HanziBen: Write Chinese
Benjamin SZABO Education iPhoneiPadiPod touch
HanziBen: Write Chinese is a free Education app for iPhone and iPad by Benjamin SZABO. Requires iOS 16.0. Updated October 4, 2026.
- Price
- Free
- on the App Store
- Size
- 142 MB
- Age 4+
- Updated
- Oct 4
- 2026 · v1.274.0
Screenshots
About HanziBen: Write Chinese
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.
What’s new
Version 1.274.0 · Updated October 4, 2026
Daily dictionary — ~44k CC-CEDICT headwords On-device phrase translation Speak to search Translation tools — speak the result aloud, copy (text only), pinyin under Chinese translations Taller draw-to-search canvas Use tone-number / v→ü pinyin in search Fixes and improvements
App privacy
The developer, Benjamin SZABO, reported these privacy practices to Apple.
Data Not Collected
The developer does not collect any data from this app.
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| App | Rating | Price | Last updated | Compare |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HanziBen: Write Chinese | – | Free | October 4, 2026 | |
| HearMandarin: Learn Chinese | – | Free | Sep 23, 2026 | Compare |
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| Tamil Words & Writing | – | 1.99 USD | Jul 8, 2025 | Compare |
| Inkday: Chinese Characters | – | Free | Oct 8, 2026 | Compare |
| Zhen: Mandarin Tone Coach | – | Free | Aug 7, 2026 | Compare |
| DiDaoChinese – Learn Chinese | – | Free | Mar 21, 2026 | Compare |