Hanly vs Star Scholar
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
Star Scholar
Explore and learn about all 88 constellations with this offline guide. It teaches patterns, mythology, and helps you log your real-sky sightings. Features flashcards and quizzes to reinforce learning.
- Learn all 88 constellations
- Offline field guide
- Mythology and history
- Flashcard practice
- Connect-the-stars quiz
- Sky journal for sightings
- Achievements
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STAR SCHOLAR - LEARN THE NIGHT SKY Star Scholar turns "what is that star?" into knowing all 88 constellations. It is a calm, offline field guide and study companion for the real sky above you - no account, no ads, no internet connection required. Learn your first constellation or fill in the gaps: Star Scholar shows what is overhead right now, teaches the patterns and the stories behind them, helps you remember them for good, and logs every one you find in the real sky. TONIGHT'S SKY - Which constellations are up right now, ranked by how close they are to their highest point in the sky. - A Focus of the Night pick highlights something worth learning while it is well placed for viewing. - Moon phase, twilight timing, and a light-pollution reality check tell you what you can actually expect to see. - Rising Soon and Past Peak sections round out the night. EVENING SKY NUDGES - Turn on an occasional evening reminder for when a constellation you have not learned yet is well placed in your sky. - It looks a few days ahead and varies the pick, so a week of nudges is a short tour, not the same name every night. - Off by default. The schedule is worked out on your device; nothing is sent from a server. THE FULL CATALOG - All 88 constellations, with illustrated figures for nearly all, labelled bright stars, and the mythology and history behind each one. - Best viewing months, hemisphere, spotting difficulty, and the constellation's current altitude and direction in your sky. - Search by name, filter by hemisphere or difficulty, and sort to suit how you study. FLASHCARDS - Practice recognition with unlabelled star patterns, then tap to reveal the answer key. - Swipe to sort known from still-learning. Decks lead with your weakest cards and the ones you have never seen, so every session works on what you need most. CONNECT THE STARS QUIZ - Draw a constellation from memory by tracing between real stars, with decoys mixed in to keep it honest. - Lines are graded only when you submit, so you can redraw and correct yourself first. - Optional assists dim the decoys or reveal one line at a time, and never affect your score. SKY JOURNAL - A log of the constellations you have actually found in the sky, kept separate from what you have studied - a first sighting is its own milestone. - Log a sighting from a constellation's page or the Journal tab. Each entry keeps the date, your location, and an optional note and photo. - Filter by constellation, by note or photo, and by when it happened; sort newest or oldest first. - Export the whole journal, or just the filtered view, as a formatted PDF - figures, notes, and photos laid out to keep or print. ACHIEVEMENTS - Eight to earn across both sides of the app: from your first constellation to the full 88, plus a perfect quiz and ten real-sky sightings. - A quiet bit of fanfare the moment you earn one. The full set lives in the Journal tab, each showing what it takes and the date you got there. LIVE COMPASS - On phones with the right sensors, hold your device up and see what you are pointing at. - Tap "Find on compass" from a constellation's page and the dial walks you onto it - a rim marker, a closing arc, and a turn cue - then tells you where you are on it. - A dark red night-vision mode keeps your eyes adapted to the dark. BUILT TO WORK OFFLINE - Every star, constellation, city, and illustration ships inside the app - the same on a mountaintop with no signal as in your backyard. - Your learning progress and your Sky Journal - notes and photos included - are stored only on your device. PRIVACY - No account, no sign-up, no ads, no analytics, no tracking. - Your location is used only to calculate the sky. It stays on your device and is never sent anywhere. - Evening nudges, if you turn them on, are scheduled by your device. No notification is ever sent from a server. For backyard stargazers, hikers and campers, students, and anyone who has looked up and wondered.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Star Scholar at none against Hanly's 1. Star Scholar also leads on update cadence (every 3 days vs every 2 weeks). Hanly's advantage is ratings volume (409 vs 2) and device support (3 vs 1). On price, rating, ads and monetization model 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. Star Scholar asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.9 for Hanly against 5.0 for Star Scholar. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Hanly has 409 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two.
Hanly ships an update every 2 weeks, Star Scholar every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on October 30, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Hanly | Star Scholar |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.9 (409 ratings) | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 99.1% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 409 — better | 2 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks | Every 3 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 16.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 241 MB | 28 MB |
| Age rating | 9+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Artur Gorokh | Michael McComas |
Customer experience
Hanly
Star Scholar
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
Star Scholar
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Hanly
- Hanly Premium$5.991 Month
Star Scholar
No in-app purchases









