DiaryTutor vs iSiShu
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side โ with what reviewers say about each.
DiaryTutor
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DiaryTutor turns daily journaling into a natural way to learn a foreign language. Pick a language. Write a diary entry โ about your morning coffee, a conversation, a feeling, anything. Your AI tutor reads it, gently corrects mistakes, suggests more natural phrasing, and explains why. The more you write, the more your tutor learns about your style. โ FOUR AI TEACHERS, EACH WITH A PERSONALITY โ โข Yaya โ warm, patient, perfect for beginners โข Oliver โ precise and encouraging, your structured guide โข Inky โ playful and creative, for expressive writers โข Milo โ moody but insightful, when you want a sharper edge Switch teachers anytime. Each one grows alongside you, leveling up from Lv 1 to Lv 15 as you write together โ unlocking new expressions, new conversations, and four evolution stages. โ EIGHT LANGUAGES TO CHOOSE FROM โ English, Japanese, Korean, French, Spanish, German, Dutch, Chinese. Mix and match. Switch languages whenever you want. โ BUDDIES: A LETTER-BASED PEN-PAL WORLD โ Pair up with a Buddy who's also learning. Exchange letters at your own pace โ no pressure, no notifications buzzing every minute. Real practice with real humans, gently moderated. โ DEEP CORRECTIONS, NOT JUST GRAMMAR โ Beyond fixing mistakes, your tutor highlights: โข Code-switching habits (when you accidentally fall back to your native language) โข Naturalness scores โข Writing advice tailored to your level โ PROGRESS YOU CAN SEE โ Earn XP, unlock badges (Gold / Platinum / Cosmic), watch your character evolve, and look back on a growing diary archive in your target language. โ EARLY ACCESS NOTE โ You're using one of the first builds. We're shipping updates fast and listening closely. Tap "Send Feedback" to talk to us directly โ every message is read. Privacy & safety: All diaries are private by default. UGC is moderated by AI and human review. Report and block tools are built in. Start writing today. The best way to learn a language is to live in it โ one diary at a time.
iSiShu
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iSiShu is a study environment for the Great Learning, the Doctrine of the Mean, the Analects, and Mencius. It is not a wrapped e-book. About 1257 passages and about 113 famous lines live on your device. No account. No ads. No tracking. No page-turn paywall. Understand a line, say it aloud, keep a daily habit. Three-layer close reading, recitation, Close Reading drills, Daily Saying, handwriting search, widgets, Lock Screen, Siri, Shortcuts, and deep links put the Four Books on the commute, before sleep, and beside class. Love the Classics, Live the Wisdom. 1. Library Browse by book, Analects books, Mencius parts, and authors Zengzi, Zisi, Confucius, and Mencius. About 16, 39, 512, and 690 units across the four works. Classical source. Original modern Chinese study notes, not a scholarly edition. English mainly from James Legge public-domain translations. Missing English is labeled and stepped down. Airplane mode works. An optional tip does not lock content. 2. Close reading Bilingual, Chinese only, or English only. Pinyin, Traditional glyphs, vertical layout, section paging, and a remembered line. Jump to a matching sentence from a famous line or link. Kai, Song, Hei, or system serif. Immersive mode. Quote cards with styles, notes, English, Photos, and share. Close Reading, glosses, and recitation check sit on the detail page. Display and speech are separate: read bilingual text while hearing only the source. Legge numbers split onto lines when counts align. Messy blocks and empty vernacular copies stay hidden. 3. Recitation Queue passages. Play source, vernacular, or English. Adjust speed. Background audio, silent-mode play, Lock Screen Now Playing, Live Activity. iPad landscape can use a right rail. Collections and lists start continuous recitation. Previous and next in the queue. 4. Study Fade recitation, fill-in, self-check, quiz, and mastery. Word Hunt finds a line from a keyword. Recitation Check uses the mic and system speech recognition on supported systems. On-device glosses fall back to built-in notes. A few lines a day. 5. Handwriting search On iPhone and iPad, draw a character. Recognition stays on device. Auto-search after a pause. Apple Pencil on iPad. Mac is for reading and recitation. 6. Daily Saying A contextual daily line, optional seasonal mix, refresh, local notification, Continue Reading. Streaks count days and progress in each book. 7. Organize List, grid, or cards. Filter by book, part, author, length, study status, favorites, or notes. Multiple reading lists. Multi-select to recite or batch-study. Notes export as text or Markdown. Optional iCloud sync. Local default. Tabs can hide. 8. Jump in Full-text search. Deep links can land on one sentence. Spotlight off by default. Widgets for Daily Saying, famous lines, progress, and favorites. Control Center, Siri, and Shortcuts open today, recitation, study, search, handwriting, and more. 9. iPad, Mac, polish Study, gloss, assessment, quote cards, and immersive reading can fill the window, with split panes. Theme, accent, language, and glyphs are independent. Eight iOS alternate icons. Onboarding and three guides. VoiceOver on key controls. Email feedback can prefill diagnostics. StandBy can show a line. Custom Home shortcuts. A short first-launch tour. iPhone for widgets and audio, iPad for handwriting and split study, Mac for a wide page. 10. Privacy and fit Offline first. No third-party analytics SDK. No social feed. No fortune-telling. A practice tool, not the sole academic base text. For readers who want the Four Books without membership walls, and for anyone who will recite or keep one saying a day. Not a giant ancient-text library. One job: daily practice. Open Daily Saying. Read, compare, recite, mark a little mastery. You do not have to finish today. Return tomorrow.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: DiaryTutor at Free against iSiShu's $0.99. DiaryTutor also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 1) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 17.0). iSiShu's advantage is ads (none vs shown). On device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price ยท Rating ยท Positive reviews ยท Number of ratings ยท Update frequency ยท Ads ยท In-app purchases ยท Monetization ยท Best chart rank ยท Devices ยท Requires iOS
DiaryTutor is free to download; iSiShu costs $0.99 up front. iSiShu sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. DiaryTutor asks for nothing beyond the download.
| Parameter | DiaryTutor | iSiShu |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free โ better | $0.99 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 days | โ |
| Ads | Yes | No โ better |
| In-app purchases | No โ better | Yes |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 โ better | 17.0 |
| Further details โ not scored | ||
| Size | 65 MB | 27 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | YEN-HSUN LI | ๅคฉไป ไฝ |
In-app purchases
DiaryTutor
No in-app purchases
iSiShu
- Reward developers$0.99









