hanzi gate vs StrokePath

Learning Chinese characters doesn’t have to be about memorizing random shapes. This app helps you understand characters by showing how they evolved over time. By seeing the historical forms and how meaning develops, characters become more logical and easier to remember. Instead of rote memorization, you build intuition — why a character looks the way it does, and how it connects to meaning. With simple, focused practice, you can reinforce what you learn and retain it more naturally. Whether you’re just starting or trying to get past the memorization barrier, this app gives you a different way to approach Chinese characters.

Look up the stroke order of any Chinese character, write it stroke by stroke, and get told exactly what went wrong — that's StrokePath. STROKE-BY-STROKE ANIMATION 9,500+ characters. Every stroke is drawn along its real writing path. Step through strokes, change speed, loop — or switch to a numbered overview chart with a start point and direction arrow on every stroke. TRACE, COPY, RECALL Three practice modes of increasing difficulty. Each stroke is checked as you write: starting point, direction, and overall shape. Write stroke 5 when stroke 3 was due, and the app says so explicitly. Miss the same stroke three times and it plays a demo for you. INSTANT FEEDBACK CARD A score built from stroke order, shape and position; a per-stroke pass/fail list; and an overlay of your handwriting on the model character with wrong strokes marked in red. CHARACTER LISTS & PROGRESS Starter 100, Common 500, the 3,500 characters of the PRC standard list (grouped by stroke count), and HSK 1–6 characters. Star characters, practice them in a row, and let the app collect the ones that need more work. EVERY FEATURE IS FREE Everything above is free to use — no daily limits, no locked levels, no account. A single banner ad at the bottom of the screen keeps the app going. If you would rather not see it, one in-app purchase turns the banner off. That is all it does; it does not unlock any extra features. WORKS OFFLINE, NO TRACKING The whole character library ships inside the app, so lookup, animation, guided writing, lists and records all work in airplane mode. The only thing that needs a connection is the banner ad. The app does not track you across other apps and never shows the App Tracking Transparency prompt; your practice records stay on your device. Stroke data is based on the open-source Make Me a Hanzi project (Arphic Public License / LGPL); full credits and license texts are inside the app under Settings.