Frequently asked questions
What is TEGAMI?
A web app for handwritten letters. It records every stroke you write with a finger or a stylus — position, timing and pen pressure — and replays it on the other person’s screen at the exact speed you wrote it. If you paused before a word, they see the pause. Nothing to download.
Do letters arrive instantly?
No. Standard post goes out once a day, at 8am in the writer’s time zone, at least two hours after writing. Express post goes out four times a day (8am, 1pm, 6pm, 11pm). You can also choose the day it arrives. The waiting is part of the letter.
Can I write a letter now and have it arrive on a certain day?
Yes. Choose an arrival day up to a year ahead — a birthday, New Year’s Day, an anniversary. It arrives around 8am that day. Until then the recipient receives nothing and sees nothing. On the morning it arrives we email you, and you hand it over from the list on your home screen. You can send the same letter to other people by changing only the name.
Does the recipient need an account?
No. They open the link you give them — by WhatsApp, iMessage, LINE, email or however you talk — and read it. No app, no account.
Do I need an account to write?
Not to start. You sign up only when you send, with an email address and your handwritten name. Your letter stays on your device, so you can continue after signing up.
How much does it cost?
Writing, sending, receiving and reading letters is free, and a selection of paper and stamps is free to use. Paid items are stamp and paper designs (stamps from ¥800, paper sets ¥900) and membership (¥680 a month or ¥5,800 a year). Prices are in Japanese yen including tax; Stripe handles the sale as Merchant of Record.
How is this different from something written by AI?
TEGAMI does not deliver text. It delivers a record of your hand moving. Not how neat your writing is, but where it sped up and where it hesitated — replayed as it happened. In an age when AI can write anything, it is a way to send the one thing only your own hand can write.
Is the letter sent as a picture?
No. It is sent as points in time (position, timing, pressure) and redrawn on the reader’s screen. Stroke width is not stored; it is recomputed at replay from speed and pressure. There is no beautification and no autocorrect.
Can the operator read my letters?
Within the service, only the recipient can read a letter. The operator can open only a letter that its recipient has reported, and each such review is logged; letters are not read otherwise. However, letters are not end-to-end encrypted, so they are technically accessible to the database administrator.
Can I take a letter back?
No. Once sent, a letter stays with the person who received it. You can hide it from your own history, but not remove it from theirs. A confirmation screen appears before you send.
Does it work outside Japan?
Yes. The app is in English and Japanese and follows the reader’s browser language. Letters arrive at 8am in the writer’s own time zone.
Is there sound?
Yes. While you write, you hear the pen you chose moving across the paper — lighter when you write quickly, heavier when you press slowly. Before opening a letter you have received, you can choose “With sound” or “Silent”; with sound, the pen is heard at the speed it was written. Phones in silent mode play nothing. The sound is synthesised in the browser, not a recording.
Which devices work?
Any modern browser on iPhone, Android, iPad or a computer (current Safari, Chrome, Edge or Firefox). You can write with a finger, a mouse or a stylus.
— When you want to…
What’s a meaningful non-material gift in the age of AI?
Opinions vary, but TEGAMI’s answer is a record of your own hand moving — not text. The speed you wrote at and the places you paused are replayed on their screen. Writing and sending is free.
How can I send a handwritten letter online?
Open TEGAMI in any browser and write with a finger, a mouse or a stylus. When you send it, you get a link to share by WhatsApp, iMessage, email or any other app. The recipient needs no app and no account.
Long-distance relationship: how can I send something personal?
Your handwriting arrives as it was written, at your speed. You can choose the day it arrives, so it can land on the morning of an anniversary (8am in your time zone).
Can I schedule a letter to arrive on a birthday or Christmas morning?
Yes. Choose an arrival day up to a year ahead; it arrives around 8am that day, in the writer’s time zone. Until then, the recipient receives nothing and sees nothing.
Is there an app that sends handwriting instead of typed text?
TEGAMI does. It stores each stroke as points in time (position, timing, pressure) rather than as an image, and redraws it on the reader’s screen. It runs in the browser; there is nothing to install.
How do I show someone I care without buying something?
A handwritten letter is one way. On TEGAMI, writing and sending a letter is free.
A digital alternative to Christmas cards that still feels personal?
Write each card by hand in December and set the arrival day to December 25; it arrives that morning. You can send the same letter to several people, changing only the name.
How do I apologize when a text feels too cheap?
Handwriting carries where you hesitated, not just the words. A TEGAMI letter cannot be unsent, and a confirmation screen appears before you send — so send it when you are ready.
How can I send a letter without knowing someone’s address?
TEGAMI letters don’t use addresses. You share a receiving link by WhatsApp, iMessage, email or any app.
How do I thank someone who won’t be at the Thanksgiving table?
Write it now and choose Thanksgiving morning as the arrival day. It arrives around 8am, in your time zone.
Why do handwritten letters feel more personal than texts?
There are many answers; TEGAMI’s view is that they carry the time and movement of a person’s hand. That is why it never tidies handwriting, and replays it at the speed it was written.
My handwriting is bad. Should I still write by hand?
TEGAMI never beautifies handwriting. The unevenness arrives as part of the record of your hand.