# Inkstone: Learn Chinese — Read timeless Chinese stories

> Chinese reading app with classic texts, translations, and audio. (iPhone/iPad app by Conder Shou.)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/inkstone-learn-chinese/id6799497723 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [Conder Shou](https://appshunter.io/developer/6799497725)
- Category: Education, Books
- Price: Free with in-app purchases
- Rating: 4.00/5 from 2 App Store ratings · 1 written reviews indexed
- Age rating: 12+
- Requires: iOS 16.4 · 147 MB
- Languages: American English
- Released: 2026-09-01
- Data updated: 2026-09-30
- Monetization: free
- User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/inkstone-learn-chinese/id6799497723/reviews.md

## What is Inkstone?

Inkstone is a Chinese reading app built on the wisdom that China has passed down for generations.

Most reading apps write their own material for learners. Inkstone gives you timeless Chinese wisdom: from fables and their idioms, Tang poems, to Li Bai, Zhuangzi, and the strange tales out of the Liaozhai. Every piece comes from a real ancient text, retold in clear modern Chinese at a level you can read. Poems are the exact original.

Inkstone is built to guide you through every word, every phrase, and every sentence and its historical and philosophical context. A voice reads every line aloud and pinyin sits above every character. Tap any word to see what it means, hear it on its own, and read how the rest of the library uses it. Every sentence has an English translation a glance away. An "unpack the story" analysis is also paired with every story to provide further context and analysis. 

You never have to leave the page to look anything up, we take care of it all for you.

WHAT YOU ACTUALLY READ

119 texts across fourteen shelves: fables, Tang poems, the philosophers, histories, strange tales, and street talk. We ship 50+ handpicked stories on the 1st of every month. 

Li Bai looking at moonlight and mistaking it for frost. Zhuangzi's frog at the bottom of the well, certain the sky is small. A scholar in a Tang ghost story who should not have opened that door.

The poems are the original text, character for character, from 唐诗三百首 and 全唐诗. The prose is retold in clear modern Chinese at a level you can read, and the source is always named. You'll know when you are in 聊斋志异 and when you are in 搜神记.

This curated collection consists of stories that lasted two thousand years. They're worth reading and analyzing, over and over again.

WHY THEY LASTED

Every story comes with an interpretation, what it means, which single word carries the whole thing, what scholars have argued about for centuries, and who argued it.

"Night Thoughts" is twenty characters, yet it has a multitude of layers of meaning. We explain them: why 疑 is the hinge, why 霜 puts autumn and age into a poem that refers to neither, and why the most famous line in Chinese poetry may not be the one Li Bai wrote.

HOW WE GUIDE YOUR READING EXPERIENCE

• A female and male voice for every story. Each word and sentence translated and lighting up as you progress through the story.
• Slow the reading down, loop a line, or step through a story sentence by sentence
• Every word has its own recording in both voices, so you can hear individual words and phrases alone
• Beautiful background music to accompany your reading
• Four levels of pinyin, including a smart level that marks only the words above your grade
• Tap a word for its definitions, its other readings, and how often this book uses it
• An English translation for every sentence without having you leave the story
• Simplified and traditional characters supported
• Save a word and it comes back before you forget it
• Works offline. The whole library is stored locally on your phone. Audio is fetched when you open a story.
• No ads, no account, and no sign-up. Nothing you read leaves your device

LEARNING & PRACTICE

Our learning system is based on SRS. Save a word while you read and it'll come back on a schedule optimized for you to master its meaning quickly.

A STUDY OF YOUR OWN

Inkstone is built as a scholar's studio. You carve your own name seal, and it stamps the spine of every book you finish. Curios collect on the shelf as you read. The window beside your desk follows the hour of your real day. Everything grows as you collect and finish more stories.

Download Inkstone and start reading today.

The annual plan is $59.99 per year and opens with a 7-day free trial you can cancel any time before it ends. Monthly is $9.99 and starts billing straight away. Prices in your own currency are shown in the app before you confirm anything.

Terms: https://getinkstone.app/terms
Privacy: https://getinkstone.app/privacy

## Key features

- Classic Chinese stories and poems
- Modern Chinese retellings
- Audio narration with pinyin
- Tap-to-translate words
- Sentence-by-sentence translation
- Offline reading support
- Vocabulary saving

## Pricing and in-app purchases

Base price: Free.

