Comparison

Chinese Pinyin vs Mock Interview Prep

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

Head to head
About

Chinese Pinyin

Master Mandarin pronunciation with this app focused on listening and articulation. It offers native-speaker audio and video to help you distinguish and produce the four tones accurately. Learn at your own pace with offline access and detailed visual guides.

Highlights
  • Native-speaker audio for tones
  • Mouth-shape videos for articulation
  • Offline listening and learning
  • Progressive tone training episodes
  • Detailed pinyin chart reference
  • Adjustable playback speed
Features
Read full description

Chinese Pinyin is a pronunciation-first Mandarin app. Hear the sounds, watch how a native speaker makes them, and train your ear until the four tones stop blurring together. Version 3.0 is a complete rebuild around the two things that actually change how you sound: listening and articulation. TONES — a pinyin radio for your ears • 120 episodes of blending chains, recorded by a native speaker: initial to final to syllable to a real word (b - a - ba - baba) • Basics: one syllable, four tones back to back, so the contrast is impossible to miss • Mixed: a new syllable every chain, once your ear is ready to generalize • Zero effort to use — pick an episode, press play, lock your screen, keep listening • Every recording ships inside the app. No streaming, no data, works on a plane • Pick up exactly where you stopped, on any episode CHART — see how the sound is made • The full pinyin system: 23 initials, 24 finals, 16 whole syllables, plus syllable tables from A to Z • Native-speaker mouth-shape videos, front view and side view at the same time — tap to swap which one is large • Play at 0.5x to catch the tongue and lip position, or 2x to drill • Videos are delivered by the App Store and play from your device, not streamed HOME • Sound of the day: one sound, all four tones, playing the second you open the app • One tap back to the episode you were listening to • Shuffle for a different sound whenever you want one WHO IT IS FOR • Beginners who want a pronunciation foundation that holds up later • Self-learners who need a reliable pinyin reference on hand • Anyone whose tones are "close enough" and who wants them actually right • Heritage learners and parents looking for passive listening their kids can absorb WHY IT WORKS Perception comes before production. Research on high-variability phonetic training shows that learners who train listening alone improve how they pronounce — a contrast your ear cannot hear is a contrast your mouth cannot make. Tones builds the contrast; Chart shows you the articulation behind it. Nothing here scores you or interrupts you, because relaxed input is what you can do every day. FREE AND PREMIUM • Free: the complete initials — the initials chart with mouth-shape videos, and all 23 initial episodes in Tones. A finished chapter, not a teaser that stops mid-lesson. • Premium unlocks everything else: compound finals, nasal finals, whole syllables, the full Mixed pack, and every syllable table in Chart. • Choose a monthly or annual subscription, or a one-time lifetime unlock. • Subscriptions renew automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the period ends. Manage or cancel anytime in your App Store account settings. • No ads. Ever. EXISTING CUSTOMERS If you bought the previous paid version, your purchase carries over. All content stays unlocked permanently, with no subscription required — tap Restore Purchases on the Subscription screen if it does not appear right away. Your account, progress and subscription transfer automatically when you update. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://nativespeak.cn/privacy-policy/mandarin-speak/privacy-policy.html

About

Mock Interview Prep

Features
Read full description

Practise your medicine, dentistry, pharmacy or Oxbridge interview out loud, with a live interviewer that asks, listens and follows up. Clarity is interview practice you speak, not read. Add your interviews and dates, and Clarity plans every day until the day: stations, questions, cases and short lessons, paced to your date. Clarity is not affiliated with any university or medical school. SUBSCRIPTION REQUIRED Live interviews, the daily plan, full mocks, the case library, courses and progress all need a paid subscription. Downloading and onboarding are free. Choose the Interview Pass (billed every 6 months) or Monthly. There is no free trial. Payment is charged to your Apple ID. Subscriptions renew automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period, and you can manage or cancel them in your Apple ID settings. Prices are shown before purchase. LIVE MMI STATIONS Read the door card, then talk it through with a voice interviewer who follows up on what you actually said. Ethics, motivation, the NHS, role-play, data, teamwork and your personal statement. Choose Colin or Pandora as your interviewer. SEE WHAT THE ASSESSOR WANTED After every station you see the points the assessor listened for, which ones you made and which you missed, and your weakest lines rewritten more clearly. FULL MOCK MMI Six timed stations back to back, with a minute to read each door, and your results at the end, like the day. A PLAN FOR EVERY DAY Today's plan gives you a few steps each day from your interview dates and what worries you: a station, today's question, a case or a lesson. What you missed comes back until you have covered it. CASES, MARKED Ethics and NHS cases for medicine and dentistry. Say your answer and see which key points you covered. SHORT COURSES Lessons on ethics stations, the NHS, data and role-play. Each one ends with you saying it out loud for a minute. KNOW WHAT IS READY Progress shows every station type, judged on your last three tries, so you can see what to practise next. PRACTICE THAT KNOWS YOUR APPLICATION Attach your personal statement as a PDF, a Word file or a photo, or paste it in, and the interviewer asks about what you wrote. It is optional, read on your phone, and sent only to run your practice session. It is never stored on our servers. OXBRIDGE AND JOB INTERVIEWS Oxbridge subject problems you reason through out loud, plus job, graduate scheme and apprenticeship interviews with the same debrief. ON IPHONE AND IPAD Clarity uses the whole screen on iPad, so you can practise on whichever you have to hand. Subscriptions include up to 5 hours of live conversation a month. YOUR VOICE STAYS YOURS Live conversations are streamed for speech recognition and replies and are not stored. Your audio is never used to train anything. Clarity is a practice tool. It cannot predict how a real interview will go. Terms of Use: https://clarityofspeech.com/terms Privacy Policy: https://clarityofspeech.com/privacy-policy Support: https://clarityofspeech.com/support

Screenshots

Chinese Pinyin2 screens
Mock Interview Prep4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Mock Interview Prep at every 2 weeks against Chinese Pinyin's every 8 months. On price, ads, in-app purchases 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. Chinese Pinyin sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month and Mock Interview Prep sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per 7 days. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Chinese Pinyin ships an update every 8 months, Mock Interview Prep every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 12, 2026 and October 25, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference · 8 level
Chinese Pinyin versus Mock Interview Prep: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterChinese PinyinMock Interview Prep
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better—
Number of ratings1 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 8 monthsEvery 2 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemium—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.016.4 — better
Further details — not scored
Size559 MB78 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developer仙田 郗Joey Quansah

In-app purchases

3 purchases

Chinese Pinyin

Subscriptions2
  • Monthly Plan$1.991 Month
  • Annual Plan$14.991 Year
One-time1
  • Full Pinyin Access$2.99
4 purchases

Mock Interview Prep

Subscriptions4
  • Clarity Full Weekly$4.997 Days
  • Monthly$39.991 Month
  • Clarity Full Yearly7 Days trial$99.991 Year
Show 1 more
  • Interview Pass$119.996 Months

Questions

Is Chinese Pinyin free?
Chinese Pinyin is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Mock Interview Prep free?
Mock Interview Prep is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Chinese Pinyin or Mock Interview Prep have ads?
Neither Chinese Pinyin nor Mock Interview Prep shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Chinese Pinyin or Mock Interview Prep?
Chinese Pinyin ships an update every 8 months, and Mock Interview Prep every 2 weeks. Most recently, Chinese Pinyin was updated on October 12, 2026 and Mock Interview Prep on October 25, 2026.

Other comparisons