Comparison

HelloChinese vs LingoDeer

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

HelloChinese

This app offers a fun and effective way to learn Mandarin Chinese from beginner to conversational levels. It combines game-based lessons, stories, videos, and speech recognition to help you master pronunciation, characters, and practical conversations while exploring Chinese culture.

Highlights
  • Game-based learning
  • Graded stories
  • Immersive lessons
  • Video lessons
  • Speech recognition
  • Character handwriting
  • HSK level courses
Features
Read full description

HelloChinese is the best Mandarin Chinese learning app for beginners! Featured on the App Store in New Apps We Love and Notable Education Apps! Designed in a fun and highly effective manner, HelloChinese helps you rapidly learn Mandarin Chinese from scratch to a conversational level. With HelloChinese, learners can "learn the Chinese language, explore Chinese culture" – you will not only learn Mandarin Chinese but also enjoy the process of delving into the culture intertwined with the language. Features: ◉ Game-based Chinese learning: You will never get bored. ◉ 1000+ graded stories: read engaging stories at your level! ◉ Immersive lessons help you to have real-life, practical conversations quickly. ◉ Over 2,000 videos - all featuring authentic Chinese speakers! ◉ Innovative self-adaptive learning games that incorporate Chinese cultural education. ◉ Speech recognition corrects your pronunciation and makes speaking Chinese a breeze. ◉ Handwriting specially designed to learn Chinese characters at a faster rate. ◉ Systematic courses based on HSK levels. ◉ A well-designed Pinyin (pronunciation) course for newbies. ◉ Bite-sized curriculum to fortify your Chinese listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills. ◉ Simplified and traditional Chinese(Mandarin) are both supported. ◉ Offline accessibility: Once a course is downloaded, no internet connection is required. ◉ Study progress tracking across multiple devices. With these tools at your disposal, nothing can stop you from mastering Chinese. Start on your path to fluency today! HelloChinese Premium offers: One-month subscription for $11.99 Three-month subscription for $25.99 Twelve-month subscription for $69.99 The above prices are for U.S. customers. Pricing in other countries may vary, and charges may be converted to your local currency depending on your country of residence. Once purchased, subscriptions automatically renew unless auto-renew is turned off in your iTunes Account settings at least 24 hours before the end of the payment period. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HelloChineseApp/ Privacy Policy: https://www.hellochinese.cc/privacy.html Terms of Use: https://www.hellochinese.cc/terms.html Premium users can always reach us at premium@hellochinese.cc if they need any help.

About

LingoDeer

This app offers structured language lessons created by teachers, making learning effective and easy. It covers 20 languages, from beginner alphabets to conversational fluency, with interactive exercises and native speaker audio.

Highlights
  • Short, interactive lessons
  • Clear learning path
  • Grammar tips and notes
  • Native speaker audio
  • Flashcards and quizzes
  • Offline learning
  • Real-life conversation practice
Features
Read full description

