Comparison

Drops vs Learn Chinese

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

Head to head
About

Drops

Learn new languages through engaging games and visually appealing vocabulary exercises. Offers over 55 languages with custom illustrations and professional voiceovers. Track progress, unlock achievements, and become fluent with fun, game-like lessons.

Highlights
  • Gamified vocabulary learning
  • Visual learning with custom illustrations
  • 55+ languages available
  • Professional voice artist pronunciations
  • Progress tracking and achievements
  • Game-like lessons for effectiveness
Read full description

Join over 50 million people who use Drops for free language lessons. It’s fast, fun, and easy! Practice vocabulary in Spanish, Japanese, French, Korean, Chinese, German, English. Discover 55+ different new languages with Drops! Learn new languages while playing games. You can become fluent, learn vocabulary and common phrases in Hebrew, Arabic, Russian, and Hindi. Set goals, unlock achievements, and get rewards! • Become fluent in a foreign language with this language learning app • Learn to read characters and scripts from different alphabets like Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Hebrew, Arabic, Russian, and Hindi • Custom illustrations for each vocabulary word makes it easy to remember • From beginner to expert levels, grow your foreign language vocabulary • A professionally curated vocabulary list with more than 3,000 words and phrases • Game-like language lessons that make language learning fun and effective • Level up! Track your progress and get rewards • Professional voice artists and sound design with correct dialect pronunciations • Learn to speak languages like Arabic, Chinese (Mandarin), English (British), English (American), French, German, Icelandic, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese (European), Russian, Spanish (Mexican), Spanish (European), Tagalog, Ainu, Arabic (Egyptian), American Sign Language (ASL), Basque, Bosnian, Cantonese, Catalan, Chti, Croatian, Danish, Dutch, Esperanto, Estonian, Finnish, Galician, Greek, Greenlandic, Hawaiian, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Igbo, Indonesian, Irish, Maori, Norwegian, Persian, Polish, Portuguese (Brazilian), Romanian, Samoan, Sanskrit, Serbian, Swahili, Swedish, Swiss German, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese, Welsh, and even Yoruba! "By focusing on visually appealing games and vocab, Drops aims to lower the barrier preventing users from exploring a new language and, ultimately, accessing the social and economic benefits knowing that language may provide." - TechCrunch We are featured by CNET, Forbes, VentureBeat and many other places too! Try Drops Premium with a 7 day free trial. Download the app to learn about different membership options, and register to learn all about exclusive discounts. Payment will be charged to your iTunes Account at confirmation of Drops premium. Afterwards your account will be charged for renewal within 24-hours prior to the end of the current period. Auto-renewal may be turned off at any time by going to your settings in the iTunes Store after purchase. You can cancel your subscription anytime, and you won't be charged in the next billing cycle. Privacy Policy and Terms of Use: http://languagedrops.com/privacypolicy.html

About

Learn Chinese

Learn Mandarin Chinese with interactive lessons and engaging games. Master vocabulary, phrases, and grammar through real-life scenarios and native speaker audio. Track your progress across devices and improve pronunciation with fun quizzes.

Highlights
  • 70 real-life lessons
  • 3000+ vocabulary words and phrases
  • Hangman and Concentration games
  • Native speaker audio for pronunciation
  • Verb conjugation trainer
  • Progress tracking with iCloud syncing
  • Adaptive multiple-choice quizzes
Features
Read full description

Hen Hao ® is the award-winning app that makes learning Mandarin Chinese simple and fun! Quickly learn essential vocabulary, phrases, and grammar concepts. Designed especially for students and tourists as well as business and medical professionals. Vocabulary and Phrases ------------- • Contains 70 lessons based on REAL LIFE situations including flight and hotel reservations, dining out, shopping, exploring and meeting new friends. • Includes more than 3000 VOCABULARY words and phrases for both beginner and advanced learners. • Play while learning with Hangman and Concentration games. • Learn to PRONOUNCE correctly with high-quality audio by NATIVE SPEAKERS. • Addictive verb conjugation trainer • Complete alphabet course Quizzing Features ------------- • Multiple-choice quiz ADAPTS to your skill level. • Memorize words quickly with our DYNAMIC QUIZZING algorithm. • Track LESSON PROGRESS across devices with iCloud syncing. Please note that premium lessons within the app are available with a subscription. The options for a subscription are: Monthly subscription for $US2.99 (or the equivalent in local currency), and Annual subscription for $US9.99 (or the equivalent in local currency). Subscriptions automatically renew, unless auto-renew is turned off in your iTunes App Store preference at least 24-hours before the beginning of the next payment cycle. Upon cancellation of your subscription, access to the premium lessons will terminate at the end of the current payment cycle.

Screenshots

Drops4 screens
Learn Chinese4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: Learn Chinese at none against Drops's shown. Learn Chinese also leads on device support (4 vs 2) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 17.6). Drops's advantage is rating (4.7 vs 4.4) and ratings volume (72K vs 34). On price, in-app purchases and monetization model 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

Both are free to download. Drops sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $7.99 per month and Learn Chinese sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Drops holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Drops has 72K ratings behind it against 34, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 75% of Drops's written reviews are positive against 50% of Learn Chinese's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Drops ships an update every 10 days, Learn Chinese monthly. The most recent releases landed on November 12, 2026 and November 1, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard8 real differences · 3 level
Drops versus Learn Chinese: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterDropsLearn Chinese
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (72K ratings) — better4.4 (34 ratings)
Positive reviews74.8% of reviews — better50.0% of reviews
Number of ratings72K — better34
Update frequencyEvery 10 days — betterMonthly
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank#180 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — better
Requires iOS17.612.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size198 MB516 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperPLANB LABS OUOnline Language Help

Customer experience

Drops

All ratings71,739 ratings
Positive94.2%
Neutral2.9%
Negative2.9%
Written reviews2,264 reviews
Positive74.8%
Neutral9.6%
Negative15.6%

Learn Chinese

All ratings33 ratings
Positive81.8%
Neutral3.0%
Negative15.2%
Written reviews12 reviews
Positive50.0%
Neutral16.7%
Negative33.3%

Bugs and requests

Drops

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Login issues and lost progress
  • Crashes and performance problems

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add more grammar and sentence-level learning
  • Improve accuracy of translations and pronunciations
  • Provide more flexibility in time limits and review sessions
  • Integrate more conversational practice
  • Improve user interface and navigation

Learn Chinese

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

10 purchases

Drops

Subscriptions10
  • Genius for a month$7.991 Month
  • Premium$9.991 Month
  • Premium$11.991 Month
Show 7 more
  • Premium$14.991 Month
  • Curious for a month$22.991 Month
  • Holiday premium!$39.991 Year
  • All Language Learning Plans7 Days trial$69.991 Year
  • Premium7 Days trial$79.991 Year
  • Premium7 Days trial$89.991 Year
  • Premium7 Days trial$99.991 Year
2 purchases

Learn Chinese

Subscriptions2
  • Pangaea Passport$2.991 Month
  • Pangaea Passport$9.991 Year

Questions

Is Drops free?
Drops is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Learn Chinese free?
Learn Chinese is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Drops or Learn Chinese?
Drops is rated higher. Drops averages 4.7 out of 5 from 72K ratings, while Learn Chinese averages 4.4 from 34 ratings.
Do Drops or Learn Chinese have ads?
Drops shows ads; Learn Chinese does not.
Which is updated more often, Drops or Learn Chinese?
Drops ships an update every 10 days, and Learn Chinese monthly. Most recently, Drops was updated on November 12, 2026 and Learn Chinese on November 1, 2026.

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