Comparison

Jade vs Study Chinese

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Jade

This app offers a smart Chinese dictionary and learning companion for everyday use. It provides instant lookups by Hanzi, pinyin, or English, with essential information first and deeper context available. Features include flashcards, spaced repetition, and a tool to understand Chinese text from your surroundings.

Highlights
  • Fast Chinese dictionary search
  • Search by Hanzi, pinyin, or English
  • Simplified and Traditional script display
  • Flashcard creation and custom decks
  • Spaced repetition review sessions
  • Offline dictionary lookup
  • Real-world text recognition (Jade Lens)
Features
Read full description

Jade is a Chinese dictionary and learning companion built to help you understand, remember, and use real Chinese. Search by Hanzi, pinyin, English, or handwriting. Jade shows what matters first: characters, pronunciation, and practical meaning. Go deeper with examples, related words, audio, writing guidance, and learning context. **UNDERSTAND MORE** Use Jade Explain for sentences, phrases, names, idioms, and unfamiliar expressions. Jade breaks Chinese down clearly so you can understand what it means, how it works, and when to use it. **REMEMBER WHAT YOU LEARN** Save any word to flashcards and organize vocabulary into your own decks. Build lasting knowledge with Daily sessions, spaced-repetition review, Smart Quiz, and Hanzi writing practice. **READ REAL CHINESE** Paste or import your own text, or explore curated stories in Jade Reader. Choose how much pinyin to see, tap unfamiliar words for instant help, reveal translations when needed, and save useful vocabulary as you read. **SCROLL CHINESE** Learn from native speakers through short YouTube clips. Follow synchronized Hanzi, pinyin, and translation; tap any word for instant help, replay a sentence, and save useful vocabulary as you watch. **LOOK UP CHINESE AROUND YOU** Point Jade Lens at Chinese text or import an image to recognize words in the real world. Look up what you find and save useful vocabulary directly to your decks. **LEARN YOUR WAY** Jade supports Simplified and Traditional Chinese, with optional Cantonese support. Core dictionary lookup and saved learning data remain available offline, and no account is required to get started. Whether you're learning your first characters or already reading Chinese, Jade gives you one place to look things up, understand them, and remember what you learn. Look it up. Understand it. Remember it. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

Study Chinese

Learn Mandarin through an engaging, game-like experience. Progress through levels with interactive drills, boss fights, and weekly challenges. Offers both classic and updated HSK tracks for comprehensive language acquisition.

Highlights
  • Gamified learning with islands and boss fights
  • Two HSK tracks (2.0 Classic and 3.0)
  • Interactive drills: flashcards, matching, writing, speaking
  • Tone Studio for pronunciation practice
  • Weekly leagues and multiplayer challenges
  • Spaced repetition and graded readings
  • Home and Lock Screen widgets
Features
Read full description

Learn Mandarin Chinese step by step with Bao, your panda study buddy. Study Chinese turns HSK vocabulary, pinyin, tones and Chinese characters into short daily lessons on a world of islands. The app is available in English, Bahasa Indonesia and Español. Switch any time in Settings. A CLEAR PATH, CHAPTER BY CHAPTER Every course is a coast of islands and every chapter is an island. Learn new words, practice them in games, then beat the chapter boss. Follow the classic HSK 1–6 path or HSK 3.0 Levels 1–9. HSK 3.0 Levels 1–4 follow the 新HSK教程 textbooks lesson by lesson. A short placement test finds your starting level. HEAR, SEE AND SAY THE TONES Tone Studio draws the shape of each Mandarin tone. Listen, speak and compare your pitch with the target. Tone analysis runs on your device. REMEMBER WORDS FOR LONGER Flashcards with spaced repetition bring hard words back sooner. Add dictation, stroke-order writing, sentence building, listening drills, a grammar guide and Hanzi Meteor, where you say the answer out loud before the word lands. READ REAL CHINESE Graded stories with audio and pinyin. Tap a word for its meaning, or ask Bao to break a sentence down. With Plus, photograph pages from your own Chinese books or open a PDF and read them with help. ASK BAO (BETA) Stuck on a sentence or a grammar point? Ask Bao about the Chinese you are reading and get an explanation in your language. LEARN WITH FRIENDS Earn XP, climb the weekly league and challenge a friend to a 1v1 duel. Friends can also join rooms in a browser at studychinese.id/play. START FREE Your starting level in the classic HSK path and every level below it are free, with daily review, readings and the dictionary. Hearts and some exercises are limited on the free plan. STUDY CHINESE PLUS Plus opens every level, the full HSK 3.0 path, full HSK mock tests in the real exam format, unlimited hearts, your own books and more help from Bao. Choose monthly or yearly. Eligible new subscribers can try the yearly plan free for 7 days. Prices are shown in the app before you buy. Payment is charged to your Apple Account at confirmation of purchase. Subscriptions renew automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Manage or cancel in your App Store account settings. Questions: hello.studychinese@gmail.com Privacy: https://www.studychinese.id/privacy Terms: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Jade4 screens
Study Chinese4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Study Chinese at 5.0 against Jade's 4.4. Study Chinese also leads on ads (none vs shown) and review sentiment (100% vs 86%). Jade's advantage is ratings volume (17 vs 1) and iOS requirement (15.5 vs 18.0). On price, update cadence, in-app purchases 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Jade sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month and Study Chinese sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Study Chinese holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Jade has 17 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 86% of Jade's written reviews are positive against 100% of Study Chinese's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Jade ships an update every 3 days, Study Chinese every 4 days. Both last shipped on October 24, 2026.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Jade versus Study Chinese: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterJadeStudy Chinese
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.4 (17 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews85.7% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings17 — better1
Update frequencyEvery 3 days — betterEvery 4 days
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFreemium
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.5 — better18.0
Further details — not scored
Size305 MB296 MB
Age rating9+4+
DeveloperCarlo HafenegerEdrick Hartanto

Customer experience

Jade

All ratings15 ratings
Positive80.0%
Neutral6.7%
Negative13.3%
Written reviews7 reviews
Positive85.7%
Neutral0.0%
Negative14.3%

Study Chinese

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

3 purchases

Jade

Subscriptions2
  • Jade Pro Monthly$4.991 Month
  • Jade Pro Yearly$39.991 Year
One-time1
  • Lifetime$99.99
5 purchases

Study Chinese

Subscriptions4
  • Premium Monthly$4.991 Month
  • Study Chinese Pro Monthly$9.991 Month
  • Premium Yearly7 Days trial$49.991 Year
Show 1 more
  • Study Chinese Pro Yearly7 Days trial$99.991 Year
One-time1
  • Lifetime Plus$99.99

Questions

Is Jade free?
Jade is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Study Chinese free?
Study Chinese is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Jade or Study Chinese?
Study Chinese is rated higher. Jade averages 4.4 out of 5 from 17 ratings, while Study Chinese averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Jade or Study Chinese have ads?
Jade shows ads; Study Chinese does not.
Which is updated more often, Jade or Study Chinese?
Jade ships an update every 3 days, and Study Chinese every 4 days. Most recently, Jade was updated on October 24, 2026 and Study Chinese on October 24, 2026.

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