MidMando vs HSK Flashcard Deck
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
MidMando
Master Chinese characters with this app, connecting Hanzi to Pinyin and English translations. It offers comprehensive learning for HSK levels 1-9, interactive hints, custom input, and effective review modes for long-term retention.
- Master 9,466 HSK 1-9 words
- Interactive hint mode for instant translation
- Custom Pinyin or handwriting input
- Effective review mode for retention
- Dark mode support
- Connect Hanzi with Pinyin and English
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MidMando is a free Mandarin course for iPhone and iPad. It takes you from your first character to HSK 9, following the new HSK 3.0 exam, with a daily plan that fits your day and a memory that never lets a word slip away. There are no ads, no subscription, no account and nothing to unlock. It is free because the best Mandarin app should not cost anything. What we ask instead is that you tell us how to make it better. YOUR DAILY PLAN Open the app and today is ready: the word of the day, the next class in your course, the words you bookmarked, the words you met outside the course, a review of what is slipping, and the pairs you keep mixing up. Choose a plan of five words or fifty. Miss a day and it is still there tomorrow. THE WHOLE COURSE, FOLLOWING HSK 3.0 11,000 words across HSK 1 to 9, the vocabulary of the HSK 3.0 exam syllabus, in short classes of about fifteen. Each class has nine parts: learn, quiz, type, sentences, listening, tones, translation, write, and a test that unlocks the next class. PRACTICE PAPERS Full practice papers for every level, HSK 1 to 7–9, with their listening recordings, and a speaking test for HSK 3 to 6. Sit one as an exam or practise with each answer checked as you go, read the explanations in English, switch pinyin on or off, and ask for feedback on your written and spoken answers. FOUR SKILLS FOR EVERY WORD Every word records how well you read it, hear it, write it by hand and type it, on one ladder: not met, started, warming, solid, mastered. The HSK page shows your whole course by any one skill, so you can see what you can read and what you can write. Spaced repetition schedules every word from your answers: words you get right drift out to months, words you miss come straight back. FLASHCARDS A swipe deck of the words you can read. Right if you know it, left to open its page. EVERY WORD HAS A PAGE Tap any word anywhere: the character in large serif, the reading with audio, every meaning, example sentences, other ways to say it, words it is not the same as, tone traps, the pieces it is built from and your own history with it. TRANSLATE ANYTHING Paste a message, or point the camera at a menu, a sign or a page. You get the Chinese, the pinyin, the English, and every word listed, with the ones you have not met ready to add to your plan. Everything you translate is kept so you can read it again. THE LIBRARY Radicals and components: 514 pieces and 201 radicals from the national standards. Every character in the app can be taken apart. Idioms and sayings: 5,242 of them, with the literal reading, the meaning, the story and an example. Poems: 127 classical poems with pinyin and a plain English line beside every Chinese line. Provinces & Cities: all 34 provinces and 961 districts, with bookmarks and notes for places. Slang and texting: the words people actually type, with the register explained. Songs: 69 Chinese songs ordered by how many of the words you already know. Pairs: match hanzi to their readings, using only words you have met. 布布: a chat partner who speaks only the words you can read, in guided chats or everyday small talk. WRITE IT BY HAND Write any chengyu or phrase with a brush and keep it as your wallpaper. On iPad, the Writing tab takes whole sentences with Apple Pencil, marks every character, and has a writing course. WIDGETS The word of the day, and Quick fire, a new word on a timer. Tap either to open the word. SEARCH EVERYTHING One search box for words, idioms, poems, songs, places and your own history, in English, pinyin or Chinese. YOURS, EVERYWHERE Everything except translating, marking and chat works offline. Your progress syncs through your own iCloud to your iPhone, iPad and Mac; we never see it. Works in mainland China without a VPN. I WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU There is a report-a-bug button on almost every screen and a feedback page on our site. I read and respond to every email.
HSK Flashcard Deck
This app provides flashcards for HSK 3.0 vocabulary, covering levels 1-9. Users can flip cards to see pinyin and meaning, mark words as known or needing review, and hear pronunciations. Progress is saved locally, offering a distraction-free study experience.
- HSK 3.0 levels 1-9 vocabulary
- Pinyin and English meaning display
- Audio pronunciation for Chinese and English
- Mark words as known or for review
- Resume progress locally
- Distraction-free study flow
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HSK Deck is a focused flashcard app for the HSK 3.0 (汉语水品考试) vocabulary. Flip a card to see pinyin and meaning. Mark words you know well, or save ones to review again. Pick up exactly where you left off in each level’s main deck. What’s included: • HSK 3.0 levels 1–6, plus the combined 7–9 • A main card deck for every level, in list order • Flip a card for pinyin, English meaning, and example sentences • Swipe to move through the deck • Tap to hear Chinese or English pronunciation • Separate “Know it well” and “Review again” decks for each level • Lists of all words in a level with marks indicating which deck it is in • Resume progress saved on your device • Clean, distraction-free study flow No account. No cloud sync. No ads. Your progress stays on your phone. Whether you’re starting HSK 1 or grinding through advanced vocabulary, HSK Deck keeps practice simple so you can actually stick with it.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: HSK Flashcard Deck at 5.0 against MidMando's 4.0. HSK Flashcard Deck also leads on review sentiment (100% vs 67%) and ratings volume (4 vs 1). On price, update cadence, 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
HSK Flashcard Deck holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1 and 4 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 67% of MidMando's written reviews are positive against 100% of HSK Flashcard Deck's.
MidMando ships an update fortnightly, HSK Flashcard Deck every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 27, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | MidMando | HSK Flashcard Deck |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.0 (1 ratings) | 5.0 (4 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 66.7% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 1 | 4 — better |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly — better | Every 3 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 482 MB | 7 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Alistair Kenyon Brodie | Wen Zhang |
Customer experience
MidMando
HSK Flashcard Deck
In-app purchases
MidMando
No in-app purchases
HSK Flashcard Deck
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is MidMando free?
Is HSK Flashcard Deck free?
Which has better reviews, MidMando or HSK Flashcard Deck?
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