Comparison

Pre vs Chinese Characters 汉字

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

Head to head
About

Pre

This app helps children develop fine motor skills and foundational pre-writing patterns essential for letter formation. It features interactive tracing activities with visual patterns and offers customizable settings for a focused learning experience.

Highlights
  • Interactive pattern tracing
  • Develops fine motor skills
  • Consolidates letter formation basis
  • Customizable pattern selection
  • Free-play mode option
  • Guidance on pre-writing development
Features
Read full description

As a precursor and support to developing good letter formation, pre-writing activities help children to build fine motor skills and the language to talk about shape and pattern. This app employs the foundational pre-writing patterns to develop and consolidate such skills. Select a pebble from the array and watch its pattern created by a fish in the rockpool. Trace the track of the bubbles, watching the pattern appear. Choose the same or a different pebble from the array to continue exploring. FEATURES - Select a pre-writing pattern to see it drawn on the rockpool’s surface - Trace over the bubble pattern to develop fine motor skills - Learn and consolidate the patterns that form the basis of clear letter formation - Use settings to disable stones to limit those on offer - Use settings to disable all patterns to provide a free-play space - A Read Me file with guidance on other ways to support the development of pre-writing patterns - No third-party advertising - No in-app purchases. WHO IS YELLOW DOOR? We are a publisher offering a range of inspiring and innovative literacy and maths resources. From multisensory games to interactive software, we combine hands-on learning with open-ended technology to promote communication and language, collaborative play and creativity across the curriculum. Our aim is to produce resources that are appealing to small hands and curious minds, and that will help build an engaging, playful learning environment for all young children. OTHER APPS FROM YELLOW DOOR Letter Formation App Letter Recognition App Come Alive Traditional Tales (6 individual apps) Come Alive Nursery Rhymes Come Alive Sound and Letters Come Alive Listening. REVIEW THE APP We would love to know what you think of our new app, so please leave a review!

About

Chinese Characters 汉字

Learn to read and write thousands of Chinese characters with detailed instructions. Access free dictionaries, OCR translation, and Pinyin annotations for news articles. Covers HSK and AP Chinese exam requirements.

Highlights
  • Writing instructions for 3000+ characters
  • HSK and AP Chinese exam coverage
  • Free OCR for Chinese text translation
  • Free English-Chinese and Chinese-English dictionaries
  • Pinyin annotation for news articles
Features
Read full description

- Writing instructions for nearly 3000 Chinese characters - Covers all and more characters than required in the official Chinese Proficiency Examinations (HSK levels 1 to 6), and required in AP Chinese exams administered by the U.S. College Board. - Free Optical Character Recognition (OCR) for Chinese text for easy translation, which is also free. - Free download of English-Chinese and Chinese-English dictionaries for quick lookup - Links to the Chinese edition of renowned news sites such as New York Times, BBC and Reuters, with free Pinyin annotation to assist you read new words.

Screenshots

Chinese Characters 汉字4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Chinese Characters 汉字 at 75% against Pre's 0%. Chinese Characters 汉字 also leads on price (Free vs $19.99) and update cadence (every 10 days vs every 39 months). Pre's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 3) and iOS requirement (11.0 vs 16.0). On 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

Chinese Characters 汉字 is free to download; Pre costs $19.99 up front. Chinese Characters 汉字 sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. Pre asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Pre ships an update every 39 months, Chinese Characters 汉字 every 10 days. Both last shipped on November 2, 2026.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Pre versus Chinese Characters 汉字: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPreChinese Characters 汉字
Price$19.99Free — better
Rating—4.7 (295 ratings) — better
Positive reviews0.0% of reviews75.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings—295 — better
Update frequencyEvery 39 monthsEvery 10 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
DevicesiPadiPhone, iPad — better
Requires iOS11.0 — better16.0
Further details — not scored
Size7 MB123 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperYellow Door LtdYOYASOFT LLC

Customer experience

Pre

Written reviews2 reviews
Positive0.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative100.0%

Chinese Characters 汉字

All ratings286 ratings
Positive92.7%
Neutral3.1%
Negative4.2%
Written reviews16 reviews
Positive75.0%
Neutral18.8%
Negative6.3%

In-app purchases

None

Pre

No in-app purchases

3 purchases

Chinese Characters 汉字

One-time3
  • MDBG DictionaryFree
  • English-Chinese DictionaryFree
  • Advanced Chinese Characters$12.99

Questions

Is Pre free?
Pre costs $19.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Chinese Characters 汉字 free?
Chinese Characters 汉字 is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Pre or Chinese Characters 汉字 have ads?
Neither Pre nor Chinese Characters 汉字 shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Pre or Chinese Characters 汉字?
Pre ships an update every 39 months, and Chinese Characters 汉字 every 10 days. Most recently, Pre was updated on November 2, 2026 and Chinese Characters 汉字 on November 2, 2026.

Other comparisons