# Stele: Chinese Flashcards — Learn Chinese, simply. > Learn Chinese, simply. (iPhone/iPad app by Marcus Sacco.) - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/stele-chinese-flashcards/id6763728022 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`) - Developer: [Marcus Sacco](https://appshunter.io/developer/1802238564) - Category: Education, Reference - Price: Free - Age rating: 12+ - Requires: iOS 18.0 · 598 MB - Languages: American English - Released: 2026-04-29 - Data updated: 2026-09-09 - User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/stele-chinese-flashcards/id6763728022/reviews.md ## What is Stele? From the developer: This is the learning app I wish I had when I started studying Mandarin. I'll be using this app along with you, and I have every intention to correct any mistakes I've made, and use your feedback to make this the learning app you love to use the most. There's more to come! A beautifully simple flashcard app for people learning Chinese. No subscriptions. No accounts. No internet required. Just you and the most effective study method in cognitive science: spaced repetition. Most language apps overwhelm you with features, streaks, leaderboards, and notifications. Stele does one thing, flashcards with spaced repetition, and does it beautifully. Open the app, study your cards, close the app. That's it. EVERYTHING YOU NEED, NOTHING YOU DON'T • A complete Chinese-English dictionary with thousands of words and example sentences • Human-read vocab and an advanced text-to-speech model baked into the app let you hear pronunciation everywhere, without an internet connection. • Tap any word to drill down: from word to character to component, then back to where you left off • HSK version 3.0 starter decks, so you can start studying immediately • Import your existing decks from Anki or CSV in seconds • Tone coloring, pinyin display modes, traditional and simplified support BUILD DECKS FROM ENGLISH Type any English word or phrase, and Stele creates the card for you — Chinese characters, pinyin, and meaning, ready to study. Build a deck of exactly the words & phrases you want to learn, in the time it takes to type them. REAL VOICES AND NATURAL SPEECH Stele uses authentic recordings from native Chinese speakers for thousands of common words, paired with an advanced on-device text-to-speech model for natural pronunciation of any sentence. No robotic voices. No streaming audio. Everything plays instantly, even offline. EVIDENCE-BASED, NOT GAMIFIED Spaced repetition has decades of cognitive science research behind it. It's the technique used by medical students, language polyglots, and serious learners worldwide. Stele uses FSRS, the modern open-source algorithm that schedules each card based on how well you actually remember it. FULLY ON-DEVICE. ZERO DATA COLLECTION. Stele runs entirely on your phone. No cloud sync. No account required. No analytics. No tracking. No ads. The app doesn't even need an internet connection. Your study data belongs to you and stays on your device. ONE PURCHASE. NO SUBSCRIPTIONS. Pay once. Own it forever. Free updates. Optional expansion modules will be available later as one-time purchases for users who want them. WHO STELE IS FOR Stele is for people learning Chinese who want to focus on the work, not the app. With a simple interface containing the tools you need to succeed, you can focus on learning the language, instead of how to use the tools. ## Version history (last 4 releases) ### 1.1.1 — 2026-06-13 - Added a way to contact support in-app, accessible at the top of the settings page - Updated TTS voice options - Removed low-quality example sentences - Minor UI refinements ### 1.1.0 — 2026-05-03 *Create cards from English* You can now type any English word or phrase and get a complete Chinese card with simplified, pinyin, and translation, all generated on-device. Apple's Translation framework powers this entirely offline, with no account or internet required once the English and Chinese Apple Translate libraries are downloaded. *Improved card creation flow* The Add Card button now expands to three clear options: Translate from English, From Dictionary, or Create Manually. Faster, cleaner, more discoverable. *Look up entire sentences* Paste or type a full Chinese sentence or pinyin string into the dictionary, and Stele breaks it into words and shows each entry in order. No more looking up one word at a time. *Definitions when drilling down* When you tap into a Chinese word's components, you'll now see definitions for each character where available. Helps you understand why a word means what it means. *Deck import and export* Bring decks in via CSV, or share your decks with friends by exporting them. Your study material is yours to move around. *Smaller improvements* - Refined guidance text during reviews to make grading clearer - HSK level pills are easier to read at a glance - Better text-to-speech handling for sentences with punctuation - Added a Mark as Learned button on the Edit Card screen for cards you already know ### 1.0.1 — 2026-04-30 - Our starter vocab deck is now ordered by word frequency, so you study the most used words first - Cleaned up duplicate example sentences - Added helpful first-time tips for new users - Improved dictionary search guidance ### 1.0 — 2026-04-30 No release notes. --- *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 2026-09-09.*