Best apps to learn Chinese characters
HelloChinese teaches simplified or traditional characters in a full course that starts with pinyin. Skritter has you write each character, graded stroke by stroke, and Du Chinese gives you stories from beginner to HSK 6 with pinyin to show or hide. Duolingo's free course uses simplified characters with pinyin, and Busuu sells a separate Chinese Characters course.
Prices checked 6 Sept to 12 Oct 2026 · How we check
What each app teaches of Chinese characters
In each maker's words, from its own pages. The first group teaches or drills reading and writing characters; the second shows them, or pinyin, without teaching them, or teaches no writing.
Teach or drill it
- Skritter
Simplified or traditional characters, written stroke by stroke.
- HelloChinese
Simplified or traditional, starting with a pinyin course.
- Du Chinese
Simplified or traditional, with pinyin to show or hide.
- Busuu
A separate Chinese Characters course for reading and writing.
- Rocket Languages
Lessons on how the writing system works and on writing characters.
- Duolingo
Simplified characters, with pinyin.
- Memrise
Pinyin and characters.
- Ling
Simplified characters; tone practice.
Show it without teaching it, or teach none of it
- Beelinguapp
Chinese text shown beside your own language.
- FluentU
Simplified and traditional characters, with pinyin.
- Glossika
Simplified characters, with pinyin; Traditional characters, with pinyin.
- Langua
Pinyin shown as a reading aid.
- LingQ
Simplified and traditional, as separate libraries.
- Michel Thomas Method
All-audio course: no writing is taught.
- Pimsleur
Pinyin reading lessons in Levels 1 to 4.
- Praktika
Simplified characters.
- Readle
Simplified Chinese characters.
- Rosetta Stone
Pinyin and tones.
- Speak
Simplified characters, with pinyin.
- StoryLearning
Simplified characters (with pinyin).
- uTalk
Simplified characters.
8 of the 52 apps we cover teach or drill Chinese characters.
Each Chinese character is one syllable with a meaning, written in a set stroke order. Mainland China and Singapore write simplified characters; Taiwan and Hong Kong write traditional ones, so check which a course teaches. Pinyin, the spelling in Latin letters, comes first in most courses and should fade as the characters take over.
Every app that teaches Chinese characters, compared
Recommended first within each type of app. Sort any column or filter by what matters to you.
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| Best for | Free tier | Speech | Tutor | Offline | CEFR | Refund or trial | Where to buy | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Course apps | ||||||||||||
| DuolingoCourse appSuper in the US App Store: $9.99 to $119.99, depending on the plan. | A free daily habit | Freepaid tier priced in-app | — | — | Free to keep using Full free tier with ads and limits; Super removes the ads and limits, and Max adds AI practice (Video Call and Roleplay). | 40 | Yes | No | Yes · Limited lessons available offline; progress syncs when connected | A1 to B2 | 1 week free trial on Super | |
| BusuuCourse app | Corrections from native speakers | $72.99 a year$6.08 a month, billed yearly | — | — | Free to keep using Free account with the complete course in each language, community feedback and basic progress tracking; Premium adds review tools, offline mode and no ads. | 14 | Yes | No · Live Lessons are exclusive to Busuu for Business, outside the consumer subscription | Yes | A1 to C1by course | 14-day money-back guarantee on the initial Premium payment; no renewal refunds. Apple and mobile-operator purchases require a refund from that provider. | |
| HelloChineseCourse app | Mandarin from zero, with tones and characters | $69.99 a year$5.83 a month, billed yearly | $11.99 | — | Free sample Free to download, with free lessons to start; HelloChinese does not publish where the free part ends or what Premium and Premium+ each add. | 1 | Yes | — | Yes | — | Yearly plans bought on HelloChinese's website or through its customer service have a 30-day money-back guarantee; monthly plans are not refunded. Purchases in the iPhone or Android app are final with HelloChinese and follow Apple's or Google's rules. | |
