# Ka: Learn Chinese Tones — user reviews > 251 indexed App Store user reviews of Ka by Kai Loh, rated 4.80/5 from 615 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/ka-learn-chinese-tones/id6444140899/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/ka-learn-chinese-tones/id6444140899.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 523 · 4★ 76 · 3★ 10 · 2★ 3 · 1★ 3 ## What do users think of Ka? Overall sentiment: positive **Pros** - 👍 Great app for learning tones - 🎓 Helpful for improving tone recognition - 🎨 Fun and engaging interface - 🔍 Effective for practicing pronunciation - 🌟 Excellent tool for beginners - 💻 Works well even without subscription **Cons** - 🕰️ Limited lives/hearts system - 🔊 Audio issues with ads - 🤖 Inconsistent tone recognition - 🔍 Lack of customization options **Commonly reported bugs** - Incorrect tone identification in certain words - Compatibility issues on older devices **Most requested features** - Allow retrying incorrect pronunciations - Add more advanced tone practice exercises - Implement spaced repetition or progress tracking - Include traditional Chinese characters ## Newest reviews (16 of 251) ### 5/5 — Great for reinforcing what I’ve learned in class *2026-06-12, version 1.73* I’m taking Mandarin classes online and this is the best app I’ve found for drilling tones. I downloaded a bunch of different apps that were overly complicated or tried to do too much. I like that this is focused on doing one thing well ### 5/5 — Its very good and its help with tone *2026-05-27, version 1.73* Personally, I enjoy Ka: Learning Chinese Tones so much. It’s did help me improve my chinese tone with the hearing and speaking part. Its free to use, sometime it make you watching ads or waiting for a bit but I mean if you willingly to pay 3.99 a month to use it. I meant I don’t pay but it’s totally worth it for anyone who wants to improve their Chinese tone or just the hearing with Chinese tone. Ka: Learning Chinese Tones also have some speaking exercises. I think it’s really good!!! A must try for me!!! ### 5/5 — pretty good *2026-05-17, version 1.73* i wish there were a practice flashcard mode and a way to turn off pinyin like how you can set duolingo to only have pinyin for new words ### 5/5 — Best way to learn *2026-05-13, version 1.73* Easy and fun - get this app it’s the best ### 5/5 — Great! *2026-05-03, version 1.73* Im totally new at language learning, and this app has helped me a lot at being able to tell the different tones. I enjoyed it so much I paid for the subscription. It is fun, immersive, and judgement/anxiety free speech/listening practice. 10/10 would suggest to anyone young or old to try this app! ### 5/5 — Good for tones! *2026-05-02, version 1.73* Like that it is such a focused app, you learn a bit of vocab but recognition and saying the tones are front and centre ### 5/5 — The missing piece for learning mandarin specifically Pinyin *2026-03-26, version 1.73* This app really helped me use another app, Hello Chinese. It’s presented in a fun and gamified way that feels in missing pieces from other language apps! ### 5/5 — 5⭐️ *2026-03-25, version 1.73* Fun and easy to use. I appreciate it rates your own accuracy. Recommend for sure. ### 5/5 — 発音練習に良い *2026-03-22* 発音に絞って、何度も勉強できるのが良い ### 5/5 — Finally! *2026-03-15, version 1.73* Been hoping for an app that would pair similar Chinese syllables with different tones so that I can finally try to hear and learn the differences. This is the only one that really does that! I feel like I’m finally getting it with this app! Plus the exercises are quick and fun, and the interface is intuitive and nice to look at. All around great app! I recommend it! ### 5/5 — It’s good but.. *2026-03-14, version 1.73* For some of the questions it literally gives you the answer ### 5/5 — Clear and Easy *2026-03-11, version 1.73* Super fun and enjoyable! Very straightforward! Great way to learn to recognize the tones! ### 4/5 — Simple but a bit too easy *2026-03-06, version 1.73* Simple and gets some OK practice but for the exercises to hear tones it always displays the tone marker so it kinda gives you the answer. Whats the point of that? ### 5/5 — Very Helpful *2026-02-25, version 1.73* Great for learning Chinese tones ### 5/5 — Perfect for the purpose *2026-02-21* Finally a simple and fun app to learn tones ### 5/5 — Good *2026-02-19, version 1.73* Not super far into it yet but so far I really like it. And I really needed help with tones 🥲 ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 2/5 — It’s ok *2025-09-23, version 1.73* Keeps spamming me to rate the app, so