Readibu vs Dot Languages
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Readibu
Access a vast library of Chinese web novels, short stories, and children's tales. Enhance your learning with integrated dictionary lookups, text-to-speech, and pinyin display. Premium features offer advanced tools like sentence translation and offline reading for an immersive language learning experience.
- Explore Chinese web novels
- Tap for character definitions
- Reader mode for web pages
- Pinyin/zhuyin display
- Text-to-speech
- Offline reading (Premium)
- Sentence translation (Premium)
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Discover new stories and worlds in Chinese! Ready to move beyond flashcards and graded readers? Readibu is your portal to the world of popular Chinese web novels, short stories and children stories enjoyed by native readers — or bring your own books and read them the same way. From historical to sci-fi or romance to horror, there's always something good to read. Readibu is a Chinese reading app where you can: 1. Explore popular web novels, short stories, and children stories from native Chinese sites — browse by ranking, category, or search 2. Import your own EPUB, PDF, or TXT files and read them alongside your web library 3. Tap on characters for definitions 4. Open web pages in a reader for immersive reading 5. Absorb the language while you're immersed in gripping adventures Supported features: • Tap for dictionary • Text-to-speech • Simplified and traditional conversion • Pinyin/zhuyin display over words • Add custom url to display in reader • Import EPUB, PDF, and TXT files into your library • Organize your reading with collections, bookmarks, and history • Check the difficulty of any text with HSK-level breakdowns • Look up words in Pleco, MDBG, Yellow Bridge, Baidu Translate, and more • Export saved vocabularies • Auto-detect next chapter • Auto-save last page you were on • Back up and restore your library and vocabulary ================================ ENHANCE YOUR READING EXPERIENCE WITH READIBU PREMIUM • Cloud sync - Sync subscription, library, bookmarks, vocabs and reading progress between devices • Sentence Translation - Unlimited translation by Google Translate • Image Search - Display image search results for selected text • Offline Reading - Download pages for reading offline • Quiz Mode - Quiz your pinyin, tones, and definitions of words you looked up before • Smart Name Recognition - Detect names of people, orgs and places in content • Syntax Analysis - Analyze syntax of sentence Free trials included with all plans! 1-month subscription: $4.99 per month 3-month subscription: $9.99 per month 12-month subscription: $47.99 per year Payment will be charged to iTunes Account at the end of your free trial period. Your subscription automatically renews unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current billing period or trial. Your account will be charged for renewal within 24 hours before the end of the current period. You can manage and cancel subscriptions in your Itunes Account settings. Privacy Policy: https://www.readibu.com/privacy Terms & Conditions: https://www.readibu.com/terms Have questions? Feel free to contact us at support@readibu.com.
Dot Languages
Master Mandarin Chinese with a structured curriculum aligned to HSK 3.0 and TOCFL 2.0. Engage with AI-powered exercises, personalized practice, and a vast library of lessons and articles. Track progress, stay motivated with gamified elements, and even bring your own content for study.
- HSK 3.0 & TOCFL 2.0 aligned curriculum
- AI-powered exercises and personalized practice
- 11,000+ lessons covering vocabulary, grammar, reading
- Daily refreshed articles with in-app dictionary
- Spaced repetition for vocabulary retention
- Animated stroke-order character writing
- Speech recognition for pronunciation practice
- User-added content and study material generation
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Dot Languages is a complete Chinese learning app: lessons carefully written and crafted by humans, advanced exercises powered by AI — all built around a structured curriculum aligned to HSK 3.0 (2021 and 2025) and TOCFL 2.0 (2023), with personalised practice. Learn at your own pace through a dynamic HSK-aligned learning path with 11,000+ lessons covering vocabulary, grammar, and reading. Read new articles daily, refreshed for every HSK level, and look up any word in a comprehensive Chinese-English dictionary with character components. Practice that adapts to you: spaced repetition for vocabulary retention, animated stroke-order character writing, speech recognition for pronunciation, multiple choice, matching, sentence arrangement, flash cards, and AI-evaluated open-ended questions. Stay motivated with awards, streaks, learning milestones, leaderboards, and social profiles. Track your performance with weekly progress charts. Bring your own content — add private articles from any source and generate study material from text you paste in. More features: family plans, teacher classroom tools, grammar with sentence-structure analysis, and variable-speed audio narration of articles.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Readibu at 4.8 against Dot Languages's 4.2. Readibu also leads on review sentiment (92% vs 72%) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.5). On price, ratings volume, update cadence and ads 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. Readibu sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month and Dot Languages sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $9.00 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Readibu holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.2. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 159 and 55 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 92% of Readibu's written reviews are positive against 72% of Dot Languages's.
Readibu ships an update every 8 days, Dot Languages every 5 days. Both last shipped on November 3, 2026.
| Parameter | Readibu | Dot Languages |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (159 ratings) — better | 4.2 (55 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 91.9% of reviews — better | 72.2% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 159 — better | 55 |
| Update frequency | Every 8 days | Every 5 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Freemium | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 — better | 15.5 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 88 MB | 200 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Lingyi Chen | Dot Languages ApS |
Customer experience
Readibu
Dot Languages
Bugs and requests
Readibu
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
Dot Languages
Reported bugs
12 issues- App closes every time after signing up
- App not opening
- App crashes on startup
- Articles disappear when hitting back icon
- Return button partially visible after lesson
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- Bug where leaving and re-entering a story counts as two reads
- App freezes and never works again
- Login screen freezes
- App doesn't load at all
- Kicks out of login every time app is opened
- Streak and articles read does not carry across devices
- Button of 'open more stories' doesn't work
Requested features
9 requests- Add Korean and Japanese language options
- Add stories in addition to articles
- Option for lifetime subscription
- Speaking exercises
- More vibrant colors and backgrounds
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- Pictures to help remember words
- Way to practice tones for each character
- Option to switch to traditional characters
- App for Cantonese
In-app purchases
Readibu
- Readibu Monthly Premium14 Days trial$4.991 Month
- Readibu 3-Month Premium14 Days trial$9.993 Months
- Readibu Yearly Premium14 Days trial$47.991 Year
Dot Languages
- Standard Monthly7 Days trial$9.001 Month
- Dot Premium - Monthly7 Days trial$18.491 Month
- Standard Yearly7 Days trial$72.001 Year
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- Dot Premium - Yearly7 Days trial$135.991 Year
- Dot Premium - Family Plan7 Days trial$339.001 Year
Questions
Is Readibu free?
Is Dot Languages free?
Which has better reviews, Readibu or Dot Languages?
Do Readibu or Dot Languages have ads?
Which is updated more often, Readibu or Dot Languages?
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