| LingCourse app | Asian and less-taught languages | $149.99 a year$12.50 a month, billed yearly | $16.99 | — | Free to keep using Free tier with limited lessons and limited dialogue practice, with ads | 80 | Yes | Live online tutors, booked separately through Ling Live. | — | — | 7-day free trial on the 12-month plan; 30-day money-back refund for yearly and lifetime subscriptions bought via Ling web (app-store purchases follow Apple's or Google's refund policy) | |
| Rocket LanguagesCourse app | Paying once per level, not a subscription | $99.95Rocket Sign Language | — | $449.85 | Free trial A free trial; the page does not say what it includes or for how long. | 13 | Yes | No | Yes · audio lessons download in the app; voice recognition needs a connection | A1 to B2by course | A free trial; 60-day money-back guarantee on purchases. | |
| Vocabulary and flashcard apps | ||||||||||||
| MemriseVocabulary and flashcards | Native-speaker clips and review | $61.99 a year$5.17 a month, billed yearly | $24.99 | $329.99 | Free to keep using Limited free version of the app; the paid plan unlocks the rest. | 149 | Yes | — | No · The current experience needs cloud-based tools | — | 30-day money-back guarantee; monthly plans have a 14-day refund window. Apple purchases require a refund from Apple. | |
| SkritterVocabulary and flashcards | Writing Chinese and Japanese characters from memory | $99.99 a year$8.33 a month, billed yearly | $14.99 | — | Free to keep using A guest account keeps free access to selected decks for good; a subscription unlocks review mode and every deck. | 2 | — | — | — | — | A 7-day free trial, then a 30-day money-back guarantee on a first purchase made with Skritter; App Store and Google Play purchases follow Apple's and Google's rules. | |
| Learning from real video, text and audio | ||||||||||||
| Du ChineseImmersion (video, reading) | Chinese stories at your level, read aloud | $119.99 a year$10 a month, billed yearly | $14.99 | — | Free to keep using A selection of free lessons at every level; Premium opens all 3,000+ articles, stories and courses, offline study and an audiobook mode. | 1 | — | — | Yes | — | A subscription started on Du Chinese's website is refunded in full if you ask within 15 days; App Store purchases cannot be refunded by Du Chinese. | |
Which to choose
You want a course that teaches the characters
HelloChinese
HelloChinese ($69.99 a year) is a Mandarin course built on HSK levels, in simplified or traditional characters, starting with a pinyin course; free lessons let you start. Busuu ($72.99 a year) sells a separate Chinese Characters course for reading and writing beside its A1 to B2 Chinese course.
You want to write by hand
Skritter
Skritter has you write simplified or traditional characters on the screen, stroke by stroke, grades each one and schedules your reviews, with decks for HSK 1 to 6 and the new HSK 1 to 9; a guest account keeps selected decks free, and a subscription is $99.99 a year.
You want to read at your level
Du Chinese
Du Chinese ($119.99 a year) has more than 3,000 articles, stories and courses from beginner to HSK 6, in simplified or traditional characters, with pinyin you can show or hide; a selection at every level is free.
You want to start free
Duolingo
Duolingo's Chinese course is free with ads and uses simplified characters with pinyin. Memrise and Ling have free plans with limits, and Ling adds tone practice.
Questions people ask
What is the best app to learn Chinese characters?
HelloChinese for a course that teaches them from the start, Skritter to write them from memory, graded stroke by stroke, and Du Chinese to read graded stories up to HSK 6. Duolingo's free course uses simplified characters with pinyin.
Which apps teach traditional characters?
HelloChinese, Du Chinese and Skritter let you choose simplified or traditional, FluentU and LingQ have both, and Glossika has a separate course in traditional characters. Duolingo's course uses simplified characters.
Do I need to learn pinyin first?
Most courses start with it: HelloChinese begins with a pinyin course, and Duolingo and Speak show pinyin with the characters. Pimsleur and Rosetta Stone teach pinyin and tones; Pimsleur's reading lessons in Levels 1 to 4 are in pinyin.