Comparison

ToneDetector Lite vs Sinogram Star

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

Head to head
About

ToneDetector Lite

Practice and master Mandarin Chinese tones with instant visual feedback. Compare your pronunciation's pitch contours to sample sounds to improve accuracy and reduce accent.

Highlights
  • Instant tone contour detection
  • Visual pitch shape comparison
  • Practice Mandarin tonal syllables
  • Covers hundreds of base and tonal syllables
  • Assess tone perception ability
  • Sample sounds for comparison
Features
Read full description

How to know if you pronounced a Mandarin tone correctly without human tutors? The 12 years old tone detector app lets you make a judgement by yourself instantly. It is very intuitive for you to practice your tones. The Chinese tones are the most difficult part for a foreign language learner to speak Chinese. How to get rid of strong non-native accent and misunderstanding caused by tone issues? Using this app, practice to be right in every Mandarin tonal syllable first! Hear sample tonal syllables, practice tonal syllables and see their pitch shapes immediately. By comparing your pitch contours with the sample pitch contours directly, you can make a judgement easily by yourself. From the visual intuitive feedback, you may improve your tones quickly. This app basically covers all the possible Mandarin Chinese syllables with lexical tones. They are 407 base syllables and 1259 tonal syllables. This app provides a sample sound for each tonal syllable for you to compare. By following the sample sounds, you can practice all the Mandarin tonal syllables and learn Chinese pronunciations. This app is essential to all Chinese learners to master Chinese tone quickly. It could be used for tone lecture demonstration purpose too. In the lite version ToneDetector: 1. detects sample tone contours. 2. covers 56 base syllables and 185 tonal syllables. 3. assesses your tone perception ability using 5 random syllables. In the full version ToneDetector: 1. detects both sample tone contours and your tone contours. 2. covers all the Mandarin Chinese syllables with lexical tones. They are 407 base syllables and 1259 tonal syllables. 3. supports to select syllables randomly, or select syllables by typing. 4. assesses your tone perception ability using 20 random syllables.

About

Sinogram Star

Features
Read full description

Sinogram Star – Create New Chinese Characters Discover the Unknown World! There are about 200 meta characters scattered in 12 sematic planets, if you find these meta characters, you can open the Chinese language world. (Most Chinese characters are composed of about 200 meta characters. If you master these meta characters and combination methods, you can control thousands of Chinese characters, even you can create new Chinese characters.)

Screenshots

ToneDetector Lite4 screens
Sinogram Star4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: ToneDetector Lite at Free against Sinogram Star's $19.99. Sinogram Star's advantage is update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 30 months) and iOS requirement (12.1 vs 14.0). On 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

ToneDetector Lite is free to download; Sinogram Star costs $19.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

ToneDetector Lite ships an update every 30 months, Sinogram Star every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on July 4, 2026 and September 14, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
ToneDetector Lite versus Sinogram Star: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterToneDetector LiteSinogram Star
PriceFree — better$19.99
Rating5.0 (2 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews0.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings2 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 30 monthsEvery 3 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPod
Requires iOS14.012.1 — better
Further details — not scored
Size28 MB67 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperJian ChengClavis Sinica Limited

In-app purchases

None

ToneDetector Lite

No in-app purchases

None

Sinogram Star

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is ToneDetector Lite free?
ToneDetector Lite is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Sinogram Star free?
Sinogram Star costs $19.99, with no in-app purchases.
Do ToneDetector Lite or Sinogram Star have ads?
Neither ToneDetector Lite nor Sinogram Star shows ads.
Which is updated more often, ToneDetector Lite or Sinogram Star?
ToneDetector Lite ships an update every 30 months, and Sinogram Star every 3 weeks. Most recently, ToneDetector Lite was updated on July 4, 2026 and Sinogram Star on September 14, 2026.

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