#1 app for learning Asian languages and more! Over 20 million people choose to learn with LingoDeer. Why? Our structured lessons created by language teachers make learning easy and effective. From the alphabet, LingoDeer will get you to a conversational level in 20 languages: Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Arabic, French, German, Greek, Hindi, Indonesian, Italian, Malay, Polish, Brazilian Portuguese, Russian, Spanish(Latin American or European), Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese, and English. Download LingoDeer Today! ⎓⎓⎓⎓⎓⎓⎓⎓⎓⎓⎓⎓⎓⎓⎓⎓⎓⎓⎓⎓ What will you get on LingoDeer? ※ Short, interactive lessons Easy 5-min lessons that fit into your daily plan ※ Clear learning path Each course is tailored to your target language ※ Customized for Asian languages Read & write in a unique alphabet system like Korean or Japanese ※ Better understanding of the grammar Tips & notes within lessons to help you build sentences confidently ※ Listen, imitate, and speak Studio-recorded audio from native speakers ※ Reinforce what you learn Flashcards, quizzes, target training, and more ※ Offline learning Take lessons everywhere you go Powerful features you'll love: • Fluent: real-life conversations! Practice reading, writing, listening, speaking, and get cultural tips as you learn. • Travel Phrasebook: audio phrasebook! Get ready for your trip to your dream country. • Character Drill: writing practices for Japanese kanji and Chinese characters. • Story: mini stories with captions! Expand what you learned in lessons. • Knowledge Cards: printable grammar flashcards! Keep essential grammar concepts at your desk. *Fluent is only available for Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Spanish, and French courses at the moment. ⎓⎓⎓⎓⎓⎓⎓⎓⎓⎓⎓⎓⎓⎓⎓⎓⎓⎓⎓⎓ Find tips, guides, and resources on language learning: ※ LingoDeer Blog: https://blog.lingodeer.com ※ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/lingodeer Come chat with us on social media! Follow us for language learning advice, support, and memes: ※ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lingodeerapp ※ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LingoDeer ※ Twitter: https://twitter.com/lingodeer ⎓⎓⎓⎓⎓⎓⎓⎓⎓⎓⎓⎓⎓⎓⎓⎓⎓⎓⎓⎓ You will need a subscription in order to get full access to all courses and features. The subscription price starts at $14.99/month. Prices are in US dollars, may vary by country, can be converted to local currency depending on the country of residence, and are subject to change without notice. Subscription automatically renews unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Your iTunes account will be automatically charged at the same price for renewal within the 24-hour period prior to the end of the current payment period unless you change your subscription preferences in your iTunes Account Settings. When a subscription is canceled, access to the app's courses and features will expire at the end of the current payment period. Any unused portion of a free trial period, if offered, will be forfeited when you purchase a LingoDeer subscription, where applicable. - Terms of Use: https://www.lingodeer.com/terms-conditions-html - Privacy Policy: https://www.lingodeer.com/privacypolicy-html CONTACT US: Got ideas you want to share or feedback for the app? Email us at hi@lingodeer.com ⎓⎓⎓⎓⎓⎓⎓⎓⎓⎓⎓⎓⎓⎓⎓⎓⎓⎓⎓⎓ Real reviews from the LingoDeer community: "This has been helping me study Japanese way better than any book can!" "LingoDeer is worth every penny and more, it is an essential tool in the shed for anyone learning any of their offered languages, in or out of a classroom." YOUR JOURNEY TO FLUENCY STARTS HERE: • Learn Korean • Learn Japanese • Learn Mandarin Chinese • Learn Arabic • Learn French • Learn German • Learn Greek • Learn Hindi • Learn Indonesian • Learn Italian • Learn Malay • Learn Polish • Learn Brazilian Portuguese • Learn Russian • Learn Spanish (Latin American or European) • Learn Thai • Learn Turkish • Learn Ukrainian • Learn Vietnamese • Learn English

Screenshots

HelloChinese4 screens
LingoDeer4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is monetization model: HelloChinese at freemium against LingoDeer's subscription. HelloChinese also leads on review sentiment (95% vs 77%) and update cadence (weekly vs every 3 weeks). On price, ratings volume, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. HelloChinese sells 13 in-app purchases, starting at $11.99 per month and LingoDeer sells 17 in-app purchases, starting at $12.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

HelloChinese holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.7. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 23K and 28K respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 95% of HelloChinese's written reviews are positive against 77% of LingoDeer's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

HelloChinese ships an update weekly, LingoDeer every 3 weeks. Both last shipped on October 17, 2026.

Scorecard4 real differences · 7 level
HelloChinese versus LingoDeer: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterHelloChineseLingoDeer
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.9 (23K ratings) — better4.7 (28K ratings)
Positive reviews94.8% of reviews — better77.2% of reviews
Number of ratings23K28K — better
Update frequencyWeekly — betterEvery 3 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemium — betterSubscription
Best chart rank#110 — better#129
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS14.1 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size102 MB216 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperHelloChinese Technology Co., Ltd.LingoDeer Co, Ltd.

