Hanzi vs WriteChinese
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Hanzi
Learn to write and type Chinese characters with animated stroke order guides. This free version offers 80 basic characters and phrases, with a full version planned for HSK levels 1-6.
- Animated stroke order guides
- Learn to write basic characters
- Practice typing Chinese text
- Includes common phrases
- Free version with 80 characters
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Learn Chinese writing from the very beginning, starting with simple but useful characters that later combine to make more complex characters. Just follow the animated stroke order! I wrote this app for my kids to learn how to read, write and type text messages to their grandparents in China. This free version includes 80 characters. After mastering these, you will be able to write phrases like: • "Hello" - 你好 • "I don't understand" - 我不懂 • "I have to go to class!" - 我要去上课了 • "Please give me a cup of water" - 请给我一杯水 • "This is my daughter" - 这是我的女儿 You will need to enable the iPhone Chinese keyboard in the Settings app: General -> Keyboard -> Add New Keyboard ... -> Chinese (Simplified) -> Handwriting While not a pre-requisite for this app, if you are taking a listening and speaking course in Mandarin Chinese, you can also follow the pinyin (pronounciation) shown alongside each character. Stay tuned for the full version with all HSK Levels 1 to 6 characters as well as many more phrases and features.
WriteChinese
Learn the correct stroke order for Chinese characters with animated guides and pronunciation. Supports text recognition, offline lookup, and practice writing with error correction. Ideal for students and learners of Chinese.
- Stroke order lookup and animation
- Pinyin annotation and voice pronunciation
- Text recognition for input
- Offline dictionary
- Writing practice with error alerts
- Simplified and traditional Chinese support
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"WriteChinese" is an app for learning the stroke order of Chinese characters, with stroke order lookup, pinyin annotation, voice playback, flashcards and vocabulary review. It works on iPhone, iPad and Apple Pencil. The app strictly follows the latest standards for Chinese character stroke order and includes tens of thousands of common characters, meeting the lookup needs of teachers, parents and children. Stroke order and radicals are based on the "Elementary School Students' Stroke-Radical-Structure Character-level Stroke Order Dictionary" and the "Modern Chinese Stroke-Radical-Structure Character-level Stroke Order Standard Dictionary." All of the more than 20,000 Chinese characters supported by "WriteChinese" are annotated with pinyin, and users can tap the play button to hear the pronunciation. Features: * Take a photo or choose an image for text recognition to help you input the characters you want to practice. * Handwriting lookup: find the character you want by writing it by hand, even if you can't type Chinese. * New flashcards: turn characters into cards for reviewing and memorizing anytime, anywhere. * New vocabulary book: automatically collect new characters for repeated review. * New word list quiz: test how well you've mastered a list, with your progress at a glance. * After text recognition, automatically translate English, Spanish, French, Arabic, Russian, Portuguese, German, Italian, Dutch, Finnish, Danish, Thai, Korean, Vietnamese and Japanese into Chinese for easy comparison while learning Chinese. * Offline dictionary: look up characters you don't know. * Automatically save your input or text-recognition history for easy practice later. * Supports stroke order practice for almost all Chinese characters. * Play the standard stroke order of characters as an animation. * Practice writing Chinese characters; if there is a mistake, the app alerts you to the incorrect stroke. * Show or hide the stroke order to help with dictation and to strengthen memory. * Automatically annotate pinyin when you input any Chinese characters. * Voice playback of Chinese characters: if you don't know how to read a character, just tap the voice button to hear it. * Share your handwritten characters with friends. * Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese and English explanations. Discover more features... Chinese characters have a history of more than six thousand years; they are the world's longest continuously used writing system, with no break in transmission. They are the only surviving ideographic script created by ancient people and an important part of Chinese culture. We sincerely hope "WriteChinese" can help Chinese learners around the world and help billions of Chinese users learn how to write Chinese characters. Unlimited Access Membership Subscription - Use all in-app features without restrictions through this subscription. - Subscriptions are charged weekly, monthly or yearly, depending on the selected plan. - Payment is charged to your iTunes account upon confirmation of purchase. - You can turn off auto-renewal 24 hours before the current period ends, or it will renew automatically. - Renewal is charged to your account within 24 hours before the current period ends, depending on your plan. - Users can manage subscriptions and turn off auto-renewal in account settings after purchase. - Any unused free subscription time is forfeited after purchasing a subscription. Privacy Policy: https://www.dazhuogroup.com/writechinese/privacy_statement_en.php Terms of Use: https://www.dazhuogroup.com/writechinese/terms_of_use_en.php
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: WriteChinese at 4.5 against Hanzi's 2.5. WriteChinese also leads on ratings volume (21 vs 2). Hanzi's advantage is review sentiment (67% vs 25%) and in-app purchases (none vs 3). On price, 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
Both are free to download. WriteChinese sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per 7 days. Hanzi asks for nothing beyond the download.
WriteChinese holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 2.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: WriteChinese has 21 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 67% of Hanzi's written reviews are positive against 25% of WriteChinese's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Hanzi ships an update every 2 days, WriteChinese every 7 months. The most recent releases landed on September 23, 2026 and October 9, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Hanzi | WriteChinese |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 2.5 (2 ratings) | 4.5 (21 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 66.7% of reviews — better | 25.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 2 | 21 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 days — better | Every 7 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 9.0 — better | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 1 MB | 356 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 17+ |
| Developer | Richard Gomes | Shanghai Dazhuo Information Technology Co., Ltd. |
Customer experience
Hanzi
WriteChinese
In-app purchases
Hanzi
No in-app purchases
WriteChinese
- Weekly Subscription3 Days trial$1.997 Days
- Monthly Subscription3 Days trial$3.991 Month
- Annual Subscription3 Days trial$19.991 Year
Questions
Is Hanzi free?
Is WriteChinese free?
Which has better reviews, Hanzi or WriteChinese?
Do Hanzi or WriteChinese have ads?
Which is updated more often, Hanzi or WriteChinese?
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