Smart Minds vs CiaoSpeak
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Smart Minds
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Our App "Smart Minds" is your way to connect your child to the ZAD Platform Educational System where he can solve his interactive practices and sheet and his teacher get his scores on your i-Assistant.
CiaoSpeak
This app focuses on conversational language learning for English speakers. It offers interactive speaking practice with feedback, lessons, stories, and review exercises for Spanish, Portuguese, and Chinese.
- Interactive speaking practice with AI feedback
- Real-life conversation scenarios
- Lessons, stories, and review exercises
- Traditional Chinese with Taiwan accent
- Latin American Spanish for English speakers
- Brazilian Portuguese with neutral accent
- No account required to start
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CiaoSpeak is a language learning app for English speakers who want to speak, not just study. Learn Latin American Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, or Traditional Chinese the way Taiwan speaks it, with a real course behind every conversation: lessons, stories, speaking practice and review. In speaking practice, a character in a real scene asks you one question. You answer out loud and find out if a person would understand you. If not, you get one gentle fix, explained in plain English. No account needed: open the app and start. HOW SPEAKING PRACTICE WORKS • Answer by voice or by typing. It doesn't have to be perfect. With a fix, you also see a more natural way to say it. • Stuck? Type it in English, see it in the language you're learning, then say it yourself. My phrasebook keeps every sentence you managed to say. TRADITIONAL CHINESE • Everyday Chinese as it's spoken in Taiwan, with Traditional characters and Taiwan-accent audio on every word. • Chinese tones and pronunciation from the first unit, Pinyin or Zhuyin (bopomofo), and handwriting with stroke-order guides. • Units labeled with TOCFL levels, from Novice to Band B. Speaking practice in Taiwan scenes: a breakfast shop, a night market, a taxi. LATIN AMERICAN SPANISH • Everyday Spanish as it's spoken in Mexico and across Latin America, from CEFR A1 to early B1. • Built around English speakers' mistakes: ser vs estar, noun gender, "tengo 20 años", gustar, and false friends like embarazada (pregnant, not embarrassed). • Speaking practice in scenes set in Mexico City and around Latin America. BRAZILIAN PORTUGUESE • Everyday Brazilian Portuguese in the neutral São Paulo and Rio standard, from CEFR A1 to early B1. • The sounds English speakers find hard: nasal vowels (pão, bom), lh and nh, the Brazilian r. • Speaking practice in scenes set in Brazil. FOUR PARTS IN EVERY COURSE Lessons, leveled stories with audio, speaking practice, and spaced-repetition review of your mistakes, plus streaks, XP and an optional daily reminder. CIAOSPEAK+ CiaoSpeak is free to start. Every lesson and all review stay free forever, and today's speaking practice questions are free too (up to five a day). CiaoSpeak+ is an optional auto-renewing subscription that adds speaking practice in any scene whenever you like (fair-use limits apply), your whole phrasebook, the full Stories library and unlimited Quick Practice rounds. One subscription covers every course. • Monthly: US$5.99 per month • Yearly: US$39.99 per year, with a 3-day free trial for new subscribers Prices shown are for the United States. The App Store shows the price in your local currency before you confirm. Payment is charged to your Apple Account when you confirm the purchase, or when the free trial ends. The subscription renews automatically unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period, and the renewal is charged within the 24 hours before the period ends. Cancel a free trial at least 24 hours before it ends and you won't be charged. Manage or cancel any time in your Apple Account settings (open Settings, tap your name, then Subscriptions). Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://ciaospeak.app/privacy/ FREQUENTLY ASKED Which languages can I learn? Traditional Chinese (Taiwan), Latin American Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese, all taught in English. Do I have to speak out loud? No. You can answer every question by typing. Is CiaoSpeak affiliated with TOCFL? No. The Chinese units are labeled with TOCFL levels, but CiaoSpeak is independent and not endorsed by the SC-TOP. There are no past papers or mock exams. CiaoSpeak also teaches English, with explanations in Spanish, Portuguese, Korean, Japanese or Traditional Chinese.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Smart Minds at none against CiaoSpeak's 2. Smart Minds also leads on iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.0). CiaoSpeak's advantage is update cadence (every 2 days vs every 2 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
Both are free to download. CiaoSpeak sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $5.99 per month. Smart Minds asks for nothing beyond the download.
Smart Minds ships an update every 2 months, CiaoSpeak every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on November 8, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Smart Minds | CiaoSpeak |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | — | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | — | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | — | 1 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 2 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | — | Freemium |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 — better | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 43 MB | 64 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Maged Hanafy | Yu Chen Lin |
In-app purchases
Smart Minds
No in-app purchases
CiaoSpeak
- CiaoSpeak+ Monthly$5.991 Month
- CiaoSpeak+ Yearly3 Days trial$39.991 Year









