# TCB \| Read Chinese to Learn — user reviews > 261 indexed App Store user reviews of TCB | Read Chinese to Learn by The Chairmans Bao Ltd, rated 4.60/5 from 546 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/tcb-read-chinese-to-learn/id1074317405/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/tcb-read-chinese-to-learn/id1074317405.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 432 · 4★ 58 · 3★ 20 · 2★ 11 · 1★ 25 ## What do users think of TCB | Read Chinese to Learn? Overall sentiment: positive **Pros** - 🚀 Continuous content updates - 👍 Interesting and engaging content - 🔍 Helpful learning tools (vocabulary, grammar, quizzes) - 🎧 Good audio quality and narration - 📚 Wide range of content for all levels **Cons** - 🐛 Buggy app with crashes and glitches - 🔍 Inconsistent dictionary definitions - 🔍 Lack of full sentence translations - 🔍 Suboptimal user interface and navigation - 💰 Expensive subscription **Commonly reported bugs** - App crashes on startup - Inconsistent behavior when toggling pinyin - Issues with saving user preferences - Unreliable audio playback - Bugs in comprehension test functionality **Most requested features** - Ability to mark articles as read and track progress - Option to adjust text size - Improved flashcard/vocabulary review system - Offline content access - Customizable notification/reminder system ## Newest reviews (14 of 261) ### 2/5 — Nags me to write review every 30 seconds *2026-02-26, version 8.0.51* Nags me to write review every 30 seconds. So I wrote a review ### 2/5 — Okay, but WireLingo is much better! *2025-12-18, version 8.0.49* I’ve used this app for a while now but time to move on. There are far better graded readers out there now, WireLingo being one of them. Slicker App, faster, more regular content, cheaper, better tests etc. If Chairmans Bao can adapt and improve, I’ll be back but until then I’m gone. ### 3/5 — Good content, but the app is buggy *2025-12-02, version 8.0.46* The stories and articles are very interesting, and the audio is very clear. However, the exercise function of the app is inconsistent, the makes the exercise festure difficult to use. ### 4/5 — Extremely helpful! *2025-11-17, version 8.0.46* I really like this app and website, however I wish when you select an unknown word it would highlight it in the test as I can get lost after. I would also like the option to make the text bigger on my phone but I might just not have figured it out yet. ### 3/5 — Northern Chinese *2024-12-18, version 8.0.39* Would be great to have the option to choose south or north Chinese. Some words and the er hua aren’t used in standard Chinese. ### 3/5 — Ok overall. Always asking for review *2024-10-31* Every time I open a lesson I’m asked to leave a review, so getting this out the way. Overall it’s ok, I like it mostly for the assessments. Grammar support is too copy and paste of complicated rules, too hard to apple. English translation would have also been useful **Developer response:** Thank you for the feedback, Lacrunk. We'll look into your suggestions with our tech team. All the best in your studies! Team TCB. ### 2/5 — Poor app experience with lots of bugs *2024-10-12* Unresponsive UI, page loads and clicks take forever to register. For instance, if there's no listening exercise, it still prompts you to attempt one upon completing the reading exercise. Confirming the option leads you to an infinite loop and you lose all progress for the reading exercise. No progress is saved once you leave the article screen and you can't check how you did on previous exercises. Clicking on characters in the articles is buggy, if you click on the same character too many times it won't let you click it again to popup the definition panel. When you enter an exercise screen and upon completion and returning to the article screen, the definition panel will stay popped up even when it shouldn't. When you want to move directly from the listening to the reading exercise, it sends you immediately to the article screen. If you leave the article screen, all progress is loss. There's no way to pause without losing progress. There's two markers to mark article read completion which makes no sense, and there's no carryover between them. One completion check is within the article, the other is outside on the article list. Even after you select complete article it still suggests you the article on the "continue studying". If you want a better app experience, check out Du Chinese. This is making me pull my hair out. Not worth the $10 a month **Developer response:** Thank you for your feedback. If you are able to send us an email to contact@thechairmansbao.com with your device information, our tech team will look into the responsiveness issues you raised. Thanks - Team TCB. ### 2/5 — Poor app experience *2024-09-27* Feels like the app is stuck in 2010. Very poor UX, unresponsive and takes a few seconds to register clicks. Hitting complete within an article doesn't make it show completed on the main menu. Answer choices for matching are poor on mobile and you have to scroll horizontally through multiple choices to do it instead of displaying all options at once (Duolingo does a better job here). In addition, upon completion of a reading or listening lesson, it will show completed for a moment but if you leave