Learn Korean vs OptimalChinese
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Learn Korean
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Give your Korean a daily workout. Learn Korean - Cardio combines more than 1,000 visual flashcards, clear pronunciation audio, guided Hangul writing, short readings, and everyday listening practice. Build practical Korean skills with: • More than 1,000 visual flashcards for everyday vocabulary and phrases • Spaced repetition that brings learned words back in your Daily Goal, and sooner when you are still learning them • Guided Hangul writing with stroke-order practice • 20 short readings with sentence-by-sentence practice, translations, vocabulary, and comprehension questions • 24 listening conversations for cafés, shops, travel, appointments, and other everyday situations • Optional Korean or bilingual subtitles, playback speed controls, and line-by-line replay • English and Spanish translations • Daily goals, streaks, progress tracking, and background flashcard audio Free with the app: the 53 Essential flashcards, Reading, Listening, and Hangul writing. The other 1,000+ flashcards and 8 vocabulary categories need a Cardio+ subscription. Start with the free Essential words and build a Korean habit one focused session at a time. Downloaded app content includes the practice recordings for offline use. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://bullfighterstudio.com/privacy-policy#cardio-korean
OptimalChinese
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Every sentence you study is built from the words you already know, plus exactly one new notion. That is the whole idea: nothing you read is above your level, so you understand it the first time — and you remember it. EVERY SENTENCE IS ONE STEP UP When a new word or rule comes up, the example around it is assembled from vocabulary you have already learned. One unknown per sentence, never five. NEVER FORGET Every word and every rule is scheduled with FSRS-6, the modern spaced-repetition algorithm, and comes back at the last useful moment — so a notion learned once is not learned three times. NEVER CONFUSE Look anything up and see how it is built: the characters a word is made of, the words it combines into, its measure words, and the siblings that are easy to mix up. Link two confusable entries and they are taught apart. FOR EACH ASPECT Reading, listening and writing are different skills, so each gets its own card and its own schedule. A word you can read but not hear keeps coming back in your ears until you can. CUSTOMIZE YOUR PATH Follow HSK 1–5 lesson by lesson, or pick from hundreds of themes and learn the vocabulary of what you actually talk about. Tell the app where you are and it plans the rest. IMPORT WHAT YOU ALREADY HAVE Bring in an Anki deck or a Pleco export, or start from your HSK level in one screen. What you already know is merged with what the app teaches, instead of starting you from zero. YOUR CLASSES, IN THE APP Share a private space with your teacher. Anything either of you saves during a lesson — a word, a phrase, a correction — is waiting in your reviews afterwards. AN AI TUTOR THAT KNOWS YOUR LEVEL Ask why a sentence works the way it does, and get an answer written for the vocabulary you actually have. ALSO • Native audio on every word, sentence and example • Dictation using your iPhone's own speech recognition • A dictionary that searches on the device, instantly • Your own cards and phrases, alongside the built-in ones • Dark mode, haptics, and a layout made for one hand SUBSCRIPTION OptimalChinese Pro unlocks everything: $12.99 per month or $79.99 per year, after a 7-day free trial. Payment is charged to your Apple Account when the free trial ends, and the subscription renews automatically unless it is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Manage or cancel it in your Apple Account settings. Terms of Use: https://www.optimalchinese.com/terms Privacy Policy: https://www.optimalchinese.com/privacy
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is iOS requirement: OptimalChinese at 15.0 against Learn Korean's 17.5. On price, 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
Both are free to download. Learn Korean sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $2.99 per month and OptimalChinese sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $12.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
| Parameter | Learn Korean | OptimalChinese |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks | — |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.5 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 527 MB | 12 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Humberto Prado Ballesteros | Lucas Costagliola |
In-app purchases
Learn Korean
- Cardio+7 Days trial$2.991 Month
OptimalChinese
- Monthly7 Days trial$12.991 Month
- Yearly7 Days trial$79.991 Year
Questions
Is Learn Korean free?
Is OptimalChinese free?
Do Learn Korean or OptimalChinese have ads?
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