here is my malicious compliance. My main complaint is it has too many animations that slow down the learning experience. Also sometimes tests you on your knowledge of characters rather than your ability to distinguish the difference between tones. ### 2/5 — no lifetime paid option and the free version is full of interruptions *2025-04-28, version 1.73* if there was a lifetime paid option between £6 to £18 I’d probably get it but as is this is way too expensive it follows Duolingo’s model of punishing learners for making mistakes (5 hearts system) until you pay an overpriced amount it’s really made for people with zero Chinese experience cause you can’t skip to doing tone pairs if that’s what you’re struggling on, but if you have no Chinese experience there’s other apps you should get before looking at this one there’s also semi-frequent interruptions telling you to leave a review they force you to make an account and give them an email sooner or later and give no option for Apple account making it could improve to be a pretty decent app but then they might make less money so it’s unlikely that will happen ### 3/5 — First Impressions *2026-06-05, version 1.73* I enjoy the app a lot! I wish there were more activities for practicing the tones during each lesson but I feel like the app covers the basics of tones and will allow you to practice. ### 3/5 — Very nice *2026-03-18, version 1.73* I like that I can hear my own pronunciation! ### 3/5 — 連続日数記録を易しくしてほしい *2025-02-19* 4ヶ月ほど続けていますが、1日うっかり忘れてしまって連続日数記録が途絶えたのがショックでした…（自分が悪いのですが）。Duolingo のように、1日やっていない日があっても記録を補完できるようになればいいなと思います。 　1セクションが短くて続けやすい点が気に入っています。ステージに合わせてのキャラクターの変化がもう少し小刻みになったり、ポイントを随時利用できたりするともっとモチベーションにつながると思います。 　今後も利用していきたいです。 ### 3/5 — Wrong tones *2024-11-28, version 1.71* Some of these tones are wrong for example xiao in the game is xiu i don’t know how that is even a thing. ### 3/5 — Nice UI, but not compatible with iPhone SE *2024-01-28, version 1.43* Sometimes the bottom of the screen is cut off so that I can’t actually proceed in the game! ### 3/5 — Would be better *2023-09-29, version 1.39* I think the subscription cost is quite high. I would pay £20 for a lifetime no adds unlimited lives. App is fun though ### 4/5 — see below *2026-08-21, version 1.73* teaches tones ### 4/5 — easy to learn *2026-05-12, version 1.73* the app is good and quite interactive to keep you learn. ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — It’s really fun and friendly *2026-08-16, version 1.73* please fix the daily streak resetting bug ### 5/5 — Very cool and entertaining App *2026-08-08, version 1.73* This app manages to keep me very entertained and encourages me to want to learn every day due to its simplicity and how fun it is to use. ### 5/5 — Gut für Töne lernen *2026-08-04* Clever gemacht ### 5/5 — I am actually learning the tones and its fun! *2026-07-27, version 1.73* Others are boring or not good for learning anything ### 5/5 — Хорошее приложение *2026-07-25, version 1.73* Очень хорошее и полезное приложение для начинающих. Особенно понравился дизайн приложения и формат мобильной игры, так учиться интересней. Благодаря этому приложению я не спеша начинаю лучше различать тона, хоть и занимаюсь самостоятельно меньше недели. ### 5/5 — Tones App *2026-07-24, version 1.73* Honestly, I stumbled on this app looking for a way to improve my tone pairs after two years of learning chinese. The App is very good so far - i'm paying for the pro plan to test it but it's got over 100 lessons and i'm already noticing a difference in my tone memory ### 5/5 — 発音練習に良い *2026-07-21* 発音に絞って、何度も勉強できるのが良い うまくできないと悔しくてどんどんムキになるのが良い ### 5/5 — Very polished and thought through *2026-07-19, version 1.73* Love this app ! I wish it was not on a monthly subscription scheme. I would rather pay something like 15$ for a one time payment, I avoid subscribing to applications. The reason I tested this app is that in the in-app purchases there is a one lifetime payment option but it does not seem to be available in the app anymore. Too bad, so I am just watching ads for now. ### 5/5 — Zum üben gut *2026-07-04* Habe gerade erst angefangen mit Chinesisch und mit den Tönen natürlich naturgemäß meine Probleme. Ich nutze mehrere Apps dies ist eine davon, die mir hilft. ### 5/5 — Fun and interactive *2026-06-25, version 1.73* I use this with other apps to help learn sounds, vocab and grammar. This app uses real words and phrases to help understand tones and checks your overall pronunciation which I a huge help for me. I would definitely recommend this! --- *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 2026-08-28.*