**Subscriptions**

| Subscription | Price | Period |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Inkstone Annual | $59.99 | per year |
| Inkstone Monthly | $9.99 | per month |


## Recent user reviews (1 of 1)

All indexed reviews: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/inkstone-learn-chinese/id6799497723/reviews.md

### 3/5 — Still in Beta

*2026-09-09*

Good concept but needs more polish. Charged me without the promised 7-day free trial, displays the idioms in Simplified even when in Traditional mode, and the narration speed is grainy at speeds other than x1.0. There are too many UI problems to warrant a subscription at this point, but I’m looking forward to seeing these fixed.

Update: The 7-day free trial only applies to annual plans. My fault for not reading the fine print

**Developer response:** Hey thanks for the feedback! That charge shouldn't have happened if you picked the "annual" option. If that's what you chose, please reach out to support@getinkstone.app. I'll get it sorted out for you ASAP. The issues you mentioned should have already been addressed in a prior update, but I'll revisit them again to make sure it went through. Thank you!

## Frequently asked questions about Inkstone

### What kind of content does Inkstone offer?

Inkstone features timeless Chinese wisdom, including fables, idioms, Tang poems, and prose from classical philosophers and historical tales. The content is retold in clear modern Chinese at a readable level, with original poems preserved.

### How does Inkstone help with learning Chinese?

Inkstone guides learners with pinyin above characters, audio pronunciations for every word and sentence, tap-to-define functionality, and sentence-level English translations. It also provides story analysis for deeper understanding.

### Can I use Inkstone offline?

Yes, Inkstone works offline, allowing you to access the entire library of texts without an internet connection. This makes it convenient for learning anytime, anywhere.

### Does Inkstone have ads?

No, Inkstone does not contain advertisements. The app is designed to provide an uninterrupted learning experience.

### What devices does Inkstone support?

Inkstone is currently supported on iPhones. Future updates may expand compatibility to other devices.

### How often is new content added to Inkstone?

Inkstone adds over 50 handpicked stories on the 1st of every month, ensuring a continuous stream of new material for users to explore.

### What is the age rating for Inkstone?

Inkstone has an age rating of 12+, making it suitable for teenagers and adults learning Chinese.

### How does Inkstone track my progress?

Inkstone allows you to save words you've learned, which are then revisited before you forget them. This feature aids in vocabulary retention and progress tracking.

## Version history (last 5 releases)

### 1.2.6 — 2026-09-24

• Narration audio for all "how to use this idom" examples
• Punctuation on Android no longer knocks characters off their line.
• Your word book can group words by the story they came from.

### 1.2.5 — 2026-09-22

• Your first story is read in the voice and script you chose.
• Shelves hold their books. Thicker spines mean longer stories.
• A required update restarts the app with one button.
• Pinyin on Android uses the app's serif and is no longer cut off.
• Text no longer runs under the clock.

### 1.2.4 — 2026-09-17

• The translation box shows the whole sentence, the page keeps the line being read in view and stays still while there is room, and moving to see the rest of a sentence no longer counts as leaving the voice.
• Tap any character in a word's entry to watch it written, stroke by stroke.
• Narration highlights sit on the right word, a tap lands on the character under your finger, and the third tone typed as ă is accepted.
• Fixes a crash on Android when the app opened its database.
• The Reading filter shows every book you opened and have not finished, including a search input

### 1.2.3 — 2026-09-14

Long stories open several times faster. 
The curio cabinet appears faster.
Better reading UX: the dictionary sheet closes with a pull on its handle, a saved word can be unsaved with a second tap, and more accurate bookmarking.
The library filter shows more relevant matches.

### 1.2.1 — 2026-09-13

Read a whole story before choosing a plan, with a short guided introduction.
Sign a story again on a re-read. Every seal stays on the page.
One-character seals.
The desk moves on to your next story, and a finished story reopens from the top.
Writing an idiom from memory now has a Check button.
Stories open faster.
A text size dial in the reader, and text follows your phone's setting.
Library filters work, and small-screen layout fixes throughout.
The curios in your studio are redrawn. Every object on every shelf has
been through a pass for the details you actually see: a monkey's cap that
sits square, a boat drum that reads as a drum, poles and mooring posts
that are solid instead of hairlines.

Traditional characters now hold everywhere. Idioms, their sources, the
retellings and the four-character breakdowns all read in traditional when
you choose it, and switching in Settings redraws the page you are already
on instead of the next one you open. Typing an idiom in traditional
counts as correct.

The background music no longer stops partway through a session. It used
to go silent when a piece ended and stay that way until you turned it off
and on again.

Fixed:
Narration below full speed no longer sounds watery. It was running
through a time-stretcher built for music rather than for voice.
On Android, narration no longer stops after the first sentence while the
play control stays lit.
Writing an idiom from memory asks for the whole thing, with no candidate
list to lean on.
The Library asks its three questions in one row

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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 2026-09-30.*