# Immersive Chinese — user reviews > 39 indexed App Store user reviews of Immersive Chinese by Iain Chalmers, rated 4.80/5 from 57 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/immersive-chinese/id1451785130/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/immersive-chinese/id1451785130.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 51 · 4★ 2 · 3★ 3 · 2★ 0 · 1★ 1 ## Newest reviews (16 of 39) ### 5/5 — Simply Brilliant! *2022-06-19, version 1.3.0* It is highly customisable for learning how to pronounce and comprehend Mandarin Chinese, including characters. The learning curve is smooth from absolute beginner, with repetition training and male/female audio recordings. I cannot rate this app highly enough. ### 5/5 — Pure joy *2022-06-17, version 1.3.0* After 15 years of frustration with tutors, classes, textbooks, workbooks, flash cards, audio courses, translators, dictionaries (okay except Pleco), and umpteen apps that claim to teach Chinese, with Immersive Chinese I've been more motivated and have made more progress in just a few weeks, especially reading and listening, and even recalling and writing characters. The interactive drill format, incremental introduction of vocabulary, and real-life sentences that teach grammar implicitly without a word of linguistic jargon, are truly ingenious. The lack of irrelevant graphics, animations, gaming, stories, cultural diversions and other distractions let me focus on building language skills and experience the pure joy of learning. ### 5/5 — A fantastic and underrated app to learn chinese *2022-01-11, version 1.2.5* I used this app when learning chinese from scratch and as I’ve progressed it’s still relevant and challenging. An excellent tool, especially for those needing to get better as listening and understanding chinese as well as expanding vocabulary. A++ ### 5/5 — Perfect *2022-01-10, version 1.2.5* This app has such a clean, intuitive and functional design, everything about it works perfectly. I love it and thank the developer for building such a perfect learning tool for me. ### 5/5 — Excellent resource *2021-11-25, version 1.2.5* Great tool for learning mandarin with high-quality pronunciation and overall lesson plans. Keep up the great work! ### 5/5 — Excellent App *2021-05-03, version 1.2.4* I use this app when I don’t have lessons on italki and many people have commented that my pronunciation is very standard. Very pleased with the amount of content and brief explanations ### 5/5 — Great *2021-03-03, version 1.2.2* This is still by far the best Mandarin app I’ve used. I left a review sometime last year as well in regards to Cantonese. Please make the Cantonese version using this method! The Cantonese version will take off overnight!! ### 5/5 — Full version Gone? *2020-09-27, version 1.1.9* Hello I really love this app, what happened to the full version, is it now subscription based? ### 5/5 — Comprehensible input gold *2020-08-26, version 1.1.8* I have been looking and striving to get comprehensible input so I can rapidly increase my mandarin abilities. This app is a God send! Couldn’t be more thankful for all the hard work and time that was devoted to making and improving this app. Please keep it up and maybe do some other languages...Russian *cough *cough ### 5/5 — This is in my trifecta of Apps for learning Chinese *2020-07-28, version 1.1.6* Du Chinese, Pleco Dictionary (obviously) and Immersive Chinese (this app) are all you need. The Chinese spoken in Immersive Chinese is clear, and easy to understand once you get enough practice in. You can tell a human is speaking and not some robot. I have to admit the tones on a couple words sound off though but that’s not a big deal. I like that the lessons are based on vocabulary so if you want to learn how to use a word just pull up the lesson and listen to the examples over and over. The grammar is all correct so you just have to follow how the app speaks and incorporate it into your own learning. Buying a subscription is a MUST! This app is invaluable for how much content and help it provides. ### 5/5 — Very helpful *2020-07-27, version 1.1.6* This app is really helpful for beginners. You can use it for listening practice, listen and repeat aloud, or use it for dictation practice (listen and write what you hear). The vocabulary is useful and the interface is easy to use. ### 5/5 — A good app for practice, however *2020-06-21, version 1.1.4* The developers should really consider a less generic name for the app. Finding information about it is difficult because the name is a fairly common phrase in language study. The app itself is customizable enough to allow characters/pinyin/audio to be turned on or off as your prefer. First sections are