Comparison

Chinese Annotator vs Boost Chinese

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

Head to head
About

Chinese Annotator

This app helps you learn Chinese by reading ePub books. It allows you to add Pinyin and English definitions directly to the text, and track your vocabulary knowledge. You can also export your learned words for flashcard review.

Highlights
  • Import ePub files
  • Add Pinyin and English definitions
  • Track known words and characters
  • Hide known Pinyin/definitions
  • Export word lists for flashcards
  • Print pages to PDF
Features
Read full description

A Chinese ePub reader to assist you in reading Chinese characters. After importing an ePub, you can add Pinyin and English on to the text in a 3-line format. After annotating the text in this way, you can then mark on a word by word basis which definitions you already know and which characters you know. There is a setting that hides the pinyin or definitions of words that you know. In this way, you are forced to look at the character and recall it instead of relying on pinyin. A word list is also available to allow you to see all words, words with unknown definitions, or words with unknown pinyin. This list of words can be exported to a file to be imported in to a flash card system, like Pleco. This allows you to easily pick out all the words you don't know in a publication and review them. You can also print the page of the book currently being displayed. In iOS 10 and greater, you can print to PDF.

About

Boost Chinese

Master Mandarin Chinese through interactive games, lessons, and native speaker videos. Improve pronunciation, writing, and vocabulary with personalized learning paths and HSK exam preparation. Supports multiple mother tongues.

Highlights
  • Interactive games and lessons
  • Chinese dictionary by mother tongue
  • Native speaker pronunciation videos
  • Chinese character stroke system
  • Expandable vocabulary decks
  • HSK exam preparation
  • Progress tracking
Features
Read full description

Improve your chinese easily, quickly, and enjoyably with Boost Chinese! Master and learn chinese by having fun with our interactive games. Discover everything you need to become a master of mandarin with our chinese dictionary adapted to your mother tongue. Write and speak chinese correctly and perfect your chinese pronunciation with our videos of native chinese speakers that will allow you to perfect both your listening and writing comprehension. Learn mandarin at your own pace with fun games and lessons. - LEARN CHINESE WITH YOUR MOTHER TONGUE: English, Spanish, Russian, French, and Portuguese. We are constantly working on adding more languages to meet your needs. - CHINESE DICTIONARY: Search for the word you need in our chinese dictionary in your mother tongue. - SPEAK CHINESE: Speak chinese naturally and improve your chinese pronunciation. - IMPROVE YOUR PRONUNCIATION WITH VIDEOS OF NATIVE CHINESE SPEAKERS: Master tones and sounds with practical examples and speak with confidence. - LEARN TO WRITE CHINESE: Discover how to trace chinese characters with our innovative chinese stroke system. Learn the correct order for a unique experience and have fun perfecting your chinese writing skills interactively. - EXPAND YOUR CHINESE VOCABULARY: Expand your vocabulary and master everyday and professional situations with our specific decks. From business terms to slang words, we launch at least one new deck every week. Stay up-to-date and expand your chinese vocabulary for everyday situations! - CHINESE LESSONS: Immerse yourself in immersive lessons designed for all levels. From the basics to the subtleties of the chinese language, each lesson is tailored to your individual progress, ensuring efficient and meaningful learning. - CHINESE GRAMMAR: learning to write chinese correctly will be easier with our lessons, you will find grammar from chinese for beginners to advanced levels, our lessons contain concepts with practical examples, covering adjectives, adverbs, verbs, and more. - LEARN CHINESE AT YOUR OWN PACE: We tailor our lessons and challenges for different levels, with fun lessons where you can learn to read chinese, whether you are a curious beginner, an intermediate, or an advanced master. - INTERACTIVE GAMES: Learn mandarin, overcome interactive challenges designed to test you and improve your skills at each level, and share your achievements with your friends! - HSK PREPARATION: Progress towards success in the HSK exam. We guide you in HSK preparation for all levels of the exam, from beginner levels (HSK 1, HSK 2, HSK 3) to more advanced levels (HSK 4, HSK 5, HSK 6), providing you with the necessary skills to stand out. - PROGRESS TRACKING: See your evolution in words learned and playtime in the app. Celebrate your achievements and adjust your approach based on your strengths and areas for improvement in chinese. - Thanks to a complex SM-18 spaced repetition system algorithm, we highlight more frequently the characters you need to reinforce and reduce the frequency of those you already master, thus optimizing your learning. We are a team of foreigners passionate about technology and the chinese language, our goal is to have in our hands and for as many people as possible the ultimate application to boost their chinese learning curve which sometimes seems really flat. Join us and see how fast we launch new features and create valuable content for you, for all of us! Learn chinese with Boost Chinese! Apple EULA -> https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Terms of use -> https://www.boostchinese.com/legal/terms Privacy policy -> https://www.boostchinese.com/legal/privacy

Screenshots

Chinese Annotator4 screens
Boost Chinese4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Boost Chinese at Free against Chinese Annotator's $0.99. Boost Chinese also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.1) and review sentiment (87% vs 72%). Chinese Annotator's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 3) and ratings volume (30 vs 10). On update cadence, ads and device support 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

Boost Chinese is free to download; Chinese Annotator costs $0.99 up front. Boost Chinese sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Chinese Annotator asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Boost Chinese holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.1. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 30 and 10 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 72% of Chinese Annotator's written reviews are positive against 87% of Boost Chinese's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Chinese Annotator ships an update every 2 weeks, Boost Chinese monthly. The most recent releases landed on September 19, 2026 and September 20, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
Chinese Annotator versus Boost Chinese: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterChinese AnnotatorBoost Chinese
Price$0.99Free — better
Rating4.1 (30 ratings)5.0 (10 ratings) — better
Positive reviews72.0% of reviews87.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings30 — better10
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeks — betterMonthly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS9.0 — better15.1
Further details — not scored
Size65 MB151 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperJon Hargetterik naturil

Customer experience

Chinese Annotator

All ratings30 ratings
Positive76.7%
Neutral13.3%
Negative10.0%
Written reviews25 reviews
Positive72.0%
Neutral12.0%
Negative16.0%

Boost Chinese

All ratings10 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews23 reviews
Positive87.0%
Neutral4.3%
Negative8.7%

In-app purchases

None

Chinese Annotator

No in-app purchases

3 purchases

Boost Chinese

Subscriptions2
  • Month7 Days trial$4.991 Month
  • 1 year7 Days trial$44.901 Year
One-time1
  • Lifetime Premium$129.99

Questions

Is Chinese Annotator free?
Chinese Annotator costs $0.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Boost Chinese free?
Boost Chinese is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Chinese Annotator or Boost Chinese?
Boost Chinese is rated higher. Chinese Annotator averages 4.1 out of 5 from 30 ratings, while Boost Chinese averages 5.0 from 10 ratings.
Do Chinese Annotator or Boost Chinese have ads?
Neither Chinese Annotator nor Boost Chinese shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Chinese Annotator or Boost Chinese?
Chinese Annotator ships an update every 2 weeks, and Boost Chinese monthly. Most recently, Chinese Annotator was updated on September 19, 2026 and Boost Chinese on September 20, 2026.

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