# Noodle Chinese — user reviews > 44 indexed App Store user reviews of Noodle Chinese by Noodle Chinese, Inc, rated 4.38/5 from 90 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/noodle-chinese/id1375293467/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/noodle-chinese/id1375293467.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 65 · 4★ 9 · 3★ 6 · 2★ 5 · 1★ 5 ## Newest reviews (10 of 44) ### 4/5 — Used to be perfect *2023-03-23* This app used to be the perfect app for learning to write Chinese! But on my new phone it has a bug that reverses all of the character strokes when you write and is really distracting 😭 I can only use it on my old phone - hope you can fix this sometime 🤞🤞🤞 ### 3/5 — Potential *2021-11-26, version 0.1.1* I got this app to learn how to write characters, but when I practice, I am unable to see all of the character, because of how zoomed in it is ### 3/5 — Good but a problem for me *2021-09-26, version 0.1.1* When I’m on my iPad and I click on the Chinese character to write I can’t exit so I had to reopen the app ### 4/5 — iPad landscape mode bug *2021-02-17, version 0.1.1* There’s a big when using this app in landscape mode on the ipad. It zooms in to part of the view and I can’t see the necessary prompts. ### 4/5 — So far so good! *2020-10-19, version 0.1.1* I’m really enjoying this app so far and I’ve noticed it’s helped me learn some characters I was struggling with previously just with Anki. Honestly it helps me to write out the character a lot! Only reason I can’t give it five stars right now is that even though I purchased a subscription to access all of the lists, I can’t access these lists across my devices. Like my iPad for example where it’d be way easier to practice writing the characters with my Apple pen. But every time it shows the lock icon and says I already have a subscription. I tried to redownload this app hoping it’d help but it still gives me the same issue. It’d be nice if we could have an account to login to so I could access the lists across all my devices. Other than that it’s great! ### 3/5 — Almost there *2020-09-08, version 0.1.1* Only thing missing is to have the personal study-list sync between your iPhone and iPad. ### 3/5 — Traditional Character *2020-03-05, version 0.0.14* The app is great if you need it for Simplified Character, but I need Traditional Character。☹️ ### 4/5 — Free, not wifi-restricted, effective *2019-12-23* This app is excellent for learning to write Chinese characters with the correct stroke order. There is no charge for downloading and there are no ads, and it is even contained within your phone, ipad or computer so you don't need to connect to the internet to use. I have only two gripes: 1) Font: The characters are in a font that differs from the standard digital form for characters you'll get when using a Chinese keyboard or browsing the web in Chinese. Having said this, one could make the argument that being able to recognise characters flexibly would make your reading better and be useful since the characters are far from fixed in form when used in real life- especially people's handwriting! 2) Personal Input: the app does not contain many premade decks, which is certainly understandable. This meant I had to use the search function to find and collect the characters I wanted to study (specifically the top 1,000 most common characters). Mind, it was no special nor difficult effort to find said characters; the app seems to have pretty much any character you're looking for. Overall an excellent app that works very well as SRS and as a quick practice tool when you've got a spare minute. ### 3/5 — Clearly state that there’s a setting for Traditional Chinese *2019-07-10, version 0.0.14* Update as of 08 July 2019 Reduced my original 5 to 4 to finally just 3 stars: No developer support No update on bugs (e.g., app crashes randomly) Some definitions are confusing Some characters have errors between the strokes presented and the flash card (e.g., compare the characters for “discount” 折扣 zhe2kou4 in the writing test and flash card) I wanted to love the app because it’s very effective in helping me expand my vocabulary (and practice writing the characters). However, as I progressed with the available lists of vocabulary, I felt I was getting confused because I had a little background on Traditional Chinese (and not Simplified Chinese) and wanted to learn the Traditional version. Long story short, I was messing up both versions because the app defaults to the Simplified version I was about to give up on this app because I was moving backwards with my learning process UNTIL I started reading the comments and the developers were kind enough to point the settings out to another reviewer. Suggestion: clearly state this info on the app description. That is to say— make sure that you inform the users that both versions are available. This should help your users find you. :-) Great job on the app and many thanks! (UPDATE as of April 11, 2019) I originally gave this app 5 stars after using it for a couple of weeks but reduced it to 4 for the following reasons: 1) Found some errors/ confusing words. 