Comparison

Panda Hanzi vs WriteChinese

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

Head to head
About

Panda Hanzi

Learn Chinese characters with animated stroke order guides and audio pronunciations. Practice writing characters through interactive exercises, structured by HSK levels 1-6.

Highlights
  • HSK level structured learning (1-6)
  • Animated stroke order guides
  • Audio pronunciation for characters
  • Interactive writing practice
  • Intuitive stroke learning
Read full description

“Panda Hanzi” is a Chinese character learning application that allows you to learn Chinese characters anytime and anywhere: watch the animations, play the audios and practice writing Chinese characters. This application has the following features: 1. This application is structured according to the levels (1-6) of the HSK and includes all the Chinese characters. 2. It includes animation of the writing of Chinese characters and intuitive learning of the strokes. 3. Contains the pronunciation of Chinese characters to facilitate the learning of pronunciation. 4. Includes writing exercises of Chinese characters, writing them with reference to animation videos.

About

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.

Highlights
  • 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
Features
Read full description

"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

Panda Hanzi4 screens
WriteChinese4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Panda Hanzi at 5.0 against WriteChinese's 4.5. Panda Hanzi also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 3) and update cadence (monthly vs every 7 months). WriteChinese's advantage is ratings volume (21 vs 1). 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. WriteChinese sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per 7 days. Panda Hanzi asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Panda Hanzi holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: WriteChinese has 21 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Panda Hanzi ships an update monthly, WriteChinese every 7 months. The most recent releases landed on October 10, 2026 and October 9, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Panda Hanzi versus WriteChinese: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPanda HanziWriteChinese
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better4.5 (21 ratings)
Positive reviews—25.0% of reviews
Number of ratings121 — better
Update frequencyMonthly — betterEvery 7 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS11.3 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size23 MB356 MB
Age rating4+17+
Developer北京汉雅天诚教育科技有限公司Shanghai Dazhuo Information Technology Co., Ltd.

Customer experience

Panda Hanzi

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

WriteChinese

All ratings21 ratings
Positive85.7%
Neutral9.5%
Negative4.8%
Written reviews4 reviews
Positive25.0%
Neutral25.0%
Negative50.0%

In-app purchases

None

Panda Hanzi

No in-app purchases

3 purchases

WriteChinese

Subscriptions3
  • Weekly Subscription3 Days trial$1.997 Days
  • Monthly Subscription3 Days trial$3.991 Month
  • Annual Subscription3 Days trial$19.991 Year

Questions

Is Panda Hanzi free?
Panda Hanzi is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is WriteChinese free?
WriteChinese is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Panda Hanzi or WriteChinese?
Panda Hanzi is rated higher. Panda Hanzi averages 5.0 out of 5 from 1 ratings, while WriteChinese averages 4.5 from 21 ratings.
Do Panda Hanzi or WriteChinese have ads?
Neither Panda Hanzi nor WriteChinese shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Panda Hanzi or WriteChinese?
Panda Hanzi ships an update monthly, and WriteChinese every 7 months. Most recently, Panda Hanzi was updated on October 10, 2026 and WriteChinese on October 9, 2026.

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