Comparison

WriteChinese vs Times Table Star

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

Head to head
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

About

Times Table Star

Features
Read full description

Times Table Star turns multiplication, division and missing numbers into something children actually want to do: looking after a pet that only grows because they learn. Free to download, and the whole times tables ladder is free forever. CHOOSE YOUR PET Pick an egg and hatch it by answering your first questions. Stella the star, Mochi the kitten, Lumi the axolotl, Suki the Siamese, Biscuit the puppy, Pip the owl, Pickle the tortoise, Ember the dragon, Coco the capybara, Clover the rabbit and Rusty the fox are all waiting inside. Name yours, and it is yours for good. MATHS MAKES THEM GROW Every quiz you finish makes your pet cleverer. Watch it grow from a wobbly Baby to a Kid, a Whizz in little round glasses and a Genius in a graduation cap, and then keep going: Scholar, Professor, Sage, Legend and Star of Numbers. Only practice can do that, so the maths never feels like a chore. THREE THINGS TO PRACTISE Times Tables, Division and Missing Number, each with its own five levels, its own best scores and its own trophy. Speed based scoring so quick thinking pays off. Three hearts to soften mistakes. Mastery stars for beating 500, 750 and 900. A daily challenge with fresh questions each morning, an endless mode for experts, and quiet extra practice of the facts your child finds hard. LOOK AFTER THEM Carry an apple to your pet's mouth and watch it munch. Scrub it with a sponge until it sparkles. Open the toy box and pick something to play with. Tickle its tummy for a giggle. Tuck it into bed at night. If it gets the sniffles, a warm drink puts it right. TRICKS THEY EARN Sit, Spin, High Five, Roll, Take a Bow, Dance. Each one unlocks at a point on your pet's own progress, so practice is the only way to get them, and once learned they are yours to ask for whenever you like. RACE A FRIEND Two devices side by side, the same ten questions, and the faster correct answer wins. No internet, no accounts, no names sent between them. Free for everyone. A PLAYGROUND OF THEIR OWN Your pets share a playroom with a climbing frame, a ball pit and a seesaw built to their size. Look in and watch them potter about, keep their own hours and make friends with each other. KEEP COMING BACK Days together that only ever go up, a sticker book with collectable characters, best score boards, and trophies for finishing the hardest level of every subject. MADE FOR FAMILIES Five themes with their own colours, fonts and worlds, from Candy Pop to a Galaxy cabin. Separate profiles so brothers and sisters each keep their own pets and progress. Backs up to iCloud automatically. A big, chunky number pad built for small fingers. WHAT IS FREE Your pet, all five times tables levels, all four growth stages, every mood, all six tricks, feeding, washing, playing, patting and the daily report of what your pet got up to while you were away. That stays free. THE EVERYTHING UNLOCK One payment, yours forever, no subscription. It adds the other ten pets and the Playground they share, Division and Missing Number, ten more rooms with seasonal and birthday decorations, and the rest of the toy box. IF YOU BOUGHT TIMES TABLE STAR BEFORE You keep everything, on every device, forever, and you will never be asked to pay again. The app works it out for itself the first time you open this version. Nothing has been taken away. FOR PARENTS No adverts. No accounts, no tracking, and no data collection: everything stays on the device and in your own iCloud. A parent panel shows what your child is working on and what they have cracked, taken from their own practice. An optional AI companion feature lets an older pet chat aloud with your child. It is switched off by default, sits behind a parental gate, and only works if you add your own AI provider key, so conversations run on your account. You can read or erase everything your pet remembers at any time. Learning times tables is a slog. Raising a pet is not. Times Table Star is the second one, powered entirely by the first.

Screenshots

WriteChinese4 screens
Times Table Star4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Times Table Star at none against WriteChinese's 3. Times Table Star also leads on update cadence (weekly vs every 7 months). On price, ads, device support and iOS requirement 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. Times Table Star asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

WriteChinese ships an update every 7 months, Times Table Star weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 9, 2026 and October 20, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
WriteChinese versus Times Table Star: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterWriteChineseTimes Table Star
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.5 (21 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews25.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings21 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 7 monthsWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.015.0
Further details — not scored
Size356 MB48 MB
Age rating17+4+
DeveloperShanghai Dazhuo Information Technology Co., Ltd.Wee Seng Ang

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
None

Times Table Star

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is WriteChinese free?
WriteChinese is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Times Table Star free?
Times Table Star is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do WriteChinese or Times Table Star have ads?
Neither WriteChinese nor Times Table Star shows ads.
Which is updated more often, WriteChinese or Times Table Star?
WriteChinese ships an update every 7 months, and Times Table Star weekly. Most recently, WriteChinese was updated on October 9, 2026 and Times Table Star on October 20, 2026.

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