Inkstone

Shaunak Kishore

About this app

Inkstone is a mobile app for people who want to learn to read and write Mandarin Chinese, with:

• An array of free vocabulary word lists, and the option to upload your own
• An automatic grading system - simply use your finger to write the character!
• Customizable spaced-repetition scheduling so you can focus on the most important words
• Over 9000 character stroke data files, including both simplified and traditional forms

See more information about the app, including its source code, here.

Download the app, choose words to study, and start learning!

Ratings and reviews

A nice, simple app that has a lot of potential. Right now the stroke recognition needs a *lot* of work, though. Sometimes a non-ubiquitous stroke order is enforced. Other times it will misidentify a stroke and (through newfound leniency?) mark some random future stroke. Other times it will flash at me telling me to make a stroke that literally has already been marked. The multi-click process for correcting the auto-grading that is often incorrect after running this gauntlet rounds out an unfortunately frustrating user experience.

A well made and useful app that I use daily to retain 汉字 in memory. There are glitches though. Some stroke orders are wrong, e.g. 再 (wrt to Pleco) and certain strokes are not recognized well, like 月 in 期. I would also prefer the ability to edit lists in the app, rather than continuously importing external lists as I learn new charaters.

Sometimes issues with detecting the strokes. Wish there was better data tracking or visualization available for which characters you're making mistakes on. Overall very satisfied. Does what it does properly and as a single payment rather than some subscription.

What's new

Version 0.1.4 includes a significant visual improvements: strokes are no longer "cut off" where they intersect. This change makes characters look much cleaner but also improves learning, since the old graphics gave away information about the next stroke to write. This version also includes many character and word list fixes.

NOTE: The new stroke graphics require downloading the character data again, which may take a few minutes.