HanziBen vs Inkday

Write Chinese characters by hand, then flip the card: Composition shows the parts, History shows seal script to regular script. HSK 3.0 Writing and Vocab, Radical Ben (100 radical families), Hanzi Ben, and your own My Hanzi list. Stroke order, etymology, offline. No account, no ads, no subscription. Pay once for Pro. HanziBen — Learn Chinese by writing, not by tapping. Other Chinese apps make you guess. You tap multiple choice. You match flashcards. You feel like you're learning — until you pick up a pen and your hand has no idea what to do. HanziBen flips that around. You write every character with your finger, stroke by stroke, on a generous practice canvas with elegant guides. That single change — moving from passive recognition to active production — is what turns short-term memory into permanent knowledge. The science is well established: motor memory cements characters in a way tapping never will. Why HanziBen is different - Handwriting-first, always. The canvas isn't a feature — it's the whole point. Every card is a chance to actually write the character. Stroke order, a faint Ghost guide, and on-device Check are built in. - Five curricula, one app. Hanzi Ben starts as a beginner path (pronouns, particles, then family, time, and everyday life) and continues through Society & World, Abstract & Advanced, and Mastery. Radical Ben teaches 100 radical families: the component first, then the characters that use it. HSK 3.0 Writing, HSK 3.0 Vocab, and your own My Hanzi list. Switch any time — progress is tracked separately in each. - Quick Access. 100 basic radicals (free) and the Survival Kit: 159 high-frequency connecting words (before, after, because, however…) grouped by what they do in a sentence. - My Hanzi — your own list. Type English, Pinyin, or characters (space-separated compounds work too). The app builds a practice list and shows unmatched words so you know what to retry. - Find any character - Type Pinyin, type English, use your voice, or — when you don't even know the reading — just draw the character and let the app find it. Recent searches keep your last lookups one tap away. - Flip the card, not a wiki. Composition shows how the character is built. History shows Seal Script, simplification, and frequency. Every card also has a short, hand-curated mnemonic, stroke count, and a mini dictionary — so each character becomes a small story instead of a random shape. - Built-in progress, streaks and milestones. See what you've mastered, what needs review, and keep your daily writing streak alive. Blindspots filters a deck down to what you haven't learned yet. - Made to live with. Paper-and-ink aesthetic, beautiful Chinese typography, light and dark themes, and five interface languages: English, 中文, Deutsch, Español, Français. - Your progress, your data. Everything lives on your device. Export a full backup to a JSON file any time, restore it on a new phone. No account required. Free version — generous, not crippled Try HanziBen with the first 2 chapters of every curriculum, the 100-card Radicals deck, and a 10-character My Hanzi list. No timers, no ads, no nagging — a real chance to feel how the app works before you decide. Pro — one-time purchase, no subscription Unlock every chapter of every curriculum, an unlimited My Hanzi list, and full lifetime access. Pay once. Own it. Who HanziBen is for Beginners who want to start the right way — by writing from day one. Intermediate learners who recognise characters but can't reproduce them. HSK candidates who need the writing component locked in. Heritage learners reconnecting with the script. Anyone who has ever closed a flashcard app feeling like they didn't really learn anything. If you've tried "the big ones" and walked away frustrated that you still can't write 你好 without looking it up — HanziBen is built for you. Start writing today. The first stroke is always the hardest. After that, it gets surprisingly addictive. 汉字本 — your Hanzi Notebook.

Inkday helps you remember Chinese characters: you review cards a little every day until each word sticks. Your words come from what you read. Select a word in Safari or a book and tap Share. Inkday fills in the pinyin and keeps the sentence as a note on the card, so you remember where you met the word. FLASHCARDS The character is on the front. Pinyin, meaning and an example are on the back. Answer Again, Hard, Good or Easy, and Inkday decides when to show the card next: in a minute or in a few days. If you skip a session, your cards wait for you. WHAT TO LEARN TODAY The Today screen shows how many cards are due, how many days in a row you've studied, and what's coming up tomorrow. ALL 214 KANGXI RADICALS The radicals come ready in themed decks: People and the Body, Actions and Movement, Nature and the Elements. Start right away, no need to make your own cards. Once you know the radicals, new characters are easier to break down. DICTIONARY Search by character, pinyin or meaning. Turn any word into a card with one tap. WRITING ON IPAD You get the meaning and pinyin, and you write the character from memory with Apple Pencil. Inkday checks each stroke for position and order. Stuck? Tap Hint. COPYBOOKS ON IPAD Build a copybook from a single character or a whole sentence. First trace the model, then write over the outline, then from memory, in a 田字格 grid like a school exercise book. IPHONE AND IPAD Decks, progress and copybooks sync through iCloud. Save a word on your iPhone during your commute and practise writing it on your iPad in the evening.