Comparison

WriteChinese vs PinyinIQ

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

PinyinIQ

Features
Read full description

Photograph, paste or import Chinese. PinyinIQ places editable pinyin beside the original characters so you can read naturally, hear pronunciation and keep the finished result. LIVE PINYIN CAMERA Point your camera at printed Chinese to see pinyin while you read. Single Line mode keeps attention on one line, and you can adjust the reading area to fit the page in front of you. DOCUMENTS AND IMAGES Open supported documents and images or paste Chinese text. PinyinIQ recognises the Chinese and creates a pinyin-assisted reading. Review each word, correct uncertain readings, then save or export the result. READ AND LISTEN Keep the original characters and pinyin together. Adjust text size and spacing, hide or show pinyin, hear Mandarin pronunciation and resume saved readings from your Library. OFFLINE DICTIONARY Search Chinese characters, pinyin or English. Inspect Simplified and Traditional forms, hear pronunciation, bookmark useful words and create learning cards. LEARN YOUR WAY Practise tones and pinyin, review flashcards, organise learning material and use on-device handwriting recognition to look up a character. PRIVATE BY DESIGN Core recognition, pinyin generation and dictionary lookup run on your device. Your Library is saved locally. No account. No advertising. No tracking or analytics. PinyinIQ is independently designed and is not affiliated with Pleco or any dictionary publisher.

Screenshots

WriteChinese4 screens
PinyinIQ4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: PinyinIQ at none against WriteChinese's 3. PinyinIQ also leads on update cadence (fortnightly vs every 7 months). WriteChinese's advantage is iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.0). 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. PinyinIQ asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

WriteChinese ships an update every 7 months, PinyinIQ fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 9, 2026 and September 30, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
WriteChinese versus PinyinIQ: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterWriteChinesePinyinIQ
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.5 (21 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews25.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings21 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 7 monthsFortnightly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size356 MB14 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

PinyinIQ

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is WriteChinese free?
WriteChinese is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is PinyinIQ free?
PinyinIQ is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do WriteChinese or PinyinIQ have ads?
Neither WriteChinese nor PinyinIQ shows ads.
Which is updated more often, WriteChinese or PinyinIQ?
WriteChinese ships an update every 7 months, and PinyinIQ fortnightly. Most recently, WriteChinese was updated on October 9, 2026 and PinyinIQ on September 30, 2026.

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