StrokePath vs HearMandarin

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.

HearMandarin teaches Mandarin the way you will meet it: by ear first. Every word, sentence and story comes with clear Mandarin audio, and each screen asks you to listen before it shows you the characters. What is inside • Eight rooms: Tones, HSK words, Survival phrases, Stories, Slang, Grammar, Radicals and a daily listening round. • 220 graded stories across seven bands, read line by line with pinyin and English on demand. • 11,000+ HSK 3.0 words with example sentences and stroke order. • 185 slang entries with register, channel and freshness notes, plus 12 "how to say it" guides and 8 side-by-side comparisons of words people mix up. • Four practice games: Tone contrasts, Picture match, Build the sentence and Draw the tone. • Review that surfaces what is due, and a progress page that shows your week. Works offline once its audio packs are downloaded, and every audio pack is free. No account, no ads, no tracking. HearMandarin Pro is a one-time purchase: audio, listen-first mode and quizzes for every story beyond Band 4, the complete 720-question test bank with explanations, Anki-ready exports, printable word books and continuous listening through each band.