Comparison

CELT VIP vs Start Writing

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

Head to head
About

CELT VIP

This application allows parents to monitor their child's academic progress and receive teacher feedback. Students can access academic information and collaborate with educators and classmates through a secure platform.

Highlights
  • Parental progress tracking
  • Teacher feedback access
  • Student academic portal
  • Secure communication platform
  • Collaboration tools
Features
Read full description

CELT Colleges VIP is a comprehensive parent and student control application that provides a wide range of features for both parties. Parents can track their child's daily progress and receive feedback from teachers, while students can also access various functions within the app. To access these features, students need to log in to the app using the credentials provided by CELT Colleges. The CELT Colleges VIP app provides a secure platform for students to stay up-to-date with their academic progress and collaborate with their teachers and peers.

About

Start Writing

Features
Read full description

Handwriting is muscle memory, and muscle memory needs the right kind of repetition. Start Writing gives you a proper practice sheet, correct stroke order, and a scheduler that brings each character back just before you'd forget it. WRITE THREE SCRIPTS Chinese characters, Japanese kana and kanji, and the Latin alphabet, each with its own paper. Chinese and Japanese get the square grid with diagonal guides that teachers use; English gets the four-line baseline grid. STROKE ORDER, ANIMATED Watch any character draw itself stroke by stroke, then trace over the model and write it from memory. Stroke-order data covers the characters you'll actually meet, not just a starter set. SCORING THAT TELLS YOU SOMETHING Every attempt is checked against the reference form for stroke count, position and proportion, so you find out which stroke drifted rather than just seeing a number. REVIEW AT THE RIGHT MOMENT A spaced-repetition scheduler tracks each character separately. Characters you write cleanly move further out; the ones you fumble come back sooner. Your daily goal splits new items from reviews so a session has a clear finish. BUILT FOR APPLE PENCIL Pressure and tilt come through to the stroke. Choose ink colour and stroke width, or turn on finger writing when the Pencil isn't nearby. THIRTY-FOUR THEMED SETS Numbers, family, body, colours, nature, animals, food, time, school, greetings, actions and places — written in parallel across all three scripts and graded from beginner to intermediate. Twenty-five starter sets are free. RADICALS AND KANA TABLES 223 Chinese radicals ordered by stroke count, the full gojūon tables for hiragana and katakana, and the alphabet in upper and lower case. Every entry is practiceable on its own. TRACK WHAT YOU'VE DONE A contribution-style activity map, streak count, per-character history and mastery breakdown. All of it computed on your device. NO ACCOUNT, NO TRACKING Start Writing collects nothing. There is no account, no analytics and no advertising SDK. Your writing history stays on your device unless you turn on iCloud sync, in which case it goes to your own private iCloud database and nowhere else. ONE PURCHASE The full version is a single purchase — no subscription, no expiry. It unlocks importing your own articles and word lists, iCloud sync and restore, Home Screen widgets, ink colour and stroke width, nine word and sentence sets, and unlimited books. Free forever: stroke-order animation for all three scripts, scoring, tracing, twenty-five starter sets, daily goals, practice history and statistics. Character shape data comes from the Make Me a Hanzi project (Arphic Public License) and letter models from open-source school teaching fonts (SIL Open Font License). Full licence texts are in Settings › About › Open Source Licences.

Screenshots

CELT VIP4 screens
Start Writing4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: CELT VIP at none against Start Writing's 1. CELT VIP also leads on iOS requirement (15.1 vs 17.0). On price, update cadence, 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. Start Writing sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. CELT VIP asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

CELT VIP ships an update monthly, Start Writing fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 23, 2026 and October 26, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 7 level
CELT VIP versus Start Writing: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCELT VIPStart Writing
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (2 ratings) — better—
Number of ratings2 — better—
Update frequencyMonthlyFortnightly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.1 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size31 MB40 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperElgun Karim家豪 张

In-app purchases

None

CELT VIP

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

Start Writing

One-time1
  • Premium$14.99

Questions

Is CELT VIP free?
CELT VIP is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Start Writing free?
Start Writing is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do CELT VIP or Start Writing have ads?
Neither CELT VIP nor Start Writing shows ads.
Which is updated more often, CELT VIP or Start Writing?
CELT VIP ships an update monthly, and Start Writing fortnightly. Most recently, CELT VIP was updated on October 23, 2026 and Start Writing on October 26, 2026.

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