Comparison

活字帖+ | Live Calligraphy+ vs 古古识字

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

Head to head
About

活字帖+ | Live Calligraphy+

Practice Chinese brush calligraphy on your iPad or iPhone using original strokes from ancient masters. Focus on character structure and artistic charm to improve your calligraphy skills.

Highlights
  • Practice Chinese calligraphy with finger
  • Uses original strokes from ancient masters
  • Focuses on character structure
  • Includes 8 handscrolls
  • Simulates artistic charm of calligraphy
Features
Read full description

*Keyword*: Chinese calligraphy, Chinese culture/art, practice Chinese characters Ever dream of writing Chinese characters like a calligrapher? Now, you can practice Chinese brush calligraphy with your finger in iPad and iPhone. Live Calligraphy use the original strokes extracted from the master piece of ancient calligrapher in your practice, so that you can feel yourself like a real master of Chinese calligraphy, and fully enjoy the artistic charm of the art of calligraphy. Now, the app contains 8 handscrolls: - LanTing (兰亭集序--王羲之) - Basic Strokes (基本笔画--楷书四大家) - Timely Clearing After Snowfall (快雪时晴帖--王羲之) - Namo Amitābha by HongYi (南无阿弥陀佛--弘一法师) - Poem of Fragrance (秾芳诗帖--宋徽宗) - Confucius Passed Away (仲尼梦奠帖--欧阳询) - Ode to Qin (琴赋--文征明) - Heart Sutra (心经--赵孟頫) Enjoy Chinese calligraphy~ ---------------------------------------- 你是否曾想像自己如书法大师一样挥毫呢?来试试吧,用你的手指在iPad和iPhone上练习毛笔书法。 “活字帖”利用中国古代名家书法作品中的原笔迹,在你描摹或者临帖时绘制出来,使得你的书法效果能媲美真迹,让你体验如书法家一样的练字感受,更真切的感受书法的魅力。 本作与现有大多数作品的最大区别在于,大多数现有的作品只是根据手指运行轨迹,用计算机计算模拟出类似于毛笔笔迹的效果。但是,因为触摸屏的限制,计算机再如何聪明,又如何能知道用户运笔时的轻重缓急,浓淡干湿呢?故本作规避了用笔技巧,着重于练习每个字的字体结构。因此,本作并不能代替笔墨纸砚的常规练字方法,但是却可以从一定程度上提高用户的书法水平。 本App现有8个字帖: - 兰亭集序(王羲之) - 基本笔画(楷书四大家) - 快雪时晴帖(王羲之) - 南无阿弥陀佛(弘一法师) - 秾芳诗帖(宋徽宗) - 仲尼梦奠帖(欧阳询) - 琴赋(文徵明) - 般若波罗蜜多心经 (赵孟頫) 希望大家喜欢。

About

古古识字

This app teaches Chinese characters to children using ancient character forms and their evolution. It integrates learning with ancient poems and engaging games to spark curiosity and encourage continued study.

Highlights
  • Ancient character teaching with evolution
  • Learning through ancient poems
  • Interactive games to inspire curiosity
  • Vivid animation and artful design
  • Instant accomplishment for motivation
Features
Read full description

Our app is designed to literacy education of Chinese characters. Features: 1. Ancient characters teaching. In different from traditional phonetic teaching, we bring ancient Chinese characters into teaching. Their evolution process to today's Chinese characters have been shown in Vivid animation and artful design, helping children better understand the forms and meanings of Chinese characters. 2. Ancient poems reading. The learning process of new characters is according to the content of an ancient poem. Until you learn the whole words it has, you can read a piece of poetry completely and smoothly. All efforts you will take is only three days. The instant accomplishment will stimulate children keep going on. 3. Initial Curiosity inspiring. We design clever game to discover the interest of learning. Through the game, we not only restore the history of Chinese characters, but also explore all around Chinese characters.

Screenshots

活字帖+ | Live Calligraphy+4 screens
古古识字4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: 古古识字 at Free against 活字帖+ | Live Calligraphy+'s $5.99. 古古识字 also leads on update cadence (weekly vs every 7 months). 活字帖+ | Live Calligraphy+'s advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 3) and ratings volume (17 vs 4). On rating, review sentiment, ads and device support 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

古古识字 is free to download; 活字帖+ | Live Calligraphy+ costs $5.99 up front. 古古识字 sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. 活字帖+ | Live Calligraphy+ asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.9 for 活字帖+ | Live Calligraphy+ against 5.0 for 古古识字. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 17 and 4 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 92% of 活字帖+ | Live Calligraphy+'s written reviews are positive against 100% of 古古识字's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

活字帖+ | Live Calligraphy+ ships an update every 7 months, 古古识字 weekly. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and November 2, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
活字帖+ | Live Calligraphy+ versus 古古识字: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
Parameter活字帖+ | Live Calligraphy+古古识字
Price$5.99Free — better
Rating4.9 (17 ratings)5.0 (4 ratings) — better
Positive reviews92.3% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings17 — better4
Update frequencyEvery 7 monthsWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS13.0 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size50 MB1.3 GB
Age rating4+4+
Developer哲 盛Playtime Network Co., Ltd.

Customer experience

活字帖+ | Live Calligraphy+

All ratings16 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews26 reviews
Positive92.3%
Neutral0.0%
Negative7.7%

古古识字

All ratings4 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

活字帖+ | Live Calligraphy+

No in-app purchases

3 purchases

古古识字

One-time3
  • 购买后,开通1年会员$21.99
  • 购买后,开通3年会员$33.99
  • 购买后,开通永久会员$59.99

Questions

Is 活字帖+ | Live Calligraphy+ free?
活字帖+ | Live Calligraphy+ costs $5.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is 古古识字 free?
古古识字 is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, 活字帖+ | Live Calligraphy+ or 古古识字?
古古识字 is rated higher. 活字帖+ | Live Calligraphy+ averages 4.9 out of 5 from 17 ratings, while 古古识字 averages 5.0 from 4 ratings.
Do 活字帖+ | Live Calligraphy+ or 古古识字 have ads?
Neither 活字帖+ | Live Calligraphy+ nor 古古识字 shows ads.
Which is updated more often, 活字帖+ | Live Calligraphy+ or 古古识字?
活字帖+ | Live Calligraphy+ ships an update every 7 months, and 古古识字 weekly. Most recently, 活字帖+ | Live Calligraphy+ was updated on November 1, 2026 and 古古识字 on November 2, 2026.

Other comparisons