Hanly vs Karacter
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Hanly
Learn thousands of Chinese characters efficiently by understanding their structure and origin. This app uses visual breakdowns, engaging stories, and interactive elements to build an intuitive grasp of characters and aid memorization. It focuses on frequently used vocabulary and offers a structured learning progression.
- Character etymology and mnemonics
- Interactive component exploration
- Structured learning progression
- Spaced repetition system
- Extensive character dictionary
- Stroke order animations
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Chinese characters are not just random shapes - learn 1000 characters in months by understanding their structure and origin! Through visual breakdowns and engaging stories, Hanly helps you develop an intuitive grasp of Chinese characters and to efficiently remember them. Hanly starts with simple components and quickly builds up to complex characters, while focusing on the most frequently used vocabulary. CARDS THAT MAKE CHARACTERS COME ALIVE Etymology, memorable illustrations, mnemonics: we will provide the most helpful information to get a character to come alive in your imagination and stick in your memory for good. INTUITIVE INTERACTIVE UI Play with characters like they’re Lego blocks! Explore radicals, components, compound words, and character relationships - all just one click away! CAREFULLY OPTIMIZED LEARNING PROGRESSION Start with simple building blocks and naturally progress to complex characters. Our carefully designed levels introduce the most frequent characters early while maintaining coherent, meaningful themes. EXTENSIVE CHARACTER DICTIONARY & SEARCH Search by character, pinyin or meaning to find: - Character meanings and pronunciations - Usage in compound words and characters - Frequency and HSK level - Radical forms - Stroke order animations - Character evolution history SPACED REPETITION ENGINE INTEGRATED WITH THE UI Built-in spaced repetition helps you review characters at the perfect time, with review schedule optimized for how well you know a given character. Character progress is deeply integrated with the UI, so that you can spot the characters you are learning on any page. AND MANY MORE FEATURES! - Detailed learning statistics - Character etymology stories & fun facts - Explore characters & radicals sorted by their frequency - Personal note-taking system - Easily mark characters you already know Terms of use: https://www.hanlyapp.com/terms-of-use Privacy policy: https://www.hanlyapp.com/privacy-policy Contact us: We’d love to hear from your feedback about Hanly! Please send us an email with your thoughts and suggestions at tutu@hanlyapp.com
Karacter
Learn Mandarin Chinese with an offline dictionary, handwriting recognition, and AI-powered explanations. Track your progress with HSK 3.0 integration and visualize stroke order animations.
- 100% offline dictionary
- Handwriting and character search
- AI-powered word explanations
- Animated stroke order guides
- HSK 3.0 proficiency tags
- Daily revision widgets
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Practice Chinese without opening the app! (for free) With lock-screen widgets, read a new Chinese word every time you open your phone. HSK 1 to 9, 190,000+ words, strokes drawing, pronunciations, and Pleco definitions. The app also has home-screen widgets and daily notifications to review even more words. No accounts, no signups, no adds, no tracking. Primary features: 1. An offline official dictionary: no internet nor VPN, study without distractions. 2. Homescreen and lockscren daily widgets to learn words when unlocking your phone. 2. Characters handwriting and search: find words by drawing them, or searching via Pinyin, English, or Chinese. 3. AI-powered explanations that deconstructs complex phrases and explains usage, history and meanings of words. Key Highlights: Animated Stroke Order: Visualize exactly how to write every character with step-by-step animations. HSK 3.0 Integration: Clear proficiency tags to help you track your progress for the latest HSK standards. Minimalist Design: A clean, modern interface focused on clarity and ease of use.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is monetization model: Hanly at free against Karacter's free with in-app purchases. Hanly also leads on rating (4.9 vs 4.7) and ratings volume (401 vs 19). Karacter's advantage is update cadence (weekly vs every 2 weeks). On price, review sentiment, 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. Hanly sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $5.99 per month and Karacter sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Hanly holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Hanly has 401 ratings behind it against 19, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 99% and 100% positive.
Hanly ships an update every 2 weeks, Karacter weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 22, 2026 and October 12, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Hanly | Karacter |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.9 (401 ratings) — better | 4.7 (19 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 99.1% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 401 — better | 19 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks | Weekly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 16.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 241 MB | 127 MB |
| Age rating | 9+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Artur Gorokh | Eloan Tourtelier |
Customer experience
Hanly
Karacter
Bugs and requests
Hanly
Reported bugs
1 issue- No known major bugs reported
Requested features
3 requests- Addition of writing practice for characters
- Inclusion of example sentences for each character
- Expansion of content to cover more advanced vocabulary
Karacter
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Hanly
- Hanly Premium$5.991 Month
Karacter
- Monthly Karacter$3.991 Month
- Yearly Karacter$24.991 Year
- AI features refill$0.99
- Karacter lifetime$130.99