Customer experience

HelloChinese

All ratings23,267 ratings
Positive97.8%
Neutral0.9%
Negative1.3%
Written reviews3,746 reviews
Positive94.8%
Neutral2.0%
Negative3.2%

LingoDeer

All ratings27,589 ratings
Positive94.3%
Neutral2.0%
Negative3.7%
Written reviews1,316 reviews
Positive77.2%
Neutral6.2%
Negative16.6%

User reviews

HelloChinese

From 23K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Easy to learn
  • 👍 Engaging and fun
  • 👍 Helpful for beginners
  • 👍 Good for pronunciation practice
  • 👍 Useful for learning Chinese characters

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Inconsistent speech recognition
  • 🐛 Audio quality issues in some videos
  • 💰 Paywall limits access to full content
  • 💰 Premium subscription is expensive

LingoDeer

From 28K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Great for learning Asian languages
  • 👍 Thorough grammar and sentence structure explanations
  • 🎨 Aesthetically pleasing design
  • 📚 Comprehensive lessons and review features
  • 🔊 Clear audio and pronunciation guidance

Room to improve

  • 💰 Paywall after initial lessons
  • 🐛 Occasional bugs and glitches
  • 🔍 Limited free content
  • 🔀 Difficulty switching between languages
  • 🔢 Lack of customization options (e.g., dark mode)

Bugs and requests

HelloChinese

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Occasional login issues
  • Inconsistent performance on older devices

Requested features

5 requests
  • More advanced lessons beyond HSK3
  • Option to toggle pinyin on a per-word basis
  • Improved review system with more customization
  • Addition of traditional Chinese characters
  • More real-life conversation practice

LingoDeer

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Progress bar not updating correctly
  • Incorrect answers sometimes marked as correct
  • Inability to resume lessons after app update
  • Keyboard issues when typing answers

Requested features

5 requests
  • Allow typing answers instead of just selecting
  • Provide feedback on pronunciation accuracy
  • Improve spaced repetition for vocabulary review
  • Add more languages, especially less common ones
  • Implement a community feature to connect with other learners

In-app purchases

13 purchases

HelloChinese

Subscriptions10
  • HelloChinese Premium$11.991 Month
  • HelloChinese Premium+$16.991 Month
  • HelloChinese Premium+$19.991 Month
Show 7 more
  • HelloChinese Premium$25.993 Months
  • HelloChinese Premium$48.991 Year
  • HelloChinese Premium+$62.996 Months
  • HelloChinese Premium$69.991 Year
  • HelloChinese Premium+$89.996 Months
  • HelloChinese Premium+$104.991 Year
  • HelloChinese Premium+$149.991 Year
One-time3
  • 300 coins$4.99
  • 750 coins$9.99
  • 1650 coins$19.99
17 purchases

LingoDeer

Subscriptions11
  • Spanish Monthly Subscription$12.991 Month
  • Japanese Monthly Subscription$12.991 Month
  • Korean Monthly subscription$12.991 Month
Show 8 more
  • Multilingual Pass - Monthly$14.991 Month
  • Korean Quarterly subscription$32.993 Months
  • Multilingual Pass - Quarterly$34.993 Months
  • Korean Pass - Yearly$76.991 Year
  • Multilingual Pass - 6 Months$83.996 Months
  • Multilingual Pass (Annual)$95.991 Year
  • Multilingual Pass (Annual)7 Days trial$95.991 Year
  • Yearly subscription - discount3 Days trial$109.991 Year
One-time6
  • Buy 1200 Gems$4.99
  • Buy 3000 Gems$9.99
  • Multilingual Pass - Lifetime$119.99
Show 3 more
  • Multilingual Pass - Lifetime$159.99
  • lifetime membership for new$299.99
  • lifetime membership discount$499.99

Questions

Is HelloChinese free?
HelloChinese is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is LingoDeer free?
LingoDeer is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, HelloChinese or LingoDeer?
HelloChinese is rated higher. HelloChinese averages 4.9 out of 5 from 23K ratings, while LingoDeer averages 4.7 from 28K ratings.
Do HelloChinese or LingoDeer have ads?
Neither HelloChinese nor LingoDeer shows ads.
Which is updated more often, HelloChinese or LingoDeer?
HelloChinese ships an update weekly, and LingoDeer every 3 weeks. Most recently, HelloChinese was updated on October 17, 2026 and LingoDeer on October 17, 2026.
Which is more popular, HelloChinese or LingoDeer?
HelloChinese currently peaks at #110 in the App Store charts, and LingoDeer at #129. Chart position reflects recent download velocity rather than total install base.

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