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, featuring functions such as stroke order lookup, pinyin annotation, and voice pronunciation. It is compatible with iPhone, iPad, and Apple Pencil for writing. The application strictly adheres to the latest standards for the stroke order of Chinese characters, including tens of thousands of commonly used characters, meeting the retrieval needs of a wide range of teachers, parents, and children. The reference for stroke order and radical is based on the "Elementary School Student Stroke Radical Structural Character-level Stroke Order Dictionary" and the "Modern Chinese Stroke Radical Structural Character-level Stroke Order Standard Dictionary." "WriteChinese" annotates all over 20,000 Chinese characters with pinyin, allowing users to click the play button to hear the pronunciation. Features: * Support for taking photos or selecting images for text recognition, helping users input the characters they want to practice. *Supports automatic translation of English, Spanish, French, Arabic, Russian, Portuguese, German, Italian, Dutch, Finnish, Danish, Thai, Korean, Vietnamese, and Japanese into Chinese after text recognition for easy comparison Study Chinese * Support for offline dictionary function, allowing users to look up unfamiliar characters through the dictionary. * Automatic saving of input or text recognition history for convenient practice later. * Almost all Chinese characters' stroke order practice is supported. * Support for playing the standard stroke order of characters in an animated way. * Support for practicing writing Chinese characters; if there are errors, the app will alert users to the incorrect strokes. * Support for displaying or hiding stroke orders, facilitating character dictation and enhancing memory. * Automatically annotate pinyin when inputting any Chinese characters. * Support for voice playback of Chinese characters; if a user doesn't know how to pronounce a certain character, they can simply click the voice button to hear the pronunciation. * Support for sharing handwritten characters with friends. * Support for simplified and traditional Chinese as well as English explanations. Discover more features... Chinese characters have a history of over six thousand years, making them the world's oldest continuously used writing system without a break. Chinese characters are the only surviving ideographic characters created by ancient people, representing an essential part of Chinese culture. We sincerely hope that "Stroke Order" can assist Chinese language learners globally, helping billions of Chinese users learn how to write Chinese characters. Unlimited Access Membership Subscription - You can use all in-app features without restrictions through this subscription. - Subscriptions are charged weekly, monthly, or annually, depending on the selected plan. - Payment will be charged to your iTunes account upon confirmation of purchase. - You can turn off auto-renewal 24 hours before the current subscription period ends, or it will automatically renew. - Renewal will be charged to your account within 24 hours before the current subscription period ends, depending on the chosen plan. - Users can manage subscriptions and go to account settings to turn off auto-renewal after purchase. - Any unused free subscription time will be 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 June 1, 2026 and September 7, 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 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 1 MB | 353 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| 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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