Comparison

DeTeXt vs Hanzilyzer

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

Head to head
About

DeTeXt

Easily find LaTeX commands for symbols by drawing them or searching a comprehensive database. Get the exact command you need for your documents without memorization.

Highlights
  • Draw symbols to find LaTeX commands
  • Neural image classification for symbol recognition
  • Searchable database of 1098 symbols
  • Supports Apple Pencil on iPad
  • Copy commands, symbols, or Unicode codepoints
  • Offline symbol database
Read full description

Finding the symbol you want to use in LaTeX can be hard since you can't memorize all the commands and packages for every symbol. DeTeXt tries to solve this problem by giving you two ways to find the command you want: - Draw the symbol you want and DeTeXt's neural image classification engine will identify what it thinks are the 20 most likely LaTeX commands that will generate a symbol closest to the one you drew. DeTeXt supports Apple Pencil drawings on the iPad. - Search the entire symbol set of 1098 symbols from packages like tipa, amsmath, amssymb, textcomp and more, in addition to the default mathematical symbols. - Copy the symbol, or the character itself, or its Unicode codepoint to the system clipboard, to paste anywhere else. DeTeXt's neural engine processes your drawn symbol and finds the best matches in its symbol database, all on your device without requiring you to be online. All the symbols are stored within the app as well.

About

Hanzilyzer

Decode authentic Chinese with stroke order animations, detailed character breakdowns, instant offline translation, and speech playback. Enhance understanding with optional AI interpretation for nuanced meanings, tone, and cultural context in real-life messages and social media.

Highlights
  • Animated stroke order
  • Character deep-dives (pinyin, definitions, etymology)
  • Instant offline translation
  • Speech playback
  • Optional AI interpretation for nuance and tone
  • Privacy-focused, no tracking
Features
Read full description

Hanzilyzer helps you understand real Chinese, not just textbook Chinese. Paste or type any Chinese text and get: • STROKE ORDER, ANIMATED: watch every character drawn stroke by stroke, with correct stroke order from trusted open data. • CHARACTER DEEP-DIVES: pinyin, definitions, radicals, components, and etymology hints. Tap any component to explore it. Swipe through every character in a phrase. • INSTANT TRANSLATION: a quick on-device translation of the whole phrase, no internet required. • SPEECH: hear any character or phrase spoken aloud. • AI INTERPRETATION (optional): real messages don't always mean what a dictionary says. Connect your own OpenAI API key and Hanzilyzer explains what a message actually means: multiple plausible readings, the tone behind each one (teasing? sincere? sarcastic?), an example scene showing it in context, and a note on the slang or cultural nuance. Perfect for texts from friends, social media posts, and memes that make no sense literally. Hanzilyzer is built for people learning from real life: chats, songs, and social media, where tone and context matter as much as vocabulary. PRIVACY: no accounts, no ads, no tracking, no data collection. Everything runs on your device. The optional AI feature uses your own API key, stored securely in the iOS Keychain, and sends text only to OpenAI when you ask for an interpretation. Dictionary and stroke data from the open-source Make Me a Hanzi and Hanzi Writer projects (see About & Licenses in the app).

Screenshots

DeTeXt4 screens
Hanzilyzer3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is monetization model: Hanzilyzer at free against DeTeXt's paid. Hanzilyzer also leads on iOS requirement (18.5 vs 26.0). DeTeXt's advantage is ratings volume (40 vs 1) and device support (4 vs 1). On price, rating, ads and in-app purchases 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.9 for DeTeXt against 5.0 for Hanzilyzer. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: DeTeXt has 40 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
DeTeXt versus Hanzilyzer: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterDeTeXtHanzilyzer
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.9 (40 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews92.3% of reviews—
Number of ratings40 — better1
Update frequencyEvery 2 months—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac, Vision Pro — betteriPhone
Requires iOS26.018.5 — better
Further details — not scored
Size22 MB34 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperVenkata Subrahmanyan GovindarajanSamuel Stone

Customer experience

DeTeXt

All ratings40 ratings
Positive97.5%
Neutral0.0%
Negative2.5%
Written reviews26 reviews
Positive92.3%
Neutral0.0%
Negative7.7%

Hanzilyzer

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

DeTeXt

No in-app purchases

None

Hanzilyzer

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is DeTeXt free?
DeTeXt is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Hanzilyzer free?
Hanzilyzer is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, DeTeXt or Hanzilyzer?
Hanzilyzer is rated higher. DeTeXt averages 4.9 out of 5 from 40 ratings, while Hanzilyzer averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do DeTeXt or Hanzilyzer have ads?
Neither DeTeXt nor Hanzilyzer shows ads.

Other comparisons