2) There’s no way to report an error. Specifically: 1) The words for family/ household (家 and 傢) are interchangeably used/ presented. After a quick search, both are apparently accepted but the HSK1 deck does not explain or clearly shows this. The writing practice requires 傢 but the flash card shows 家. 2) Similarly, the characters for rear/ behind (後面 and 後麵) are used interchangeably. These may seem trivial but these are just 2 instances that can cause confusion. Ultimately, I hope the developer provides a feedback mechanism for the app. ### 5/5 — Excellent study app for chinese *2019-05-15, version 0.0.14* I love this app. WAY better than Skritter Chinese in terms of review and study. The study function algorithm is excellent. It really picks up what you don’t know and makes you repeat it several times early on (in different ways) before introducing the next word (so if you have a long list you don’t have to wait forever for it retest you again, which by then you have forgotten)! Excellent way to study, especially when learning new words. Great for those who want to jump into learning chinese and don’t need someone to hold your hand. I also really like the ability to form your own custom list! BTW, traditional characters is supported. It can only be changed from IPhone Settings for Noodle app NOT within the app itself. Hopefully it can up updated later, but not a big deal. SUGGESTION: ability to import lists from other Chinese apps into this app would be really nice. ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — Flashcards don’t make sense *2023-04-15* Have flash cards in pinjin and not their English translation. Following your logic, I am asked about things like “Chinese radical”. How am supposed to know from that WHICH radical you want? Bugs like that are really idiotic in what could otherwise be a good app. ### 1/5 — Strokes flipping *2023-02-01* The strokes appear backwards then flip. ### 1/5 — One Major Criticism *2021-04-18, version 0.1.1* The character 和 is a very common Chinese hanzi, and its definition is “and.” But I looked this character up in Noodle Chinese’s dictionary, only to find out that “and” is not among this character’s listed definitions. I find this surprising, considering how common of a character 和 is. Please fix for a good rating. ### 1/5 — Misleading!! Need to pay monthly subscriptions to unlock each list *2020-11-19, version 0.1.1* A lot of the lists are monthly subscription based in order to unlock them. And how long that list gets unlocked depends on how much you pay. For example, you pay $x.xx /month for 1 month. Or $y.yy /month for 6 months. Or $z.zz /month for 12 months (Max). So it’s not permanently unlocked. Only 5/63 =~ 8% of the lists are unlocked! And these free lists have average of only 10-20 words only!! Over 92% of the lists are locked!! And you have to unlock each list individually!! So you can’t pay a one time monthly fee and unlock all the lists. Each list needs to be paid separately!! That is crazy ridiculously expensive!! I’m sure you can pay for a better app that costs less than this. ### 1/5 — Glitch problem?? *2020-04-30, version 0.1.0* I don’t know if anyone else is experiencing this problem but I just redownloaded the app on a new phone (iphone Xs) and when I edit a deck to add more words my screen glitches and closes down the app... I really love this app and I want to keep using it but I literally can’t anymore :( ### 1/5 — Just phenomenal *2020-02-13, version 0.0.14* Thank you thank you thank you for not charging for this!! It’s exactly what I need out of an app for chinese. I already had apps ready for every other part of learning chinese, except for the characters. This way is fantastic! I don’t have to jump through a bunch of pay walls with this app (I.e. lingo deer) I love this part too: it’s sorted into many convenient vocab lists WITH SRS built in. Thanks for making an awesome app that everyone can use! Keep doing your thing! ### 2/5 — Stroke animation *2024-06-25* The stroke animation is terrible and distracting, with the strokes flipping back and forth needlessly. The very minimal number of lists that are free is also a huge downside. ### 2/5 — Issues with writing practice feature *2022-03-03, version 0.1.1* The practice writing feature doesn’t work on the iPad ### 2/5 — Glitches your money away. *2021-07-06, version 0.1.1* I love the concept for this app. It has a ton of great potential. But the number of glitches that it has makes it annoying as heck to work with. Whatever you do do not buy the subscription. If you ever Delete and the re download or update the app it will delete you subscription with no option to restore your access. It just eats your money. The app has so many glitches that it is impossible to give a comprehensive list but a few of my favorites are: not letting you access the last few words in the list you’re studying, speaking the wrong pronunciation on several different flash cards, having the wrong character in the writing portion of the flash card, having the most sensitive “double tap to show answer” feature that makes you accidentally reveal the answer to the question marking the question wrong and making you start over. I would love to give this app 5 stars. I can tell that someone put a lot of effort into a stellar concept. But it is just too glitchy to deal with. ### 2/5 — Very helpful but there are many problems *2020-10-18, version 0.1.1* I love how the app comes with a lot of free features and allows you to practice strike order and memorize chinese characters but there are many problems that I hope the app makers can fix. Things like not saving your progress, not having a choice between simplified and traditional chinese, etc. ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Exactly what I was looking for *2024-01-14* Many chinese language resources really seem to miss the mark for me, starting by teaching all sorts of characters you are very likely to see in a textbook, but very unlikely to see out in your daily life. This app gives lists of most commonly used characters - ones you will actually come across on signage and menus. However, if you are a student or something and need to know how to write the the obligatory “teacher” and “nice to meet you” type of characters, they are included as well in the HSK lists. Really a wonderful app, a very good use of spaced repetition software. Making the act of remembering characters into a sort of game with instant feedback is such a good way to learn. The fact that it is offline makes it even more convenient. One thing - a few of the recordings are wrong but the pinyin (so far) is always right so do mind that. I also would love the capacity to make an account so that I can keep the same progress on my ipad and my iphone. Edit: trying to use this app again in 2024 most lists are locked behind a paywall. More importantly though, there’s a weird glitch where every stroke I write appears first backwards and then the correct way. Very very disorienting. I will not be using this app anymore ### 5/5 — TRADITIONAL CHINESE *2020-09-27, version 0.1.1* TO SWITCH TO TRADITIONAL CHINESE YOU HAVE GO TO THE SETTING APP AND FIND THE APP AT THE BOTTOM OF THE APP LIST 🥰 ### 5/5 — Great for 简体字！ *2020-04-22, version 0.0.14* I learned Chinese in Taiwan. Consequently, simplified characters were a bit of a mystery to me—especially stroke order. With the advent of computers and personal devices, my writing had become so rusty, I was searching for something to refresh my memory so I can write by hand well again. Noodle is fantastic for helping me a) to brush the rust off my writing in general, b) to learn simplified stroke order, c) to really -learn- just about any characters I want to put in my list, reading, writing, pronunciation, and meaning—all in one simple, free app. Wishlist: 1) option to study BOTH traditional and simplified 字. 2) ability to export/share/airdrop lists. ### 5/5 — I feel compelled to create my first review. *2020-03-28, version 0.0.14* I’m so happy that this app provides such a plethora of words that are covered in HSK I-VI. It is also very competitive in that it does not have ads which breaks the immersion in some other Chinese learning apps. ### 5/5 — Great app to practice Chinese characters *2020-02-17, version 0.0.14* I wish this app can create lists from a CVS file format. ### 5/5 — Great and Free *2020-02-06, version 0.0.14* The app is very good at teaching the correct form of writing the characters. It’s study mode also adapts the practice to focus on what you need to work on. Overall it’s incredible to be able to learn and practice Chinese without having to pay some kind of ridiculous subscription. ### 5/5 — Add pictures for words? *2019-11-10, version 0.0.14* Possible to add pictures for each word? And possible to share the word lists? I am a Chinese teacher and want my kids to learn at home but the parents may not be able to type the words into the list, if I can share the list and they can import, that would be great. ### 5/5 — Great app for helping a youngster to learn chinese *2019-10-16, version 0.0.14* I looked at a few different programs and the combination of custom lists + visualization of stroke order makes this app indispensable and unique for teaching chinese words according to a curriculum. ### 5/5 — Excellent tool *2019-10-14, version 0.0.14* This is the helpful app for me to memorize Chinese characters. Plus, it has a writing practice to practice with. Awesome work there. ### 5/5 — Outstanding: forget Skritter - just use this! *2019-07-09, version 0.0.14* I have tried many apps for learning to write Chinese characters and this is far and away the best. The only other one that even comes close is Skritter, but that takes forever to re-test characters that you got wrong, the iPhone version is full of bugs, and you have to pay a subscription fee for it, whereas Noodle Chinese has none of those problems and it’s free! This is a truly outstanding learning tool. --- *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 2026-06-10.*