Scrollingua vs Inkstone
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Scrollingua
This app transforms your existing scrolling habit into an effective language learning tool. It uses authentic short videos with interactive subtitles, allowing you to tap words for instant definitions and grammar explanations. Save new vocabulary for spaced review and practice pronunciation with feedback.
- Interactive subtitles with instant dictionary lookup
- Save and review vocabulary
- Guided lesson paths
- Pronunciation feedback
- Real short videos for listening practice
- Scan on-screen text for translation
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Learn a language by scrolling. Scrollingua turns short videos into real language practice — watch, tap any word for its meaning, and pick up vocabulary you'll actually use. Learn Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Spanish, French, or German in the format you already scroll every day. You already spend time scrolling short videos. Scrollingua puts that habit to work, so time you'd spend on autopilot becomes listening practice, new words, and real comprehension. No sitting still. No starting over from lesson one. Learn 6 languages: Japanese, Korean, Mandarin Chinese, Spanish, French, and German. Japanese includes full furigana and romaji, Chinese includes pinyin, and every language comes with a built-in dictionary and color-coded grammar hints tuned to how that language actually works. How to use Scrollingua 1) Pick your language and take a quick placement check. 2) Scroll a feed of authentic short videos with interactive subtitles. 3) Tap any word to see its meaning, reading, and grammar role — without leaving the video. 4) Save the words you want to keep; they come back as spaced review so they stick. 5) Follow a guided lesson path when you want structure, from the basics up to real sentences. 6) Practice speaking out loud and get pronunciation feedback on how you did. Built for people who love the idea of learning a language but bounce off traditional study. The loop is familiar on purpose — swipe, tap, listen, repeat. A few minutes between other things adds up faster than you'd expect, and streaks, daily goals, and friends keep you coming back. Ditch flashcard drills and lessons that feel like homework. Scrollingua is language learning that fits the way you already use your phone, so the practice happens without you having to schedule it. What you get • Authentic short videos for real listening practice • Tappable subtitles with instant dictionary lookups — meaning, reading, and grammar in one tap • Furigana and romaji for Japanese, pinyin for Chinese • Color-coded grammar hints that reveal sentence structure at a glance • Saved words that turn into spaced repetition review • A guided lesson path with placement, so you start at the right level • Speaking practice with guided pronunciation feedback • Scan on-screen text to translate what you see • Streaks and daily goals to build a habit that lasts • Friends and invite codes so you can learn alongside people you know If you have ideas or questions, email us at [YOUR SUPPORT EMAIL]. Subscription Details: Scrollingua Pro Scrollingua Pro unlocks unlimited scrolling, unlimited scans, and the complete lesson path. Scrollingua offers monthly and annual auto-renewing subscriptions. Payment is charged when your purchase is confirmed. Subscriptions renew automatically unless canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current billing period. You can manage or cancel your subscription anytime in your Apple ID account settings. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://busy-apple-2dd.notion.site/Scrollingua-Privacy-Policy-39ef09e311468089b002ea1138e71daf
Inkstone
Learn Chinese through classic stories and poems. Offers detailed explanations, translations, and audio pronunciations for every word and sentence. Supports offline reading and vocabulary saving.
- Classic Chinese stories and poems
- Modern Chinese retellings
- Audio narration with pinyin
- Tap-to-translate words
- Sentence-by-sentence translation
- Offline reading support
- Vocabulary saving
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Inkstone is a Chinese reading app built on the wisdom that China has passed down for generations. Most reading apps write their own material for learners. Inkstone gives you classic Chinese wisdom: from fables & their idioms, philosophy, history, to Tang poems, and strange tales. Every piece comes from a real ancient text, and then retold in clear modern Chinese to match the level you can read. Inkstone is built to guide you through every word, every phrase, and every sentence and its historical and philosophical context. A voice reads every line aloud and pinyin sits above every character. Tap any word to see what it means, hear it on its own, and read how the rest of the library uses it. Every sentence has an English translation a glance away. An "unpack the story" analysis is also paired with every story to provide further context and analysis. You never have to leave the page to look anything up, we take care of it all for you. WHAT YOU ACTUALLY READ 272 texts across twenty-four genres: fables, myths, poems, philosophy, histories, strange tales, and street talk. We ship 50+ handpicked stories on the 1st of every month. Li Bai looking at moonlight and mistaking it for frost. Zhuangzi's frog at the bottom of the well, certain the sky is small. A scholar in a Tang ghost story who should not have opened that door. The poems are the original text, character for character, from 唐诗三百首 and 全唐诗. The prose is retold in clear modern Chinese at a level you can read, and the source is always named. You'll know when you are in 聊斋志异 and when you are in 搜神记. This curated collection consists of stories that lasted two thousand years. They're worth reading and analyzing, over and over again. WHY THEY LASTED Every story comes with an interpretation, what it means, how to use it in everyday life and other contexts, along with commentary on how scholars have argued about it over the centuries. HOW WE GUIDE YOUR READING EXPERIENCE • A female and male voice for every story. Each word and sentence translated and lighting up as you progress through the story. • Slow the reading down, loop a line, or step through a story sentence by sentence • Every word has its own recording in both voices, so you can hear individual words and phrases alone • Beautiful background music to accompany your reading • Four levels of pinyin, including a smart level that marks only the words above your grade • Tap a word for its definitions, its other readings, and how often this book uses it • An English translation for every sentence without having you leave the story • Simplified and traditional characters supported • Save a word and it comes back before you forget it • Works offline. The whole library is stored locally on your phone. Audio is fetched when you open a story. • No ads and no account required. You can optionally backup your progress. LEARNING & PRACTICE Our learning system is based on SRS. Save a word while you read and it'll come back on a schedule optimized for you to master its meaning quickly. A STUDY OF YOUR OWN Inkstone is built as a scholar's studio. You carve your own name seal, and it stamps the spine of every book you finish. Curios collect on the shelf as you read. The window beside your desk follows the hour of your real day. Everything grows as you collect and finish more stories. Download Inkstone and start reading today. The annual plan is $49.99 USD per year and opens with a 7-day free trial you can cancel any time before it ends. Monthly is $9.99 and starts billing straight away. Prices in your own currency are shown in the app before you confirm anything. Terms: https://getinkstone.app/terms Privacy: https://getinkstone.app/privacy
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ads: Scrollingua at none against Inkstone's shown. Inkstone's advantage is monetization model (free vs freemium). On price, review sentiment, update cadence and in-app purchases 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. Scrollingua sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $11.99 per month and Inkstone sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 3 days. The most recent releases landed on October 7, 2026 and October 19, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Scrollingua | Inkstone |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | — | 3.9 (8 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 0.0% of reviews | 0.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | — | 8 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 days | Every 3 days |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Freemium | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 16.4 | 16.4 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 98 MB | 168 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Jadon Lau | Conder Shou |
Customer experience
Scrollingua
Inkstone
In-app purchases
Scrollingua
- Scrollingua Pro3 Days trial$11.991 Month
- Scrollingua Pro Annual14 Days trial$69.991 Year
- Scrollingua Pro7 Days trial$89.991 Year
Inkstone
- Inkstone Monthly$9.991 Month
- Inkstone Annual7 Days trial$59.991 Year









