# Chinese Annotator — Add unknown Pinyin and English

> Chinese ePub reader with Pinyin, definitions, and vocabulary tracking. (iPhone/iPad app by Jon Hargett.)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/chinese-annotator/id1195474397 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [Jon Hargett](https://appshunter.io/developer/1087189196)
- Category: Education
- Price: $0.99
- Rating: 4.10/5 from 30 App Store ratings · 23 written reviews indexed
- Age rating: 4+
- Requires: iOS 9.0 · 65 MB
- Released: 2017-10-13
- Data updated: 2026-08-30
- Monetization: free
- User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/chinese-annotator/id1195474397/reviews.md

## What is Chinese Annotator?

A Chinese ePub reader to assist you in reading Chinese characters. After importing an ePub, you can add Pinyin and English on to the text in a 3-line format. After annotating the text in this way, you can then mark on a word by word basis which definitions you already know and which characters you know. There is a setting that hides the pinyin or definitions of words that you know. In this way, you are forced to look at the character and recall it instead of relying on pinyin. 

A word list is also available to allow you to see all words, words with unknown definitions, or words with unknown pinyin. This list of words can be exported to a file to be imported in to a flash card system, like Pleco. This allows you to easily pick out all the words you don't know in a publication and review them.

You can also print the page of the book currently being displayed. In iOS 10 and greater, you can print to PDF.

## Key features

- Import ePub files
- Add Pinyin and English definitions
- Track known words and characters
- Hide known Pinyin/definitions
- Export word lists for flashcards
- Print pages to PDF

## Recent user reviews (10 of 23)

All indexed reviews: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/chinese-annotator/id1195474397/reviews.md

### 5/5 — Tone colors ?

*2023-11-26*

I know it’s been a while since these have been updated, but I really use them all the time.  I would pay almost anything for a similar app that lets you do tone colors or leave tone markings in. I’m familiar enough to remove many words, but I’m unsure of the tone, so if I want to use this in any official capacity, I have to put the words back in or just use straight pinyin, which is more confusing to me now. An option where you can add/remove the definition, pinyin, and tones would be perfect and I would pay a lot for it.

### 5/5 — Love it!

*2022-10-20*

Love the option to gradually get rid of the English and pinyin on words you already know, helps you focus on the characters you still need to learn while being able to take the training wheels off the characters you’re already familiar with.  Recently started learning Cantonese, so I wish it had the option for Cantonese Yale as well, that would be an awesome feature.  But for learning Mandarin, this app is fantastic.

### 1/5 — Bookmarks please.

*2021-06-14*

It has serious difficulty loading longer epubs. 

Besides the technical difficulty It does well enough for reading short articles. I really like the pinyin annotations as well as how quickly dictionary lookup works. 
 However the app is not suitable for reading novels. It forgets your place in the book when it closes and does not have bookmarks.  

It seems the developer had a good idea for what he wanted to make, but did not bother making a complete app.

### 4/5 — Thank for the new update

*2021-01-10*

Thank you for the new update, things are running a lot better. It fixed my issue with changing font sizes and colours. Great work!

### 4/5 — In error

*2021-01-09*

FYI In the songbook the song #89 got switched to song #30 otherwise I love the app!

### 1/5 — Won’t let me turn off pinyin

*2021-01-03*

I had to reinstall this program onto my iPad and now it will not let me customize how the definitions and pinyin show up. Defeats the purpose of the program as I could use other 3 line apps.  Not sur what the issue is. I have already tried reinstalling it twice so that isn’t the issue.

### 5/5 — Great App

*2020-10-12*

This app is an essential part of meeting preparation! My character learning has greatly improved since i started using this app. I have recommended this app to many friends. One thing, I wish that there could be a toggle for tone marks. An option where one could keep the tone marks visible for selected words.

### 4/5 — Needs more support

*2020-09-07*

Very rough, but does as advertised with epub files. Needs more developer support for quality of life and polish. The translation is very rough and could be better

### 4/5 — Apple update problems

*2019-10-20*

I updated my iPad and now I cannot download any ePubs into the app. How do I fix this problem?

### 3/5 — I’m clueless

*2018-12-28*

I bought the app but cannot seem to understand how it works. I am confused with the whole “open in... feature” the app continually mentions. Please help me understand what an ePub is.

## Frequently asked questions about Chinese Annotator

### What does the Chinese Annotator app do?

This app is a Chinese ePub reader designed to help you learn Chinese. It allows you to import ePub books and add Pinyin and English definitions to the text. You can also track which words and characters you know, and hide learned information to test your recall.

### How can I use this app to improve my Chinese vocabulary?

The app lets you annotate ePubs with Pinyin and English definitions, and mark words you know. It also generates a word list of unknown words, which can be exported for use in flashcard systems like Pleco, aiding in focused vocabulary review.

### Is this app free to use?

Yes, the application is available for free. There are no in-app purchases or advertisements mentioned in the provided description.

### What devices is Chinese Annotator compatible with?

The app is designed for iOS devices. Specifically, the ability to print to PDF is available on iOS 10 and greater.

### Can I use this app to read any Chinese book?

The app functions as an ePub reader, so you can use it to read any Chinese book that is in the ePub format. It provides tools to add annotations and track your learning progress for the content within those ePubs.

## Version history (last 5 releases)

### 2.0.2 — 2021-01-11

Fixed a bug that caused annotations from a previous page to spill over in to the next pages.

### 2.0.1 — 2021-01-09

Fixed issue with settings dialog.

### 2.0 — 2020-12-30

Add Stats view to show you how many words you have learned. Minor bug fixes.

### 1.1.3 — 2018-02-14

Fix problem with export that some users were seeing.

### 1.1.2 — 2018-02-05

Fixed bug that caused the app to crash when the word list is viewed, and then all Pinyin and Definition switches are checked. Also improvements for when app is viewed in split screen. In addition, app should now have better support for Traditional character publications.

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## More apps by Jon Hargett

- [3lines.org](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/3linesorg/id1352194221)

All apps by Jon Hargett: https://appshunter.io/developer/1087189196

## Related topics

[chinese annotator](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/chinese-annotator)

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*Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-08-30.*