Comparison

Sinolingua Virtual Library vs Hanly

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

Head to head
About

Sinolingua Virtual Library

Access a collection of Chinese language learning ebooks with integrated audio, highlighting, and translation. Explore stories that delve into Chinese language and culture, offering an immersive reading experience.

Highlights
  • Ebook reading support
  • Integrated audio stories
  • Highlighting features
  • Translation tools
  • Chinese language and culture content
  • Collection of ~200 ebooks
Read full description

Sinolingua, a specialist publisher of Chinese language learning materials from China, has developed this APP to support ebook reading via your mobile devices. We hope to enhance your reading experience and bring you a higher level of enjoyment and convenience! Please feel free to browse through our ebooks and experience the joy of reading at the comfort of your palm. Carefully blended from a variety of stimulating genres, we have released about 200 ebooks and more in the coming months. Current ebooks are mostly readers and are well supported with audio, highlighting and translation features. Reading our stories, you will learn about Chinese language and culture developed from 5000 years of civilization. With eyes closed and experience our audio stories, you will feel like you are already in China!

About

Hanly

Learn thousands of Chinese characters efficiently by understanding their structure and origin. This app uses visual breakdowns, engaging stories, and interactive elements to build an intuitive grasp of characters and aid memorization. It focuses on frequently used vocabulary and offers a structured learning progression.

Highlights
  • Character etymology and mnemonics
  • Interactive component exploration
  • Structured learning progression
  • Spaced repetition system
  • Extensive character dictionary
  • Stroke order animations
Features
Read full description

Chinese characters are not just random shapes - learn 1000 characters in months by understanding their structure and origin! Through visual breakdowns and engaging stories, Hanly helps you develop an intuitive grasp of Chinese characters and to efficiently remember them. Hanly starts with simple components and quickly builds up to complex characters, while focusing on the most frequently used vocabulary. CARDS THAT MAKE CHARACTERS COME ALIVE Etymology, memorable illustrations, mnemonics: we will provide the most helpful information to get a character to come alive in your imagination and stick in your memory for good. INTUITIVE INTERACTIVE UI Play with characters like they’re Lego blocks! Explore radicals, components, compound words, and character relationships - all just one click away! CAREFULLY OPTIMIZED LEARNING PROGRESSION Start with simple building blocks and naturally progress to complex characters. Our carefully designed levels introduce the most frequent characters early while maintaining coherent, meaningful themes. EXTENSIVE CHARACTER DICTIONARY & SEARCH Search by character, pinyin or meaning to find: - Character meanings and pronunciations - Usage in compound words and characters - Frequency and HSK level - Radical forms - Stroke order animations - Character evolution history SPACED REPETITION ENGINE INTEGRATED WITH THE UI Built-in spaced repetition helps you review characters at the perfect time, with review schedule optimized for how well you know a given character. Character progress is deeply integrated with the UI, so that you can spot the characters you are learning on any page. AND MANY MORE FEATURES! - Detailed learning statistics - Character etymology stories & fun facts - Explore characters & radicals sorted by their frequency - Personal note-taking system - Easily mark characters you already know Terms of use: https://www.hanlyapp.com/terms-of-use Privacy policy: https://www.hanlyapp.com/privacy-policy Contact us: We’d love to hear from your feedback about Hanly! Please send us an email with your thoughts and suggestions at tutu@hanlyapp.com

Screenshots

Sinolingua Virtual Library4 screens
Hanly4 screens

Verdict

The call

Sinolingua Virtual Library and Hanly both sit at 5.0 stars, but that hides the real split: 99% of Hanly's written reviews are positive against 0% of Sinolingua Virtual Library's. Hanly also leads on ratings volume (357 vs 1) and update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 3 months). Sinolingua Virtual Library's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1). On price, rating, ads and monetization model 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. Hanly sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $5.99 per month. Sinolingua Virtual Library asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Sinolingua Virtual Library against 4.9 for Hanly. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Hanly has 357 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 0% of Sinolingua Virtual Library's written reviews are positive against 99% of Hanly's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Sinolingua Virtual Library ships an update every 3 months, Hanly every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 15, 2026 and October 20, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Sinolingua Virtual Library versus Hanly: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSinolingua Virtual LibraryHanly
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better4.9 (357 ratings)
Positive reviews0.0% of reviews99.1% of reviews — better
Number of ratings1357 — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 monthsEvery 2 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.615.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size75 MB241 MB
Age rating+49+
DeveloperQueryLoop Inc.Artur Gorokh

Customer experience

Sinolingua Virtual Library

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive0.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative100.0%

Hanly

All ratings357 ratings
Positive99.2%
Neutral0.3%
Negative0.6%
Written reviews229 reviews
Positive99.1%
Neutral0.4%
Negative0.4%

Bugs and requests

Sinolingua Virtual Library

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Hanly

Reported bugs

1 issue
  • No known major bugs reported

Requested features

3 requests
  • Addition of writing practice for characters
  • Inclusion of example sentences for each character
  • Expansion of content to cover more advanced vocabulary

In-app purchases

None

Sinolingua Virtual Library

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

Hanly

Subscriptions1
  • Hanly Premium$5.991 Month

Questions

Is Sinolingua Virtual Library free?
Sinolingua Virtual Library is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Hanly free?
Hanly is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Sinolingua Virtual Library or Hanly?
Sinolingua Virtual Library is rated higher. Sinolingua Virtual Library averages 5.0 out of 5 from 1 ratings, while Hanly averages 4.9 from 357 ratings.
Do Sinolingua Virtual Library or Hanly have ads?
Neither Sinolingua Virtual Library nor Hanly shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Sinolingua Virtual Library or Hanly?
Sinolingua Virtual Library ships an update every 3 months, and Hanly every 2 weeks. Most recently, Sinolingua Virtual Library was updated on October 15, 2026 and Hanly on October 20, 2026.

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