the article page, it'll show incomplete the moment after. Duchinese has a much better UX. **Developer response:** Thank you for your feedback. If you are able to send us an email to contact@thechairmansbao.com with your device information, our tech team will look into the responsiveness issues you raised. Thanks - Team TCB. ### 4/5 — Please add “show pinyin for saved words” *2024-07-10, version 8.0.25* Please add “show pinyin for saved words” or at least pinyin for words above the level you are reading at so that you don’t have distracting pinyin for easy words and characters. Otherwise a 10/10 app ### 3/5 — Great concept but glitchy *2024-05-05, version 8.0.17* I’m paying for this too but can’t access articles. Remove bugs and this thing rocks. ### 5/5 — Excellent for all levels *2024-05-05* I have used this app for more than two years and would recommend it. I’ve made more than a few errors in learning Mandarin and I took me a while to realise that comprehensible input is the best way to consolidate vocabulary and progress steadily and surely. This app provides engaging and interesting content for all levels, from absolute beginner to native levels. There seems to be a dearth of upper intermediate and advanced level learning materials, but this app has a vast amount of texts for those trying to progress from the intermediate level. I would recommend The Chairman’s Bao to learners of all abilities. **Developer response:** Thank you for the detailed review, Andrew! We are glad to hear you have had such a positive experience studying with TCB. All the best for your future studies with the platform and beyond! Team TCB. ### 5/5 — Wonderful Chinese learning app *2024-02-02, version 7.5.44* Great app for listening to news articles in Chinese while being able to touch on Chinese words with pinyin to see the translation as you listen. ### 5/5 — One of the BEST apps EVER! *2024-01-08* I have been studying Traditional Mandarin forever and always looking for new apps in order to improve my skills. So years ago, I went through this fabulous The Chairman’s Bao and fell in love with it! This year I made the decision of purchasing a few Mandarin lifetime subscriptions apps and can’t be happier with the decision I made !!!🤓🤩🙏🏻 Reading and listening are one of the keys in order to acquire a new language skills, especially if one wants to take it to a higher level. This app focus on this -I would say - almost a 100%. It helps to connect audio, reading / sentences sequences, and Chinese characters , so you can practice memorizing as well. The fact you can also read aloud these short stories and articles is a fantastic way to feel confident with Mandarin. It’s amazing how many different words one can learn by reading this material regularly!! One of the positive things about TCB is its huge and diverse library with different levels of vocabulary, which is renewed I think almost every day with new additions ! Please, give a try! You won’t regret!🙌🏻🌟🤩It’s SO easy to keep up with Mandarin this way!🫶🏻🥰 HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!! I would like to thank Diego and his wonderful team for their patience and kindness!🙌🏻🤩 Leah Grullón M. **Developer response:** Thank you for the 5* review, Leah! We hope you continue enjoying studying with TCB. 加油! Team TCB. ### 5/5 — The one Chinese learning app you need *2024-01-07* I’m so happy with the new TCB app! The team has done a great job and I’m convinced that TCB is really the only app one would need to study Chinese. Maybe the part that could use some improvement is the flash card system. However, TCB has integration with Hack Chinese - which I haven’t used yet - so I imagine it’s not a priority to tinker with. Maybe I’m using that feature incorrectly, but I can’t seem to get cards to sort from oldest to newest. And there’s no notification like in an SRS style flash card system of what you should be reviewing when. I use a free app for that part of learning but there’s also a lot of debate whether flash cards are even helpful. TCB gives students the tools to take charge of their learning and that is what I appreciate most. The audio for the stories is exceptional and the content is so interesting compared to a textbook. I genuinely enjoy reading the articles that are published. Thanks! **Developer response:** Thank you for the 5* review, it's much appreciated! We have pre-made word groups in which the system assesses how well you perform on each word and you can test within these groups. We hope you also enjoy the Hack Chinese integration and we will be sure to keep you updated with any future flashcard updates! All the best in your Chinese studies. Team TCB. ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — Constant nag for review *2026-04-10, version 8.0.55* Here’s my review, please stop nagging me for a review now ### 1/5 — Better alternatives *2025-12-24, version 8.0.49* It feels outdated and clunky, while others like Wirelingo is sleek, intuitive, and way easier to use every day. No contest on design or flow or interesting reads; Wirelingo just nails graded news reading without the hassle, a flat-out better experience and learning seems easier! ### 1/5 — Doesn’t provide easy translation *2025-11-29, version 8.0.46* Strange…tried this app to replaced DuChinese, it’s worse. There’s no real time translation, just pinyin and the characters. ### 1/5 — hate it *2025-07-06* I hate when it is so easy to subscribe but must waste hours to find how to cancel subscription. ### 1/5 — Buggy *2025-02-27, version 8.0.40* Lessons aren’t showing the text at all. Great website, the app is not. ### 1/5 — Can not access content *2025-02-12, version 8.0.40* I used to love this app. But now, can no longer access content from within China. ### 1/5 — Paid service with no working notifications?? *2022-08-13, version 7.5.27* I paid 2 years of subscription for this ($84 offer during 春节), the quality of articles is fine and I wanted to get « reading journal in Chinese » a real routine. But i kept forgetting it, and after a year and half I barely ready 20 articles. Why? TCB NEVER send me any notification or study reminder unlike what it claims in its settings. I kept sending email requests for improvement but after almost a year still no change. I want a refund ! ### 1/5 — Нет *2022-02-06* Слишком дорого, для такого приложения, где робот читает статьи просто. ### 1/5 — Can’t log in *2021-12-31, version 7.3.6* Having login issues, can’t register for an account or log in ### 1/5 — Très décevant *2021-09-18* C’est pas assez clair qu’il faut payer **Developer response:** We have a free sample lesson for each level unlocked at all times, as well as free samples of our Legends and Video series. The Library beyond that (7,500+ lessons) requires subscription access and this is outlined in the app preview before you download the app. Thanks - Team TCB. ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Excellent site for Mandarin study *2026-06-20, version 8.0.60* I used The Chairman’s Bao for several years while I was actively studying Mandarin. It is a valuable resource, supplementing textbooks and teachers with real-world news articles that are grouped by level of difficulty. ### 5/5 — One of the best I’ve used! *2026-05-29, version 8.0.60* I just discovered this app and wish I would’ve known about it sooner. It’s one of the most comprehensive and well-thought-out Chinese study apps. I hope they continue to update it with recent stories because that’s one of my favorite features. ### 5/5 — Exceeds expectations *2026-03-25* I rarely write reviews, but I come away from every session with TCB feeling joyful and fulfilled in my learning. The stories are interesting, the levels are well designated and keep one pushing (but not discouraged), the audio is fantastic (ie. read by real people in real accents—not all of them have the same accents, and the speed isn’t excruciatingly slow like some other similar apps which I won’t name). I enjoy the only in China stories and wish I had similar sources in other languages I practice! Well done, TCB! And thank you for your work! **Developer response:** Thank you for the very kind review, I am very pleased you have had such a positive experience using TCB! If you ever have any questions / feedback, or you would like a feature adding, please do reach out to contact@thechairmansbao.com. Thanks! Team TCB. ### 5/5 — Great content, excellent quizzes *2026-01-20, version 8.0.49* I really like the content and the quizzes. There was so many times I thought I understood the article, but once I did the quiz, I realize I didn't fully recognize either the character or the content. The development team is also very responsive to emails and a bug report I did. Great app, worth the sub. ### 5/5 — Continuous content. *2025-12-28, version 8.0.49* Been using for years. Amazing they are still updating the content daily with real world examples. Continuously getting better! ### 5/5 — Indispensable et intéressant : à recommander ! *2025-01-14* Cette app est remarquable pour accompagner l’apprentissage de la langue chinoise écrite et orale. En outre, il est très agréable de pouvoir lire des faits de société adaptés à divers niveaux de connaissance de la langue. Le support oral me semble particulièrement intéressant. Deux suggestions : les photos pourraient être plus grandes ou susceptibles d’être agrandies ; il pourrait être possible de copier une phrase ou un mot (cette fonctionnalité ne figurant plus dans la dernière version de l’app). **Developer response:** Thank you for your feedback! If you have any suggestions, please drop us an email to contact@thechairmansbao.com and our tech team will look into these for you. Thanks - Team TCB. ### 5/5 — Imo *2025-01-07, version 8.0.39* Solid actually pretty good ### 5/5 — Great app for reading comprehension *2024-10-25* Love it. I like that recently the app has been getting updates. **Developer response:** Thank you for the 5* review and glad you are enjoying the recent platform updates! All the best in your studies. Team TCB. ### 5/5 — Great *2024-09-10* One of my favorite apps! **Developer response:** Thank you for sharing your feedback and for the 5* review! Team TCB. ### 5/5 — It just gets better *2024-08-25* I had an account when I was a teacher a long time ago. I have returned to teaching Chinese to discover that TCB just gets better. A wide variety of articles shown through a few different methods. The traditional and simplified options are really welcome. **Developer response:** Thank you for the 5* review! Team TCB. --- *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 2026-08-26.*