free, full app is $5, which I would say is worth it if you plan on using it to its full potential. ### 5/5 — This App is Brilliant ~ Such a Necessity *2020-06-18, version 1.1.4* This Immersive App is a necessity for anyone learning Chinese outside of China! It provides you with an apt set of contributory learning functions, such as repetition and pronunciation lessons. It also explains the cultural significances behind certain words/phrases and continues to clarify any possible confusion that could arise with specific word usage. I highly recommend purchasing the full version, however, even without doing so, the free version can be just as useful (to a certain extent). ### 5/5 — Great for learning Mandarin *2020-05-04* Found this app from the YouTube channel. I have extensively used many apps for learning Chinese, and this is by far the best. It’s just so good for learning new vocabulary and sentence-structure, and you can revise again and again on individual sentences. The once-off payment is definitely worth the money. Thanks to the team who put this app together! Fantastic job! ### 5/5 — Awesome for listening practice *2020-03-31, version 1.1.4* This is the best App I have found for Chinese listening practice. Has helped immensely. ### 5/5 — Thanks for adding the batch download! *2019-12-02* App is amazing thank you for everything. I’m in China traveling for 2 weeks and without this app I wouldn’t understand a thing. Also helps with speech by introducing idiomatic ways of saying things. Still have a lot of work to do and this app will be a big part of it. **Developer response:** [Update] I'm pleased to say batch downloading is now available. Marking lesson progress is coming soon. ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — Glitches *2020-08-13, version 1.1.7* I use Android version quite extensively and enjoy it, although there are a few errors and the pronunciation on Android is not always clear. So decided to try on iPad. Sound is good, but the synch is off in the auto play mode. It shows one slide why playing the audio of the next slide. Already a little miffed to have to pony up another payment for the full access I already have on my Android. Update. Sync glitch is gone. But loading on my other iPad it doesn’t recognize my purchase of full access. Also, does slow speed only work in certain early lessons? Changing to slow speed does not actually change the speed. Finally, in my Android version I have been taking screenshots of the slides with errors. Most of them are minor, such as a word left out. A few are pronunciation questions, and maybe it’s correct and I’m not. For instance, is the pronunciation of 俄文 really “wo’wen”? I really do enjoy this app and want to help it improve. 加油！ Update。 autoplay glitches return. Works fine until you manually flip back a slide, then it either gets out of sync or stutters or both. Pausing fixes the sync problem but it still stutters, like this: ”我，我刚错了”。”你，你了解吗？” When I click on support it takes me to a YouTube page on Safari. Not sure how to actually get to support. Also, delay settings don’t seem to work. I just upgraded to latest IOS version before downloading, if that makes any difference. Again I have none of these problem on my Android phone. And now this becomes subscription? Then give me my money back and I will go find something else. ### 3/5 — Good potential, but one big issue *2022-11-10, version 1.3.1* The app seems good for listening practice, but the forward / back arrows (or swiping) do not work in auto play, which is a big issue for this type of app. When you couldn’t hear or understand something, there needs to be a quick and easy way to go back to that card (especially when using it while exercising, etc). I contacted the developer and he responded quickly, but said that it was too difficult to get those buttons to work correctly on iOS, so they disabled them instead… ### 3/5 — Great potential *2019-08-16, version 1.0.5* There were some fantastic initial videos with a fantastic talented Chinese teacher — absolutely the best one! — shared and advertised on yt leading to this app, which were indeed immersive. Because of them, I was expecting that this app will continue those immersive lessons. And I was waiting for it, ready to buy it once it was available. Unfortunately it turned out to be difficult and expensive for the app creator to continue with such wonderful immersive videos and she changed the form to just audio. And this app is, well, not that immersive... Anyway I wanted to use the occasion to send special thanks to the teacher from those videos - you really can teach people that beautiful language like no one else! If you get better opportunities in the future to continue those initial