trainchinese vs Draw Chinese
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
trainchinese
Learn Chinese with a comprehensive dictionary, flashcards, and OCR. Access example sentences, audio, and character animations. Supports both Simplified and Traditional Chinese, with customizable phonetic input.
- Comprehensive Chinese dictionary
- Optical Character Recognition (OCR)
- Spaced Repetition flashcard system
- Character animations and handwriting training
- Support for Simplified and Traditional Chinese
- Multiple phonetic input options (Pinyin, Zhuyin)
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Learn Chinese with an amazing dictionary (plus OCR) and flash card system. trainchinese will teach you Chinese, with a free and complete dictionary, thousands of vocab lists, example sentences, audio recordings, measure words, character animations and Optical Character Recognition — not to mention a powerful flash card training system that even includes handwriting training! • Our dictionary prioritises commonly-used words and phrases above the obscure and obsolete, while example sentences and measure words (classifiers) provide crucial context to help you decide which Chinese word is the most appropriate translation. Other dictionaries just leave you guessing! • We've got Optical Character Recognition (OCR) too. Spotted some Chinese you can't read? Capture a photo of some Chinese text from a menu, book or sign, and the app identifies and translates the characters for you. • Search for words by part of speech • Mistyped a word? Helpful spelling suggestions get you to the right results fast. • Words feature both example sentences and measure words for nouns. It's time to move beyond "个"! And best of all it's all connected: tap examples and measure words to open them as full dictionary entries. • trainchinese is great for students: it includes more than a thousand vocabulary lists covering topics from International Relations to American Football Teams and more. Feel like something's missing? Users often get in touch to ask for lists on the topics they're studying, and we're happy to oblige! You'll also find lists containing HSK-level words (both old and new standards), plus TOCFL lists for students in Taiwan! • Highlight words with your finger for super-fast access to character animations, related searches and more! • Whether you're studying the Simplified (mainland China and Singapore) or Traditional (Hong Kong and Taiwan) variants, we've got you covered! Easily switch between them or choose to display both in dictionary results and on flash cards. Even better, you can use the phonetics you're comfortable with - choose from Pinyin with tone marks, Pinyin with tone numbers or even Zhuyin characters (from the BoPoMoFo system used in Taiwan). • Create flash cards with audio and animation from dictionary entries. Organise them into lists, and share them with friends (or students). • Our Spaced Repetition system ensures you'll memorize words for good. • Train your way: each card is available in four different modes to test different aspects of Chinese study. See Chinese, Pinyin or English and get tested on translation, and even compare your handwriting to a stroke-order animation side-by-side, synchronized! Or if you prefer, there's multiple choice training too (for a real challenge, try it in "Dictation" mode!). • Flash cards are saved on your device and synchronized with trainchinese.com, where you can also train with them and find more great content. • Add study notes to your flash cards - they're saved and backed up at trainchinese.com. Don't forget to check out our other apps (tap our company name in the App Store for more info): - Chinese Writer - Chinese Audio Trainer - Pinyin Trainer - Number Trainer - Chinese Challenges
Draw Chinese
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Learn to write Chinese characters the right way — stroke by stroke. Draw Chinese is a handwriting practice app designed for anyone learning Chinese. Whether you're a beginner or preparing for HSK, you'll build muscle memory for 2,000 of the most frequently used characters through guided tracing, stroke order animation, and real-time feedback. Stroke Order AnimationWatch each character drawn stroke by stroke at your own pace. Adjust playback speed (0.5×, 1×, 2×) and loop until you've memorized every stroke. Guided Tracing PracticeTrace characters on a practice canvas with rice-grid background. A faded guide character helps you stay on track while you draw with your finger. Get a score after each attempt to track your progress. Pronunciation & Example SentencesTap to hear native-quality pronunciation for every character. See 3–5 example sentences with pinyin to understand how each character is used in context. HSK-Aligned ProgressionAll 2,000 characters are organized by HSK level (1–6) and grouped into 100 manageable sets. Start with the basics and work your way up. 20 Languages SupportedInterface and translations available in English, Spanish, French, Arabic, Russian, Portuguese, German, Japanese, Korean, Hindi, Turkish, Vietnamese, Thai, Italian, Indonesian, Polish, Dutch, Ukrainian, Malay, and Swedish. Flexible PlansChoose what works for you: a monthly subscription at $1.99/month, a yearly subscription at $9.99/year, or a one-time purchase for just $15.99 — unlock everything forever with no recurring fees. Key Features: • 2,000 essential Chinese characters with stroke order • Interactive tracing canvas with scoring • Adjustable stroke animation with loop playback • Native-quality audio pronunciation • 3–5 example sentences per character • HSK 1–6 progression • 20 language support • Flexible pricing — subscribe monthly, yearly, or buy once Start your journey to writing Chinese with confidence. Terms of Use: https://demo.worlddelivery.net/apps/drawchinese/terms-of-use.html
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ads: Draw Chinese at none against trainchinese's shown. Draw Chinese also leads on update cadence (every 2 days vs fortnightly). On price, in-app purchases, device support and iOS requirement 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
Both are free to download. trainchinese sells 13 one-off in-app purchases and Draw Chinese sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
trainchinese ships an update fortnightly, Draw Chinese every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and October 14, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | trainchinese | Draw Chinese |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (2.4K ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 76.2% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 2.4K — better | — |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly | Every 2 days — better |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.6 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 328 MB | 198 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | trainchinese B.V. | 松志 范 |
Bugs and requests
trainchinese
Reported bugs
4 issues- App crashes when trying to move or add words to lists
- Audio playback not working for some words
- Writing recognition feature is unreliable
- Inconsistent behavior when switching between app and website
Requested features
4 requests- Add option to learn on multiple languages (e.g. English and Russian)
- Improve organization and navigation of word lists
- Implement more engaging learning games and activities
- Allow users to easily add their own custom words and phrases
Draw Chinese
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
trainchinese
- OCR Feature$4.99
- 10 lists$8.99
- 3 months$11.99
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- 3 months + 10 lists$15.99
- 6 months$19.99
- 30 lists$19.99
- 6 months + 10 lists$23.99
- 3 months + 30 lists$25.99
- 12 months$34.99
- 6 months + 30 lists$34.99
- 12 months + 10 lists$37.99
- 12 months + 30 lists$45.99
- 12 months + 60 lists$54.99
Draw Chinese
- Monthly Plan$1.991 Month
- Yearly Plan$9.991 Year
- Full Access$15.99
Questions
Is trainchinese free?
Is Draw Chinese free?
Do trainchinese or Draw Chinese have ads?
Which is updated more often, trainchinese or Draw Chinese?
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