wordrop for a few days, decide "it's not working," and stop.

Here's why: they're still thinking in terms of study sessions.

They want to feel like they're learning. They want to open an app, sit down, focus, and emerge 30 minutes later feeling educated.

Wordrop doesn't feel like that. It feels like nothing — because it's happening in the background.

The proof shows up three weeks later, when you're reading an English article and you realize you understood a word you couldn't have defined last month. It wasn't a lightning bolt moment. You just... know it now.

That's the Ebbinghaus forgetting curve working in reverse. Instead of words leaking out of your memory, Wordrop keeps topping them up — just before you'd forget them — until they become permanent.

You just have to trust the quiet.

Ready to start?

Join the Beta — wordrop.studio

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_Last updated: June 2026_