video lessons, I’d be quite interested... :) cheers! ### 3/5 — Good for listening and reading *2019-04-06, version 1.0.2* I think it would be nice if it gave a marker next to lessons that have been completed. Or games for reviewing what we have completed would make it more fun too ### 4/5 — Great content, but app has limits. *2021-12-22, version 1.2.5* It doesn’t sync well between devices (ie, logs you out) and doesn’t show the audio controls on the Lock Screen. ### 4/5 — Good app, but what am I paying a subscription for? *2021-04-13, version 1.2.3* The app is fine. I like it. I’d pay for it if it was a one time fee, like most apps used to be. But now everything has to require a subscription. Why do I need to keep paying every month for? What additional value is being provided that it requires a subscription? Sorry but I don’t see it. This app needs a one time payment option. Update: thanks for the lifetime subscription option. Here’s some other things that I hope you can implement in the future: Save and retrieve repetition training criteria - this will make the feature much more useful Bookmarks - right now there’s no easy way to get back to where we last were. English audio translations - this would be very helpful ### 5/5 — Great App! *2026-05-12, version 1.3.9* I really like this app. It would be nice if there was a way to randomly alternate between the male and female voices, though ### 5/5 — Very nice and clear *2025-07-19, version 1.3.2* Love it ### 5/5 — Deceptively Simple but Amazing App *2025-04-05, version 1.3.2* It’s hard to express in words how good this app is. It will save you literal years of study. I only study about 10 minutes total a day but can recognise hundreds of words in the language after only a few months. ### 5/5 — Low cost and teaches grammar *2025-03-30, version 1.3.2* It explains the nuances of many grammar points well, then shows a bunch of sentences to reinforce them if teaches words too but I mostly care about the grammar stuff rn it’s only a couple quid to access everything and can probably be finished in a month if you use it a lot ## Most praised reviews (6 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Underrated *2023-09-13, version 1.3.2* This app has clear pronunciation and I just love the setup. It’s really easy to navigate and it has helpful notes on some lessons to clear up any confusion. ### 5/5 — Worth a lifetime subscription *2023-03-12, version 1.3.2* One of the best apps for learning Chinese. Totally worth the money for a lifetime subscription. I really like the method they employed for learning the language gradually. I really do wish the developers upload new lessons for advanced learners. ### 5/5 — You got it & easy to learn: Chinese *2022-12-27, version 1.3.2* Yes…language learning should include many approaches best for you (at least several). If you could only do one.., this is it.! You got it in the palm of your hand. “Immersive Chinese” … the best app in the market place. Fast, Easy, affordable results. Step by step “usable language” that flows from level to level… Real-World results. Kudos to Immersive Chinese 加油！ ### 5/5 — Одно из лучших приложений *2022-12-09* Да, особо правил здесь нет, например, конструкция предложения и тп, но, хочу отметить, что лично я, очень хорошо осваиваю программу такого типа(объяснения по каким либо частицам есть, когда и при каких случаях добавлять),и это очень меня радует. Ну мне полюбилось это приложение и я с радостью прохожу уроки. Словарный запах расширяется со скоростью света:))) ### 5/5 — Great app! *2022-11-06* I speak 3 foreign languages and have used many language learning apps. I can definitely say that this is absolutely the best language learning app. I don’t regret any cent I spent on buying the full version. I have a few questions though. First: How many characters (and words) a student is supposed to learn once he completed the full course? Second: to what level (hsk) brings me this course, once I'm done with it (approximately)? ### 5/5 — A very useful resource *2022-07-06, version 1.3.0* This is a very well done app! The interface is very clean and easy to use, even on the go. The recordings are very clear and recorded consistently. Most important here is there is no extraneous content, like music or intro nonsense. So it is pure listening content with no wasted time. What I like most is that there is lots of variations in sentence construction, like you might run into in real life. Also lots of settings to control auto repeat and delays so that you can get the most out of listening time. A very well constructed learning tool that I really enjoy using. I highly recommend this app! --- *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 2026-09-10.*