Comparison

Museum Five Continents 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

Museum Five Continents

Embark on a guided or unguided tour of the Museum Five Continents with an audio guide, detailed object biographies, and zoomable images. Explore seven departments and gain insights into cultural diversity from around the world. Available in German and English.

Highlights
  • Audio guide for 27 highlights
  • Highlight and Collection Tours
  • Unguided museum tour
  • Object biographies and detailed views
  • Zoomable object images
  • General museum information
  • Content in German and English
Features
Read full description

Explore the Museum Five Continents and set off on a tour of all seven departments. This app gives you intriguing insights into many of the selected objects. You can use it for our Highlight Tour or in the individual departments. App Overview Audio guide for 27 highlights at the Museum Five Continents - Highlight Tour: Around the World in 80 Minutes - Collection Tour - Unguided tour of the museum Object biographies, detailed views, zoomable images of the objects General information and service information on visiting the museum The app content is available in German and English. The Museum Five Continents was founded in 1862 as the first ethnological museum in Germany. The collection of artefacts of everyday life, ritual objects and works of art which are preserved and continually expanded here reflect humanity’s cultural diversity. They build bridges from the past to the present day and open doors to other ways of life and viewpoints. The museum offers access to the cultural riches of the earth’s peoples in a way which is unique with Munich’s broad range of museums. Based on our collections, we display the commonalities and differences of civilisations from countries in Africa, the Americas, of Asia, Australia, Oceania and Europe. We invite children and adults to become acquainted with a variety of civilizations and the people who shaped them. We encourage visitors to consider what may seem to be "strange" modes of thought, to reflect on points of view and to take away inspirations and new ideas for their own lives. The Museum Fünf Kontinente provides opportunities for encounters, experiences and reflection …

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

Museum Five Continents4 screens
Start Writing4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Museum Five Continents at none against Start Writing's 1. Museum Five Continents also leads on iOS requirement (15.6 vs 17.0). Start Writing's advantage is update cadence (fortnightly vs every 11 months). 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. Start Writing sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Museum Five Continents asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Museum Five Continents ships an update every 11 months, Start Writing fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on November 3, 2026 and October 26, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 5 level
Museum Five Continents versus Start Writing: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMuseum Five ContinentsStart Writing
PriceFreeFree
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Update frequencyEvery 11 monthsFortnightly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.6 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size21 MB40 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperLinon家豪 张

In-app purchases

None

Museum Five Continents

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

Start Writing

One-time1
  • Premium$14.99

Questions

Is Museum Five Continents free?
Museum Five Continents 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 Museum Five Continents or Start Writing have ads?
Neither Museum Five Continents nor Start Writing shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Museum Five Continents or Start Writing?
Museum Five Continents ships an update every 11 months, and Start Writing fortnightly. Most recently, Museum Five Continents was updated on November 3, 2026 and Start Writing on October 26, 2026.

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