Hanzi Writer is a Chinese handwriting practice app for iOS, Android and macOS. As users write, it checks stroke order, direction, starting point, shape and proportion. Its curricula include HSK 1–9, YCT 1–4, AP Chinese, iGCSE Chinese and Singapore Primary School; it covers more than 7,450 characters and offers 16 interface languages. Spaced repetition review uses Again, Hard, Good and Easy confidence ratings. Core writing practice, stroke animations, review and OCR work offline or on-device. OCR uses Google ML Kit, and camera images are not uploaded or processed in the cloud. Users can import Anki .apkg and .colpkg decks into handwriting practice or generate customizable A4 PDF worksheets with pinyin, stroke guides and tracing grids. The free plan includes core writing practice features. Pro plans add unlimited daily practice, AI-generated custom topics, cloud sync and an ad-free experience; their billed prices are displayed in the app. The topic generator sends entered descriptions to Google Gemini through Firebase Vertex AI, and those inputs are not used to train Google AI models.
Who it is for
Hanzi Writer may suit Chinese learners who want handwriting practice across listed curricula, offline review or Anki deck import. It also offers worksheet creation and on-device OCR.
What is good
- Checks stroke order, direction, starting point, shape and proportion.
- Supports curricula including HSK 1–9 and YCT 1–4.
- Core practice, review and OCR work offline or on-device.
- Imports Anki .apkg and .colpkg decks.
- Creates customizable A4 PDF worksheets.
What to know first
- Pro subscription prices are displayed in the app, not listed.
- AI topic descriptions are sent to Google Gemini through Firebase Vertex AI.
Verdict
Hanzi Writer combines stroke validation, curriculum-based practice, spaced repetition and on-device OCR. The free plan covers core writing practice, while Pro adds further features at prices shown in the app.
Hanzi Writer plans and pricing
All plansCompared on handwriting practice apps
- Free plan
- Yes
- Age levels
- all_ages
- Pen-control exercises
- Yes
- Custom word practice
- Yes
- Progress tracking
- Yes
- Supported platforms
- iOS, Android, macOS
